Albanian dialects

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]

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.

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.

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), southeastern Shkodër, southwestern Mat, southwestern Tropojë, southeastern Kukës, southwestern Mirditë, northeastern Lezhë, southwestern Tiranë, southeastern Durrës, southern Gjilan, southwestern Prizren, northeastern Gjakovë, southwestern Pukë, southeastern Peshkopi, southwestern Ulqin, southeastern Krujë, 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.

• Arbëresh language, spoken in parts of Southern Italy.
• Arvanitika language, spoken in part of Greece

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

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

• Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (2008). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 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. (2010). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. 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 van Leeuwen-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.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
• Panov, M. and Sidanivoski, J. Gostivarskiot kraj. Gostivar: Sobranie na opštinata, 1970.
• Paçarizi, Rrahman (2008). Albanian Language (PDF). University of Pristina. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-17. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
• Totoni, Menela (1964). "E folmja e bregdetit të poshtëm". Studime Filologjike I (in Albanian). Tirana: Universiteti i Tiranës.
• Vehbiu, Ardian. “Standard Albanian and the Gheg Renaissance: A Sociolinguistic Perspective”, International Journal of Albanian Studies 1 (1997): 1–14.

• Robert Elsie's Recordings in many Albanian dialects