Albanian language

[Morphesau]

Originally Posted by masolord

they are not illirians, they are trying to proof something that they are not, just like us.they are clowns

[nsminc]

[Cadmus]

just like us.they are clowns

Cadmus>>>><<<<<<<Masolord

Show some dignity for christ sake!!!

No further offense Masolord!

[Peace Lover]

Albanian language

Albanian (Gjuha shqipe pronounced [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ/]) is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million people,[1] primarily in Albania and Kosovo, but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including the west of Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by communities in Greece, along the eastern coast of Italy, and on the island of Sicily. Additionally, speakers of Albanian can be found elsewhere throughout the latter two countries resulting from a modern diaspora, originating from the Balkans, that also includes Scandinavia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Low Countries, Australia, Turkey and the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Classification

Albanian was proven to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the German philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language comprises its own branch of the Indo-European language family, next related[2] to Armenian and Greek.

Some scholars believe that Albanian derives from Illyrian[3][4]while others,[5] claim that it derives from Daco-Thracian. (Illyrian and Daco-Thracian, however, might have been closely related languages; see Thraco-Illyrian.)

Establishing longer relations, Albanian is often compared to Balto-Slavic on the one hand and Germanic on the other, both of which share a number of isoglosses with Albanian. Moreover, Albanian has undergone a vowel shift in which stressed, long o has fallen to a, much like in the former and opposite the latter. Likewise, Albanian has taken the old relative jos and innovatively used it exclusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto-Slavic has used this word to provide the definite ending of adjectives.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Geographic distribution

Albanian is spoken by nearly 6 million people[1] mainly in Albania, Kosovo, Italy, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, and by immigrant communities in many countries such as Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Turkey (Europe), Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland and Australia.

Official status

Albanian in a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of the Republic of Albania. Albanian is also one of the official languages of Kosovo and in the municipalities where there are more than 20% ethnic Albanian inhabitants in Republic of Macedonia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Dialects

Albanian can be divided into two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk.

The Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it. The Geg literary language has been documented since 1462. 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 sub-dialects. The main groups are Northern Tosk (Berat, Pojan, Vlorë, Struga) and Labërisht Labëria. In Greece, the Çam and the Arvanites speak different Tosk sub-dialects. The sub-dialect of the Arvanites is only partially intelligible with other Tosk sub-dialects, such that it can be regarded as a separate language, Arvanitika. A distinct Tosk sub-dialect has been preserved in the Albanian-founded village of Mandritsa in southern Bulgaria. Tosk sub-dialects related to Arvanitika and called Arbërisht are spoken by the Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century immigrants in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Puglia. Tosk sub-dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and the United States.

Gheg is spoken in Northern Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, and in parts of Montenegro. Each area of Northern Albania has its own sub-dialect: Tiranë, Durrës, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laçi; Mati, Dibra and Mirdita; Lezhë, Shkodër, Krajë, Ulqin; etc. Malësia e Madhe, Rugova, and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the northmost sub-dialect of Albania today. There are many other sub-dialects in the region of Kosovo and in parts of southern Montenegro, and in Republic of Macedonia. The sub-dialects of Malsia e Madhe and Dukagjini near Shkodra are being lost because the younger generations prefer to speak the sub-dialect of Shkodra.

Gheg and Tosk differ mainly by:

1. rhotacism - Gheg has n where Tosk has r
2. late Proto-Albanian ā + tautosyllabic nasal > Gheg low-central or low-back vowel; > Tosk mid-central, or low-front-to-central vowel
3. Proto-Albanian ō > 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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Sounds

Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants. Gheg has a set of nasal vowels which are absent in Tosk. Another peculiarity is the mid-central vowel "ë" reduced at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the penultimate syllable.

Notes:

* The palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/ have no English equivalent, so the pronunciation guide is approximate. Palatal stops can be found in other languages, for example, in Hungarian (where these sounds are spelled ty and gy respectively).
* The palatal nasal /ɲ/ corresponds to the sound of the Spanish ñ or the French or Italian digraph gn (as in gnocchi). It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
* The ll sound is a velarised lateral, close to English dark L.
* The contrast between flapped r and trilled rr is the same as in Spanish. English does not have either of the two sounds phonemically (but tt in butter is pronounced as a flap r in most American dialects).
* (1) The letter ç can be spelt ch on American English keyboards, both due to its English sound, but more importantly, due to analogy with Albanian usage of h to modify the sounds s, x and z writing those sh, xh and zh. (Usually, however, it's spelled simply c, which may cause confusion; however, meanings are usually understood).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Grammar

Albanian nouns are inflected by gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) and number (singular and plural). There are 4 declensions with 6 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and vocative), although the vocative only occurs with a limited number of words. The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns and there are numerous cases of syncretism. The equivalent of a genitive is formed by using the prepositions i/e/të/së with the dative.

* The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
o For example in singular nominative, masculine nouns add -i, or those ending in -g/-k, take -u (to avoid palatalization):
+ mal (mountain) / mali (the mountain);
+ libër (book) / libri (the book);
+ zog (bird) / zogu (the bird).
o Feminine nouns take the suffix -(j)a:
+ veturë (car) / vetura (the car);
+ shtëpi (house) / shtëpia (the house);
+ lule (flower) / lulja (the flower).
* Neuter nouns take -t.

Albanian has developed an analytical verbal structure in place of the earlier synthetic system, inherited from Proto-Indo-European. Its complex system of moods (6 types) and tenses (3 simple and 5 complex constructions) is distinctive among Balkan languages. There are two general types of conjugation. In Albanian the constituent order is subject verb object and negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s' in front of the verb, for example:

* Toni nuk flet anglisht "Tony doesn't speak English";
* s'e di "I don't know".

In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:

* mos harro "do not forget!".

However, with verbs in the non-active form (forma joveprore), the verb is often in sentence-initial position:

* Parashikohet një ndërprerje "An interruption is anticipated".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language

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Vocabulary

Cognates with Illyrian

* brisa, "husk of grapes"; cf. Alb bërsi "lees, dregs; mash" (< PA *brutia)
* loúgeon, "pool"; cf. Alb lag "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" (< PA *lauga), lëgatë "pool" (< PA *leugatâ), lakshte "dew" (< PA *laugista)
* mandos, "small horse"; cf. Alb mëz, mâz "poney", Messapian Iuppiter Menzana, byname for Messapian supreme deity, Sanskrit mandura "stable for horses", Thracian Mezenai "the divine horseman", Manduria, town in Apulia founded by Messapians
* rhinos, "fog, mist"; cf. OAlb ren, mod. Alb re, rê "cloud" (< PA *rina)

Early borrowing from Greek

Early Albanian words borrowed from Greek are mainly commodity items and trade goods, gained through direct contact with the Greeks.

* bagëm "oil for anointment" < Gk báptisma "anointment"
* bletë "hive; bee" < dialectal Gk mélitta "honey-bee" (Gk mélissa)[6]
* brukë "tamarisk" < Gk mourikē
* drapër "sickle" < Gk (NW) drápanon
* kopsht "garden" < Gk (NW) kāpos
* kumbull "plum" < Gk kokkumēlon
* lakër "cabbage, green vegetables" < Gk lákhanon "green; vegetable"
* lëpjetë "orach, dock" < Gk lápathon
* lyej "to smear, oil" < Proto-Albanian *elaiwanja, derived from *elaiwā < Gk elai(w)on "oil"
* mokër "millstone" < Gk (NW) mākhaná "device, instrument"
* mollë "apple tree" < Gk (NW) mālon "apple"
* ngjalë "eel" < Gk egchelys
* pjepër "melon" < Gk pépon "melon"
* presh "leek" < Gk práson
* shpellë "cave" < Gk spēlaion "cave"
* trumzë "thyme" < Gk thýmbra, thrýmbē

Gothic borrowings

* fat "groom, husband" < Goth brūþfaþs "bridegroom"[7]
* magar "donkey, ass" < *margë < Goth *marh "horse"
* petk "herder's coat; clothing" < Goth paida; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pād
* shkulkë "branch indicating a pasture is off limits" < Goth skulka "guardian"
* shkum "foam" < Goth scūma
* tirq "trousers" < Late Latin tubrucus < Goth *þiobroc "knee-britches"; cf. OHG dioh-bruoh

The earliest accepted documentation in the Albanian language is from the 15th century AD, even though recently claims have been made for documents dating late 12th to have been found in the Vatican Library. Church documents in Latin have passages mentioning "Lingua Albanesca" in the 12th century as well. This is a time when Albanian Principalities start to be mentioned and expand inside and outside the Byzantine Empire. It is assumed that Greek and Balkan Latin (which was the ancestor of Romanian and other Balkan Romance languages), would exert a great influence on Albanian. Examples of words borrowed from Latin: qytet < civitas (city), qiell < caelum (sky), mik < amicus (friend).

After the Slavs arrived in the Balkans, another source of Albanian vocabulary were the Slavic languages, especially Bulgarian. The rise of the Ottoman Empire meant an influx of Turkish words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and Arabic words through Turkish. Surprisingly the Persian words seem to have been absorbed the most. Some loanwords from Modern Greek also exist especially in the south of Albania. A lot of the loaned words have been resubstituted from Albanian rooted words or modern Latinized (international) words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language