Category:Albanian

From Namespedia - Names Meaning and Origins

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million people,in Albania , Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia,Yugoslavia,Italy( about 300 000 speakers) and Greece The origins of the general name Albanian are still disputed. The name Albanian has been found in records since the time of Ptolemy. In Calabrian Albanian the name is Arbresh, in Modern Greek Arvan'tis, and in Turkish Arnaut.

There are two main dialects, Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south,mutually intelligible. All of the Albanian dialects spoken in Italian and Greek enclaves are of the Tosk variety.These dialects resulted from incompletely understood population movements of the 13th and 15th centuries. The Albanian dialects of Istria, for which a text exists, and of Syrmia (Srem), for which there is none, have become extinct.

The standard roman-style orthography was adopted in 1909.The official language is based on the Gheg dialect, influenced by the Tosk dialect

Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants.The original Indo-European phonetic system was destroyed in Albanian after diphthongs disappeared.Albanian includes numerous loanwords from Greek, Turkish, French, Slavic, Italic, borrowed during centuries.Albanian is genetically connected with Illyrian and Messapic languages.

Some suggest Albanian may be related more to the ancient Dacian language once spoken in Moesia and Dacia.