Albanian language

Albanian (/ælˈbeɪniən/; shqip or gjuha shqipe ) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and the Albanian diaspora in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. With about 7.5 million speakers, it comprises an independent branch within the Indo-European languages and is not closely related to any other language in Europe. First attested in the 15th century, it is the last Indo-European branch to appear in written records. This is one of the reasons why its still unknown origins has long been a matter of dispute among linguists and historians. Albanian scripts were produced earlier than this first attested document but none yet have been discovered; we know of their existence by earlier references—for example in 1332 a French monk signed as 'Broccardus' notes that 'Although the Albanians have another language totally different from Latin, they still use Latin letters in all their books'. Albanian is considered to be the descendant of one of the Paleo-Balkan languages of antiquity. For more historical and geographical reasons than specifically linguistic ones, there are various modern historians and linguists believe that Albanian language may have descended from a southern Illyrian dialect spoken in much the same region in classical times. Alternative hypotheses hold that Albanian may have descended from Thracian or Daco-Moesian, other ancient languages spoken farther east than Illyrian.Not enough is known of these languages to completely prove or disprove the various hypotheses. The two main Albanian dialects, Gheg and Tosk which are primarily distinguished by phonological differences, are mutually intelligible, with Gheg spoken in the north and Tosk spoken in the south of the Shkumbin river. Their characteristics in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages, have led to the conclusion that the dialectal split occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD) and at the time of the Slavic migration to the Balkans, with the historic boundary between Gheg and Tosk being the Shkumbin which straddled the Jireček line. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on the Tosk dialect. It is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia as well as a minority language of Italy, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Croatia (the Arbanasi), Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus, Western Macedonia and Western Thrace), Italy (the Arbëreshë) as well as in Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. Two varieties of the Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, preserved archaic elements of the language. The language is spoken by approximately 7 million people, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia and Montenegro. However, due to the large Albanian diaspora, the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe. The Albanian language is the official language of Albania and Kosovo, and co-official in North Macedonia. Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Romania and in Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece, specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece. Albanian is the third most spoken language in Italy. 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. Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. These are mainly refugees from Kosovo who migrated during the Kosovo War. In Switzerland, the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on January 15, 2019.