The Albanian Orthography Congress ( sq, Kongresi i Drejtshkrimit të Gjuhës Shqipe) was a

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

event held in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

People's Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...

in 1972. It established for the first time the unified orthographic rules of the

Albanian language Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...

which are still in use today.

Background

The efforts of establishing unified orthographic rules for the Albanian language had started in 1916 with the Literary Commission, in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

, which aimed mainly in establishing a literary standard and established an "as phonetic as possible" approach of the future set of orthographic rules. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the differences and divergences between writing from within

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

and its adjacent Albanian populated regions were becoming visible. With the establishment of the

University of Prishtina The University of Pristina ( sq, Universiteti i Prishtinës) is a public university located in Pristina, Kosovo. It is the institution that emerged after the disestablishment of the University of Pristina (1969–99) as a result of the K ...

and the spread of

Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Alba ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, the unification of orthographic rules became crucial. Serious attempts were made in the '60s toward the standardization, starting with the publication ''Rregullat e drejtshkrimit të shqipes'' (Rules of Albanian language orthography) by a joint project of the

University of Tirana The University of Tirana ( sq, Universiteti i Tiranës, abbreviated UT) is a public university located at the central borough of Tirana 10 in Tirana, Albania. It was established as the ''State University of Tirana'' in 1957 through merging of f ...

and the Institute of Linguistics and Literature led by Androkli Kostallari. A conference was held in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

in 1968, the Linguistic Conference of Pristina (Alb: Konsulta gjuhësore e Prishtinës), where the literary standard used so far in Albania and based in the Tosk Albanian dialect was adopted by the Albanians of Yugoslavia at the expense of the Gheg dialect.

Event

The congress took place in Tirana from 20 to 25 November 1972. Its moto was "One nation, one language". It was organized by the Institute of Linguistics and Literature (Instituti i gjuhësisë) and the University of Tirana. 87 delegates from Albania, Yugoslavia, and

Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name * Arbëresh ...

participated. The congress issued a resolution which established the rules and principles of the standard Albanian orthography as developed up to that time. The conclusions of the congress were further elaborated by a post-deployment commission (Androkli Kostallari, Eqerem Çabej,

Mahir Domi Mahir Domi (1915–2000) was an Albanian linguist, professor, and academic. He was one of the organizers and main participants of the Albanian Orthography Congress, and member of the follow up commission responsible for deploying the orthograp ...

, Emil Lafe) which published and distributed the volumes ''Orthography of the Albanian language'' (Alb: Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe) of 1973 and ''Orthographic dictionary of the Albanian language'' (Alb: Fjalor drejtshkrimor i gjuhës shqipe) of 1976. The standard established by the congress is still in place today with very few changes by other recent Albanian language-related conferences.

Notable participants

The following list of notable participants were signatories of the decision adopted by the congress of the new orthographic standards:

Importance

The congress was a milestone event in the history of the Albanian language. The unification of orthography was crucial for the identity of the Albanian language. It was considered a big success the encompassing of the Yugoslavia-based literature and press under the umbrella of the linguistic authorities of Tirana, thus contributing in a stronger unified Albanian identity.

Criticism

Arshi Pipa Arshi Pipa (28 July 1920 – 20 July 1997) was an Albanian-American philosopher, writer, poet and literary critic. Biography Arshi Pipa was born on 28 July 1920 in Shkodër and attended school there until 1938. Pipa received a BA equivale ...

, was one of the strongest critics of the time toward the congress and the rules that came out if it, due to the deprivation of Gheg element in favour of the Tosk one. Similar discussions continue as to date. In addition to the limitations induced by the young age of the academic institutions in the Albanian world, deep concerns were raised due to the delegate selection criteria in order to meet the communist political agenda, participation of simple elementary school teachers without any academic background, low number of

academic titles Academic titles may refer to: * Academic degrees * Academic ranks * Titles of works in academic publishing Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is publish ...

of the delegates in overall, as well as non-specific Albanian language concentration of the ones that did have academic titles. Concretely, 72 out of 85 did not have a scientific degree, out of 15 others 5 of them had scientific degrees in other fields (not linguistics). Out of 5 linguists with scientific degrees, one was on

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

(Kostallari). For the rest, over 2/3 of the delegates had the only foreign language the Russian language or the Serbo-Croatian one. 37 of the delegates did not make it to enter the ''Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (Alb: Fjalori Enciklopedik Shqiptar). Many other researchers and albanologists have reacted in favor of the congress's decisions, sending petitions to

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Edi Rama Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former university lecturer, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairm ...

that the standard should not be revised. Kristo Frashëri, Albania's main personality in the field of history, rejected any criticism. According to Frashëri, "the language is not a monopoly of the linguists, it belongs to all those who speak the language, the standard has incorporated many aspects of the Gheg dialect as well, and that two orthography standards would lead to two separate nations, just like

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

and

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

References