Albanian dialects

The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into

two major groups: Gheg and Tosk.[1] The Shkumbin river is roughly
the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the
Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.[2]

Contents
Historical considerations
Gheg dialects
Gheg features
Transitional dialects
Transitional features
Tosk dialects The various dialects of theAlbanian language in
Tosk features Albania, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia,
Montenegro and Serbia. The map does not imply
Related idioms
that the Albanian language is the majority or the
Extinct dialects only spoken language in these areas.
Comparison
References
Bibliography
External links

Historical considerations
The characteristics of the Albanian dialects Tosk and Gheg,[3] in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages,
have led to the conclusion that the dialectal split preceded theSlavic migration to the Balkans[4][5].

According to the view of Demiraj, during the process of dialect split Albanian populations were roughly in their present location[6],
while Eric Hamp notes that "it must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems
possible that this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present location,
so that the speech area straddled theJireček Line".[7]

Gheg dialects
Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg, and Southern Gheg. Northwest Gheg is
spoken throughout Montenegro, northwestern Kosovo (west of Pejë), Lezhë, northwestern Mirditë, Pukë, and Shkodër. Northeast
Gheg is spoken throughout most of Kosovo, Preševo, Has, northeastern Mirditë, Kukës, Tropojë, and northern Tetovo. Central Gheg
is spoken in Debar, Gostivar, Krujë, Peshkopi, southern Mirditë, Mat, eastern Struga, Kumanovo, and southern Tetovo. Southern
Gheg is spoken in Durrës, northern Elbasan, northern Peqin, Kavajë, northwest Struga, and Tirana. One fairly divergent dialect is the
Upper Reka dialect, which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in
Croatia, the Arbanasi dialect.

Gheg features
No rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- remains -n- (e.g. râna "sand").
 Proto-Albanian *ō becomes vo.
Nasal vowels: Gheg retains the nasal vowels of late Proto-Albanian and the late Proto-Albanian *â plus a nasal
remains â (e.g. nândë "nine"). Although, the quality of the vowel varies by dialect,[ɑ̃ ], [ɒ̃], [ɔ̃ ], etc. Some Northeast
and Northwest Gheg dialects preserve the nasal in words such as[pɛ̃s] "five" while other Gheg dialects do not,[pɛs]
"five".
Monophthongization: Occurs in some dialects of Shkodër in a few words, e.g.[vø̞ ː] voe "egg" and [hɛ̞ː] hae "food".
Phonological vowel length:There is often phonological vowel length in most Gheg dialects. Some dialects of
Shkodër have a three length distinction in vowels, for example, short:[pɛ̃nˠ] "yoke", long: [pɛ̃ːnˠ] "pen", and extra-
long: [pɛ̃ːːnˠ] "yokes".
a-vowel: In some dialects occurring in some certain wordsa may become a diphthong (e.g.[bəaɫ] for ballë
"forehead") or become[æ] (e.g. [læɾɡ] for larg "far").
ë-vowel: Final -ë drops and often lengthens the preceding vowel.
i-vowel: The i vowel in the word dhi (goat) can be realized as various vowels in the Central Gheg dialects:[ðəi]
(Krujë), [ðei] (Mountainous Krujë), [ðɛi] or [ðei] (Mat), as well as [ðai] or [ðɔi] in other regions.
o-vowel: The o derounds to [ʌ] in some words in some dialects (e.g.[sʌt] for sot "today" in Krujë and among some
Muslim speakers in Shkodër).
u-vowel: The u vowel in different dialects occurring some words may vary, for example rrush "grape" may be [ruʃ],
[rauʃ], [rɔuʃ], [rɔʃ], or [roʃ].
y-vowel: The y vowel can remain as y (e.g. dy "two" in much of the Gheg speaking areas), derounded toi (e.g. [di]
"two" in Debar), or becomes more open and less rounded to[ʏ̜ ] (e.g. [dʏ̜ ] "two" in Mat and Mountainous Krujë).In
other words in Central Gheg, they vowel can become [ø] as in [sø] for sy "eye" (Mat and Krujë).
bj/pj: These may yield bgj or pq in some dialects (e.g.pqeshkë for pjeshkë "peach" in Negotin).
bl/pl/fl: These may become bj/pj/fj or even bgj/pq in some dialects (e.g. pjak for plak "old" in Toplica or pqak for plak
"old" in Negotin).
dh and ll: These sounds may interchange in some words in some dialects.
h: This may drop in any position in some dialects.
mb/nd: Consonant clusters such asnd vary greatly by sub-dialect:nder "honor" can realized as[ndɛɾ], [nd͉ ɛɾ],
[ⁿdɛɾ], [dɛɾ], [nɛɾ], or [nˠɛɾ].
q/gj: In the Gheg dialects,q and gj may remain palatal stops[c] and [ɟ], change to postalveolar affricates [t͡ʃ] and
[d͡ʒ] (and thus merging with Albanianç and xh), change to alveolo-palatal affricates [t͡ɕ] and [d͡ʑ], or even change to
alveolo-palatal fricatives[ɕ] and [ʑ].
tj/dj: These may become palatal stops[c] and [ɟ] in some dialects.

Transitional dialects
The transitional dialects are spoken in southern Elbasan (Cërrik, Dumre, Dushk, Papër, Polis, Qafe, Shpat, Sulovë, Thanë), southern
Peqin, northwestern Gramsh, extreme southern Kavajë, northern and central Lushnjë, and southern Librazhd (Bërzeshtë, Rrajcë),and
Flazian-Falazdim-whish spoken in north of Albania.

Transitional features
Rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- becomes -r- (e.g. râra "sand").
Proto-Albanian *ō becomesvo in the western sub-dialects orva in the central and eastern sub-dialects.
Nasal vowels: In some sub-dialects of Transitional, some nasal vowels denasalize (e.g. rora "sand" in Sulovë) while
in other words the nasals are retained:sŷ "eye" (Dumre, Shpat, Sulovë).
ô-vowel: Some sub-dialects haveô for â in some words (e.g. ôma "taste" in Sulovë).
Mb/Nd: Clusters such asmb become m in some dialects (e.g.koma for standard këmba "leg").

Tosk dialects
Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects: Northern Tosk, Labërisht, Çam, Arvanitika, and Arbëresh. Northern Tosk is spoken in Berat,
Fier, extreme southeastern Elbasan, most of Gramsh, Kolonjë, Korçë, Ohër, Përmet, east of the Vjosë river of Tepelenë, southern
Struga (western shore of Lake Ohër), Pogradec, Prespa and northern Vlorë. Lab ((or Labërisht) is spoken in southern Vlorë, Dukat,
Himarë, Mallakastër, Delvinë, west of the Vjosë river of Tepelenë, Gjirokastër and Sarandë. Çam is spoken in southern Sarandë
(Konispol, Ksamil, Markat, Xarrë) and in parts of northern Greece. Tosk dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian
immigrant communities ofEgypt, Turkey, and Ukraine. Çamërisht is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by
the Arvanites in southern Greece, mainly Peloponnese, Attica, Euboea, and the adjacent islands. Arbëresh is spoken by the
Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of
Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Apulia.

Tosk features
Rhotacism: Proto-Albanian*-n- becomes -r- (e.g. rëra "sand")
Proto-Albanian *ō becomes va.
Nasal vowels: There is a lack of nasal vowels in oTsk (e.g. sy "eye") and Late Proto-Albanian*â plus a nasal
becomes ë (e.g. nëntë "nine"). However, nasal vowels have been reported in the Lab dialects of Himarë and
Kurvelesh [8] and separately in the Lab dialect ofBorsh.[9]
e-vowel: The e becomes ë in some dialects in some wordsqën for qen "dog" in Vjosë.
ë-vowel: The ë may have several pronunciations depending on dialect:mëz "foal" is [mʌz] in Vuno) while ë is more
backed in Labërisht. Final -ë drops in many Tosk dialects and lengthens the preceding vowel.
y-vowel: The y vowel often derounds toi in the southern dialects Labërisht, Çam, Arvanitika and Arbëresh (e.g.dy
"two" becomes di).
Dh and Ll: These sounds may interchange in some words in some dialects.
H: This may drop in any position in some dialects.
Gl/Kl: Some dialects such as Çam, Arberësh, and Arvanitika retain archaic kl and gl in place of q and gj, to which
they have shifted in other places (e.g.gjuhë "tongue" is gluhë in Çam, gluhë in Arberësh, and gljuhë in Arvanitika;
"klumësh" for "qumësht" "milk" in Arbëresh).
Rr: Rr becomes r in some dialects.

Related idioms
Arbëresh language, spoken in parts of Southern Italy.

Extinct dialects
Istrian Albanian, spoken in parts of Istria until the late 19th century.

Comparison
 Standard Tosk Gheg (west, east) English
Shqipëri Shqipëri Shqypní / Shqipni Albania
një nji nji / njâ / njo one
nëntë nëntë nândë / nânt / nân nine
është është âsht / â, osht / o is
bëj bëj bâj I do
emër emër êmën name
pjekuri pjekuri pjekuni mellowness
gjendje gjëndje gjêndje / gjênje state, condition
zog zog zog, zëq / zëç / zëg bird
mbret mbret mret / regj king
për të punuar për të punuar me punue / me punu, për t'punũ to work
rërë rërë rânë sand
qenë qënë kjênë / kênë / kânë to be
dëllinjë enjë bërshê juniper
baltë llum lloq, llok mud
fshat fshat katun village
qumësht qumësht tâmël / tâmbël milk
cimbidh mashë danë fire-iron
mundem mundem mûj / mûnem, munëm / mûnëm I can
vend vënd ven place
dhelpër dhelpër skile / dhelpen fox

References
Voice recordings in different cities:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120128173513/http://www
.albanianlanguage.net/en/dialects4.html

1. Gjinari
2. Brown and Ogilvie (2008), p. 23.The river Shkumbin in central Albania historically forms the boundary between
those two dialects, with the population on the north speaking varieties of Geg and the population on the south
varieties of Tosk.
3. Brown & Ogilvie 2008, p. 23: "In Tosk /a/ before a nasal has become a central vowel (shwa), and intervocalic /n/ has
become /r/. These two sound changes have af fected only the pre-Slav stratum of the Albanian lexicon, that is the
native words and loanwords from Greek and Latin"
4. Fortson 2010, p. 392: "The dialectal split into Gheg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become
Christianized in the fourth century AD; Christian Latin loanwords showosk
T rhotacism, such as Tosk murgu "monk"
(Geg mungu) from Lat. monachus."
5. Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 9: "The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far-reaching phonological
changes which have so altered the shape of inherited words while Slavic andurkish
T words do not show those
changes. Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into Balkans in the
fifth and sixth centuries AD"
6. Demiraj, Shaban. Prejardhja e shqiptarëve në dritën e dëshmive të gjuhës shqipe.(Origin of Albanians through the
testimonies of the Albanian language) Shkenca (Tirane) 1999
7. Hamp 1963, p. 98: The isogloss is clear in all dialects I have studied, which embrace nearly all types possible. It
must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems possible that
 this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present
location, so that the speech area straddled the Jireček Line.
8. Paçarizi 2008, pp. 101-102: "Second difference is the existence of nasal vocals in Gheg which is not a characteristic
of Tosk even sometimes the nasality is not really stressed. This nasal-oral feature, according to Desnickaja, forms
one of the elements which differentiate the Albanian dialects whereas Gjinari cites Dilo Sheper who said that there
are also some nasal vocals in some places of Eastern Albania such as in Kurvelesh and Himarë but the information
at that time did not confirmed that".
9. Totoni 1964, p. 136.

Bibliography
Brown, Keith and Sarah Ogilvie.Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World . Elsevier, 2008. ISBN 0-08-
087774-5, ISBN 978-0-08-087774-7.
Byron, J. L. Selection among Alternates in Language Standardization: The Case of Albanian . The Hague: Mouton,
1976.
Domi, Mahir et al. Dialektologjia shqiptare. 5 vols. Tirana, 1971-1987.
Fortson IV, Benjamin W. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction . 2nd edition. Malden: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7, ISBN 978-1-4051-0316-9.
Gjinari, Jorgji. Dialektologjia shqiptare. Pristina: Universiteti, 1970.
Gjinari, Jorgji, Bahri Beci, Gjovalin Shkurtaj, & Xheladin Gosturani.Atlasi dialektologjik i gjuhës shqipe, vol. 1.
Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli L ’Orientali, 2007.
Hamp, Eric P. (1963). "The Position of Albanian". University of California.
Lloshi, Xhevat. “Substandard Albanian and Its Relation to Standard Albanian”, in Sprachlicher Standard und
Substandard in Südosteuropa und Osteuropa: Beiträge zum Symposium vom 12.-16. Oktober 1992 in Berlin . Edited
by Norbert Reiter, Uwe Hinrichs & Jirina vanLeeuwen-Turnovcova. Berlin: Otto Harrassowitz, 1994, pp. 184–194.
Lowman, G. S. "The Phonetics of Albanian",Language, vol. 8, no. 4 (Dec., 1932);271–293.
Mallory, J. P. and Douglas Q. Adams.Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis, 1997.ISBN 1-
884964-98-2, ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
Panov, M. and Sidanivoski, J.Gostivarskiot kraj. Gostivar: Sobranie na opštinata, 1970.
Vehbiu, Ardian. “Standard Albanian and the Gheg Renaissance: A Sociolinguistic Perspective”, International Journal
of Albanian Studies 1 (1997): 1–14.

External links
Robert Elsie's Recordings in many Albanian dialects

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