Purishte ( sq-definite, Purishtja) is a

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...

of the

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) 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. It ...

spoken by the masons of the Opar region in Western

Korçë District Korçë District (), was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 counties. It had a population of 143,499 in 2001, and an area of . Its capital was the city of Korçë. Its territory is now part of ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Location

The former commune of

Lekas Lekas is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns i ...

in Western

consists of mainly speakers of Purisht.. Page 247 It is overall spoken in the thirteen villages of the ethnographic region of Opar in southeastern Albania, which includes parts of the Lekas and Moglica communes.

Diaspora Purisht

Purisht is spoken by those who have migrated out of its home region into the Albanian cities of

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

and

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

, as well as by migrants outside of Albania's borders, primarily in Greece.

Vocabulary

In the Purishte sociolect the mason is called ''purja'', while the term for the master mason is ''purja i beshëm''.

Romance influence

Purishte is notable for incorporating a large share of vocabulary of Romance origin, including most notably elements of Aromanian origin.. Page 245 Several aspects of the Aromanian influences in Purishte may be considered Balkanisms. Romance elements compose nearly 16% of the registered lexical items of Purisht, with almost all of them being of Aromanian origin. This is a result of intensive cultural contact between Opar Albanians and

Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...

.Prifti 2012, p. 255.

Location

Diaspora Purisht

Vocabulary

Romance influence

See also

References

Further reading