Languages Of Albania
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Languages Of Albania
Albania is an ethnically homogeneous country, where the overwhelming majority of the population speaks Albanian language, Albanian, which is also the official language. It has two distinct dialects: Tosk, spoken in the south, and Gheg, spoken in the north. However, many Albanians can also speak foreign languages as Italian language, Italian, Greek language, Greek, French language, French, German language, German, and English language, English, amongst others, due to the high numbers of Albanian diaspora and Albanian communities throughout the Balkans. Although many ethnic Albanians (from within Albania and the wider Balkans and diaspora) around the world speak more than two languages and have been recognised as polyglots, Albania is the fourth highest nation in Europe in terms of the percentage of monolingual inhabitants, with 59.9% speaking only one language. Italian language, Italian is widely spoken throughout Albania. Greek language, Greek, the language of the Greek national ...
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Mësonjëtorja
Mësonjëtorja or the Albanian School was the first secular school in the Albanian language in Ottoman Albania. It was opened in Korçë during the late Ottoman period. The school building serves as a museum and is located on the north side of ''Bulevardi Shën Gjergji'' (St. George Boulevard). The opening of the school was a result of the Albanian National Movement which aimed to create an independent Albania and to secure denied rights to Albanian people within the Ottoman Empire. Among others Mësonjëtorja was an important center of cultural and patriotic education. The school's importance was raised because until then giving lessons in the Albanian language was done in private and secret due to Ottoman rule. The school opened its doors on 7 March 1887 and since then the day is celebrated by Albanians as the "Day of Teachers". History In 1885, Naim Frashëri, a government civil servant in the education ministry, Sami Frashëri and along with other influential Albanians ...
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Albanians
The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, and they also live in the neighboring countries of Albanians in North Macedonia, North Macedonia, Albanians in Montenegro, Montenegro, Albanians in Greece, Greece, and Albanians in Serbia, Serbia, as well as in Albanians in Italy, Italy, Albanians in Croatia, Croatia, Albanians in Bulgaria, Bulgaria, and Albanians in Turkey, Turkey. Albanians also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across Europe and the other continents. Albanian language, The language of the Albanians is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. Albanians ...
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Arvanitic
Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika was brought to Southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Albanian settlers who moved south from their homeland in present-day Albania in several waves. The dialect preserves elements of medieval Albanian, while also being significantly influenced by the Greek language. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it. Name The name ''Arvanítika'' and its native equivalent Arbërisht are derived from the ethnonym ''Arvanites'', which in turn comes from the toponym Arbën or Arbër (Greek: Άρβανον), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in modern Albania. Its native equivalents (''Arbërorë, Arbëreshë'' and others) used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. In the past Arv ...
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Arvanitika
Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika was brought to Southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Albanian settlers who moved south from their homeland in present-day Albania in several waves. The dialect preserves elements of medieval Albanian, while also being significantly influenced by the Greek language. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it. Name The name ''Arvanítika'' and its native equivalent Arbërisht are derived from the ethnonym ''Arvanites'', which in turn comes from the toponym Arbën or Arbër (Greek: Άρβανον), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in modern Albania. Its native equivalents (''Arbërorë, Arbëreshë'' and others) used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. In the past ...
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Arbëresh Language
Arbëresh (; also known as ''Arbërisht'') are the Albanian linguistic varieties spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Italy, brought there by several migratory waves of Albanians from Albania and Greece since the Late Middle Ages. Arbëresh varieties are derived from the old Tosk Albanian varieties spoken in the south-western Balkans, and throughout the centuries they have developed in Italy in contact with the neighboring Italo-Romance-speaking communities. Other Tosk Albanian varieties from the Late Middle Ages referred to as Arvanitika (endonym: ''arbërisht'') are spoken in Greece by the Arvanites. ''E Mbësuame e Krështerë'' (1592) by Luca Matranga from Piana degli Albanesi is the earliest known Old Tosk text, a translation of a catechism book from Latin. The Arbëreshë people are bilingual, also speaking Italian. Arbëresh is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''. While Italian law protects the language and ...
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Cham Albanian Dialect
The Cham Albanian dialect (), also called Cham Tosk or Arvanitika, is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Cham Albanians, an Albanian ethnic sub-group native to the region of Chameria in southern Albania and northwestern Greece. Historical background Albanians in the region of Epirus are attested in historical sources since the beginning of the 13th century. A Venetian document (1210) mentions that "the continent facing the island of Corfu is inhabited by Albanians" and a letter from John Apokaukos, Metropolitan of Naupaktos, to a George Dysipati (ancestor of the Shpata family). Albanian tribes moved to the south in large numbers in the early 14th century and established territories like the Despotate of Arta. During much of the Ottoman period, most of the writing in Chameria was done in Greek or in Turkish, and Cham Albanian was a spoken dialect only, while Albanians found it difficult to find education in their native language. Christian Albanians could ...
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Lab Albanian Dialect
The Lab Albanian dialect () is a Tosk Albanian dialect associated with the wider definition of the ethnographic region of Labëria, spoken by Lab Albanians. Under this wider definition of Labëria, Lab Albanian stretches from Vlorë and Mallakastër south and east up to Gjirokastër, Lunxhëria and Sarandë. Notable aspects of Lab in Albanian and wider Balkan areal linguistics include its peculiar mix of conservative and innovative features, the lack (in some varieties) of typical Albanian Balkanisms like the admirative, and the presence of features typical of Northern Gheg dialects despite it being a Southern dialect. Classification Labërishtja is a subdivision of the Southern Tosk group, which is itself a subdivision of Tosk Albanian, the collection of Albanian dialects south of the Shkumbin River. As such, it is most closely related to the Cham dialect of Chamëria, the Arbereshe of the old Albanian diaspora in Italy, and the Arvanitika of Arvanites in Greece. Chara ...
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Shkumbin
The Shkumbin (; ), also known as Shkembi, is a river in Albania. It is long and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . Etymology It derives from Latin ''Scampinus'' (recorded alternatively as ), which replaced the Illyrian name of the river: ''Genusus'' (recorded in , also , and in ). A Slavic intermediation has been rejected. Its inclusion in Latin loanwords into Proto-Albanian and phonetic evolution coincides with the historical existence of a large Roman town (near present-day Elbasan), which gave the river its new name. Overview The river originates in the eastern Valamara Mountains between ''Maja e Valamarës'' () and ''Gur i Topit'' () in Southeastern Albania. After descending from the Valamaras, it flows northwards through Proptisht and Qukës with many deep gorges and canyons and passes the Gora Mountains. A significant inflow comes from ''Gur i Kamjës'' () southwest of Pogradec. Over the course, it flows inside a syncline between the Mokra and She ...
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Istrian Albanian
Istrian Albanian was a Gheg variety of the Albanian language, spoken in the village of Katun History From the 13th to the 17th century the depopulation of the Istrian Peninsula prompted the Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ... to repopulate the region with settlers, which among others included Albanians. The coalescence of the various dialects spoken by the settlers led to the formation of the Istrian Albanian dialect. The only surviving text of the dialect was written by the local scholar Pietro Stancovich in the 1830s. Stankovich recorded a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son and a vocabulary list of the dialect. References Albanian dialects History of Istria Extinct languages of Europe {{ie-lang-stub ...
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Upper Reka Albanian Dialect
The Upper Reka Albanian dialect is a member of the wider northern Gheg subgroup of the Albanian language spoken by northern Albanians. Speakers of the dialect are mainly located within the territory of the sub-region of Upper Reka in north-western North Macedonia. Due to the geographical isolation of the Upper Reka region, the Upper Reka dialect also developed linguistic peculiarities that differentiate it from other varieties of Albanian. Within the Gheg dialects, the Upper Reka dialect is classified as a Central Gheg dialect,. along with the dialects of the Kruja, Mati and Dibra regions. Linguistic characteristics Phonology The Upper Reka Albanian dialect contains phonological and morphological characteristics that are unique of speakers in Albanian within Upper Reka. For example, the Albanian letter (in Standard Albanian, ) often voiced as a hard () sound in some Northern dialects is articulated as a soft sound in Upper Reka. Unlike Northern Albanian dialects, which mai ...
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Arbanasi Dialect
The Arbanasi dialect (natively: ''Arbëneshë)'' is a dialect of Gheg Albanian that is spoken in long-standing diaspora communities of Albanians in Croatia. Its speakers originated from the region of Kraja (now in modern Montenegro), and moved to Croatia in the early 18th century. It is notable for a number of divergent developments as well as preservations of certain archaic features of Medieval Gheg Albanian. Slavic Croatian influences are present, as are Romance influences from Italian and Venetian. The dialect may also be called the "Dalmatian dialect" of Albanian in some older publications. Phonology Phonemes * Unlike most Albanian dialects, both Tosk and Gheg, which have two r phonemes, an alveolar tap () and an alveolar trill (), Arbanasi only has one, the alveolar tap (). All instances that were originally ''rr'' () have merged into 'r' .Matasović, Ranka (2012). "A Grammatical Sketch of Albanian for students of Indo-European". Page 42 This is the reverse fr ...
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