View source for Albanian language

{{Short description|Indo-European language}}
{{Redirect2|Arbënisht|Arbërisht|other uses|Arbërisht (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Albanian
| nativename       = {{lang|sq|Shqip}}<br>{{lang|sq|gjuha shqipe}}<br/>{{lang|sq|Arbërisht}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|sq|ʃcip||sq-shqip.oga}}<br />{{IPA|sq|ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ|}}<br />{{IPA|sq|aɾbəˈɾiʃt|}}
| states           = {{Plainlist|
* [[Languages of Albania|Albania]]
* [[Languages of Kosovo|Kosovo]]
* [[Languages of Greece|Greece]]
* [[Languages of Italy|Italy]]
* [[Languages of Montenegro|Montenegro]]
* [[Languages of North Macedonia|North Macedonia]]
* [[Languages of Serbia|Serbia]]
}}
| ethnicity        = [[Albanians]]
| speakers         = 7.5 million
| date             = 2017
| ref              = {{sfn|Rusakov|2017|p=552}}<ref name="KlBrFr1800"/>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Albanoid]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Albanian language|Proto-Albanian]]
| dia1             = [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]] (<small>[[Arbanasi dialect|Arbanasi]] · [[Istrian Albanian|Istrian]]{{extinct}} · [[Upper Reka dialect|Upper Reka]] · [[Gheg Albanian#Malsia Albanian|Malsia e Madhe]]</small>)
| dia2             = [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]] (<small>[[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]] · [[Arvanitika]] · [[Cham Albanian dialect|Cham]] · [[Lab Albanian dialect|Lab]]</small>)
| listclass        = flatlist
| script           = {{ubl|[[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Albanian alphabet]])|[[Albanian Braille]]}}
| nation           = {{ubl|{{flag|Albania}}|{{flag|Kosovo}}|{{flag|North Macedonia}} <small>(co-official)</small>|{{flag|Montenegro}} <small>(co-official)</small><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=187544|title=Constitution of Montenegro|chapter-url=http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=187544#LinkTarget_1506|chapter=Language and alphabet Article 13|publisher=[[WIPO]]|date=19 October 2007|quote=Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian shall also be in the official use.}}</ref>}}
| minority         = {{ubl|{{flag|Italy}}<ref name="Franceschini533534">{{harvnb|Franceschini|2014|pp=533–534 [https://books.google.com/books?id=wKnnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT536]}}</ref>|{{flag|Serbia}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/EvaluationReports/SerbiaECRML2_en.pdf|title=Application of the Charter in Serbia|publisher=European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|date=11 June 2013|pages=4–5, 9}}</ref>|{{flag|Croatia}}<ref name="Franceschini546">{{cite book|last=Franceschini|first=Rita|chapter=Italy and the Italian-Speaking Regions|editor-last=Fäcke|editor-first=Christiane|title=Manual of Language Acquisition|year=2014|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH|isbn=9783110394146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zM_mBQAAQBAJ&q=Manual+of+Language+Acquisition&pg=PA1|pages=546}}</ref>|{{flag|Romania}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.148 – European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|url=http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations?p_auth=63PpH3zN|website=Council of Europe|access-date=3 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208122308/http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations?p_auth=63PpH3zN|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>}}
| agency           = [[Academy of Sciences of Albania]]<br>[[Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo]]
| iso1             = sq
| iso2b            = alb
| iso2t            = sqi
| lingua           = 55-AAA-aaa to 55-AAA-ahe (25 varieties)
| iso3             = sqi
| lc1              = aae
| ld1              = [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]]
| lc2              = aat
| ld2              = [[Arvanitika]]
| lc3              = aln
| ld3              = [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]]
| lc4              = als
| ld4              = [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]]
| glotto           = alba1267
| glottorefname    = Albanian
| map              = Albanian language map en.svg
| mapcaption       = The [[Albanian dialects|dialects]] of the Albanian language in Southern Europe.<ref name="Northern Tosk Albanian">{{Cite journal|last1=Coretta|first1=Stefano|title=Northern Tosk Albanian|last2=Riverin-Coutlée|first2=Josiane|last3=Kapia|first3=Enkeleida|last4=Nichols|first4=Stephen|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|year=2022|volume=53|issue=3|location=Illustration of the IPA|pages=1–23|doi=10.1017/S0025100322000044|doi-access=free|hdl=20.500.11820/ebce2ea3-f955-4fa5-9178-e1626fbae15f|hdl-access=free}}</ref>{{NoteTag|The map does not indicate where the language is majority or minority.}}
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Albanian''' ([[Endonym and exonym|endonym]]: {{lang|sq|shqip}} {{IPA|sq|ʃcip||sq-shqip.oga}}, {{lang|sq|gjuha shqipe}} {{IPA|sq|ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ|}}, or {{lang|sq|arbërisht}} {{IPA|sq|aɾbəˈɾiʃt|}}) 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]].<ref>{{harvnb|Orel|2000|p=12}}; {{harvnb|Matzinger|2018|p=1790}}; {{harvnb|Matasović|2019|p=39}}; {{harvnb|Hamp|1963|p=104}}; {{harvnb|Katicic|2012|p=184|ps=: "And yet we know that it is the continuation of a language spoken in the Balkans already in ancient times. This has been proved by the fact that there are Ancient Greek loan words in Albanian".}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="KlBrFr1800"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Fatjona Mejdini|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/albania-registers-diaspora-after-more-than-two-decade-12-14-2015|title=Albania Aims to Register its Huge Diaspora|publisher=Balkan Insight|date=3 May 2013|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers.{{sfn|Rusakov|2017|p=552}}<ref name="KlBrFr1800"/>

Albanian and other [[Paleo-Balkan languages]] had their formative core in the [[Balkans]] after the [[Indo-European migrations]] in the region.<ref name=Friedman>{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Victor|title=The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact: Volume 1: Population Movement and Language Change|series=Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics|chapter=The Balkans|editor=Salikoko Mufwene, Anna Maria Escobar|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2022|isbn=9781009115773|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWB2EAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name=Lazaridis_et_al.>{{cite journal|author-last1= Lazaridis|author-first1= Iosif|author-last2= Alpaslan-Roodenberg|author-first2=Songül|display-authors=et al.|title=The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe|journal=Science|volume=377|issue=6609|date=26 August 2022|pages=eabm4247|pmid=36007055|pmc=10064553| doi=10.1126/science.abm4247|bibcode=|s2cid=251843620}}</ref> Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an [[Illyrian language]] for obvious geographic and historical reasons,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coretta|first1=Stefano|last2=Riverin-Coutlée|first2=Josiane|last3=Kapia|first3=Enkeleida|last4=Nichols|first4=Stephen|title=Northern Tosk Albanian|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|date=16 August 2022|volume=53|issue=3|pages=1122–1144|doi=10.1017/S0025100322000044|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/northern-tosk-albanian/D27484BD90369B3BC0FBA9479074ED88|quote=Though the origin of the language has been debated, the prevailing opinion in the literature is that it is a descendant of Illyrian (Hetzer 1995).|hdl=20.500.11820/ebce2ea3-f955-4fa5-9178-e1626fbae15f|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Matasović|2019|p=5|ps=: "Much has been written about the origin of the Albanian language. The  most  probable predecessor of  Albanian  was  Illyrian,  since  much  of  the  present-day  Albania  was inhabited by the Illyrians during the Antiquity, but the comparison of the two languages is impossible  because  almost  nothing  is  known  about  Illyrian,  despite  the  fact  that  two handbooks of that language have been published (by Hans Krahe and Anton Mayer)... examination  of  personal  names  and  toponyms  from Illyricum shows that  several onomastic areas can be distinguished, and these onomastic areas just might correspond to  different  languages  spoken  in  ancient Illyricum. If Illyrians actually  spoke  several different  languages,  the  question  arises -from  which  'Illyrian' language  did  Albanian develop,  and  that  question  cannot  be  answered  until  new  data  are  discovered. The single "Illyrian" gloss preserved in Greek (rhínon 'fog') may have the reflex in Alb. (Gheg) re͂ 'cloud' (Tosk re)< PAlb. *ren-."}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Beekes|2011|p=25}}: "It is often thought (for obvious geographic reasons) that Albanian descends from ancient Illyrian (see above), but this cannot be ascertained as we know next to nothing about Illyrian itself."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=446}}: "Albanian forms its own separate branch of Indo-European; it is the last branch to appear in written records. This is one of the reasons why its origins are shrouded in mystery and controversy. The widespread assertion that it is the modern–day descendant of Illyrian, spoken in much the same region during classical times ([...]), makes geographic and historical sense but is linguistically untestable since we know so little about Illyrian."</ref>{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|p=11|ps=: "Although there are some lexical items that appear to be shared between Romanian (and by extension Dacian) and Albanian, by far the strongest connections can be argued between Albanian and Illyrian. The latter was at least attested in what is historically regarded as Albanian territory and there is no evidence of any major migration into Albanian territory since our records of Illyrian occupation. The loan words from Greek and Latin date back to before the Christian era and suggest that the ancestors of the Albanians must have occupied Albania by then to have absorbed such loans from their histori-cal neighbors. As the Illyrians occupied Albanian territory at this time, they are the most likely recipients of such loans."}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Villar|first=Francisco|title=Los indoeuropeos y los orígenes de Europa|language=es|publisher=Gredos|place=Madrid|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5NbPAAACAAJ|isbn=84-249-1787-1|pages=313–314, 316}}</ref> or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that was closely related to Illyrian and [[Messapic language|Messapic]].{{sfn|Friedman|2020|p=388}}{{sfn|Matzinger|2018|p=1790}}{{sfn|Ismajli|2015|p=45}}{{sfn|Hamp|Adams|2013|p=8}} The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called [[Albanoid]] in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group.{{sfn|Trumper|2018|p=385}} Whether descendants or sisters 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 common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family.{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=235}}{{sfn|Friedman|2020|p=388}}{{sfn|Trumper|2018|p=385}}{{sfn|Ismajli|2015|p=45}}{{sfn|Hamp|Adams|2013|p=8}}

The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the [[Republic of Ragusa]], while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462.{{sfn|Matasović|2019|p=39}} The two main [[Albanian dialects|Albanian dialect groups]] (or [[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]]), [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]] and [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]], are primarily distinguished by [[Phonology|phonological]] differences and are [[Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] in their standard varieties,<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|Esposito|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00brow_869/page/n59 23]}}: {{blockquote|"...these innovations, as those that are also evident in different varieties of Gheg, are not such as to impede communication between speakers of the two dialects. Furthermore, the major part of the Albanian lexicon is common to the two dialects."}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=446}}: "The two dialects are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, although numerous subdialects exist that show considerable variation, especially in the north and northeast of the Geg–speaking area."</ref> with Gheg spoken to the north and Tosk spoken to the south of the [[Shkumbin|Shkumbin river]].<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|Esposito|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00brow_869/page/n59 23]}}: {{blockquote|"The river Shkumbin in central Albania historically forms the boundary between those two dialects, with the population on the north speaking varieties of Geg and the population on the south varieties of Tosk."}}</ref> Their characteristics<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|2006|p=102}}: {{blockquote|"It is the case of the evolution of stressed /a-/ and partly stressed /e-/ in front of a nasal consonant to /ë-/ in thee southern dialect. While the evolution /a-/ > /ë/ in front of a nasal consonant has involved the southern dialect, the evolution /e-/ > /-ë/ in the same phonetic conditions has not taken place in the northern part and partly in the eastern part of that dialect (...). This phonetic phenomenon has appeared earlier than rhotacism, as it is clearly evidenced in such examples as ''llanë'' > ''llërë'', ''ranë'' > ''rërë'' etc., in which the evolution /a-/ > /ë-/ could not take place before /-r-/. Since this phonetic change has not appeared in the Slavic loanwords of Albanian, but has involved mainly the I.E. inherited words as well as the loans from Old Greek (compare ''mokënë'' > ''mokërë'' < ''māk<sup>h</sup>anāʼ'' etc.) and from Latin (compare ''ranë'' > ''rërë'' > ''arena'' etc.), it has generally been acknowledged that it has taken place in the pre-Slavic period of Albanian. Its sporadic appearance in a very reduced number of Slavic loanwords is due to the action of analogy with similar cases of inherited or more ancient loans of Albanian."}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|Esposito|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00brow_869/page/n59 23]}}: {{blockquote|"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."}}</ref> in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after [[Christianisation]] of the region (4th century AD),<ref name="Adams1997">{{cite book|author=Douglas Q. Adams|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA11|date=January 1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-98-5|pages=9, 11|quote=The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far-reaching phonological changes which have so altered the shape of inherited IE words while Slavic and Turkish words do not show these changes. Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into the Balkans in the fifth and sixth centuries AD [middle of p. 11] [...] The loan words from Greek and Latin date back to before the Christian era [p. 9] [...] Even very common words such as ''mik'' ʻfriendʼ (< Lat ''amicus'') or ''këndoj'' ʻI sing; readʼ (< Lat ''cantāre'') come from Latin and attest to a widespread intermingling of pre-Albanian and Balkan Latin speakers during the Roman period, roughly from the second century BC to the fifth century AD. [before middle of p. 11]}}</ref><ref name="Fortson2010–448">{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=448}}: "The dialectal split into Geg and Tosk happened sometime after the region became Christianized in the fourth century AD: Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism, such as Tosk ''murgu'' 'monk' (Geg ''mungu'') from Lat. ''monachus''."</ref> and most likely not later than the 6th century AD,<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|2010|pp=77–78}}</ref>{{sfn|Rusakov|2017|p=559}}<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|2006|pp=102–103}}: {{blockquote|"...such sporadic analogical cases do not reverse the generally acknowledged conclusion that this dialectal peculiarity as a phonetic process has appeared in pre-Slavic period of Albanian and is relatively more ancient than the rhotacism. It has most probably appeared not later than the V-VI centuries A.D."}}</ref> hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by the Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the [[Jireček Line]].<ref>See also Hamp 1963 ''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.''</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|2006|p=103}}: {{blockquote|"And, as it was pointed out in §3, since the dialectal differentiations have appeared in a certain geographical area, one is entitled to draw the conclusion that the speakers of the northern and southern dialects have been present in their actual areas in the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period of Albanian."}}</ref>

Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in [[Greece]] (the [[Arvanites]] and some communities in [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]], [[Western Macedonia]] and [[Albanian-speakers of Western Thrace|Western Thrace]]),<ref name=Euromosaic>{{cite web|url=http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/albanes/fr/i2/i2.html|title=L'arvanite/albanais en Grèce|access-date=5 December 2016|author=Euromosaic project|year=2006|publisher=[[European Commission]]|location=Brussels|language=fr}}</ref> [[Croatia]] (the [[Arbanasi people|Arbanasi]]), [[Italy]] (the [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/1617/italy/albanians.html|title=Albanians in Italy|access-date=2 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121173237/http://www.minorityrights.org/1617/italy/albanians.html|archive-date=21 January 2012}}</ref> as well as in [[Albanians of Romania|Romania]], [[Albanians of Turkey|Turkey]] and [[Albanians in Ukraine|Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albanianlanguage.net/|title=Robert Elsie|publisher=The Albanian Language|date=25 November 1972|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> The [[Gheg Albanian#Malsia Albanian|Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dedvukaj|first1=Lindon|last2=Ndoci|first2=Rexhina|title=Linguistic variation within the Northwestern Gheg Albanian dialect|journal=Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America|publisher=[[Linguistic Society of America]]|doi=10.3765/plsa.v8i1.5501|volume=8|number=1|year=2023|page=5501 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dedvukaj|first1=Lindon|last2=Gehringer|first2=Patrick|title=Morphological and phonological origins of Albanian nasals and its parallels with other laws|journal=Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America|publisher=[[Linguistic Society of America]]|doi=10.3765/plsa.v8i1.5508|volume=8|number=1|year=2023|page=5508 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and two varieties of the Tosk dialect, [[Arvanitika]] in Greece and [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]] in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language.<ref>{{harvnb|Demiraj|Esposito|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00brow_869/page/n59 23]}}.</ref> [[Ethnic Albanians]] constitute a large [[diaspora]], with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak the language.<ref>Mai, Nicola. "The Albanian diaspora-in-the-making: media, migration and social exclusion." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31, no. 3 (2005): 543–561.</ref><ref>de Rapper, Gilles. "Albanians facing the Ottoman past: the case of the Albanian diaspora in Turkey." (2005).</ref><ref>Gkaintartzi, Anastasia, Aspasia Chatzidaki, and Roula Tsokalidou. "Albanian parents and the Greek educational context: Who is willing to fight for the home language?." International Multilingual Research Journal 8, no. 4 (2014): 291–308.</ref>

[[Standard Albanian]] is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]].

==Geographic distribution==
{{Main|Albanians}}
[[File:Recognized Albanian Language Map.png|thumb|Map of countries where Albanian holds official status: {{legend|#ff0000|Official language}}
{{legend|#ff8080|Recognised minority language}}]]
The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, [[Kosovo]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Serbia]], [[Montenegro]] and [[Greece]].{{sfn|Rusakov|2017|p=552}} However, due to old communities in [[Italy]] and the large [[Albanian diaspora]], the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in [[Southern Europe]] and numbers approximately 7.5 million.{{sfn|Rusakov|2017|p=552}}<ref name="KlBrFr1800">{{cite book|last1=Klein|first1=Jared|last2=Brian|first2=Joseph|last3=Fritz|first3=Matthias|title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics|year=2018|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110542431|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SuR8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1800|pages=1800}}</ref>

===Europe===
The Albanian language is the official language of [[Albania]] and [[Kosovo]] and a co-official language in [[North Macedonia]] and [[Montenegro]].<ref>{{Cite web|orig-date=September 2020|title=Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo (with amendments I-XXVI)|url=https://guides.loc.gov/law-kosovo/constitution|website=[[Library of Congress]]|quote=Article 5 [Languages] 1. The official languages in the Republic of Kosovo are Albanian and Serbian.{{nbsp}}...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Trandafili|first1=Evis|last2=Meçe|first2=Elinda Kajo|last3=Duka|first3=Enea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=li3KDwAAQBAJ|title=Complex Pattern Mining: New Challenges, Methods and Applications|date=2020|publisher=[[Springer Nature]]|isbn=978-3-030-36617-9|page=89|language=en|quote=It [Albanian] is the official language of Albania, the co-official language of Kosovo, and the co-official language of many western municipalities of the Republic of Macedonia. Albanian is also spoken widely in some areas in Greece, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia, and in some towns in southern Italy and Sicily.|editor-last=Appice|editor-first=Annalisa|editor-last2=Ceci|editor-first2=Michelangelo|editor-last3=Loglisci|editor-first3=Corrado|editor-last4=Manco|editor-first4=Giuseppe|editor-last5=Masciari|editor-first5=Elio|editor-last6=Ras|editor-first6=Zbigniew W.}}</ref> Albanian is a recognised minority language in [[Croatia]], [[Italy]], [[Romania]] and in [[Serbia]]. Albanian is also spoken by a [[Albanian communities in Greece|minority in Greece]], specifically in the [[Thesprotia]] and [[Preveza (regional unit)|Preveza]] regional units and in a few villages in [[Ioannina (regional unit)|Ioannina]] and [[Florina (regional unit)|Florina]] regional units in Greece.<ref name="Euromosaic" /> It is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek.

Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in [[Italy]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Linguistic diversity among foreign citizens in Italy|url=http://www.istat.it/en/archive/129304|publisher=Statistics of Italy|access-date=1 April 2015|date=25 July 2014}}</ref> This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]]. Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout [[Albanians in Germany|Germany]], [[Albanians in Switzerland|Switzerland]] and [[Austria]]. These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during the 1990s. In [[Albanians in Switzerland|Switzerland]], the Albanian language is the [[Languages of Switzerland#Other languages|sixth most spoken language]] with 176,293 native speakers.

Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-s-albanian-language-bill-becomes-law/29711502.html|title=Macedonia's Albanian-Language Bill Becomes Law| newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty| date=15 January 2019}}</ref>

===Americas===
There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and [[Albanian Canadians|Canada]]. Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have a strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of [[Tosk Albanian]] called [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]].

In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 [[Albanian Americans|Albanian]] speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}

In Argentina, there are nearly [[Argentina#Languages|40,000 Albanian speakers]], mostly in Buenos Aires.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/HALCoRe_derivate_00003672/Albanianmigration.pdf|title=Albanian migration|access-date=9 July 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916221528/http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/HALCoRe_derivate_00003672/Albanianmigration.pdf|archive-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>{{request quotation|date=April 2022}}

===Asia and Africa===
Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in [[Turkey]], with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and [[Culture of Albania|culture]]. There are other estimates, however, that place the number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is [[Language shift|assimilated]] and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in [[Istanbul]] to this day.

[[Egypt]] also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly [[Tosk]] speakers.<ref name="Saunders98">{{cite book|last=Saunders|first=Robert A.|title=Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace: The Internet, Minority Nationalism, and the Web of Identity|year=2011|location=Lanham|publisher=Lexington Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vM5hZEsdz94C&pg=PA98|isbn=9780739141946|page=98|quote= "In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. There are upwards of 5 million ethnic Albanians in the Turkish Republic; however, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to some 18,000 Albanians, supposedly lingering remnants of Mohammad Ali's army."}}</ref> Many are descendants of the [[Janissary]] of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]], an Albanian who became [[Wāli]], and self-declared [[Khedive]] of Egypt and [[Sudan]]. In addition to the [[Muhammad Ali dynasty|dynasty]] that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese [[aristocracy]] was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world.

===Oceania===
Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].

=== Number of native speakers ===
The following table provides data on the number of native Albanian speakers by country, according to the most recent publicly available sources. The number of speakers is presented as an absolute value for the total population, obtained by projecting the valid answers to the total population (thus not taking into account unanswered questionnaires, missing data or excluded age ranges).

{{Pie chart
| thumb = left
| caption = Distribution of Albanian native speakers by country
| value1 = 36.2
| label1 = [[Albania]]
| color1 = Red
| value2 = 22.9
| label2 = [[Kosovo]]
| color2 = Blue
| value3 = 9.2
| label3 = [[Germany]]
| color3 = Yellow
| value4 = 7.4
| label4 = [[North Macedonia]]
| color4 = Orange
| value5 = 6.5
| label5 = [[Italy]]
| color5 = Green
| value6 = 5.8
| label6 = [[Greece]]
| color6 = Cyan
| value7 = 4.7
| label7 = [[Switzerland]]
| color7 = Pink
| value8 = 2.9
| label8 = [[United States]]
| color8 = DarkBlue
| value9 = 4.3
| label9 = Others
| color9 = Grey
}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Country
!Speakers
!Percentage
!Source
!Definition
!Notes
|-
|{{flag|Albania}}
|2,347,700
|97.7%
|2023 census<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Albanian Population and Housing Census 2023 |url=https://www.instat.gov.al/en/publications/books/2024/albanian-population-and-housing-census-2023/ |website=Instat}}</ref>
|Language spoken at home 
|
|-
|{{flag|Australia}}
|11,510
|0.05%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-12 |title=Cultural diversity: Census, 2021 {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=www.abs.gov.au |language=en}}</ref>
|Language spoken at home
|
|-
|{{flag|Austria}}
|28,212
|0.35%
|2001 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hauptergebnisse I – Österreich |url=https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/publications/Volkszaehlung_2001__Hauptergebnisse_I_-_OEsterreich.pdf}}</ref>
|Colloquial language
|
|-
|{{flag|Bosnia Herzegovina}}
|2,420
|0.07%
|2013 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linguistic composition of Bosnia & Herzegovina 2013 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/bosnia-lang2013.htm |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Canada}}
|32,305
|0.09%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2022-08-17 |title=Mother tongue by geography, 2021 Census |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/dv-vd/language-langue/index-en.html |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Croatia}}
|13,576
|0.35%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Objavljeni konačni rezultati Popisa 2021. |url=https://dzs.gov.hr/vijesti/objavljeni-konacni-rezultati-popisa-2021/1270 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=dzs.gov.hr}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|England}} and {{flag|Wales}}
|54,045
|0.09%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Main language (detailed) – Office for National Statistics |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS024/editions/2021/versions/1 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.ons.gov.uk}}</ref>
|Main language
|Usual residents aged 3 years and over.
|-
|{{flag|Finland}}
|17,779
|0.32%
|2023 official survey<ref>{{Cite web |title=Population 31.12. by Region, Language, Age, Sex, Year and Information |url=https://statfin.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11rl.px/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=PxWeb |language=en}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Germany}}
|601,000
|0.73%
|2024 microcensus<ref name=":222">{{Cite journal |date= |title=Statistischer Bericht – Mikrozensus – Bevölkerung nach Migrationshintergrund – Erstergebnisse 2024 |trans-title=Statistical report – Microcensus – Population by migration background – First results 2024 |url=https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/statistischer-bericht-migrationshintergrund-erst-2010220247005.xlsx?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |journal=Statistisches Bundesamt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520165518/https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/statistischer-bericht-migrationshintergrund-erst-2010220247005.xlsx?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |archive-date=20 May 2025 |language=de}}</ref>
|Language spoken at home
|
|-
|{{flag|Greece}}
|374,926
|3.57%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greece's population by citizenship 2021 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/greece-citizenship2021reg.htm |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref>
|Citizenship
|Better source needed. Used Albanian citizens for a rough estimate.
|-
|{{flag|Italy}}
|420,955
|0.71%
|2011 official survey<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diversità linguistiche tra i cittadini stranieri |url=https://www.istat.it/comunicato-stampa/diversita-linguistiche-tra-i-cittadini-stranieri-anno-2011-2012/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.istat.it |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Popolazione 2011 |url=https://www.istat.it/statistiche-per-temi/censimenti/censimenti-storici/popolazione-e-abitazioni/popolazione-2011/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.istat.it |language=it-IT}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|Only foreign residents aged 6 and over.
Does not include [[Arbëresh language]].
|-
|{{flag|Kosovo}}
|1,485,170
|92.7%
|2024 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linguistic composition of Kosovo 2024 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/kosovo-lang2024.htm |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|The census was partly boycotted by [[Kosovo Serbs]].
|-
|{{flag|Luxembourg}}
|1,357
|0.24%
|2021 census<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-08 |title=La diversité linguistique |url=https://statistiques.public.lu/fr/recensement/diversite-linguistique.html#video |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=statistiques.public.lu |language=fr}}</ref>
|Main language
|
|-
|{{flag|Montenegro}}
|32,715
|5.25%
|2023 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistical Office of Montenegro – MONSTAT |url=https://monstat.org/eng/novosti.php?id=4012 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=monstat.org |language=en}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Netherlands}}
|13,466
|0.08%
|2022 official survey<ref>{{Cite web |title=CBS Statline |url=https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=opendata.cbs.nl |language=nl}}</ref>
|Ancestry from Albania and Kosovo
|
|-
|{{flag|North Macedonia}}
|481,800
|26.23%
|2023 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Statistical Office: Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of North Macedonia, 2021 – first dataset |url=https://www.stat.gov.mk/PrikaziSoopstenie_en.aspx?rbrtxt=146 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.stat.gov.mk}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Serbia}}
|69,570
|1.04%
|2022 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Мother tongue, religion and ethnic affiliation {{!}} About Census |url=https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/en-us/5-vestisaopstenja/news-events/20230616-st/?a=0&s=0 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=popis2022.stat.gov.rs}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|The census excluded [[Kosovo]].
|-
|{{flag|Slovenia}}
|7,373
|0.38%
|2002 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linguistic composition of Slovenia 2002 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/slovenia-lang2002.htm |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref>
|Mother tongue
|
|-
|{{flag|Switzerland}}
|306,507
|3.39%
|2023 official survey<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le lingue principali più frequenti – 2010–2023 {{!}} Tabella |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/it/home.assetdetail.34247666.html |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Le lingue principali più frequenti – 2010–2023 {{!}} Tabella |language=it}}</ref>
|Main language
|
|-
|{{flag|United States}}
|186,621
|0.06%
|2023 official survey<ref>{{Cite web |title=2019–2023 5-year American Community Survey |url=https://usa.ipums.org/usa/sda/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=usa.ipums.org}}</ref>
|Language spoken at home
|Population 5 years and older
|-
!Total
!6,489,007
!
!
!
!
|}

==Dialects==
{{Main|Albanian dialects}}[[File:Albanian-dialects.svg|thumb|The dialects of the Albanian language|574x574px]]{{tree list}}
* '''Albanian'''
** [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]]
*** Northern Tosk
*** [[Labërisht]]
*** [[Cham Albanian dialect|Cham]]
*** [[Arvanitika]]
*** [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]]
** [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]]
*** Northwest Gheg
*** Northeast Gheg
*** Central Gheg
*** Southern Gheg
{{tree list/end|style=}}

The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]] which is spoken in the south, and [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]] spoken in the north.<ref>Gjinari, Jorgji. Dialektologjia shqiptare</ref> Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The [[Shkumbin River]] is the rough dividing line between the two dialects.<ref name=brown23>''The river Shkumbin in central Albania historically forms the boundary between those two dialects, with the population on the north speaking varieties of Geg and the population on the south varieties of Tosk.'' (page 23) [https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA23 Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World] By Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Contributor Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Edition: illustrated Published by Elsevier, 2008 {{ISBN|0-08-087774-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-08-087774-7}}</ref>

[[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]] is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, [[Kosovo]], and throughout [[Albanians in Montenegro|Montenegro]] and northwestern [[Albanians in Macedonia|North Macedonia]]. One fairly divergent dialect is the [[Upper Reka Albanian dialect|Upper Reka dialect]], which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in [[Croatia]], the [[Arbanasi dialect]].

[[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]] is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), [[Labërisht]], [[Cham Albanian dialect|Cham]], [[Arvanitika]], and [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]]. Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian is spoken in North-western Greece,<ref name="Prendergast 2017 87">{{cite thesis|last=Prendergast|first=Eric|date=2017|title=The Origin and Spread of Locative Determiner Omission in the Balkan Linguistic Area|type=Ph.D|publisher=University of California Berkeley|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nk454x6|page=87}}</ref> while [[Arvanitika language|Arvanitika]] is spoken by the [[Arvanites]] in southern Greece. In addition, [[Arbëresh language|Arbëresh]] is spoken by the [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]] people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of [[Sicily]] and [[Calabria]].<ref>The Italo-Albanian villages of southern Italy Issue 25 of Foreign field research program, report, National Research Council (U.S.) Division of Earth Sciences Volume 1149 of Publication (National Research Council (U.S.)) Foreign field research program, sponsored by Office of Naval research, report; no.25 Issue 25 of Report, National Research Council (U.S.). Division of Earth Sciences Volume 1149 of (National Academy of Sciences. National Research Council. Publication) Author George Nicholas Nasse Publisher National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, 1964 page 24-25 link</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjArAAAAYAAJ&dq=reres+demetrio&pg=PA24|title=The Italo-Albanian Villages of Southern Italy|isbn=9780598204004|last1=Nasse|first1=George Nicholas|year=1964| publisher=National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council}}</ref> These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in the Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time.

== Orthography ==
{{Main|Albanian alphabet|Albanian braille}}

[[File:Albanian keyboard layout.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Albanian [[keyboard layout]].]]

The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to the cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers.{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=12}} The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the [[Greek alphabet]] and the Gheg dialect was written in the [[Latin script]]. Both dialects had also been written in the [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] version of the [[Arabic script]], [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]], and some local alphabets ([[Elbasan alphabet|Elbasan]], [[Vithkuqi alphabet|Vithkuqi]], [[Todhri alphabet|Todhri]], Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see [[Albanian alphabet#Original alphabets|original Albanian alphabets]]). More specifically, the writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after the [[League of Prizren]] and culminated with the [[Congress of Manastir]] held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day [[Bitola]]), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters {{angbr|{{lang|sq|[[ë]]}}}}, {{angbr|{{lang|sq|[[ç]]}}}}, and ten [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]: {{lang|sq|dh}}, {{lang|sq|th}}, {{lang|sq|xh}}, {{lang|sq|gj}}, {{lang|sq|nj}}, {{lang|sq|ng}}, {{lang|sq|ll}}, {{lang|sq|rr}}, {{lang|sq|zh}} and {{lang|sq|sh}}.

According to [[Robert Elsie]]:<ref name=Elsie2017>Elsie, Robert. (2017). ''Albanian Alphabets: Borrowed and Invented''. London, UK: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. {{ISBN|9781544294094}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period, the Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of the latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves.}}

== Classification ==
[[File:IndoEuropeanLanguageFamilyRelationsChart.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Albanian within Indo-European language family tree based on "Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis of Indo-European languages" by Chang et al. (January 2015).<ref name=chang>{{cite journal|last1=Chang|first1=Will|last2=Chundra|first2=Cathcart|date=January 2015|title=Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis supports the Indo-European steppe hypothesis|url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/news/ChangEtAlPreprint.pdf|journal=Language|volume=91|issue=1|pages=194–244|doi=10.1353/lan.2015.0005|s2cid=143978664|access-date=30 September 2020}}</ref>]]

Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the [[Indo-European language family]],<ref name="Schumacher2020"/> within which it occupies an independent position.<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=446}}: "Albanian forms its own separate branch of Indo-European; it is the last branch to appear in written records."</ref> In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]] by the [[Comparative linguistics|philologist]] [[Franz Bopp]]. Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]], all of which share a number of [[isogloss]]es with Albanian.<ref>Watkins, Calvert. "Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction", in The Indo-European Languages, [[Anna Giacalone Ramat]] and Paolo Ramat, eds. London: Routledge, 1998.</ref> Other linguists linked the Albanian language with [[Latin Language|Latin]], [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Armenian language|Armenian]], while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European.<ref name=mallory>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yfZZX1qjpvkC Google Books], [[J. P. Mallory|Mallory, J. P.]] and Adams, D. Q.: The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World</ref><ref name=holm>[http://www.hjholm.de/SLRD.pdf JHholm.de] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011121308/http://www.hjholm.de/SLRD.pdf|date=11 October 2017}}, Holm, Hans J.: The Distribution of Data in Word Lists and its Impact on the Subgrouping of Languages. In: Christine Preisach, Hans Burkhardt, Lars Schmidt-Thieme, Reinhold Decker (eds.): Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and Applications. Proc. of the 31st Annual Conference of the German Classification Society (GfKl), University of Freiburg, 7–9 March 2007. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg-Berlin</ref><ref name=holm2>[http://www.hjholm.de/ HJholm.de] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905220636/http://www.hjholm.de/|date=5 September 2019}} A possible Homeland of the Indo-European Languages And their Migrations in the Light of the Separation Level Recovery (SLRD) Method&nbsp;– Hans J. Holm</ref> In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a [[satem language|satem]] language is less significant.<ref name="Schumacher2020"/>
{{cladogram
|caption =
 Albanian in the Palaeo-Balkanic Indo-European branch based on the chapters "Albanian" ({{harvnb|Hyllested|Joseph|2022}}) and "Armenian" ({{harvnb|Olsen|Thorsø|2022}}) in Olander (ed.) ''The Indo-European Language Family''
|cladogram =
  {{clade
  | label1 =
    [[Paleo-Balkan languages#Balkanic Indo-european|Balkanic]]
  | 1 =
    {{clade
    | 1 =
      [[Armenian language|Armenian]]
    | label2 =
      [[Graeco-Albanian]]
    | 2 =
      {{clade
      | label1 =
        [[Graeco-Phrygian]]
      | 1 =
        {{clade
        | 1 =
          [[Greek language|Greek]]
        | 2 =
          [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]]<br><small>(extinct)</small>
       }}
      | label2 =
        [[Albanoid|Illyric]]
      | 2 =
        {{clade
        | 1 =
          [[Messapic language|Messapic]]<br><small>(extinct)</small>
      | label2 =
          '''Albanian'''
        | 2 =
          {{clade
          | 1 =
            [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]]
          | 2 =
            [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]]
           }}
         }}
       }}
     }}
   }}
 }}
[[Messapic language|Messapic]] is considered the closest language to Albanian,{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=235}}{{sfn|Trumper|2018|p=385}}{{sfn|Friedman|2020|p=388}} grouped in a common branch titled ''Illyric'' in Hyllested & Joseph (2022).{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=235}} Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the "[[Paleo-Balkan languages|Balkan Indo-European]]" continuum posits a common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the [[Balkans]] prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, [[Ancient Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]], fragmentary attested languages such as [[Ancient Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Thracian language|Thracian]], or [[Illyrian language|Illyrian]], and the relatively well-attested [[Messapic language|Messapic]] in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from the contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the [[Bronze Age]] (a specific [[Sprachbund|areal-linguistics]] phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sowa|first=Wojciech|title=Thracian ''Tracio''|journal=Palaeohispanica|issn=1578-5386|doi=10.36707/palaeohispanica.v0i20.377|year=2020|pages=810–811|doi-access=free}}</ref> A common prestage posterior to [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to the larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thorsø|first=Rasmus|chapter=Two Balkan Indo-European Loanwords|title=Dispersals and Diversification: Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Early Stages of Indo-European|editor1=Matilde Serangeli|editor2=Thomas Olander|volume=19|series=Brill's Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics|publisher=Brill|year=2019|isbn=9789004416192|pages=251–262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHnEDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Albanian represents one of the core languages of the [[Balkan sprachbund|Balkan ''Sprachbund'']].<ref name="Schumacher2020">{{cite book|first=Stefan|last=Schumacher|title=Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond|date=2020|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=978-90-272-6090-1|language=en|chapter=The perfect system of Old Albanian (Geg variety)|editor1=Robert Crellin|editor2=Thomas Jügel|volume=352|series=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Zz6DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows:<ref>{{glottolog|alba1267|Albanian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/albanian|title=Albanian|website=[[Ethnologue]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408170013/https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/albanian|archive-date=2022-04-08|url-status=live|publisher=[[SIL International]]|year=2022|editor-last=Eberhard|editor-first=David M.|editor2-last=Simons|editor2-first=Gary F.|editor3-last=Fennig|editor3-first=Charles D.|edition=25th|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
{{Tree list}}
* Indo-European
** Albanian
*** Tosk
**** '''Northern Tosk Albanian'''
**** Southern Tosk
***** '''Arbëreshë Albanian'''
***** '''Arvanitika Albanian'''
*** '''Gheg Albanian'''
{{Tree list/end}}

== History ==
{{Further|Proto-Albanian language|Albanoid|Paleo-Balkan languages|l1=Proto-Albanian|l2=Albanoid|l3=Palaeo Balkan languages}}

=== Historical documentation ===
The first attested written mention of the Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusa]] in modern [[Croatia]] ([[Dubrovnik]]) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ({{langx|la|Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca}}).<ref name="Hammond1976">{{cite book|author=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond|title=Migrations and invasions in Greece and adjacent areas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9saAAAAYAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Noyes Press|isbn=978-0-8155-5047-1|page=57}}</ref><ref name="Zeitschrift für Balkanologie">{{cite book|title=Zeitschrift für Balkanologie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iLkWAQAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=R. Trofenik|page=102}}</ref>

The Albanian language is also mentioned in the ''[[Descriptio Europae Orientalis]]''<ref>Tibor Živković, Vladeta Petrović, Aleksandar Uzelac, Dragana Kunčer: Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis : Anonimov opis istočne Evrope. January 2013. Edition: Izvori za srpsku istoriju. Publisher: Istorijski institut. Editor: Srđan Rudić. {{ISBN|978-86-7743-102-0}}</ref> dated in 1308:<blockquote>''{{lang|la|Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam a Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus.}}''

(Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.)</blockquote>The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462,<ref name="Fortson2010–446">{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=446}}</ref> while the first audio recording in the language was made by [[Norbert Jokl]] on 4 April 1914 in [[Vienna]].<ref name="Elsie2010">{{cite book|author =Robert Elsie|author-link=Robert Elsie|title=Historical Dictionary of Albania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6inIiCF_930C&pg=PA216|year=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-6188-6|page=216}}</ref>

However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed.<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|pp=447–448}}: "But it is likely that there were earlier works which have vanished. The earliest preserved books both in Geg and in Tosk share features of spelling that point to some kind of common literary language having already developed, and a letter written by a Dominican friar named Gulielmus Adea in 1332 says that the inhabitants of Albania had a language very different from Latin but used the Latin alphabet in their writings, suggesting (if not proving) an already–existing written Albanian tradition."</ref>

By the [[Late Middle Ages]], during the period of [[Humanism]] and the [[European Renaissance]], the term {{lang|it|lingua epirotica}} {{gloss|Epirotan language}} was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of the time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language.{{sfn|Demiraj|2012|pp=132–133}} Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled {{langx|la|Dictionarium latino-epiroticum}} {{gloss|Latin-Epirotan dictionary}}.{{sfn|Bihiku|1980|pp=14–15}}<ref name="Bartl">{{Cite book|last=Bartl|first=Peter|title=Albanien: vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart|publisher=Pustet|year=1995|isbn=9783791714516|location=Michigan|pages=86|language=De}}</ref>

During the five-century period of the [[Ottoman Albania|Ottoman presence]] in [[Albania]], the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when the [[Congress of Dibra]] decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024|reason=The previous footnote here was about a celebration of the Congress of Dibra, but didn't say anything about what happened at the Congress; also, it's not really a WP:RS.}}

=== Linguistic affinities ===
{{See also|Illyrian language}}
Albanian is an [[language isolate|isolate]] within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its [[language family#Subdivision|branch]]. The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and Greek.<ref name=Prltsvg-2012>{{cite book|last=Pereltsvaig|first=Asya|author-link=Asya Pereltsvaig|year=2012|chapter=Indo-European languages|title=Languages of the World: An introduction|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-107-37791-2|pages=30–31|language=en|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5ogAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31}}</ref>{{efn|
"... in Figure&nbsp;2.1 are listed three subfamilies which contain only one language each: the Albanian, Hellenic, and Armenian subfamilies. These three languages – Albanian, Greek, and Armenian – are isolates within the Indo-European family showing no closer connection to any other Indo-European languages or to each other." — Pereltsvaig (2012) pp. 30–31<ref name=Prltsvg-2012/>
}}

The Albanian language is part of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] [[language family]] and the only surviving representative of [[Albanoid|its own branch]], which belongs to the [[Paleo-Balkan languages|Paleo-Balkan group]].{{sfn|Sowa|2020|pp=810–811}}{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=235}}<ref name=fine10-11>{{cite book|last=Fine|first=J.A.|year=1991|title=The Early Medieval Balkans|publisher=University of Michigan Press|pages=10–11|isbn=9780472081493|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbS9QmwDC58C|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>In his latest book, [[Eric Hamp]] supports the thesis that the Illyrian language belongs to the Northwestern group, that the Albanian language is descended from Illyrian, and that Albanian is related to Messapic, which is an earlier Illyrian dialect (''Comparative Studies on Albanian'', 2007).</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Roger D.|last=Woodard|year=2008|title=The Ancient Languages of Europe|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521684958|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientlanguages00roge|url-access=registration|quote=The modern Albanian language, it has been conjectured, is descendent directly from ancient Illyrian&nbsp;...}}</ref> However, it is still uncertain exactly which ancient language of the Balkans is the ancestor of Albanian or where in the region its speakers originally lived.{{efn|
"It is generally accepted that Albanians continue one of the ancient languages of the Balkans, although scholars disagree on which language they spoke and what area of the Balkans they occupied before the Slavs' migration to the Balkans." — Curtis (2011) p. 16<ref name=Curtis-2011>
{{cite book|last1=Curtis|first1=Matthew Cowan|date=30 November 2011|title=Slavic-Albanian Language Contact, Convergence, and Coexistence|isbn=9781267580337|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED546136|access-date=31 March 2017|language=en}}
</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 16}}
}} In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether [[Illyrian language|Illyrian]], [[Thracian language|Thracian]], or [[Dacian language|Dacian]].{{efn|
"So while linguists may debate about the ties between Albanian and older languages of the Balkans, and while most Albanians may take the genealogical connection to Illyrian as incontrovertible, the fact remains that there is simply insufficient evidence to connect Illyrian, Thracian, or Dacian with any language, including Albanian." — Curtis (2011) p. 18<ref name=Curtis-2011/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 18}}
}}Among these possibilities, Illyrian is the most probable.{{efn|
"The most probable predecessor of Albanian was Illyrian since much of present-day Albania was inhabited by the Illyrians during the Antiquity, but the comparison of the two languages is impossible because almost nothing is known about Illyrian ... It is a-priori less probable to assume that a single language was spoken in the whole Illyricum, from the river Arsia in Istria, to Epirus in Greece, when such a linguistic uniformity is found nowhere else in Europe before the Roman conquest. Moreover, the examination of personal names and toponyms from Illyricum shows that several onomastic areas can be distinguished, and these onomastic areas just might correspond to different languages spoken in ancient Illyricum. If Illyrians actually spoke several different languages, the question arises: From which ''Illyrian'' language did Albanian develop? – and that question cannot be answered until new data are discovered." — Ranko (2012)<ref>
{{cite news|first=Ranko|last=Matasovic|year=2012|title=A grammatical sketch of Albanian for students of Indo-European}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2023|reason=Publisher, ISBN, medium (book/magazine/journal/webpage ...) "cite news" seems wrong.}}
}}

Although Albanian shares lexical [[isogloss]]es with [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], and to a lesser extent [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]], the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct.<ref>{{cite web|title=Introduction to Albanian|website=lrc.la.utexas.edu|url=https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/albol|access-date=2023-06-09}}</ref> In 1995, Taylor, [[Donald Ringe|Ringe]], and [[Tandy Warnow|Warnow]] used [[quantitative comparative linguistics|quantitative linguistic]] techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed.{{Clarify|reason=What does "reasonably downplayed" mean??|date=January 2024}}<ref name="TRW">{{cite conference|first1=Ann|last1=Taylor|first2=Donald|last2=Ringe|author2-link=Donald Ringe|first3=Tandy|last3=Warnow|author3-link=Tandy Warnow|date=August 1995|chapter=Character based reconstruction of a linguistic cladogram|editor1-last=Smith|editor1-first=John Charles|editor2-last=Bentley|editor2-first=Delia|publication-date=2000|conference=12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics|place=Manchester, UK|book-title=Historical Linguistics 1995: Selected papers.|volume=1 – General issues and non-Germanic Languages|publication-place=Amsterdam, NL|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|page=400|isbn=9027236666|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RtsLKLhCZ0EC&q=Character+Based+Reconstruction+of+a+Linguistic+Cladogram+Albanian&pg=PA392}}</ref>{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=225}} Indeed, the Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses.{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=225}} Albanian also shares [[Lexicon|lexical]] linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Vermeer|first=Willem|year=2008|title=The prehistory of the Albanian vowel system: A preliminary exploration|journal=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics|volume=32|pages=591–608|jstor=40997529 |issn=0169-0124}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Sampson|first=Rodney|year=1997|title=Rebecca Posner, ''The Romance Languages''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xvi + 376&nbsp;pp. {{nobr|0 521 28139 3}}|type=book review|journal=Journal of French Language Studies|volume=7|issue=2|pages=227–229|language=en|doi=10.1017/S0959269500003793|s2cid=230472704|issn=1474-0079|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-french-language-studies/article/abs/rebecca-posner-the-romance-languages-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-1996-xvi-376-pp-0-521-28139-3/745EC424E67AB30625B74A023ABB9326|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Posner|first=Rebecca|year=1966|title=The Romance Languages: A linguistic introduction|edition=1st|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=084460853X|location=United States of America|pages=3|language=en}}</ref> Sharing linguistic features unique to the [[languages of the Balkans]], Albanian also forms a part of the [[Balkan sprachbund|Balkan linguistic area or ''sprachbund'']].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Friedman|first=Victor A.|year=2011|title=The Balkan languages and Balkan linguistics|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|volume=40|pages=275–291|doi=10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145932|jstor=41287733|issn=0084-6570}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Lindstedt|first=Jouko|year=2000|title=Linguistic balkanization: Contact-induced change by mutual reinforcement|journal=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics|volume=28|pages=231–246|issn=0169-0124|jstor=40997168}}</ref>

=== Historical presence and location ===
{{Main|Origin of the Albanians}}
The place and the time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Mythifying the Albanians: A Historiographical Discussion on Vasa Efendi's "Albania and the Albanians"|volume=XIII|issue=1–2|url=https://balkanologie.revues.org/2272|journal=Balkanologie. Revue d'Études Pluridisciplinaires|date=15 December 2011|last1=Bayraktar|first1=Uğur Bahadır|doi=10.4000/balkanologie.2272|doi-access=free}}</ref> The American linguist [[Eric P. Hamp|Eric Hamp]] has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from [[Poland]] to the southwestern Balkans.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Curtis|first1=Matthew Cowan|title=Slavic-Albanian Language Contact, Convergence, and Coexistence|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED546136|page=17|language=en|quote=...&nbsp;for example, argues that from some indeterminate time a pre-Albanian (in Hamp's terms, Albanoid) population inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the current area|isbn=9781267580337|date=30 November 2011}}</ref> Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but the names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as [[plough]]ing) are borrowed from other languages.<ref name=fine10-11/><ref name=hamp1963>[http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/balkan/ehamp.html Tripod.co], Eric Hamp, "The position of Albanian, Ancient IE dialects, Proceedings of the Conference on IE linguistics held at the University of California, Los Angeles, April 25–27, 1963, ed. By Henrik Birnbaum and Jaan Puhvel. "It is clear that in the Middle Ages the Albanians extended farther north (Jokl, Albaner §2); that there are persuasive arguments which have been advanced against their having extended as far as the Adriatic coast—the fact that Scodra 'Scutari' (Shkodër) shows un-Albanian development (see §6 below), that there is no demonstrated old maritime vocabulary (see above), and that there are few ancient Greek loans (Jokl, Albaner §5; but see §5 below)</ref>

A deeper analysis of the vocabulary, however, shows that could be a consequence of a prolonged [[Latin]] domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not the word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of the region) and thus lost a large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of a possible [[linguistic homeland]] (also known as a ''Urheimat'').{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

[[File:Revista Albania.jpg|upright=0.95|thumb|1905 issue of the magazine ''Albania'', the most important Albanian periodical of the early 20th century]]

The centre of Albanian settlement remained the [[Mat (river)|Mat]] River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the [[Shkumbin]] River.<ref>Kazhdan, Alexander (Ed.) (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. pp. 52–53. {{ISBN|978-0-19-504652-6}}.</ref> The Shkumbin, a 181&nbsp;km long river that lies near the old [[Via Egnatia]], is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]] and [[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]]. The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in the treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the [[Slavic migrations to the Balkans]],<ref name="brown23"/><ref name="Fortson2010–448" />{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|p=9}} which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the [[Jireček Line]].<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Prejardhja e shqiptarëve në dritën e dëshmive të gjuhës shqipe.(Origin of Albanians through the testimonies of the Albanian language) Shkenca (Tirane) 1999</ref><ref name=hamp1963/>

References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from the 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "{{lang|sq|[[formula e pagëzimit]]}}" (Baptismal formula), ''{{lang|sq|Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit}}''. ("I baptize thee in [[Trinitarian formula|the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit]]") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some [[New Testament]] verses from that period.

The linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that the first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/32361769|chapter=The development of the PIE middle in Albanian|editor1=Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard Hansen|editor2=Benedicte Nielsen Whitehead|editor3=Thomas Olander|editor4=Birgit Anette Olsen|title=Etymology and the European Lexicon: Proceedings of the 14th Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, 17–22 September 2012, Copenhagen|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Reichert|date=2016|first=Stefan|last=Schumacher|via=Academia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/25120826|title=Word-Formation: An International Handbook of the Languages of Europe|date=2016|publisher=De Gruyter|editor-last=Müller|editor-first=Peter O.|volume=5|location=Berlin, Boston|pages=3124|chapter=171. Albanian|doi=10.1515/9783110424942|editor2-last=Ohnheiser|editor2-first=Ingeborg|editor3-last=Olsen|editor3-first=Susan|editor4-last=Rainer|editor4-first=Franz|isbn=9783110424942}}</ref> The oldest known Albanian printed book, ''[[Meshari]]'', or "missal", was written in 1555 by [[Gjon Buzuku]], a [[Roman Catholic]] cleric. In 1635, [[Frang Bardhi]] wrote the first Latin–Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by [[Franciscans]] in 1638 in {{lang|sq|[[Pdhanë]]}}.

One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries was written in 1693; it was the [[Italian language|Italian]] manuscript ''Pratichae Schrivaneschae'' authored by the Montenegrin sea captain [[Julije Balović]] and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and [[Turkish language|Turkish]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Pantić|first=Miroslav|title=Književnost na tlu Crne Gore i Boke Kotorske od XVI do XVIII veka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5FiAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=[[Serbian Literary Guild]]|page=98|isbn=9788637901907}}</ref>

===Pre-Indo-European substratum===
Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in [[Maliq (Albania)|Maliq]], [[Vashtëmi]], [[Burimas]], [[Barç]], [[Dërsnik]] in the [[Korçë District]], [[Kamnik]] in [[Kolonja]], Kolsh in the [[Kukës District]], Rashtan in [[Librazhd]], and Nezir in the [[Mat District]].{{Sfn|Demiraj|2006|pp=42–43}} As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced [[Proto-Albanian language|pre-Proto-Albanian]], the ancestor idiom of Albanian.{{Sfn|Demiraj|2006|pp=42–43}} The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among [[Paleo-Balkan languages]] and their scarce attestation.{{Sfn|Demiraj|2006|pp=44–45}} Some loanwords, however, have been proposed, such as {{lang|sq|shegë}} '[[pomegranate]]' or {{lang|sq|lëpjetë}} '[[Atriplex|orach]]'; compare Pre-Greek {{lang|el|λάπαθον}}, ''lápathon'' '[[Rumex alpinus|monk's rhubarb]]'.{{Sfn|Orel|1998|pp=225, 409}}{{Sfn|Demiraj|2006|pp=42–43}}

== Literary tradition ==
[[File:Buzuku meshari.jpg|thumb|[[Meshari]] of [[Gjon Buzuku]] 1554–1555|334x334px]]

=== Earliest undisputed texts ===
The earliest known texts in Albanian:
* the {{lang|sq|[[formula e pagëzimit]]}} (Baptismal Formula), which dates back to 1462 and was authored by [[Pal Engjëlli]] (or Paulus Angelus) ({{Circa|1417}}&nbsp;– 1470), Archbishop of [[Durrës]]. Engjëlli was a close friend and counsellor of [[Skanderbeg]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newmark |first1=Leonard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hqlYbhnII3QC&q=Pal+Engj%C3%ABlli&pg=PA3 |title=Standard Albanian: a reference grammar for students |last2=Hubbard |first2=Philip |last3=Prifti |first3=Peter R. |publisher=Andrew Mellon Foundation |year=1982 |isbn=9780804711296 |page=3 |access-date=2010-05-28}}</ref> It was written in a pastoral letter for a synod at the Holy Trinity in Mat and read in Latin characters as follows: {{lang|sq|Unte paghesont premenit Atit et Birit et Spertit Senit}} (standard Albanian: {{lang|sq|Unë të pagëzoj në emër të Atit, të Birit e të Shpirtit të Shenjtë}}; English: "I baptise you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"). It was discovered and published in 1915 by [[Nicolae Iorga]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Francisc Pall |year=1971 |title=Di nuovo sulle biografie scanderbegiane del XVI secolo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvAXAAAAIAAJ&q=paolo+angeli+iorga |journal=Revue des études sud-est européennes |language=fr |publisher=Academia Republicii Socialiste România, Academia Republicii Populare Romîne |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=102 |access-date=2010-05-28}}</ref>
* the {{lang|sq|[[Fjalori i Arnold von Harfit]]}} ([[Arnold Ritter von Harff's lexicon]]), a short list of Albanian phrases with German glosses, dated 1496.<ref>{{cite book |last=Anamali |first=Skënder |title=Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime |publisher=Botimet Toena |year=2002 |volume=I |page=311 |language=sq |oclc=52411919}}</ref>
* a song, recorded in the Greek alphabet, retrieved from an old [[codex]] that was written in Greek. The document is also called {{lang|sq|Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Pashkëve}} or {{lang|sq|Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Shën Mateut}} ("The Song of the Easter Gospel, or "The Song of Saint Matthew's Gospel"). Although the codex is dated to during the 14th century, the song, written in Albanian by an anonymous writer, seems to be a 16th-century writing. The document was found by [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]] people who had emigrated to Italy in the 15th century.{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=97}}
* [[File:Perikopi evangjelik.jpg|thumb|243x243px|Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Shën Mateut]][[File:Oldest Surviving Albanian Text.jpg|thumb|Possibly the oldest surviving Albanian text, highlighted in red, from the Bellifortis manuscript, written by Konrad Kyeser around 1402–1405.]]The first book in Albanian is the [[Meshari]] ("The Missal"), written by [[Gjon Buzuku]] between 20 March 1554 and 5 January 1555. The book was written in the [[Gheg]] dialect in the [[Latin script]] with some Slavic letters adapted for Albanian vowels. The book was discovered in 1740 by [[Gjon Nikollë Kazazi]], the Albanian [[archbishop]] of [[Skopje]]. It contains the liturgies of the main [[holiday]]s. There are also texts of prayers and rituals and [[catechism|catechetical]] texts. The grammar and the vocabulary are more archaic than those in the Gheg texts from the 17th century. The 188 pages of the book comprise about 154,000 words with a total vocabulary of c. 1,500 different words. The text is archaic yet easily interpreted because it is mainly a translation of known texts, in particular portions of the [[Bible]]. The book also contains passages from the [[Psalm]]s, the [[Book of Isaiah]], the [[Book of Jeremiah]], the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|Letters to the Corinthians]], and many illustrations. The uniformity of spelling seems to indicate an earlier tradition of writing. The only known copy of the Meshari is held by the [[Vatican Library|Apostolic Library]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Meshari |url=http://www.bksh.al/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?e=d-01000-00---off-0antikuar--00-1--0-10-0---0---0prompt-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=antikuar&cl=CL2.3 |access-date=14 May 2010 |publisher=[[National Library of Albania]]}}</ref> In 1968 the book was published with transliterations and comments by linguists.
* The first printed work in Tosk Albanian is the ''Mbsuame e krështerë'' (in Italian: ''Dottrina cristiana'') by Lekë Matrënga or (in Italian) [[Luca Matranga]]. It was published in 1592 and is written in an early form of the [[Arbëresh language]] (also known as Italo-Albanian).
Albanian scripts were produced earlier than the first attested document, {{lang|sq|formula e pagëzimit}}, but none yet have been discovered. We know of their existence by earlier references. For example, a French monk signed as "Broccardus" notes, in 1332, that "Although the Albanians have another language totally different from Latin, ''they still use Latin letters in all their books''".<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. "Albanian". In Ramat and Ramat (2006), ''The Indo-European Languages''. Page 480</ref>

=== Disputed earlier texts ===

In 1967 two scholars claimed to have found a Letter text in Albanian inserted into the [[Bellifortis]] text, a book written in Latin dating to 1402–1405.<ref>Dumitru Todericiu, ''An Albanian text older than the "Christening Formula" of 1462'', in "Magazin Istoric", nr. 8, Bucharest, November 1967.</ref>

{{blockquote|"A star has fallen in a place in the woods, distinguish the star, distinguish it.<br />
Distinguish the star from the others, they are ours, they are.<br />
Do you see where the great voice has resounded? Stand beside it<br />
That thunder. It did not fall. It did not fall for you, the one which would do it.<br />
...<br />
Like the ears, you should not believe ... that the moon fell when ...<br />
Try to encompass that which spurts far ...<br />
Call the light when the moon falls and no longer exists ..."}}

[[Robert Elsie]], a specialist in Albanian studies, considers that "The Todericiu/Polena Romanian translation of the non-Latin lines, although it may offer some clues if the text is indeed Albanian, is fanciful and based, among other things, on a false reading of the manuscript, including the exclusion of a whole line."<ref>Robert Elsie, ''[http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A1986Bellifortis.pdf The Bellifortis text and early Albanian]'' in "Zeitschrift für Balkanologie", Berlin, 22 February 1986, p. 158-162.</ref>

=== Ottoman period ===
In 1635, [[Frang Bardhi]] (1606–1643) published in [[Rome]] his {{lang|la|Dictionarum latinum-epiroticum}}, the first known Latin-Albanian dictionary. Other scholars who studied the language during the 17th century include [[Andrea Bogdani]] (1600–1685), author of the first Latin-Albanian grammar book, [[Nilo Katalanos]] (1637–1694) and others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marmullaku |first=Ramadan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3S4AAAAIAAJ&q=Andre+Bogdani |title=Albania and the Albanians |publisher=C. Hurst |year=1975 |isbn=0903983133 |pages=17}}</ref>

== Indo-European features ==
{{Indo-European topics}}

=== Indo-European vocabulary ===
{{Main|Indo-European vocabulary}}

=== PIE phonological correspondences ===
Phonologically, Albanian is not so conservative. Like many IE stocks, it has merged the two series of voiced stops (e.g. both PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|d}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰ}} became {{langx|sq|d}}). In addition, voiced stops tend to disappear in between vowels. There is almost complete loss of final syllables and very widespread loss of other unstressed syllables (e.g. {{lang|sq|mik}} 'friend' from Lat. {{lang|la|amicus}}). PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|o}} appears as {{lang|sq|a}} (also as {{lang|sq|e}} if a high front vowel {{lang|sq|i}} follows), while PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|ē}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|ā}} become {{lang|sq|o}}, and PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|ō}} appears as {{lang|sq|e}}.

The palatals, velars, and labiovelars show distinct developments, with Albanian showing the three-way distinction also found in [[Luwian language|Luwian]].<ref name="OrelVelars">{{harvnb|Orel|2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistorica00orel/page/n88 66], 70–71}}</ref><ref name="NeitherCentumNorSatem">{{cite book|author1=Bardhyl Demiraj|editor1-last=Fritz|editor1-first=Matthias|editor2-last=Joseph|editor2-first=Brian|editor3-last=Klein|editor3-first=Jared|title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics|date=2018|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|isbn=978-3-11-054036-9|chapter=100. The evolution of Albanian|quote="and the outcomes of the three dorsal series suggest that Albanian, like Luwian, may have origi- nally retained this three-way opposition intact and therefore is neither centum nor satem, despite the clear satem-like outcome of its palatal dorsals in most instances"}}</ref> Labiovelars are for the most part differentiated from all other Indo-European velar series before front vowels, but they merge with the "pure" (back) velars elsewhere.<ref name="OrelVelars" /> The palatal velar series, consisting of Proto-Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|ḱ}} and the merged {{lang|ine-x-proto|ģ}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|ģʰ}}, usually developed into {{lang|ine-x-proto|th}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|dh}}, but were depalatalised to merge with the back velars when in contact with [[sonorant]]s.<ref name="OrelVelars" /> Because the original Proto-Indo-European tripartite distinction between dorsals is preserved in such reflexes, Albanian is therefore neither [[Centum-satem|centum nor satem]], despite having a "satem-like" realization of the palatal dorsals in most cases.<ref name="NeitherCentumNorSatem" /> Thus PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|ḱ}}, {{lang|ine-x-proto|k}}, and {{lang|ine-x-proto|kʷ}} become {{lang|sq|th}}, {{lang|sq|q}}, and {{lang|sq|s}}, respectively (before back vowels PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|ḱ}} becomes {{lang|sq|th}}, while {{lang|ine-x-proto|k}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|kʷ}} merge as {{lang|sq|k}}).

A minority of scholars reconstruct a fourth [[Laryngeal theory|laryngeal]] {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₄}} allegedly surfacing as Alb. {{lang|sq|h}} word-initially, e.g. Alb. {{lang|sq|herdhe}} 'testicles' presumably from PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₄órǵʰi-}}<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture|author1=J. P. Mallory|author2=Douglas Q. Adams|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=1997|isbn=978-1-884964-98-5}} {{ISBN|1-884964-98-2}}, {{ISBN|978-1-884964-98-5}}</ref> (rather than the usual reconstruction {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₃erǵʰi-}}), but this is generally not followed elsewhere, as {{lang|sq|h-}} has arisen elsewhere idiosyncratically (for example Alb. {{lang|sq|hark}} < Lat. {{lang|la|arcus}}).<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics|date=2018|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|volume=3|editor-last=Klein|editor-first=Jared|pages=1757|language=en|chapter=The phonology of Albanian|editor2-last=Joseph|editor2-first=Brian|editor3-last=Fritz|editor3-first=Matthias|quote=but ''h-'' has arisen secondarily in words such as ''hark'' 'curve' ← Latin ''arcus'', which renders ''h-'' non-probative}}</ref><ref>Schumacher/Matzinger 2013, p. 267.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE bilabial plosives in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *p || p || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''p'''ékʷ-}} 'to cook' || {{lang|sq|'''p'''jek}} 'to bake'
|-
| *bʰ / b || b || {{lang|ine-x-proto|sro'''bʰ'''-éi̯e-}} 'to sip, gulp' || {{lang|sq|gjer'''b'''}} 'to sip'
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE coronal plosives in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *t || t || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''t'''úh<sub>2</sub>}} 'thou' || '''''t'''i'' 'you (singular)'
|-
| *d || d || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''d'''ih<sub>2</sub>tis}} 'light' || '''''d'''itë'' 'day'
|-
| || dh<ref group="*" name="ivcr">Between vowels or after ''r''</ref> || ''*pér'''d'''-'' 'to fart' || ''pjer'''dh''''' 'to fart'
|-
| || g || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''d'''l̥h<sub>1</sub>-tó-}} 'long' || {{lang|sq|'''g'''jatë}} 'long' (Tosk dial. ''glatë'')
|-
| *dʰ || d || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''dʰ'''égʷʰ-}} 'burn' || {{lang|sq|'''d'''jeg}} 'to burn'
|-
| || dh<ref group="*" name="ivcr" /> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|gʰór'''dʰ'''os}} 'enclosure' || {{lang|sq|gar'''dh'''}} 'fence'
|}
{{reflist|group=*}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE palatal plosives in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *ḱ || th || {{lang|ine-x-proto|*'''ḱ'''éh<sub>1</sub>smi}} 'I say' || {{lang|sq|'''th'''em}} 'I say'
|-
| || s<ref group="*">Before ''u̯/u'' or ''i̯/i''</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''ḱ'''upo-}} 'shoulder' || {{lang|sq|'''s'''up}} 'shoulder'
|-
| || k<ref group="*">Before [[sonorant]]</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|sme'''ḱ'''-r̥}} 'chin' || {{lang|sq|mje'''k'''ër}} 'chin; beard'
|-
| || ç/c<ref group="*">Archaic relic</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''ḱ'''entro-}} 'to stick' || {{lang|sq|'''ç'''andër}} 'prop'
|-
| *ǵ || dh || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''ǵ'''ómbʰos}} 'tooth, peg' || {{lang|sq|'''dh'''ëmb}} 'tooth'
|-
| *ǵʰ || dh || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''ǵʰ'''ed-ioH}} 'I defecate' || {{lang|sq|'''dh'''jes}} 'I defecate'
|-
| || d<ref group="*">Syllable-initial and followed by [[sibilant]]</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''ǵʰ'''r̥sdʰi}} 'grain, barley' || {{lang|sq|'''d'''rithë}} 'grain'
|}
{{reflist|group=*}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE velar plosives in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *k || k || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''k'''ágʰmi}} 'I catch, grasp' || {{lang|sq|'''k'''am}} 'I have'
|-
| || q || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''k'''luH-i̯o-}} 'to weep' || {{lang|sq|'''q'''aj}} 'to weep, cry' (dial. ''kla(n)j'')
|-
| *g || g || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>3</sub>lí'''g'''os}} 'sick' || {{lang|sq|li'''g'''ë}} 'bad'
|-
| || gj || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>1</sub>reu'''g'''-}} 'to retch' || {{lang|sq|re'''gj'''}} 'to tan hides'
|-
| *gʰ || g || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''gʰ'''órdʰos}} 'enclosure' || {{lang|sq|'''g'''ardh}} 'fence'
|-
| || gj || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''gʰ'''édn-i̯e/o-}} 'to get' || {{lang|sq|'''gj'''ej}} 'to find' (Old Alb. ''gjãnj'')
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE labiovelar plosives in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *kʷ || k || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''kʷ'''eh<sub>2</sub>sleh<sub>2</sub>}} 'cough' || {{lang|sq|'''k'''ollë}} 'cough'
|-
| || s || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''kʷ'''élH-}} 'to turn' || {{lang|sq|'''s'''jell}} 'to fetch, bring'
|-
| || q || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''kʷ'''ṓd}} || {{lang|sq|'''q'''ë}} 'that, which'
|-
| *gʷ || g || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''gʷ'''r̥H}} 'stone' || {{lang|sq|'''g'''ur}} 'stone'
|-
| *gʷʰ || g || {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰé'''gʷʰ'''-}} 'to burn' || {{lang|sq|dje'''g'''}} 'to burn'
|-
| || z || {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰo'''gʷʰ'''éi̯e-}} 'to ignite' || {{lang|sq|nde'''z'''}} 'to kindle, light a fire'
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|s}} in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *s || gj<ref group="*">Initial</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''s'''éḱstis}} 'six' || '''''gj'''ashtë'' 'six'
|-
| || h<ref group="*" name="*">Between vowels</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|no'''s'''ōm}} 'us' (gen.) || ''na'''h'''e'' 'us' (dat.)
|-
| || sh<ref group="*">Between ''u/i'' and another vowel ([[ruki sound law|ruki]] law)</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|bʰreu'''s'''os}} 'broken' || ''bre'''sh'''ër'' 'hail'
|-
| || th<ref group="*">Dissimilation with following s</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''s'''uh<sub>1</sub>s}} 'swine' || '''''th'''i'' 'pig'
|-
| || ∅ || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>1</sub>é'''s'''mi}} 'I am' || {{lang|sq|jam}} 'I am'
|-
| *-sd-|| th || {{lang|ine-x-proto|gʷé'''sd'''os}} 'leaf' || {{lang|sq|gje'''th'''}} 'leaf'
|-
| *-sḱ-|| h || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''sḱ'''i-eh<sub>2</sub>}} 'shadow' || {{lang|sq|'''h'''ije}} 'shadow'
|-
| *-sp-|| f || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''sp'''élnom}} 'speech' || {{lang|sq|'''f'''jalë}} 'word'
|-
| *-st-|| sht || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>2</sub>o'''st'''i}} 'bone' || {{lang|sq|a'''sht'''}} 'bone'
|-
| *-su̯-|| d || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''su̯'''eíd-r̥-}} 'sweat' || {{lang|sq|'''d'''irsë}} 'sweat'
|}
{{reflist|group=*}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE sonorants in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *i̯ || gj<ref group="*">Before i, e, a</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''i̯'''éh<sub>3</sub>s-}} 'to gird' || {{lang|sq|(n)'''gj'''esh}} 'I gird; squeeze, knead'
|-
| || j<ref group="*">Before back vowels</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''i̯'''uH}} 'you' (nom.) || {{lang|sq|'''j'''u}} 'you (plural)'
|-
| || ∅<ref group="*" name="*">Between vowels</ref> || {{lang|ine-x-proto|tre'''i̯'''es}} 'three' (masc.) || {{lang|sq|tre}} 'three'
|-
| *u̯ || v || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''u̯'''os-éi̯e-}} 'to dress' || {{lang|sq|'''v'''esh}} 'to wear, dress'
|-
| *m || m || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''m'''eh<sub>2</sub>tr-eh<sub>2</sub>}} 'maternal' || {{lang|sq|'''m'''otër}} 'sister'
|-
| *n || n || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''n'''ōs}} 'we' (acc.) || {{lang|sq|'''n'''e}} 'we'
|-
| || nj || {{lang|ine-x-proto|e'''n'''i-h<sub>1</sub>ói-no}} 'that one' || {{lang|sq|'''nj'''ë}} 'one' (Gheg {{lang|aln|'''nj'''â}}, {{lang|aln|'''nj'''o}}, {{lang|sq|'''nj'''i}})
|-
| || ∅ (Tosk) ~ nasal vowel (Gheg) || {{lang|ine-x-proto|pé'''n'''kʷe}} 'five' || {{lang|sq|p'''e'''së}} 'five' (vs. Gheg {{lang|aln|p'''ê'''s}})
|-
| || r (Tosk only) || {{lang|ine-x-proto|ǵʰeime'''n'''}} 'winter' || {{lang|sq|dimë'''r'''}} 'winter' (vs. Gheg {{lang|aln|dimë'''n'''}})
|-
| *l || l || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>3</sub>'''l'''ígos}} 'sick' || {{lang|sq|'''l'''igë}} 'bad'
|-
| || ll || {{lang|ine-x-proto|kʷé'''l'''H-}} 'turn' || {{lang|sq|sje'''ll'''}} 'to fetch, bring'
|-
| *r || r || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''r'''epe/o}} 'take' || {{lang|sq|'''r'''jep}} 'peel'
|-
| || rr || {{lang|ine-x-proto|u̯'''r'''h<sub>1</sub>ḗn}} 'sheep' || {{lang|sq|'''rr'''unjë}} 'yearling lamb'
|-
| *n̥ || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>1</sub>'''n̥'''men}} 'name' || {{lang|sq|'''e'''mër}} 'name'
|-
| *m̥ || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|u̯iḱ'''m̥'''ti}} 'twenty' || {{lang|sq|(një)z'''e'''t}} 'twenty'
|-
| *l̥ || li, il<ref group="*" name="reson">Before C clusters, i, j</ref> / lu, ul || {{lang|ine-x-proto|u̯'''ĺ̥'''kʷos}} 'wolf' || {{lang|sq|u'''j'''k}} 'wolf' (dialectal {{lang|sq|u'''l'''k}})
|-
| *r̥ || ri, ir<ref group="*" name="reson" /> / ru, ur || {{lang|ine-x-proto|ǵʰ'''r̥'''sdom}} 'grain, barley' || {{lang|sq|d'''ri'''thë}} 'grain'
|}
{{reflist|group=*}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE laryngeals in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *h<sub>1</sub> || ∅ || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''h<sub>1</sub>'''ésmi}} 'I am' || {{lang|sq|jam}} 'to be'
|-
| *h<sub>2</sub> || ∅ || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''h<sub>2</sub>'''r̥tḱos}} 'bear' || {{lang|sq|ari}} 'bear'
|-
| *h<sub>3</sub> || ∅ || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''h<sub>3</sub>'''ónr̥}} 'dream' || {{lang|sq|ëndërr}} 'dream'
|-
| *h<sub>4</sub>{{efn|disputed}} || h || {{lang|ine-x-proto|'''h<sub>4</sub>'''órǵʰi}} 'testicles' || {{lang|sq|'''h'''erdhe}} 'testicles'
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reflexes of PIE vowels in Albanian
!PIE !! Albanian !! PIE !! Albanian
|-
| *i || i || {{lang|ine-x-proto|s'''í'''nos}} 'bosom' || {{lang|sq|gj'''i'''}} 'bosom, breast'
|-
| || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|dw'''i'''gʰeh<sub>2</sub>}} 'twig' || {{lang|sq|d'''e'''gë}} 'branch'
|-
| *ī < *iH || i || {{lang|ine-x-proto|d'''ih<sub>2</sub>'''tis}} 'light' || {{lang|sq|d'''i'''të}} 'day'
|-
| *e || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|p'''é'''nkʷe}} 'five' || {{lang|sq|p'''e'''së}} 'five' (Gheg ''pês'')
|-
| || je || {{lang|ine-x-proto|w'''é'''tos}} 'year' (loc.) || {{lang|sq|v'''je'''t}} 'last year'
|-
| *ē || o || {{lang|ine-x-proto|ǵʰ'''ē'''sreh<sub>2</sub>}} 'hand' || {{lang|sq|d'''o'''rë}} 'hand'
|-
| *a || a || {{lang|ine-x-proto|bʰ'''a'''ḱeh<sub>2</sub>}} 'bean' || {{lang|sq|b'''a'''thë}} 'bean'
|-
| || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h<sub>2</sub>'''é'''lbʰit}} 'barley' || {{lang|sq|'''e'''lb}} 'barley'
|-
| *o || a || {{lang|ine-x-proto|gʰ'''ó'''rdʰos}} 'enclosure' || {{lang|sq|g'''a'''rdh}} 'fence'
|-
| *ō || e || {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₂oḱt'''ō'''h₁tm̥}} 'eight' || {{lang|sq|t'''e'''të}} 'eight'
|-
| *u || u || {{lang|ine-x-proto|s'''ú'''pnos}} 'sleep' || {{lang|sq|gj'''u'''më}} 'sleep'
|-
| *ū < *uH || y || {{lang|ine-x-proto|s'''uH'''sos}} 'grandfather' || {{lang|sq|gj'''y'''sh}} 'grandfather'
|-
| || i || {{lang|ine-x-proto|m'''uh<sub>2</sub>'''s}} 'mouse' || {{lang|sq|m'''i'''}} 'mouse'
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Reflexes of PIE diphthongs in Albanian{{sfn|Matasović|2019|p=11}}
!PIE
!Albanian
!PIE
!Albanian
|-
|*ey, *h1ey
|i
|{{lang|ine-x-proto|ǵʰeymōn-}}
|{{lang|sq|dimër}}
|-
|*ay, *h2ey
|e
|
|
|-
|*oy, *h3ey
|e
|{{lang|ine-x-proto|stóygʰo-}}
|{{lang|sq|shteg}}
|-
|*ew, *h1ew
|a
|
|
|-
|*aw, *h2ew
|a
|{{lang|ine-x-proto|h₂ewg-}}
|{{lang|sq|agim}}
|-
|*ow, *h3ew
|a, ve-
|
|
|}

== Standard Albanian ==
Since [[World War II]], standard Albanian used in Albania has been based on the Tosk dialect. Kosovo and other areas where Albanian is official adopted the Tosk standard in 1969.

=== Elbasan-based standard ===
Until the early 20th century, Albanian writing developed in three main literary traditions: [[Gheg]], [[Tosk]], and [[Arbëreshë language|Arbëreshë]]. Throughout this time, a Gheg subdialect spoken around [[Elbasan]] served as ''lingua franca'' among the Albanians, but was less prevalent in writing. The [[Congress of Manastir]] of Albanian writers held in 1908 recommended the use of the Elbasan subdialect for literary purposes and as a basis of a unified national language. While technically classified as a southern Gheg variety, the Elbasan speech is closer to Tosk in phonology and practically a hybrid between other Gheg subdialects and literary Tosk.

Between 1916 and 1918, the [[Albanian Literary Commission]] met in Shkodër under the leadership of [[Luigj Gurakuqi]] with the purpose of establishing a unified orthography for the language. The commission, made up of representatives from the north and south of Albania, reaffirmed the Elbasan subdialect as the basis of a national tongue. The rules published in 1917 defined spelling for the Elbasan variety for official purposes. The commission did not, however, discourage publications in one of the dialects, but rather laid a foundation for Gheg and Tosk to gradually converge into one.

When the Congress of Lushnje met in the aftermath of World War I to form a new Albanian government, the 1917 decisions of the Literary Commission were upheld. The Elbasan subdialect remained in use for administrative purposes and many new writers embraced it for creative writing. Gheg and Tosk continued to develop freely and interaction between the two dialects increased.

=== Tosk standard ===
{{further|Albanian Orthography Congress}}At the end of World War II, however, the new communist regime radically imposed the use of the Tosk dialect in all facets of life in Albania: administration, education, and literature. Most Communist leaders were Tosks from the south. Standardisation was directed by the [[Albanian Institute of Linguistics and Literature]] of the [[Academy of Sciences of Albania]].{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=10}} Two dictionaries were published in 1954: an Albanian language dictionary and a Russian–Albanian dictionary. New orthography rules were eventually published in 1967{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=10}} and in 1973 with the ''Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe'' (Orthography of the Albanian Language).<ref>{{cite book|title=Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe|last=Kostallari|first=Androkli|year=1973|publisher="Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë" ( in "Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë", today "Akademia e Shkencave e Republikës së Shqipërisë")|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4LLPwAACAAJ&q=Drejtshkrimi+i+gjuh%C3%ABs+shqipe|ref=Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe}}</ref>

Until 1968, Kosovo and other Albanian-speaking areas in Yugoslavia followed the 1917 standard based on the Elbasan dialect, though it was gradually infused with Gheg elements in an effort to develop a Kosovan language separate from communist Albania's Tosk-based standard.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kamusella|first=Tomasz|s2cid=55005555|year=2016|title=The idea of a Kosovan language in Yugoslavia's language politics|url=https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/11804/Kamusella_2016_IJSL_KosovanLanguage_VoR.pdf |via=St Andrews Research Repository |s2cid-access=free |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language|issue=242|pages=217–237|doi=10.1515/ijsl-2016-0040|hdl=10023/11804|hdl-access=free |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106061914/https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/11804/Kamusella_2016_IJSL_KosovanLanguage_VoR.pdf |archive-date= Jan 6, 2024 }}</ref> Albanian intellectuals in the former Yugoslavia consolidated the 1917 standard twice in the 1950s, culminating with a thorough codification of orthographic rules in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wikisource.org/wiki/Drejtshkrimi_Prishtin%C3%AB_1964|title=Drejtshkrimi Prishtinë 1964 |website=Wikisource |language=en|access-date=26 May 2018}}</ref> The rules already provided for a balanced variety that accounted for both Gheg and Tosk dialects, but only lasted through 1968. Viewing divergences with Albania as a threat to their identity, Kosovars arbitrarily adopted the Tosk project that Tirana had published the year before. Although it was never intended to serve outside of Albania, the project became the "unified literary language" in 1972, when approved by a rubberstamp [[Albanian Orthography Congress|Orthography Congress]]. Only about 1 in 9 participants were from Kosovo. The Congress, held at Tirana, authorized the orthography rules that came out the following year, in 1973.

More recent dictionaries from the Albanian government are {{lang|sq|Fjalori Drejtshkrimor i Gjuhës Shqipe}} (1976) (Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian Language)<ref>{{cite book|title=Fjalori drejtshkrimor i gjuhës shqipe|last=Kostallari|first=Androkli|year=1976|publisher="Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë" (in "Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë", today "Akademia e Shkencave e Republikës së Shqipërisë")|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MilQQAACAAJ&q=Fjalori+drejtshkrimor+i+gjuh%C3%ABs+shqipe|ref=Fjalori Drejtshkrimor i Gjuhës Shqipe}}{{dead link|date=August 2019}}</ref> and ''Dictionary of Today's Albanian language'' ({{lang|sq|Fjalori i Gjuhës së Sotme Shqipe}}) (1980).{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=10}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Fjalori i Gjuhës së Sotme Shqipe|author=Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë|year=1980|publisher=[[Academy of Sciences of Albania]]|location=Tirana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IrsAGwAACAAJ&q=Fjalor+i+gjuhes+se+sotme+shqipe}}</ref> Prior to World War II, dictionaries consulted by developers of the standard have included {{transliteration|el|Lexikon tis Alvanikis glossis}} (Albanian: {{lang|sq|Fjalori i Gjuhës Shqipe}} ([[Kostandin Kristoforidhi]], 1904),{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=9}} {{lang|sq|Fjalori i Bashkimit}} (1908),{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=9}} and {{lang|sq|Fjalori i Gazullit}} (1941).{{sfn|Lloshi|2008|p=12}}

=== Calls for reform ===
Since the fall of the communist regime, Albanian orthography has stirred heated debate among scholars, writers, and public opinion in Albania and Kosovo, with hardliners opposed to any changes in the orthography, moderates supporting varying degrees of reform, and radicals calling for a return to the Elbasan dialect. Criticism of Standard Albanian has centred on the exclusion of the 'me + participle' infinitive and the Gheg lexicon. Critics say that Standard Albanian disenfranchises and stigmatises Gheg speakers, affecting the quality of writing and impairing effective public communication. Supporters of the Tosk standard view the [[Albanian Orthography Congress|1972 Congress]] as a milestone achievement in Albanian history and dismiss calls for reform as efforts to "divide the nation" or "create two languages." Moderates, who are especially prevalent in Kosovo, generally stress the need for a unified Albanian language, but believe that the 'me + participle' infinitive and Gheg words should be included. Proponents of the Elbasan dialect have been vocal, but have gathered little support in the public opinion. In general, those involved in the language debate come from diverse backgrounds and there is no significant correlation between one's political views, geographic origin, and position on Standard Albanian.

Many writers continue to write in the Elbasan dialect but other Gheg variants have found much more limited use in literature. Most publications adhere to a strict policy of not accepting submissions that are not written in Tosk. Some print media even translate direct speech, replacing the 'me + participle' infinitive with other verb forms and making other changes in grammar and word choice. Even authors who have published in the Elbasan dialect will frequently write in the Tosk standard.

In 2013, a group of academics for Albania and Kosovo proposed minor changes to the orthography. Hardline academics boycotted the initiative,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sot.com.al/kultura-intervista/emil-lafe-k%c3%abshilli-nd%c3%abrakademik-p%c3%abr-gjuh%c3%abn-shqipe-ec%c3%abn-pa-busull-ende-pa-nj%c3%ab|title=Emil Lafe: Këshilli Ndërakademik për Gjuhën Shqipe ecën pa busull, ende pa një platformë shkencore të miratuar njëzëri|last=Vrapi|first=Julia|date=27 April 2013|website=Sot.com.al|access-date=26 May 2018|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416091143/https://sot.com.al/kultura-intervista/emil-lafe-k%c3%abshilli-nd%c3%abrakademik-p%c3%abr-gjuh%c3%abn-shqipe-ec%c3%abn-pa-busull-ende-pa-nj%c3%ab|url-status=dead}}</ref> while other reformers have viewed it as well-intentioned but flawed and superficial.

=== Education ===
Albanian is the medium of instruction in most Albanian schools. The literacy rate in Albania for the total population, age 9 or older, is about 99%. Elementary education is compulsory (grades 1–9), but most students continue at least until a secondary education. Students must pass graduation exams at the end of the 9th grade and at the end of the 12th grade in order to continue their education.

== Phonology ==
{{See also|Help:IPA/Albanian}}

Standard Albanian has seven [[vowel]]s and 29 [[consonant]]s. Like English, Albanian has dental fricatives {{IPA|/θ/}} (like the ''th'' in ''thin'') and {{IPA|/ð/}} (like the ''th'' in ''this''), written as {{Angle bracket|th}} and {{Angle bracket|dh}}, which are rare cross-linguistically.

[[Gheg Albanian|Gheg]] uses [[long vowel|long]] and [[nasal vowel]]s, which are absent in [[Tosk Albanian|Tosk]], and the mid-central vowel {{lang|sq|ë}} is lost at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the last syllable. Gheg {{lang|aln|n}} ({{lang|aln|femën}}: compare English ''feminine'') changes to {{lang|als|r}} by [[Rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]] in Tosk ({{lang|als|femër}}).

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: center;"
|+Albanian consonants
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" scope="col" |
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Interdental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" scope="col" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br />alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! scope="col" | {{small|plain}}
! scope="col" | {{small|[[Velarization|velar.]]}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
| ||
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| ({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
|
| {{IPA link|t}}
| || ||{{IPA link|c}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
|
| {{IPA link|d}}
| || ||{{IPA link|ɟ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| ||
| {{IPA link|t͡s}}
|
| {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
| || ||
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| ||
| {{IPA link|d͡z}}
|
| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
| || ||
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|θ}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| ||
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|ð}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
| || ||
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| ||
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|ɫ}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
| ||
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
| ||
| {{IPA link|ɾ}}
| || || || ||
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| ||
| {{IPA link|r}}
| || || || ||
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! [[help:IPA|IPA]] !! Description !! Written as !! English approximation
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|m}} || [[Bilabial nasal]] || m || '''m'''an
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|n}} || [[Alveolar nasal]] || n || '''n'''ot
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ɲ}} || [[Palatal nasal]] || nj || ~ca'''ny'''on
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ŋ}} || [[Velar nasal]] || ng || ba'''ng'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|p}} || [[Voiceless bilabial plosive]] || p || s'''p'''in
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|b}} || [[Voiced bilabial plosive]] || b || '''b'''at
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|t}} || [[Voiceless alveolar plosive]] || t || s'''t'''and
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|d}} || [[Voiced alveolar plosive]] || d || '''d'''ebt
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|k}} || [[Voiceless velar plosive]] || k || '''c'''ar
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ɡ}} || [[Voiced velar plosive]] || g || '''g'''o
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|t͡s}} || [[Voiceless alveolar affricate]] || c || ha'''ts'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|d͡z}} || [[Voiced alveolar affricate]] || x || goo'''ds'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} || [[Voiceless postalveolar affricate]] || ç || '''ch'''in
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} || [[Voiced postalveolar affricate]] || xh || '''j'''et
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|c}} || [[Voiceless palatal plosive]] || q || ~a'''c'''ute
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ɟ}} || [[Voiced palatal plosive]] || gj || ~ar'''g'''ue
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|f}} || [[Voiceless labiodental fricative]] || f || '''f'''ar
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|v}} || [[Voiced labiodental fricative]] || v || '''v'''an
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|θ}} || [[Voiceless dental fricative]] || th || '''th'''in
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ð}} || [[Voiced dental fricative]] || dh || '''th'''en
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|s}} || [[Voiceless alveolar fricative]] || s || '''s'''on
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|z}} || [[Voiced alveolar fricative]] || z || '''z'''ip
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ʃ}} || [[Voiceless postalveolar fricative]] || sh || '''sh'''ow
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ʒ}} || [[Voiced postalveolar fricative]] || zh || vi'''s'''ion
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|h}} || [[Voiceless glottal fricative]] || h || '''h'''at
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|r}} || [[Alveolar trill]] || rr || Spanish ''pe'''rr'''o''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ɾ}} || [[Alveolar tap]] || r || ~li'''tt'''le
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|l}} || [[Alveolar lateral approximant]] || l || '''l'''ean
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ɫ}} || [[Velarized alveolar lateral approximant]] || ll || ba'''ll'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|j}} || [[Palatal approximant]] || j || '''y'''es
|}

'''Notes:'''
* The contrast between flapped {{lang|sq|r}} and trilled {{lang|sq|rr}} is the almost the same as in Spanish or [[Armenian language|Armenian]]. However, in most of the dialects, as also in standard Albanian, the single {{lang|sq|r}} changes from an alveolar flap {{IPA|/ɾ/}} to an alveolar approximant {{IPA|[ɹ]}}.
* The palatal nasal {{IPA|/ɲ/}} corresponds to the Spanish {{lang|es|ñ}} and the French and Italian ''gn''. It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
* The {{lang|sq|ll}} sound is a velarised lateral, close to English [[dark l|dark ''l'']].
* The letter {{lang|sq|ç}} is sometimes written ''ch'' due to technical limitations, in analogy to the other digraphs {{lang|sq|xh}}, {{lang|sq|sh}}, and {{lang|sq|zh}}. Usually it is written simply {{lang|sq|c}} or more rarely {{lang|sq|q}} with context resolving any ambiguities.
* The sounds spelled with {{lang|sq|q}} and {{lang|sq|gj}} show variation. They may range between occurring as palatal affricates {{IPA|[c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ]}} or as palatal stops {{IPA|[c, ɟ]}} among dialects. Some speakers merge them into the palatoalveolar sounds {{lang|sq|ç}} and {{lang|sq|xh}}. This is especially common in Northern Gheg, but is increasingly the case in Tosk as well.<ref>Kolgjini, Julie M. (2004). ''Palatalisation in Albanian : an acoustic investigation of stops and affricates.'' PhD Dissertation, University of Texas at Arlington. {{ISBN|0496859366}}.</ref> Other speakers reduced them into {{IPA|/j/}} in consonant clusters, such as in the word {{lang|sq|fjollë}}, which before standardisation was written as {{lang|sq|fqollë}} ( < Medieval Greek {{lang|el|φακιολης}}).
* The {{lang|sq|ng}} can be pronounced as {{IPA|/ŋ/}} in final position, otherwise it is an allophone of {{lang|sq|n}} before {{lang|sq|k}} and {{lang|sq|g}}.
* Before {{lang|sq|q}} and {{lang|sq|gj}}, {{lang|sq|n}} is always pronounced {{IPA|/ɲ/}} but this is not reflected in the orthography.

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]] !! [[Central vowel|Central]] !! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|y}}  || || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]] / [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} || {{IPA link|ə}} || {{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| || {{IPA link|ä|a}} ||
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! [[help:IPA|IPA]] !! Description !! Written as !! English approximation
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|i}} || [[Close front unrounded vowel]] || i || s'''ee'''d
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|y}} || [[Close front rounded vowel]] || y || ~n'''ew'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|e}}|| [[Close-mid front unrounded vowel]] || e || b'''e'''ar
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|a}} || [[Open central unrounded vowel]] || a || sp'''a'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|ə}} || [[Mid central vowel]] || ë || '''a'''bout
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|o}} || [[Close-mid back rounded vowel]] || o || m'''o'''re
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA link|u}} || [[Close back rounded vowel]] || u || p'''oo'''l
|}

==== Notes ====
* {{lang|sq|ë}} can also range to an open-mid sound {{IPA|[ɜ]}} in the Northern Tosk dialect.<ref name="Northern Tosk Albanian">{{Cite journal|last1=Coretta|first1=Stefano|title=Northern Tosk Albanian|last2=Riverin-Coutlée|first2=Josiane|last3=Kapia|first3=Enkeleida|last4=Nichols|first4=Stephen|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|year=2022|volume=53|issue=3|location=Illustration of the IPA|pages=1–23|doi=10.1017/S0025100322000044|doi-access=free|hdl=20.500.11820/ebce2ea3-f955-4fa5-9178-e1626fbae15f|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
* Mid sounds {{IPA|/e, o/}} can also be heard as more open-mid sounds {{IPA|[ɛ, ɔ]}}, in free variation.{{Sfn|Buchholz|Fiedler|1987|p=28-31}}

==== Schwa ====
The schwa in Albanian has a great degree of variability from extreme back to extreme front articulation.<ref name="schwa">{{cite web|url=http://www.kfs.oeaw.ac.at/publications/2001_granser_moosmueller_the_schwa_in_albanian.pdf|title=The schwa in Albanian|last1=Granser|first1=Thedor|last2=Moosmüller|first2=Sylvia|publisher=Institute of Acoustics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences|access-date=15 December 2010}}</ref> Although the Indo-European [[schwa]] ({{lang|ine-x-proto|ə}} or {{lang|ine-x-proto|-h₂-}}) was preserved in Albanian, in some cases it was lost, possibly when a [[stressed syllable]] preceded it.{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xvKH56aT5mEC&dq=schwa+proto-Albanian&pg=PA3 3]}} Until the standardisation of the modern [[Albanian alphabet]], in which the schwa is spelled as {{angbr|ë}}, as in the work of [[Gjon Buzuku]] in the 16th century, various vowel letters and digraphs were employed, including {{angbr|ae}} by [[Lekë Matrënga]] and {{angbr|é}} by [[Pjetër Bogdani]] in the late 16th and early 17th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/14920/2/de+Vaan+-+PIE+e+in+Albanian.pdf|title=PIE *e in Albanian|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|page=72|access-date=16 December 2010}}</ref><ref name="Elsie(London2005">{{cite book|last1=Elsie|first1=Robert|last2=London Centre for Albanian Studies|title=Albanian literature: a short history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ox3Wx1Nl_2MC&q=schwa+albanian&pg=PA16|year=2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-031-4|page=16}}</ref> Within the borders of Albania, the phoneme is pronounced about the same in both the Tosk and the Gheg dialect due to the influence of standard Albanian. However, in the Gheg dialects spoken in the neighbouring Albanian-speaking areas of Kosovo and North Macedonia, the phoneme is still{{clarify|date=June 2023}} pronounced as back and rounded.<ref name="schwa" />

== Grammar ==
{{see also|Albanian morphology}}
Albanian has a canonical word order of [[subject–verb–object|SVO]] (subject–verb–object) like English and many other Indo-European languages.<ref>Maxwell, Daniel Newhall. (1979). A Crosslinguistic Correlation between Word Order and Casemarking
institution. Bloomington: Indiana University Pub.</ref> Albanian [[noun]]s are categorised by [[Grammatical gender|gender]] (masculine, feminine and neuter) and [[Albanian morphology|inflected]] for [[Grammatical number|number]] (singular and plural) and [[grammatical case|case]]. There are five [[declension]]s and six cases ([[nominative]], [[accusative]], [[genitive]], [[dative case|dative]], [[ablative]], and [[vocative]]), although the vocative only occurs with a limited number of words (such as '{{lang|sq|bir}}' ("son"), vocative case: {{lang|sq|biro}}, {{lang|sq|zog}} ("bird") vocative case: {{lang|sq|zogo}}<ref name=":2">Breu, W. (2021) Italo-Albanian: Balkan Inheritance and Romance Influence p. 154</ref>), and the forms of the genitive and dative are identical (a genitive construction employs the prepositions {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së}} alongside dative morphemes). Some dialects also retain a locative case, which is not present in standard Albanian (e.g. "{{lang|sq|në malt}}" loc.sg.def<ref name=":2" />). The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns, and there are numerous cases of [[syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]].

The following shows the declension of {{lang|sq|mal}} (mountain), a noun in the masculine class which takes "i" in the definite singular:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Indefinite
! colspan="2" | Definite
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| {{lang|sq|një mal}} (a mountain) || {{lang|sq|male}} (several mountains) ||{{lang|sq|mali}} (the mountain) || {{lang|sq|malet}} (the mountains)
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| {{lang|sq|një mal}} || {{lang|sq|male}} || {{lang|sq|malin}} || {{lang|sq|malet}}
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së një mali}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së maleve}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së malit}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së maleve}}
|-
! [[Dative]]
| {{lang|sq|një mali}} || {{lang|sq|maleve}} || {{lang|sq|malit}} || {{lang|sq|maleve}}
|-
! [[Ablative]]
| {{lang|sq|(prej) një mali}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) malesh}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) malit}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) maleve}}
|}

The following shows the declension of the noun {{lang|sq|zog}} (bird), a noun in the masculine class which takes "u" in the definite singular:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Indefinite
! colspan="2" | Definite
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| {{lang|sq|një zog}} (a bird) || {{lang|sq|zogj}} (birds) || {{lang|sq|zogu}} (the bird) || {{lang|sq|zogjtë}} (the birds)
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| {{lang|sq|një zog}} || {{lang|sq|zogj}} || {{lang|sq|zogun}} || {{lang|sq|zogjtë}}
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së një zogu}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së zogjve}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së zogut}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së zogjve}}
|-
! [[Dative]]
| {{lang|sq|një zogu}} || {{lang|sq|zogjve}} || {{lang|sq|zogut}} || {{lang|sq|zogjve}}
|-
! [[Ablative]]
| {{lang|sq|(prej) një zogu}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) zogjsh}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) zogut}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) zogjve}}
|}

The following table shows the declension of the noun {{lang|sq|vajzë}} (girl) in the feminine class:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Indefinite
! colspan="2" | Definite
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| {{lang|sq|një vajzë}} (a girl) || {{lang|sq|vajza}} (girls) || {{lang|sq|vajza}} (the girl) || {{lang|sq|vajzat}} (the girls)
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| {{lang|sq|një vajzë}} || {{lang|sq|vajza}} || {{lang|sq|vajzën}} || {{lang|sq|vajzat}}
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së një vajze}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së vajzave}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së vajzës}} || {{lang|sq|i/e/të/së vajzave}}
|-
! [[Dative]]
| {{lang|sq|një vajze}} || {{lang|sq|vajzave}} || {{lang|sq|vajzës}} || {{lang|sq|vajzave}}
|-
! [[Ablative]]
| {{lang|sq|(prej) një vajze}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) vajzash}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) vajzës}} || {{lang|sq|(prej) vajzave}}
|}

The definite article is placed after the noun as in many other [[Balkan languages]], like in [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]].
* The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
** For example, in singular nominative, masculine nouns add {{lang|sq|-i}}, or those ending in {{lang|sq|-g}}/{{lang|sq|-k}}/{{lang|sq|-h}} take {{lang|sq|-u}} (to avoid palatalization):
*** {{lang|sq|mal}} (mountain) / {{lang|sq|mali}} (the mountain);
*** {{lang|sq|libër}} (book) / {{lang|sq|libri}} (the book);
*** {{lang|sq|zog}} (bird) / {{lang|sq|zogu}} (the bird).
** Nouns in the feminine class take the suffix {{lang|sq|-(i/j)a}}:
*** {{lang|sq|veturë}} (car) / {{lang|sq|vetura}} (the car);
*** {{lang|sq|shtëpi}} (house) / {{lang|sq|shtëpia}} (the house);
*** {{lang|sq|lule}} (flower) / {{lang|sq|lulja}} (the flower).
* Nouns in the neuter class take {{lang|sq|-t}}.

Albanian has developed an analytical [[verb]]al structure in place of the earlier synthetic system, inherited from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]. Its complex system of [[Grammatical mood|mood]]s (six types) and [[Grammatical tense|tense]]s (three simple and five complex constructions) is distinctive among [[Balkan languages]]. There are two general types of [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugations]].

Albanian has a series of [[verb form]]s called miratives or [[admirative]]s. These may express surprise on the part of the speaker, but may also have other functions, such as expressing [[irony]], [[doubt]], or [[Evidentiality|reportedness]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Victor A.|last=Friedman|chapter=Evidentiality in the Balkans: Bulgarian, Macedonian and Albanian|pages=168–187|title=Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology|editor-first1=Wallace L.|editor-last1=Chafe|editor-first2=Johanna|editor-last2=Nichols|publisher=Ablex|year=1986|isbn=978-0-89391-203-1|chapter-url=http://mahimahi.uchicago.edu/media/faculty/vfriedm/040Friedman86.pdf|access-date=12 May 2023|archive-date=29 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329121918/http://mahimahi.uchicago.edu/media/faculty/vfriedm/040Friedman86.pdf|url-status=dead}} p. 180.</ref> The Albanian use of admirative forms is unique in the [[Balkan sprachbund|Balkan context]]. In English, the expression of surprise can be rendered by 'oh, look!' or 'lookee there!'; the expression of doubt can be rendered by 'indeed!'; the expression of neutral reportedness can be rendered by 'apparently'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Victor|author-link=Victor Friedman|editor-last=Scaldaferri|editor-first=Nicola|title=Wild Songs, Sweet Songs: The Albanian Epic in the Collections of Milman Parry and Albert B. Lord|chapter=The Epic Admirative in Albanian|volume=5|series=Publications of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature Series|others=In collaboration with Victor Friedman, John Kolsti, Zymer U. Neziri|publisher=Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies|year=2021|isbn=9780674271333|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WF-azgEACAAJ}}</ref>
* {{lang|sq|Ti '''flet''' shqip.}} "You '''speak''' Albanian." (indicative)
* {{lang|sq|Ti '''folke''' shqip!}} "You '''(surprisingly) speak''' Albanian!" (admirative)
* {{lang|sq|Rruga '''është''' e mbyllur.}} "The street '''is''' closed." (indicative)
* {{lang|sq|Rruga '''qenka''' e mbyllur.}} "'''(Apparently,)''' The street '''is''' closed." (admirative)

For more information on verb conjugation and on inflection of other parts of speech, see [[Albanian morphology]].

=== Word order ===
Albanian word order is relatively free.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} To say '{{lang|sq|Agim ate all the oranges}}' in Albanian, one may use any of the following orders, with slight pragmatic differences:
* [[subject–verb–object|SVO]]: {{lang|sq|Agimi i hëngri të gjithë portokallët.}}
* [[subject–object–verb|SOV]]: {{lang|sq|Agimi të gjithë portokallët i hëngri.}}
* [[Object–verb–subject|OVS]]: {{lang|sq|Të gjithë portokallët i hëngri Agimi.}}
* [[Object–subject–verb|OSV]]: {{lang|sq|Të gjithë portokallët Agimi i hëngri.}}
* [[Verb–subject–object|VSO]]: {{lang|sq|I hëngri Agimi të gjithë portokallët.}}
* [[Verb–object–subject|VOS]]: {{lang|sq|I hëngri të gjithë portokallët Agimi.}}

However, the most common order is [[subject–verb–object]].

The verb can optionally occur in sentence-initial position, especially with verbs in the passive form (''{{lang|sq|forma joveprore}}''):
* '''{{lang|sq|Parashikohet}}''' {{lang|sq|një ndërprerje}} "An interruption '''is anticipated'''".

=== Negation ===
Verbal negation in Albanian is mood-dependent, a trait shared with some fellow [[Indo-European languages]] such as [[Greek language|Greek]].

In indicative, conditional, or admirative sentences, negation is expressed by the particles {{lang|sq|nuk}} or ''s''' in front of the verb, for example:
* ''{{lang|sq|Toni nuk flet anglisht}}'' "Tony does not speak English";
* ''{{lang|sq|Toni s'flet anglisht}}'' "Tony doesn't speak English";
* ''{{lang|sq|Nuk e di}}'' "I do not know";
* ''{{lang|sq|S'e di}}'' "I don't know".

Subjunctive, imperative, optative, or non-finite forms of verbs are negated with the particle ''mos'':
* ''{{lang|sq|Mos harro}}'' "Do not forget!".

== Numerals ==
{|
|-
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| një—one
| tetëmbëdhjetë—eighteen
|-
| dy—two
| nëntëmbëdhjetë—nineteen
|-
| tri/tre—three
| '''njëzet'''—twenty
|-
| katër—four
| njëzet e një—twenty-one
|-
| pesë—five
| njëzet e dy—twenty-two
|-
| gjashtë—six
| tridhjetë—thirty
|-
| shtatë—seven
| '''dyzet'''/katërdhjetë—forty
|-
| tetë—eight
| pesëdhjetë—fifty
|-
| nëntë—nine
| gjashtëdhjetë—sixty
|-
| dhjetë—ten
| shtatëdhjetë—seventy
|-
| njëmbëdhjetë—eleven
| tetëdhjetë—eighty
|-
| dymbëdhjetë—twelve
| nëntëdhjetë—ninety
|-
| trembëdhjetë—thirteen
| njëqind—one hundred
|-
| katërmbëdhjetë—fourteen
| pesëqind—five hundred
|-
| pesëmbëdhjetë—fifteen
| një mijë—one thousand
|-
| gjashtëmbëdhjetë—sixteen
| një milion—one million
|-
| shtatëmbëdhjetë—seventeen
| një miliard—one billion
|}
|}

=== Notes ===
* In certain dialects, numerals with an extra syllable may undergo metrical syncope. For example, {{lang|sq|pesëmbëdhjetë}} becomes {{lang|sq|pesëmet}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamp |first1=Eric Pratt |editor1-last=Gvozdanovic |editor1-first=Jadranka |title=Indo-European Numerals |date=3 June 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-085846-4 |page=869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmbWRnaridAC |language=en |chapter=Albanian}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Vëzhgime rreth të folmëve të banorëve të Bregut të Matës, ishullit të Lezhës dhe ishullit të Shëngjinit |first=Gjovalin |last=Shkurtaj  |date=1972 |journal=Studime Filologjike |issue=2 |publisher=Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë |page=96 |language=sq}}</ref>

=== Vigesimal system ===
Beside the Indo-European decimal numeration, there are also remnants of the [[Vigesimal|vigesimal system]], as {{lang|sq|njëzet}} {{gloss|twenty}} and {{lang|sq|dyzet}} {{gloss|forty}}. The [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]] in Italy and [[Arvanites]] in Greece may still use {{lang|sq|trezet}} {{gloss|sixty}} and {{lang|sq|katërzet}} {{gloss|eighty}}. Albanian is the only Balkan language that has preserved the [[Pre-Indo-European languages|Pre-Indo-European]] vigesimal system.{{sfn|Demiraj|2006|p=43}}

== Lexicon ==

Albanian is known within historical linguistics as a case of a language which, although surviving through many periods of foreign rule and multilingualism, saw a "disproportionately high" influx of [[Loanword|loans]] from other languages augmenting and replacing much of its original [[vocabulary]].<ref name=Matasovic6/>{{clarify|date=September 2022}} Of all the foreign influences in Albanian, the deepest reaching and most impactful was the absorption of loans from Latin in the Classical period and its Romance successors afterward. Scholars have estimated a great number of Latin loanwords in Albanian, some even claiming 60% of the Albanian vocabulary.<ref name="Sawicka">[[Irena Natalia Sawicka|Sawicka, Irena]]. [https://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/ch/article/view/ch.2013.006/117 "A Crossroad Between West, East and Orient–The Case of Albanian Culture."] Colloquia Humanistica. No. 2. Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2013. Page 97: "Even according to Albanian linguists, Albanian vocabulary is composed in 60 percent of Latin words from different periods... When albanological studies were just emerging, it happened that Albanian was classified as a Romance language. Already there exists the idea of a common origin of both Albanian and Rumanian languages. The Rumanian grammar is almost identical to that of Albanian, but it may be as well the effect of later convergence within the Balkan Sprachbund.."</ref>

Major work in reconstructing Proto-Albanian has been done with the help of knowledge of the original forms of loans from Ancient Greek, Latin and Slavic, while Ancient Greek loanwords are scarce the Latin loanwords are of extreme importance in [[phonology]].{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xvKH56aT5mEC&pg=PA23 23]}} The presence of loanwords from more well-studied languages from time periods before Albanian was attested, reaching deep back into the Classical Era, has been of great use in phonological reconstructions for earlier ancient and medieval forms of Albanian.<ref name=Matasovic6>Matasovic, Ranko (2018). [http://mudrac.ffzg.unizg.hr/~rmatasov/Albanian.pdf ''A Grammatical Sketch of Albanian for students of Indo-European'']. p. 6.</ref> Some words in the core vocabulary of Albanian have no known etymology linking them to Proto-Indo-European or any known source language, and as of 2018 are thus tentatively attributed to an unknown, unattested, pre-Indo-European substrate language; some words among these include {{lang|sq|zemër}} (heart) and {{lang|sq|hekur}} (iron).<ref>Matasovic, Ranko (2018). Page 35.</ref> Some among these putative pre-IE words are thought to be related to putative pre-IE substrate words in neighboring Indo-European languages, such as {{lang|sq|lule}} (flower), which has been tentatively linked to Latin {{lang|sq|lilia}} and Greek {{lang|el-Latn|leirion}}.{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=191}}

Lexical distance of Albanian to other languages in a [[Lexicostatistics|lexicostatistical]] analysis by Ukrainian linguist Tyshchenko shows the following results (the lower figure, the higher similarity): 49% [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], 53% [[Romanian language|Romanian]], 56% [[Greek language|Greek]], 82% [[French language|French]], 86% [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], 86% [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Excel File_Lexical-Distance-Matrix |url=https://alternativetransport.wordpress.com/lexical-distance-matrix/ |website=Alternative Transport |date=19 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How much does language change when it travels? |url=https://alternativetransport.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/how-much-does-language-change-when-it-travels/ |website=Alternative Transport |date=4 May 2015}}</ref>

=== Cognates with Illyrian ===
{{See also|Proposed Illyrian vocabulary}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Illyrian term
!description
!Corresponding Albanian term
|-
|{{lang|xil|Andena}}, {{lang|xil|Andes}}, {{lang|xil|Andio}}, {{lang|xil|Antis}}
|Personal Illyrian names based on a root-word {{lang|sq|and-}} or {{lang|sq|ant-}}, found in both the southern and the Dalmatian-Pannonian (including modern Bosnia and Herzegovina) onomastic provinces
|Alb. {{lang|sq|andë}} (northern Albanian dialect, or Gheg) and {{lang|sq|ëndë}} (southern Albanian dialect or Tosk) "appetite, pleasure, desire, wish"<ref name="balkancenter.org">{{cite journal |last1=Adzanela |first1=Ardian |date=1 January 1970 |title=Cultural Treasure of Bosnia and Herzegovina edition-Prehistoric and Ancient Period- Book 2- Illyrian Bosnia and Herzegovina-an Overview of a Cultural Legacy/ Ancient Illyrians of Bosnia and Herzegovina {{pipe}} Ardian Adžanela Adzanela Axhanela |url=https://www.academia.edu/2490281 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|aran}}
|"field"
|Alb. {{lang|sq|arë}}; plural {{lang|sq|ara}}<ref name="Mann1977">{{cite book |author=Suart E. Mann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LJiAAAAMAAJ&q=aran+%2B+Illyrian |title=An Albanian Historical Grammar |publisher=Buske |year=1977 |isbn=978-3-87118-262-4}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|Ardiaioi/Ardiaei}}
|name of an Illyrian people
|connected to {{lang|sq|hardhi}} "vine-branch, grape-vine", with a sense development similar to Germanic *stamniz, meaning both {{lang|sq|stem, tree stalk}} and {{lang|sq|tribe, lineage}}.<!-- Do not add "ardhja", insufficient linguistical evidence -->{{citation needed|date=September 2011}}
|-
|{{lang|xil|Bilia}}
|"daughter"
|Alb. {{lang|sq|bijë}}, dial. {{lang|sq|bilë}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8D5mAAAAMAAJ&q=bilia+Illyrian+albanian |title=Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity : Řada klasická |date=3 June 2008}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|Bindo/[[Bindus (Illyrian god)|Bindus]]}}
|an Illyrian deity, cf. [[Bihać]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
|Alb. {{lang|sq|bind}} "to convince" or "to make believe", {{lang|sq|përbindësh}} "monster"<ref>Ushaku, Ruzhdi, Hulumtime etnoliguistike, chapter: The continuation of Illyrian Bind in Albanian Mythology and Language, Fakulteti filologjise, Prishtine, 2000, p. 46-48</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|bounon}}
|"hut, cottage"
|Alb {{lang|sq|bun}}<ref name="Mayani 1962">{{cite book |last=Mayani |first=Zĕchariă |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMMkAAAAMAAJ&q=drenis+%2B+Illyrian |title=The Etruscans begin to speak |publisher=Souvenir Press |year=1962}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|brisa}}
|"husk of grapes"
|Alb {{lang|sq|bërsí}} "lees, dregs; mash" ( < PA *{{lang|sq|brutiā}})<ref name="IG">{{cite web |title=Illyrian Glossary |url=http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/glossary/illy.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617033012/http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/glossary/illy.html |archive-date=17 June 2011 |publisher=bizland.com}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|Barba-}}
|"swamp", toponym from {{lang|sq|Metubarbis}}
|Alb. {{lang|sq|bërrakë}} "swampy soil"<ref name="IG" />
|-
|{{lang|xil|Daesitiates}}
|name of an Illyrian people
|Alb. {{lang|sq|dash}} "ram", corresponding contextually with south Slavonic {{lang|sq|dasa}} "ace", which might represent a borrowing and adaptation from Illyrian or even Proto-Albanian<!-- Do not remove, that is what the source says -->.<ref name="balkancenter.org" />
|-
|''*{{lang|xil|mal}}''
|"mountain"
|Alb {{lang|sq|mal}} "mountain"<ref>{{cite book |last=Stipčević |first=Aleksandar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLcWAQAAIAAJ&q=mal+%2B+Illyrian |title=The Illyrians: history and culture |publisher=Noyes Press |year=1977 |isbn=9780815550525}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|bardi}}
|"white"
|Alb {{lang|sq|bardhë}} "white"<ref>{{cite book |author=Linguistic Society of America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_04AAAAMAAJ&q=bardi+%2B+Illyrian |title=Language, Volumes 1–3 |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |year=1964}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|drakoina}}
|"supper"
|Alb. {{lang|sq|darke}}, {{lang|sq|dreke}} "supper, dinner"{{sfn|Orel|1998}}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|drenis}}
|"deer"
|Alb. indef. {{Lang|sq|dre}}, def. {{Lang|sq|dreni}} "deer"<ref name="Mayani 1962" />
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|delme}}
|"sheep"
|Alb. {{Lang|sq|dele}}, Gheg {{Lang|sq|delme}} "sheep"<ref name="Millennium Studies">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSrxcnuJn44C&q=delme+%2B+Illyrian&pg=PA152 |title=Diokletian und die Tetrarchie: Aspekte einer Zeitenwende |publisher=Millennium Studies |year=2004 |isbn=9783110182309}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|dard}}
|"pear"
|Alb. {{lang|sq|dardhë}} "pear"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Roberto Salinas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4sYfFuSfekC&q=dardhe+%2B+illyrian&pg=PA72 |title=Homeric whispers: intimations of orthodoxy in the Iliad and Odyssey |year=2006 |isbn=9780910865111 |page=72|publisher=Scylax Press}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|sīca}}
|"dagger"
|Alb indef. {{lang|sq|thikë}} or def. {{lang|sq|thika}} "knife"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eggebrecht |first1=Arne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyOFAAAAIAAJ&q=sica+thika |title=Albanien: Schätze aus dem Land der Skipetaren |author2=Roemer-Museum |author3=Pelizaeus-Museum |year=1988 |publisher=P. von Zabern |isbn=9783805309783}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|Ulc-}}
|"wolf" (pln. {{lang|sq|Ulcinium}})
|Alb {{lang|sq|ujk}} "wolf", {{lang|sq|ulk}} (Northern Dialect)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0c9CAAAAIAAJ&q=%22ulk%22+%2B+Illyrian |title=Ancient Indo-European dialects: proceedings, Volume 1963 |publisher=Millennium Studies |year=1966}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|loúgeon}}
|"pool"
|Alb {{lang|sq|lag}}, {{lang|sq|legen}} "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" ( < PA * {{lang|sq|lauga}}), {{lang|sq|lëgatë}} "pool" ( < PA *{{lang|sq|leugatâ}}), {{lang|sq|lakshte}} "dew" ( < PA {{lang|sq|laugista}})<ref>{{Cite book |last=Suart E. |first=Mann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LJiAAAAMAAJ&q=lo%C3%BAgeon+%2B+Illyrian |title=An Albanian Historical Grammar |publisher=Buske |year=1977 |isbn=9783871182624 |location=Hamburg}}</ref>
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|mag-}}
|"great"
|Alb. {{lang|sq|madh}} "big, great"<ref name="IG" />
|-
|''*''{{lang|xil|mantía}}
|"bramblebush"
|Old and dial. Alb {{lang|sq|mandë}} "berry, mulberry" (mod. Alb {{lang|sq|mën, man}}){{citation needed|date=September 2011}}
|-
|{{lang|xil|rhinos}}
|"fog, mist"
|Old Alb {{lang|sq|ren}} "cloud" (mod. Alb {{lang|sq|re, rê}}) ( < PA *{{lang|sq|rina}})<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=465}}</ref>
|-
|{{lang|xil|Vendum}}
|"place"
|Proto-Alb. wen-ta (Mod. Alb. vend){{sfn|Orel|1998}}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}
|}

=== Early linguistic influences ===
The earliest [[loanword]]s attested in Albanian come from [[Doric Greek]],<ref name="huld">{{cite journal
|author=Huld, Martin E. |title=Accentual Stratification of Ancient Greek Loanwords in Albanian |journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung |volume=99 |issue=2 |year=1986 |pages=245–253}}</ref> whereas the strongest influence came from [[Latin]].<ref>{{harvnb|Orel|2000|p=23 |ps=: "Latin loanwords are of extreme importance for the history of Albanian phonology, especially its vocalism. The duration of the borrowing was so long that loanwords reflect several distinct chronological stages."}}</ref> Some scholars argue that Albanian originated from an area located east of its present geographic spread due to the several [[Albanian–Romanian linguistic relationship|common lexical items]] found between the Albanian and [[Romanian language|Romanian]] languages. However it does not necessarily define the genealogical history of Albanian language, and it does not exclude the possibility of [[Proto-Albanian language|Proto-Albanian]] presence in both [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] and [[Thracians|Thracian]] territory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=Matthew Cowan |title=Slavic-Albanian language contact, convergence, and coexistence |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED546136 |pages=17–18 |language=en |quote=One other point that some scholars make is the fact that Albanian and Romanian share many lexical items; this has led some to believe that Albanian originated east of its present geographical spread (Georgiev 1957; Hamp 1994)...it does not necessarily determine the genealogical history of the language, nor does it rule out the possibility of Proto-Albanian being present in both Illyrian and Thracian territory.|isbn=9781267580337 |date=30 November 2011}}</ref>

The period during which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted, lasting from the 2nd century&nbsp;BC to the 5th century&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|p=9}} Over this period, the lexical borrowings can be roughly divided into three layers, the second of which is the largest. The first and smallest occurred at the time of less significant interaction. The final period, probably preceding the [[Migration Period|Slavic or Germanic invasions]], also has a notably smaller number of borrowings. Each layer is characterised by a different treatment of most vowels: the first layer follows the evolution of Early Proto-Albanian into Albanian; while later layers reflect vowel changes endemic to Late Latin (and presumably [[Proto-Romance language|Proto-Romance]]). Other formative changes include the syncretism of several noun case endings, especially in the plural, as well as a large-scale palatalisation.

A brief period followed, between the 7th and the 9th centuries, that was marked by heavy borrowings from [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]], some of which predate the "o-a" shift common to the modern forms of this language group.

==== Early Greek loans ====
There are some 30 [[Ancient Greek]] loanwords in [[Proto-Albanian language|Proto-Albanian]].<ref name="Linguistics p.412"/> Many of these reflect a dialect which voiced its aspirants, as did the Macedonian dialect. Other loanwords are Doric; these words mainly refer to commodity items and trade goods and probably came through trade with a now-extinct intermediary.<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|drapër}}; "sickle" < ([[Northwest Greek]]) {{lang|grc|drápanon}}<ref name="Ancient Indo-European Dialects p.102">Ancient Indo-European dialects: proceedings, Volume 1963 Ancient Indo-European Dialects: Proceedings, University of California, Los Angeles. Center for Research in Languages and Linguistics Authors Henrik Birnbaum, Jaan Puhvel, University of California, Los Angeles. Center for Research in Languages and Linguistics Editors Henrik Birnbaum, Jaan Puhvel Publisher University of California Press, 1966 p.102</ref><ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|bletë}}; "hive, bee" < Attic {{lang|grc|mélitta}} "bee" (vs. Ionic {{lang|grc|mélissa}}).<ref>{{harvnb|Orel|2000}} postulates a Vulgar Latin intermediary for no good reason. Mallory & Adams (1997) erroneously give the word as native, from *{{lang|grc|melítiā}}, the protoform underlying Greek {{lang|grc|mélissa}}; however, this protoform gave Albanian {{lang|sq|mjalcë}} "bee", which is a natural derivative of Proto-Albanian * {{lang|sq|melita}}; "honey" (mod. {{lang|sq|mjaltë}}).</ref>
* {{lang|sq|kumbull}}; "plum" < {{lang|grc|kokkúmelon}}<ref name="Ancient Indo-European Dialects p.102"/>
* {{lang|sq|lakër}}; "cabbage, green vegetables" < {{lang|grc|lákhanon}} "green; vegetable"{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=23}}
* {{lang|sq|lëpjetë}}; "orach, dock" < {{lang|grc|lápathon}}{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=102}}
* {{lang|sq|lyej}}; "to smear, to oil"< Proto-Albanian *elaiwanja < *elaiwa (olive oil) < Greek elaion{{sfn|Orel|1998|p=236}}
* {{lang|sq|mokër}}; "millstone" < (Northwest) {{lang|grc|mākhaná}} "device, instrument"<ref name="Linguistics p.412">The Field of Linguistics, Volume 2 Volume 1 of World of linguistics Authors Bernd Kortmann, Johan Van Der Auwera Editors Bernd Kortmann, Johan Van Der Auwera Publisher Walter de Gruyter, 2010 {{ISBN|3-11-022025-3}}, {{ISBN|978-3-11-022025-4}} p.412</ref><ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|mollë}}; "apple" < {{lang|grc|mēlon}} "fruit"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Les mots latins de l'albanais |last=Bonnet |first=Guillaum |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=1998 |location=Paris |pages=324}}</ref>
* {{lang|sq|pëllëmbë}}; "palm of the hand" < {{lang|grc|palámā}}{{sfn|Orel|1998|p=318}}
* {{lang|sq|pjepër}}; "melon" < {{lang|grc|pépōn}}<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|presh}}; "leek" < {{lang|grc|práson}}{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=23}}
* {{lang|sq|trumzë}}; "thyme" < (Northwest) {{lang|grc|thýmbrā}}, {{lang|grc|thrýmbrē}}<ref name="Ancient Indo-European Dialects p.102"/>
* {{lang|sq|pellg}}; "pond, pool" < {{lang|grc|pélagos}} "high sea"{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=264}}

According to Huld (1986), the following come from a Greek dialect without any significant attestation called "Makedonian" because it was akin to the native idiom of the Greek-speaking population in the Argead kingdom:<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|llërë}}; "elbow" < *{{lang|grc|ὠlénā}}<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|brukë}}; "tamarisk" < *{{lang|grc|mīrýkhā}}<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|mëllagë}}; 'mallow' < *{{lang|grc|malákhā}} (with the reflex of /ɡ/ for Greek <χ> indicating a dialectal voicing of the what came as an aspirate stop from Greek)<ref name="huld"/>
* {{lang|sq|maraj}} "fennel" < *{{lang|grc|márathrion}} (cf Romanian {{lang|ro|mărar(iu)}}, Ionic {{lang|grc|márathron}}; with the Albanian simplification of -dri̯- to -j- reflecting that of earlier *{{lang|grc|udri̯om}} to {{lang|sq|ujë}} "water")<ref name="huld"/>

==== Latin influence ====
{{See also|Albanian–Eastern Romance linguistic parallels}}
Scholars have estimated a great number of Latin loanwords in Albanian, some even claiming 60% of the Albanian vocabulary.<ref name=Sawicka/> They include many frequently used core vocabulary items, including {{lang|sq|shumë}} ("very", from Latin {{lang|la|summus}}), {{lang|sq|pak}} ("few", Latin {{lang|la|paucus}}), {{lang|sq|ngushtë}} ("narrow", Latin {{lang|la|angustus}}), {{lang|sq|pemë}} ("tree", Latin {{lang|la|poma}}), {{lang|sq|vij}} ("to come", Latin {{lang|la|veniō}}), {{lang|sq|rërë}} ("sand", Latin {{lang|la|arena}}), {{lang|sq|drejt}} ("straight", Latin {{lang|la|directus}}), {{lang|sq|kafshë}} ("beast", Latin {{lang|la|causa}}, meaning "thing"), and {{lang|sq|larg}} ("far away", Latin {{lang|la|largus}}).

[[Jernej Kopitar]] (1780–1844) was the first to note Latin's influence on Albanian and claimed "the Latin loanwords in the Albanian language had the pronunciation of the time of Emperor Augustus".{{sfn|Kopitar|1829|p=254}} Kopitar gave examples such as Albanian {{lang|sq|qiqer}} 'chickpea' from Latin {{lang|la|cicer}}, {{lang|sq|qytet}} 'city, town' from {{lang|la|civitas}}, {{lang|sq|peshk}} 'fish' from {{lang|la|piscis}}, and {{lang|sq|shigjetë}} 'arrow' from {{lang|la|sagitta}}. The hard pronunciations of Latin {{angle bracket|c}} and {{angle bracket|g}} are retained as palatal and velar stops in the Albanian loanwords. Gustav Meyer (1888)<ref>Meyer, Gustav. Die lateinischen Elemente im Albanesischen. (In: Grцbers Grundriss, I; I.Auflage) (1888), p. 805</ref> and [[Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke]] (1914)<ref>Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm. Rumanisch, romanisch, albanesisch. (Mitteilungen des Romanischen Instituts an der Universitet Wien. I. Heilderberg 1914), p. 32</ref> later corroborated this. Meyer noted the similarity between the Albanian verbs {{lang|sq|shqipoj}} "to speak clearly, enunciate" and {{lang|sq|shqiptoj}} "to pronounce, articulate" and the Latin word {{lang|la|excipiō}} (meaning "to welcome"). Therefore, he believed that the word ''Shqiptar'' "Albanian person" was derived from {{lang|sq|shqipoj}}, which in turn was derived from the Latin word {{lang|la|excipere}}. [[Johann Georg von Hahn]], an Austrian linguist, had proposed the same hypothesis in 1854.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wir sind die Deinen. Studien zur albanischen Sprache, Literatur und Kulturgeschichte, dem Gedenken an Martin Camaj (1925–1992) gewidmet |author =Bardhyl Demiraj |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-06221-3 |date=2010}}</ref>

[[Eqrem Çabej]] also noticed, among other things, the archaic Latin elements in Albanian:<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Karakteristikat e huazimeve latine të gjuhës shqipe. SF 1974/2 (In German RL 1962/1) pp. 13-51</ref>

# Latin /au/ becomes Albanian /a/ in the earliest loanwords: {{lang|la|aurum}} → {{lang|sq|ar}} 'gold'; {{lang|la|gaudium}} → {{lang|sq|gaz}} 'joy'; {{lang|la|laurus}} → {{lang|sq|lar}} 'laurel'. Latin /au/ is retained in later loans, but is altered in a way similar to [[Greek orthography|Greek]]: {{lang|la|causa}} 'thing' → {{lang|sq|kafshë}} 'thing; beast, brute'; {{lang|la|laud}} → {{lang|sq|lavd}}.
# Latin /oː/ becomes Albanian /e/ in the oldest Latin loans: {{lang|la|pōmus}} → {{lang|sq|pemë}} 'fruit tree'; {{lang|la|hōra}} → {{lang|sq|herë}} 'time, instance'. An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-Indo-European to Albanian; PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|nōs}} became Albanian {{lang|sq|ne}} 'we', PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|*oḱtṓw}} + suffix -ti- became Albanian {{lang|sq|tetë}} 'eight', etc.
# Latin unstressed internal and initial syllables become lost in Albanian: {{lang|la|cubitus}} → {{lang|sq|kub}} 'elbow'; {{lang|la|medicus}} → {{lang|sq|mjek}} 'physician'; {{lang|la|palūdem}} 'swamp' → [[Vulgar Latin]] {{lang|la|*padūle}} → {{lang|sq|pyll}} 'forest'. An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-Indo-European to Albanian. In contrast, in later Latin loanwords, the internal syllable is retained: {{lang|la|paganus}} → {{lang|sq|pagan}}; {{lang|la|plaga}} → {{lang|sq|plagë}} 'wound', etc.
# Latin /tj/, /dj/, /kj/ palatalized to Albanian /s/, /z/, /c/: {{lang|la|vitium}} → {{lang|sq|ves}} 'vice; worries'; {{lang|la|ratiōnem}} → {{lang|sq|arsye}} 'reason'; {{lang|la|radius}} → {{lang|sq|rreze}} 'ray; spoke'; {{lang|la|faciēs}} → {{lang|sq|faqe}} 'face, cheek'; {{lang|la|socius}} → {{lang|sq|shok}} 'mate, comrade', {{lang|sq|shoq}} 'husband', etc. In turn, Latin /s/ was altered to /ʃ/ in Albanian.

Haralambie Mihăescu demonstrated that:
* Some 85 Latin words have survived in Albanian but not (as inherited) in any [[Romance language]]. A few examples include Late Latin {{lang|la|celsydri}} → dial. {{lang|sq|kulshedër}} → {{lang|sq|kuçedër}} 'hydra', {{lang|la|hībernus}} → {{lang|sq|vërri}} 'winter pasture', {{lang|la|sarcinārius}} 'used for packing, loading' → {{lang|sq|shelqëror}} 'forked peg, grapnel, forked hanger', {{lang|la|sōlānum}} 'nightshade', lit. 'sun plant' → ''{{lang|sq|shullë(r)}}'' 'sunny place out of the wind, sunbathed area', {{lang|la|splēnēticus}} → {{lang|sq|shpretkë}} 'spleen', {{lang|la|trifurcus}} → {{lang|sq|tërfurk}} 'pitchfork'.{{sfn|Mihăescu|1966|pp=1, 30}}
* 151 Albanian words of Latin origin were not inherited in Romanian. A few examples include Latin {{lang|la|amīcus}} → Albanian {{lang|sq|mik}} 'friend', {{lang|la|inimīcus}} → {{lang|sq|armik}} 'foe, enemy', {{lang|la|ratiōnem}} → {{lang|sq|arsye}}, {{lang|la|benedīcere}} → {{lang|sq|bekoj}}, {{lang|la|bubulcus}} 'ploughman, herdsman' → {{lang|sq|bulk}}, {{lang|sq|bujk}} 'peasant', {{lang|la|calicis}} → {{lang|sq|qelq}} 'drinking glass', {{lang|la|castellum}} → {{lang|sq|kështjellë}} 'castle', {{lang|la|centum}} → {{lang|sq|qind}} 'hundred', {{lang|la|gallus}} → {{lang|sq|gjel}} 'rooster', {{lang|la|iunctūra}} → {{lang|sq|gjymtyrë}} 'limb; joint', {{lang|la|medicus}} → {{lang|sq|mjek}} 'doctor', {{lang|la|retem}} → {{lang|sq|rrjetë}} 'net', {{lang|la|spērāre}} → dial. ''{{lang|sq|shp(ë)rej}}'', {{lang|sq|shpresoj}} 'to hope', {{lang|sq|pres}} 'to await', {{lang|la|voluntās}} ({{lang|la|voluntātis}}) → {{lang|sq|vullnet}} 'will; volunteer'.{{sfn|Mihăescu|1966|pp=1, 21}}
* Some Albanian church terminology has phonetic features which demonstrate their very early borrowing from Latin. A few examples include Albanian {{lang|sq|bekoj}} 'to bless' from {{lang|la|benedīcere}}, {{lang|sq|engjëll}} 'angel' from {{lang|la|angelus}}, {{lang|sq|kishë}} 'church' from {{lang|la|ecclēsia}}, ''{{lang|sq|i krishterë}}'' 'Christian' from {{lang|la|christiānus}}, {{lang|sq|kryq}} 'cross' from {{lang|la|crux}} ({{lang|la|crucis}}), (obsolete) {{lang|sq|lter}} 'altar' from Latin {{lang|la|altārium}}, {{lang|sq|mallkoj}} 'to curse' from {{lang|la|maledīcere}}, {{lang|sq|meshë}} 'mass' from {{lang|la|missa}}, {{lang|sq|murg}} 'monk' from {{lang|la|monachus}}, {{lang|sq|peshkëp}} 'bishop' from {{lang|la|episcopus}}, and {{lang|sq|ungjill}} 'gospel' from {{lang|la|ēvangelium}}.{{sfn|Mihăescu|1966|pp=1–2}}

Other authors<ref>A. Rosetti, Istoria limbii române, 1986, pp. 195–197</ref> have detected Latin loanwords in Albanian that could come from [[Palatalization in the Romance languages|Latin before the palatalization]] of velar consonants,<ref>{{Citation |last=Breu |first=Walter |title=Romance in Contact with Albanian |date=2022-10-19 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |url=https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-421 |access-date=2025-02-16 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.421 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> as early as the 2nd or 3rd century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Recasens |first=Daniel |date=2020 |title=Palatalizations in the Romance languages |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.435 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.435|isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 }}</ref> For example, Albanian ''{{lang|sq|qingël(ë)}}'' 'saddle girth; dwarf elder' from Latin {{lang|la|cingula}} and Albanian ''{{lang|sq|e vjetër}}'' 'old, aged; former' from {{lang|sq|vjet}} but influenced by Latin {{lang|la|veteris}}. The [[Romance languages]] inherited these words from Vulgar Latin: {{lang|la|cingula}} became (via *''clinga'') Romanian {{lang|ro|chingă}} 'girdle; saddle girth', and ''[[Veteranus|veterānus]]'' became Romanian {{lang|ro|bătrân}} 'old'.

Albanian, [[Basque language|Basque]], and the surviving [[Celtic languages]] such as [[Breton language|Breton]] and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] are the non-Romance languages today that have this sort of extensive Latin element dating from ancient Roman times, which has undergone the sound changes associated with the languages. Other languages in or near the former Roman area either came on the scene later (Turkish, the Slavic languages, Arabic) or borrowed little from Latin despite coexisting with it (Greek, German), although German does have a few such ancient Latin loanwords ({{lang|de|Fenster}} 'window', {{lang|de|Käse}} 'cheese').

Romanian scholars such as Vatasescu and Mihaescu, using lexical analysis of the Albanian language, have concluded that Albanian was heavily influenced by an extinct Romance language that was distinct from both Romanian and [[Dalmatian language|Dalmatian]]. Because the Latin words common to only Romanian and Albanian are significantly fewer in number than those that are common to only Albanian and Western Romance, Mihaescu argues that the Albanian language evolved in a region with much greater contact with Western Romance regions than with Romanian-speaking regions, and located this region in present-day Albania, Kosovo and Western Macedonia, spanning east to [[Bitola]] and [[Pristina]].<ref name="MadgearuAlbanianRomans">{{cite book |author1=Madgearu, Alexandru |author2=Gordon, Martin |title=The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins |pages=146–147}}</ref>

==== Slavic influence ====
After the [[Slavs]] arrived in the Balkans, the [[Slavic languages]] became an additional source of loanwords. Contact between Albanian with the Slavic languages lasted very intensively for almost four centuries, and continued even in the late Middle Ages. Slavic loanwords in Albanian constitute a less studied area in literature. Per [[Vladimir Orel]] (1998),{{sfn|Orel|1998}}{{Page needed|date=August 2024}} there are about 556 Slavic loanwords in Albanian.

==== Turkish influence ====
The rise of the [[Ottoman Empire]] meant an influx of [[Turkish language|Turkish]] words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and Arabic words through Turkish. Some Turkish personal names, such as ''Altin'', are common. There are some loanwords from Modern Greek, especially in the south of Albania. Many borrowed words have been replaced by words with Albanian roots or modern Latinised (international) words. According to calculations mentioned by [[w:it:Emanuele Banfi|Emanuele Banfi]] (1985),<ref>Banfi, Emanuele (1985). "Linguistica balcanica". Bologna: 162.</ref> the total number of Turkish loanwords in Albanian is about two thousand. However, when taking into account obsolete and rare words, and restricted dialectalisms, their number is considerably larger.

==== Gothic ====
Albanian is also known to possess a small set of loans from [[Gothic language|Gothic]], with early inquiry into the matter done by [[Norbert Jokl]]<ref>Jokl, Norbert (1929). "Balkangermanisches und Germanisches in Albanischen". ''Festschrift der 57. Versammlung deutscher Philologen und Schulmänner in Salzberg''. Baden bei Wien: 105–137.</ref> and [[Sigmund Feist]],<ref>Feist, Sigmund (1939). ''Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprafche''. Leiden: Brill.</ref> though such loans had been claimed earlier in the 19th century by early linguists such as [[Gustav Meyer]]. Many words claimed as Gothic have now been attributed to other origins by later linguists of Albanian ({{lang|sq|fat}} and {{lang|sq|tufë}}, though used for major claims by Huld in 1994, are now attributed to Latin, for example),{{sfn|Orel|1998|pp=456–457, 468}} or may instead be native to Albanian, inherited from Proto-Indo-European.<ref name="auto">Matasovic, Ranko (2019). ''[https://mudrac.ffzg.hr/~rmatasov/Albanian A Grammatical Sketch of Albanian for Students of Indo-European]''. Zagreb. Page 39</ref> Today, it is accepted that there are a few words from Gothic in Albanian, but for the most part they are scanty because the Goths had few contacts with Balkan peoples.<ref name=Curtis19>Curtis, M.C., 2012. [https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907 Slavic-Albanian language contact, convergence, and coexistence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207075619/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907 |date=7 February 2023 }}. Page 19</ref>

Martin Huld<ref name=Huld168>Huld, M.E., 1994. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40849126.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A7cdb9c3fc6b55e552953881eed1aa2a2 Albanian zverk – Gothic *swairhs]. ''Historische Sprachforschung/Historical Linguistics'', 107(1. H), pp.165–171. Pages 167–8.</ref> defends the significance of the admittedly sparse Gothic loans for Albanian studies, however, arguing that Gothic is the only clearly post-Roman and "pre-Ottoman" language after Latin with a notable influence on the Albanian lexicon (the influence of Slavic languages is both pre-Ottoman and Ottoman).<ref name=Huld168/> He argues that Gothic words in Albanian are attributable to the late fourth and early fifth centuries during the invasions of various Gothic speaking groups of the Balkans under [[Alaric I|Alaric]], [[Odoacer]], and [[Theodoric]]. He argues that Albanian Gothicisms bear evidence for the ordering of developments within Proto-Albanian at this time: for example, he argues Proto-Albanian at this stage had already shifted {{IPA|/uː/}} to {{IPA|/y/}} as Gothic words with {{IPA|/uː/}} reflect with {{IPA|/u/}} in Albanian, not {{IPA|/y/}} as seen in most Latin and ancient Greek loans, but had not yet experienced the shift of {{IPA|/t͡s/}} to {{IPA|/θ/}}, since loans from Gothic words with {{IPA|/θ/}} replace {{IPA|/θ/}} with {{IPA|/t/}} or another close sound.<ref name=Huld168/>

Notable words that continue to be attributed to Gothic in Albanian by multiple modern sources include:
* {{lang|sq|tirk}} "felt gaiters, white felt" (cf Romanian {{lang|ro|tureac}} "top of boot") < Gothic {{lang|got|*θiuh-brōks-}}<ref name=Curtis19/>{{sfn|Orel|1998|pp=456–457}} or {{lang|got|*θiuhbrōkeis}},<ref name=Huld168/> cf Old High German {{lang|de|theobrach}} "gaiters"{{sfn|Orel|1998|pp=456–457}}
* {{lang|sq|shkumë}} "foam"<ref name="auto"/> < Gothic {{lang|got|*skūm-}},<ref name=Huld168/> perhaps via an intermediary in a Romance {{lang|roa|*scuma}}{{sfn|Orel|1998|p=424}} (cf. Romanian {{lang|ro|spumă}})
* {{lang|sq|gardh}} "fence, garden"<ref name="auto"/> is either considered a native Albanian word<ref>Curtis, M.C., 2012. [https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907 Slavic-Albanian language contact, convergence, and coexistence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207075619/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907 |date=7 February 2023 }}. Page 107</ref> that was loaned into Romanian as {{lang|ro|gard}}{{sfn|Orel|1998|p=110}}<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2010|p=449}}</ref>
* {{lang|sq|zverk}} "nape, back of neck" < Gothic {{lang|got|*swairhs}};<ref>Huld, M.E., 1994. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40849126.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A7cdb9c3fc6b55e552953881eed1aa2a2 Albanian zverk – Gothic *swairhs]. ''Historische Sprachforschung/Historical Linguistics'', 107(1. H), pp.165–171.</ref> the "difficult" word having various otherwise been attributed (with phonological issues) to Celtic, Greek or native development.{{sfn|Orel|1998|pp=526–527}}
* {{lang|sq|horr}} "villain, scoundrel" and {{lang|sq|horre}} "whore" < Gothic {{lang|got|*hors}} "adulterer, cf Old Norse {{lang|non|hóra}} "whore"{{sfn|Orel|1998|pp=150-151}}
* {{lang|sq|punjashë}} "purse", diminutive of {{lang|sq|punjë}} < Gothic {{lang|got|puggs}} "purse"{{sfn|Orel|1998|p=350}} (cf. Romanian {{lang|ro|pungă}})

==== Patterns in loaning ====
Although Albanian is characterised by the absorption of many loans, even, in the case of Latin, reaching deep into the core vocabulary, certain [[semantic field]]s nevertheless remained more resistant. Terms pertaining to social organisation are often preserved, though not those pertaining to political organisation, while those pertaining to trade are all loaned or innovated.{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=263}}

Hydronyms present a complicated picture; the term for "sea" ({{lang|sq|det}}) is native and an "Albano-Germanic" innovation referring to the concept of depth, but a large amount of maritime vocabulary is loaned. Words referring to large streams and their banks tend to be loans, but {{lang|sq|lumë}} ("river") is native, as is {{lang|sq|rrymë}} (the flow of water). Words for smaller streams and stagnant pools of water are more often native, but the word for "pond", {{lang|sq|pellg}} is in fact a semantically shifted descendant of the old Greek word for "high sea", suggesting a change in location after Greek contact. Albanian has maintained since Proto-Indo-European a specific term referring to a riverside forest ({{lang|sq|gjazë}}), as well as its words for marshes. Albanian has maintained native terms for "whirlpool", "water pit" and (aquatic) "deep place", leading Orel to speculate that the Albanian [[Urheimat]] likely had an excess of dangerous whirlpools and depths.{{sfn|Orel|2000|pp=264–265}}

Regarding forests, words for most conifers and shrubs are native, as are the terms for "alder", "elm", "oak", "beech", and "linden", while "ash", "chestnut", "birch", "maple", "poplar", and "willow" are loans.{{sfn|Orel|2000|pp=266–267}}

The original kinship terminology of Indo-European was radically reshaped; changes included a shift from "mother" to "sister", and were so thorough that only three terms retained their original function, the words for "son-in-law", "mother-in-law" and "father-in-law". All the words for second-degree blood kinship, including "aunt", "uncle", "nephew", "niece", and terms for grandchildren, are ancient loans from Latin.{{sfn|Orel|2000|p=262}}

The Proto-Albanians appear to have been cattle breeders given the vastness of preserved native vocabulary pertaining to cow breeding, milking and so forth, while words pertaining to dogs tend to be loaned. Many words concerning horses are preserved, but the word for horse itself is a Latin loan.{{sfn|Orel|2000|pp=267–268}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Languages}}
{{div col begin|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Abetare]]
* [[Arbëresh language]]
* [[Arvanitika]]
* [[Gheg Albanian]]
* [[Illyrian language]]
* [[Help:IPA/Albanian|IPA/Albanian]]
* [[Messapic language]]
* [[Thraco-Illyrian]]
* [[Tosk Albanian]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
<references group="note" />
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
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* {{cite book |last=Ölberg |first=Hermann |chapter=Einige Uberlegungen zur Autochtonie der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel |title=Akten der internationalen albanologischen Kolloquiums, Innsbruck, 1972, zum Gedächtnis an Norbert Jokl |editor-first=Hermann M. |editor-last=Ölberg |location=Innsbruck |publisher=Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck |year=1977}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ölberg |first=Hermann |title=Kontributi i gjuhësisë për çështjen e atdheut ballkanik të shqiptarëve |journal=Studime Filologjike |volume=3 |year=1982}}
* {{cite book|last1=Olsen|first1=Birgit Anette|last2=Thorsø|first2=Rasmus|editor1-last=Olander|editor1-first=Thomas|title=The Indo-European Language Family : A Phylogenetic Perspective|year=2022|doi=10.1017/9781108758666.012|doi-access=free|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108758666|chapter=Armenian|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzKAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202|pages=202–222}}
* {{cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Holger |chapter=Bidrag til den albanesiske Sproghistorie |title=Festskrift til Vilhelm Tomsen |location=Kopenhagen |publisher=Gyldendal |year=1894 |pages=246–257}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pedersen |first=Holger |title=Albanesisch |journal=Kritischer Jahrbericht |volume=9 |issue=1 |year=1905 |pages=206–217}} Erlangen (1909)
* {{cite journal |last=Pellegrini |first=Giovan Battista |title=I rapporti linguistici interadriatici e l'elemento latino dell'albanese |journal=Abruzzo |volume=19 |year=1980 |pages=31–71}}
* Pellegrini, Giovan Battista. "Disa vëzhgime mbi elementin Latin të shqipes" [Some observations on the Latin element of the Albanian language], ''Studime Filologjike'' 3 (1982); (in Italian) "Alcune osservazioni sull'elemento latino dell'albanese", ''Studia Albanica'' 1983: 63–83.
* Pellegrini, Giovan Battista. ''Avviamento alla linguistica albanese''. Edizione rinnovata. Rende: Università degli studi della Calabria, Centro editoriale e librario, 1997.
* {{cite book |last=Pisani |first=Vittore |chapter=L'albanais et les autres langues indo-européennes |title=Mélanges Henri Grégoire II |location=Brussels |year=1950 |pages=519–538}} reprint in ''Saggi di linguistica storica: Scritti scelti''. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 1959, pp.&nbsp;96–114.
* {{cite journal |last=Pisani |first=Vittore |title=Les origines de la langue albanaise, questions de principe et de méthode |journal=Studia Albanica |volume=1 |year=1964 |pages=61–68}}
* {{cite book |last=Pisani |first=Vittore |chapter=Sulla genesi dell'albanese |title=Akten der internationalen albanologischen Kolloquiums, Innsbruck, 1972, zum Gedächtnis an Norbert Jokl |editor-first=Hermann M. |editor-last=Ölberg |location=Innsbruck |publisher=Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck |year=1977 |pages=345–366}}
* {{cite book |last1=Plasari |first1=Aurel |last2=Nadin |first2=Lucia |title=Barleti i hershëm sipas një dorëshkrimi të panjohur [The early Barleti – according to an unknown text] |date=2022 |publisher=Albanian Academy of Sciences/Onufri |isbn=978-9928-354-88-4}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Vladimir Orel |last=Orel |first=Vladimir |title=Albanian Etymological Dictionary |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=1998}}
* {{cite book |last=Orel |first=Vladimir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvKH56aT5mEC |title=A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |isbn=9004116478}}
* {{cite book |last=Riza |first=Selman |title=Studime albanistike |location=Pristina |year=1979}}
* {{cite book |title=The Indo-European Languages |last=Rusakov |first=Alexander |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=9781317391531 |editor1-last=Kapović |editor1-first=Mate |chapter=Albanian |editor2-last=Giacalone Ramat |editor2-first=Anna |editor3-last=Ramat |editor3-first=Paolo |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0lDwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schumacher |first1=Stefan |last2=Matzinger |first2=Joachim |title=Die Verben des Altalbanischen: Belegwörterbuch, Vorgeschichte und Etymologie |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |year=2013}}
* {{cite book |last=Svane |first=Gunnar |title=Slavische Lehnwörter im Albanischen |location=Århus |publisher=Aarhus University Press |year=1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Tagliavini |first=Carlo |title=La stratificazione del lessico albanese: Elementi indoeuropei |location=Bologna |publisher=Casa editrice Prof. Riccardo Pàtron |year=1965}}
* {{cite journal |last=Thumb |first=Albert |title=Altgriechische Elemente des Albanesischen |journal=[[Indogermanische Forschungen]] |volume=26 |year=1909 |pages=1–20}}
* {{cite book|last=Trumper|first=John|chapter=Some Celto-Albanian isoglosses and their implications|editor1-last=Grimaldi|editor1-first=Mirko|editor2-last=Lai|editor2-first=Rosangela|editor3-last=Franco|editor3-first=Ludovico|editor4-last=Baldi|editor4-first=Benedetta|title=Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond: In Honour of Leonardo M. Savoia|year=2018|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=9789027263179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAR-DwAAQBAJ}}
* von Hahn, Johann Georg. ''Albanesische Studien''. 3 vols. Jena: F. Mauko, 1854.
* [[Calvert Watkins|Watkins, Calvert]]. "Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction", in ''The Indo-European Languages''. Edited by Anna Giacalone Ramat & Paolo Ramat. London-NY: Routledge, 1998, pp.&nbsp;25–73.
* Ylli, Xhelal. ''Das slawische Lehngut im Albanischen''. 2 vols., vol. 1: ''Lehnwörter''; vol. 2: ''Ortsnamen''. Munich: Verlag Otto Sagner, 1997/2000.
* {{cite book |last1=Ylli |first1=Xhelal |last2=Sobolev |first2=Andrej N. |title=Albanskii gegskii govor sela Muhurr |location=Munich |publisher=Biblion Verlag |year=2003 |isbn=3-932331-36-2}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{InterWiki|code=sq}}
{{Wikibooks}}
{{Wiktionary category}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage|Albanian phrasebook|Albanian|a phrasebook}}
* [https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/albol Albanian Online] by Brian Joseph, Angelo Costanzo, and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lrc Linguistics Research Center] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [https://spw.uni-goettingen.de/projects/aig/lng-sqi.html glottothèque – Ancient Indo-European Grammars online], an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen

{{Indo-European languages}}
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