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]
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] [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 the Jireček Line".[7]
See main article: Gheg Albanian.
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, southwestern Tropojë, western Gusinje, western Pukë, and Shkodër. Northeast Gheg is spoken throughout most of Kosovo, Preshevë, Has, northeastern Mirditë, eastern parts of villages of Shalë commune of Shkodër, eastern parts of villages of other communes of Shkodër bordered with Tropojë, eastern Pukë, eastern Gjakovë, eastern Gusinje, Kukës, Tropojë, and northern Tetovë. Central Gheg is spoken in Debar, Gostivar, Krujë, northern Durrës, northern Tiranë, Peshkopi, southern Lezhë, southern Mirditë, Mat, Bulqizë, eastern Strugë, Kumanovo, and southern Tetovë. Southern Gheg is spoken in Durrës, northern Elbasan, northern Pogradec, Librazhd, northern Peqin, southern Bulqizë, Kavajë, northwest Strugë, 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.
Occurs in some dialects of Shkodër in a few words, e.g. pronounced as /[vø̞ː]/ voe "egg" and pronounced as /[hɛ̞ː]/ hae "food".
The Northwestern Gheg subdialect encompasses three main Albanian ethnographic regions: Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë. Within the Northwestern Gheg, the area of Malësia e Madhe shows different phonological, syntactic, and lexical patterns than the areas of Shkodër and Lezhë. For this reason, Malsia e Madhe Albanian can be considered a distinct variety of Northwestern Gheg. The different features of this variety can be traced to the historical and geographic isolation of the muntainous region of Malësia e Madhe (Albanian for 'Great Highlands').
The early isolated Malsia Albanian has preserved archaic features of Proto-Albanian and Proto-Indo-European in comparison to other Gheg varieties and to Tosk, such as the word-initial voiceless and voiced stops. Whereas Tosk Albanian has homorganic nasal-stop clusters, having produced a shift from the proto form that featured a word-initial stop to a nasal-stop cluster, which was achieved by placing a prefix en- (< PAlb preposition Albanian: *en 'in'). Gheg Albanian is in a transitional position, featuring nasals that resulted from reduced nasal-stop clusters.
| Indo-European languages: *'''p'''eh₂- 'protect' | '''p'''ɔ:j 'to hold, keep' | '''mb'''aj 'hold, carry' | '''m'''ɔ:j | |
| Indo-European languages: *'''b'''ʰer- 'bear, carry' | '''b'''ɔ:j 'carry' | '''mb'''aj 'hold, carry' | '''m'''ɔ:j | |
| Indo-European languages: *'''t'''en 'stretch, tighten' | '''t'''æ̃:n 'push, press' | '''nd'''ej 'hold, carry' | ||
| Indo-European languages: *'''d'''eh₂- 'share, divide' | '''d'''ɔ: 'split, cut, divide' | '''nd'''aj | '''dɔ''': | |
| Indo-European languages: *'''gʰ'''odʰ-, (o-grade of Indo-European languages: '''gʰ'''edʰ-) | '''g'''æ: 'time, chance, opportunity' | '''ŋg'''e |
Examples of the formation of nasal-stop clusters by placing the prefix Albanian: en- with unstressed word-initial vowel are: Tosk '''mb'''uʃa 'to fill', from PAlb Albanian: *e'''n'''-'''b'''usa (vs. Malsia '''b'''uʃa); Tosk '''ŋg'''a 'where, from where', from PAlb Albanian: *e'''n'''-'''k'''a (vs. Malsia '''k'''a); Tosk '''ŋg'''ula 'to thrust, put on point', from PAlb Albanian: *e'''n'''-'''k'''ula (vs. Malsia '''k'''u:ʎ); Tosk '''nd'''ej 'to stretch', from PAlb Albanian: *e'''n'''-'''t'''enja (vs. Malsia '''t'''æ̃:n).
The PAlb preposition Albanian: *en 'in' has been preserved solely in the Malsia Albanian dialect, whereas in the other Gheg varieties and in Tosk it has been reanalyzed as a prefix attached to other lexical terms, no longer existing as a preposition.
The transitional dialects are spoken in southern Elbasan so-called Greater Elbasan (Cërrik, Dumre, Dushk, Papër, Polis, Qafe, Shpat, Sulovë, Thanë), southern Peqin, northwestern Gramsh, northern Kuçovë, northern Berat, extreme southern Kavajë, northern and central Lushnjë and southern Librazhd (Bërzeshtë, Rrajcë), and Flazian-Falazdim-whish spoken in north of Albania.
See main article: Tosk Albanian.
Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects: Northern Tosk, Labërisht, Çam, Arvanitika, and Arbëresh. Northern Tosk is spoken in Berat, Fier, Skrapar, southern Kuçovë, southern Lushnjë, extreme southeastern Elbasan, most of Gramsh, Kolonjë, northern Mallakastër, northern Vlorë, Korçë, Ohër, Devoll, 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, southern Mallakastër, Delvinë, southern Çepan of Skrapar, eastern and southern Kolonjë, eastern and southern Leskovik, western and southern Përmet, 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.
| Standard | Tosk | Gheg (west, east) | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shqipëri | Shqipëri | Shqypní / Shqipni | Albania |
| një | një | nji / njâ / njo | one |
| nëntë | nëntë | nând / nânt / nân | nine |
| është | është | âsht / â, osht / o | is |
| bëj | bëj | bâj / boj | I do |
| emër | emër / embër | 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 / ronë | sand |
| qenë | qënë | kjên / kên / kân | be |
| dëllinjë | enjë | bërshê | juniper |
| baltë | llum | lloq, llok | mud |
| fshat | fshat | katun | village |
| qumësht | qumësht / klumsht | tâmël / tâmbël | milk |
| cimbidh | mashë | danë, mashë | fire-iron |
| mundem | mundem | mûj / mûnem, munëm / mûnëm | I can |
| vend | vënd | ven | place |
| dhelpër | dhelpër | skile / dhelpën | fox |
"In Tosk /a/ before a nasal has become a central vowel (shwa), and intervocalic /n/ has become /r/. These two sound changes have affected only the pre-Slav stratum of the Albanian lexicon, that is the native words and loanwords from Greek and Latin"
"The dialectal split into Gheg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become Christianized in the fourth century AD; Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism, such as Tosk murgu "monk" (Geg mungu) from Lat. monachus."
"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 and Turkish 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"
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.
"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".