Dialects
Albanian has many of dialects.
However, the dialects can be divided into two main dialects,
Gheg and
Tosk. The
Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line,
north of the Shkumbin is where Gheg is spoken and south of the
Shkubin is where Tosk is spoken. The Gheg literary language has been
documented since 1555. Until the communists took power in Albania,
the standard was based on Gheg. Although the literary versions of
Tosk and Gheg are mutually intelligible, many of the regional
dialects are not.
Tosk is divided into many dialects. The main groups are
Northern Tosk (Berat, Pojan, Vlorë) and Labërisht
Labëria. In Greece, the
Çam and the
Arvanites speak different Tosk dialects with
the dialect of the Arvanites only partially intelligible with other
Tosk dialects. The Tosk dialects are spoken by most members of the
large Albanian immigrant communities of
Ukraine, Turkey,
Egypt, and the
United States. Tosk dialects called
Arbërisht are spoken by the
Arbëreshë, descendants of
15th and
16th century
immigrants in southeastern
Italy, in small communities in the provinces
of
Sicily,
Calabria,
Basilicata,
Campania,
Molise,
Abruzzi, and
Puglia. Gheg (or Geg) is spoken in Northern
Albania, Macedonia, Kosova, and in parts of
Montenegro and Serbia. Each area of northern
Albania has its own dialect and can be divided into dialect groups:
Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laci; Mati, Dibra and
Mirdita; Lezha, Shkodra, Kraja, Ulqinj; etc. Malësia e Madhe, Rugova,
and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the
northmost dialect of Albania today although, Albanian was formerly
spoken in Dalmatia until recently. There are many other dialects in
the region of
Kosova
and in parts of southern Montenegro, and in
Macedonia. The dialects of Malsia e Madhe and
Dukagjini near Shkodra are being lost because the younger
generations prefer to speak the dialect of Shkodra.
Gheg and Tosk differ mainly by:
1. Rhotacism - Gheg has
'n' where Tosk has
'r'.
2. Late Proto-Albanian â + tautosyllabic
nasal > Geg low-central or low-back vowel; > Tosk mid-central, or
low-front-to-central vowel.
3. Proto-Albanian ô > uo > Gheg vo, Tosk va.
4. Infinitival use of verbal adjective
preceded in Gheg by me and in Tosk by për të.
5. Difference in lexemes, noun plurals,
suppletion of the aorist system of the verb
Subdialects may vary based on:
1. Retention or loss of final
schwa (-ë).
2. Devoicing of final voiced segments.
3. Treatment of intervocalic and final nj.
4. Treatment of clusters of nasal + voiced
stop.
5. Development of anaptyctic homorganic stops
after nasals that follow a stressed vowel and precede unstressed -ël
or -ër.
6. Treatment of vowel clusters ie, ye, and ua.
7. Treatment of stressed /e/ before a nasal.
References
Encyclopædia Britannica, edition 15 (1985). Article:
Albanian language
Huld, Martin E. Basic Albanian Etymologies. Columbus, OH: Slavica
Publishers, 1984.
Martin Camaj, Albanian Grammar, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden
Orel, Vladimir. A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian
Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
