Albanian dialects

Map showing the various dialects of Albanian in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Italy and Greece (The map does not imply that the Albanian language is the majority or the only spoken language in these areas.)

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]

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 the Slavic migration to the Balkans^[4] According to Hamp, the rarity of ancient Greek loans imply that proto-Albanian developed north of the Jireček Line, while the isogloss split dates to the post-Roman 1st millenium AD, the speech area straddling the Line, then spreading further.^[5]

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.

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. [vø̞ː] 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 words a 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 to i (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 the y 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 as nd vary greatly by sub-dialect: nder "honor" can realized as [ndɛɾ], [nd͉ɛɾ], [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 Albanian ç 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 becomes vo in the western sub-dialects or va 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 have ô for â in some words (e.g. ôma "taste" in Sulovë).
• Mb/Nd: Clusters such as mb 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. 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 of Egypt, 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 Tosk (e.g. sy "eye") and Late Proto-Albanian *â plus a nasal becomes ë (e.g. nëntë "nine").
• e-vowel: The e becomes ë in some dialects in some words qën for qen 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 to i in 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 kl and gl in place of q and gj (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

References

• Voice recordings in different cities: http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/dialects4.html

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.
• Fortson, Benjamin W. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7, ISBN 978-1-4051-0316-9.
• Gjinari, Jorgji. Dialektologjia shqiptare. Prishtinë: Universiteti, 1970.
• Hamp, Eric P. (1963). "The Position of Albanian". University of California. 
• 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.

External links

• Robert Elsie's Recordings in many Albanian dialects