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Tosk
Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is the basis of the standard Albanian language. Major Tosk-speaking groups include the Myzeqars of Myzeqe, Labs of Labëria, Chams of Çamëria, Arvanites of Greece and the Arbëreshë of Italy, as well as the original inhabitants of Mandritsa in Bulgaria. In North Macedonia, there were approximately 3000 speakers in the early 1980s. Tosk features * Rhotacism: Proto-Albanian ''*-n-'' becomes ''-r-'' (e.g. ''rëra'' "sand") * Tosk dialects preserve the consonant sequences ''mb'', ''ngj'' and ''nd'' which are assimilated to ''m'', ''nj'' and ''n'' in Gheg. * 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'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tosks
Tosks () are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Ghegs) differentiated by their linguistic characteristics. Territory ''Tosk'' or ''Toskëri'' may refer to the Tosk-speaking Albanians, Albanian population of southern Albania and internal subgroups include the Myzeqars of Myzeqe. The Labs of Labëria (name version in ) and Cham Albanians, Chams of Chameria, Çamëria are separate southern Albanian subgroups "In fact the Liaps and Tsams claimed to be autonomous tribes, distinct and separate from the Gegs and Tosks" "The Albanians are divided into two subgroups: southerners (Tosks, Labs and Chams) and northerners (Gegs), with a border formed by the river Shkumbin." "In historical literature the Chams are thought to form one of the four Albanian tribes (the Labs, Tosks and Gegs are the other three)." which at times are also included in the category of Tosks due to ethno-cultural and dialectal similarities. The Arvanites of Greece and Arbëreshë pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Albanian Language
Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It is the native language of the Albanian people. Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo, and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro, where it is the primary language of significant Albanian minority communities. Albanian is recognized as a minority language in Italy, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia. It is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Proto-Albanian Language
Proto-Albanian is the ancestral Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed language of Albanian language, Albanian, before the Gheg Albanian, Gheg–Tosk Albanian, Tosk dialectal diversification (before ). Albanoid and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Whether descendants or sister languages of what was called Illyrian language, Illyrian by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic language, Messapic, on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in a Albanoid, common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE, with the beginning of the early Proto-Albanian phase. Proto-Albanian is reconstructed by way of the comparative method between the Tosk Albanian, Tosk and Gheg Albanian, Gh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Proto-Albanian
Proto-Albanian is the ancestral reconstructed language of Albanian, before the Gheg– Tosk dialectal diversification (before ). Albanoid and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Whether descendants or sister languages of what was called Illyrian by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic, on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in a common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE, with the beginning of the early Proto-Albanian phase. Proto-Albanian is reconstructed by way of the comparative method between the Tosk and Gheg dialects and between Albanian and other Indo-European languages, as well as through contact linguistics studying early loanwords from and into Albanian and structural a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gheg Albanian
Gheg or Geg (Gheg Albanian: ''gegnisht'', Standard ) is one of the two major varieties of Albanian, the other being Tosk. The geographic dividing line between the two varieties is the Shkumbin River, which winds its way through central Albania. Gheg is spoken in northern and central Albania, Kosovo, northwestern North Macedonia, southeastern Montenegro and southern Serbia by the Albanian dialectal subgroup known as Ghegs.Joseph 2003, When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence, p. 266: "Northeastern Geg" Gheg does not have any official status as a written language in any country. Publications in Kosovo and North Macedonia are in Standard Albanian, which is based on Tosk. However, some authors continue to write in Gheg. History Before World War II, there had been no official attempt to enforce a unified Albanian literary language; both literary Gheg and literary Tosk were used. The communist regime in Albania i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lab Albanian Dialect
The Lab Albanian dialect () is a Tosk Albanian dialect associated with the wider definition of the ethnographic region of Labëria, spoken by Lab Albanians. Under this wider definition of Labëria, Lab Albanian stretches from Vlorë and Mallakastër south and east up to Gjirokastër, Lunxhëria and Sarandë. Notable aspects of Lab in Albanian and wider Balkan areal linguistics include its peculiar mix of conservative and innovative features, the lack (in some varieties) of typical Albanian Balkanisms like the admirative, and the presence of features typical of Northern Gheg dialects despite it being a Southern dialect. Classification Labërishtja is a subdivision of the Southern Tosk group, which is itself a subdivision of Tosk Albanian, the collection of Albanian dialects south of the Shkumbin River. As such, it is most closely related to the Cham dialect of Chamëria, the Arbereshe of the old Albanian diaspora in Italy, and the Arvanitika of Arvanites in Greece. Chara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Arvanitika
Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika was brought to Southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Albanian settlers who moved south from their homeland in present-day Albania in several waves. The dialect preserves elements of medieval Albanian, while also being significantly influenced by the Greek language. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it. Name The name ''Arvanítika'' and its native equivalent Arbërisht are derived from the ethnonym ''Arvanites'', which in turn comes from the toponym Arbën or Arbër (Greek: Άρβανον), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in modern Albania. Its native equivalents (''Arbërorë, Arbëreshë'' and others) used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. In the past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Arbëresh Language
Arbëresh (; also known as ''Arbërisht'') are the Albanian linguistic varieties spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Italy, brought there by several migratory waves of Albanians from Albania and Greece since the Late Middle Ages. Arbëresh varieties are derived from the old Tosk Albanian varieties spoken in the south-western Balkans, and throughout the centuries they have developed in Italy in contact with the neighboring Italo-Romance-speaking communities. Other Tosk Albanian varieties from the Late Middle Ages referred to as Arvanitika (endonym: ''arbërisht'') are spoken in Greece by the Arvanites. ''E Mbësuame e Krështerë'' (1592) by Luca Matranga from Piana degli Albanesi is the earliest known Old Tosk text, a translation of a catechism book from Latin. The Arbëreshë people are bilingual, also speaking Italian. Arbëresh is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''. While Italian law protects the language and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cham Albanian Dialect
The Cham Albanian dialect (), also called Cham Tosk or Arvanitika, is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Cham Albanians, an Albanian ethnic sub-group native to the region of Chameria in southern Albania and northwestern Greece. Historical background Albanians in the region of Epirus are attested in historical sources since the beginning of the 13th century. A Venetian document (1210) mentions that "the continent facing the island of Corfu is inhabited by Albanians" and a letter from John Apokaukos, Metropolitan of Naupaktos, to a George Dysipati (ancestor of the Shpata family). Albanian tribes moved to the south in large numbers in the early 14th century and established territories like the Despotate of Arta. During much of the Ottoman period, most of the writing in Chameria was done in Greek or in Turkish, and Cham Albanian was a spoken dialect only, while Albanians found it difficult to find education in their native language. Christian Albanians could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Çamëria
Chameria (; , ''Tsamouriá'') is a term used today mostly by Albanians to refer to parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and Greece, traditionally associated with the Albanian ethnic subgroup of the Chams.Elsie, Robert and Bejtullah D. Destani (2012). ''The Cham Albanians of Greece: A Documentary History''. IB Tauris. . p. XXIX. "Chameria is a mountainous region of the southwestern Balkan Peninsula that now straddles the Greek-Albanian border. Most of Chameria is in the Greek Province of Epirus, corresponding largely to the prefectures of Thesprotia and Preveza, but it also includes the southernmost part of Albania, the area around Konispol. It is approximately 10,000 square kilometres in size and has a current, mostly Greek-speaking population of about 150,000. As an historical region, Chameria, also spelled Chamuria, Chamouria or Tsiamouria, is sometimes confused with Epirus which is in fact a much larger area that includes more inland territory in northweste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cham Albanians
Cham Albanians or Chams (; , ), are a sub-group of Albanians who originally resided in the western part of the region of Epirus in southwestern Albania and northwestern Greece, an area known among Albanians as Chameria. The Chams have their own particular cultural identity within Albanian sub-groups. A number of Chams contributed to the Albanian National Awakening, Albanian national identity and played an important role in starting the renaissance of the Albanian culture in the 19th century. The Chams speak their own Albanian dialects, dialect of the Albanian language, the Cham Albanian dialect, which is a Southern Tosk Albanian dialect and one of the two most conservative ones; the other being Arvanitika. During the late 1930s Chams suffered from intimidation and persecution under the 4th of August Regime, dictatorship of General Ioannis Metaxas, Metaxas. Following the Italian invasion of Albania, Italian occupation of Albania in 1939, the Chams became a prominent propaganda t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Albanoid
Albanoid or Albanic is a branch or subfamily of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European (IE) languages, of which Albanian language varieties are the only surviving representatives. In current classifications of the IE language family, Albanian is grouped in the same IE branch with Messapic language, Messapic, an ancient extinct language, extinct language of Balkan provenance that is preserved in about six hundred inscriptions from Iron Age Apulia. This IE subfamily is alternatively referred to as Illyric, Illyrian complex, Western Paleo-Balkan, or Adriatic Indo-European.; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . Concerning "Illyrian language, Illyrian" of classical antiquity, it is not clear whether the scantly documented evidence actually represents one language and not material from several languages, but if "Illyrian" is defined as the ancient precursor of Albanian or the sibling of Proto-Albanian it is automatically included in this IE branch.; ; ; ; Albanoid is also used to explain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
