Proto-Albanian is the ancestral reconstructed language of Albanian, before the Gheg–Tosk dialectal diversification (before c. 600 CE).Albanoid and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Whether descendants or sister languages of what was called Illyrian by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic, on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in a common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE, with the beginning of the early Proto-Albanian phase.
| Proto-Albanian | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Albanian (dialects) |
| Region | Western Balkans |
| Era | c. 1000 BCE – 600 CE |
Reconstructed ancestors | Proto-Indo-European
|
| Lower-order reconstructions |
|
| Notes | The only survivor of the Albanoid languages of the Paleo-Balkan group |
Proto-Albanian is reconstructed by way of the comparative method between the Tosk and Gheg dialects and between Albanian and other Indo-European languages, as well as through contact linguistics studying early loanwords from and into Albanian and structural and phonological convergences with other languages. Loanwords into Albanian treated through its phonetic evolution can be traced back as early as the first contacts with Doric Greek (West Greek) since the 7th century BCE, but the most important of which are those from Latin (dated by De Vaan to the period 167 BCE to 400 CE) and from Slavic (dated from 600 CE onward). The evidence from loanwords allows linguists to construct in great detail the shape of native words at the points of major influxes of loans from well-attested languages.
In historical linguistics Proto-Albanian is broken up into different stages which are usually delimited by the onset of contact with different well-attested languages. Pre-Proto-Albanian is the early stage of the precursor of Albanian during the first millennium BCE, marked by contacts with Ancient Greek, but not yet by contacts with Latin. Proto-Albanian proper is dated to the period of contacts with Latin, starting from the 2nd century BCE after the Roman conquest of the Western Balkans, but the major Latin influence occurred since the first years of the common era when the Western Balkans were eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire. Common Albanian or its two dialects, Proto-Gheg and Proto-Tosk, experienced the earliest contacts with South Slavic languages since the Slavic migrations to the Balkans in the 6th–7th centuries CE. The rise of Tosk from Proto-Albanian was prompted before Slavic contacts circa 600 CE, as evidenced by the fact that Latin and ancient Greek loanwords are treated like native words with regard to taxonomical differences between Gheg and Tosk, but the same is not true of Slavic loans.
History
| Albanian in the Palaeo-Balkanic Indo-European branch based on the chapters "Albanian" (Hyllested & Joseph 2022) and "Armenian" (Olsen & Thorsø 2022) in Olander (ed.) The Indo-European Language Family |
Albanoid and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region about 3000 to 2500 BCE. They replaced the pre-Indo-European languages, which left traces of the Mediterranean-Balkan substratum. Shortly after they had diverged from one another, Pre-Albanian, Pre-Greek, and Pre-Armenian underwent a longer period of contact, as shown by common correspondences that are irregular for other IE languages. Furthermore, intense Greek–Albanian contacts have continued thereafter.
The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE, with the beginning of the early Proto-Albanian phase. The precursor of Albanian is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons as well as for some linguistic evidence, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic. Messapic, which is grouped in the same IE branch of Albanian, developed in southeast Italy after crossing the Adriatic Sea at least since the Early Iron Age, being attested in about six hundred inscriptions from Iron Age Apulia.
In classical antiquity Proto-Albanian was spoken in the central-western part of the Balkan Peninsula, to the north and west of the Ancient Greeks, as shown by early Doric Greek (West Greek) and Ancient Macedonian loanwords that were treated with characteristic Albanian features, by classical place names exclusively observing Albanian accent and phonetic rules, as well as by several Proto-Albanian items preserved in ancient glossaries.
Contacts with Ancient Greek
Proto-Albanian speech came into contact in its earlier stage with Ancient Greek since the 7th century BCE, when the Greek colonies were founded on the Adriatic coast of Albania. In that period early loanwords were borrowed from Doric Greek (West Greek), either directly from the colonists or indirectly through trade communication in the hinterland. During the 5th–4th centuries BCE Proto-Albanian directly loaned words from Ancient Macedonian, at a time when this language gained prominence in the region and was not yet replaced by Koine Greek. Several Proto-Albanian terms have been preserved in the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria and other ancient glossaries. Some of the Proto-Albanian glosses in Hesychius are considered to have been loaned to the Dorik Greek as early as the 7th century BCE.
Evidence of a significant level of early linguistic contact between Albanian and Greek is provided by ancient common structural innovations and phonologic convergence such as:
- the rise of the close front rounded vowel /y/ (documented in Attic and Koine Greek);
- the rise of dental fricatives;
- the voicing of voiceless plosives after nasal consonants;
- the replacement, with a form that featured a prefix, of the inherited present tense 3rd person singular of the verb "be" (documented in Koine Greek).
Those innovations are limited only to the Albanian and Greek languages and are not shared with other languages of the Balkan sprachbund. Since they precede the Balkan sprachbund era, those innovations date to a prehistoric phase of the Albanian language, spoken at that time in the same area as Greek and within a social frame of bilingualism among early Albanians having to be able to speak some form of Greek.
Contacts with Latin, Romance, and Middle Greek
Proto-Albanian came into contact with Latin since the Illyro–Roman wars in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE, when the Roman Republic defeated the Illyrians and began to establish its rule in the Western Balkans, gradually consolidating its dominion during the last two centuries BCE. But the major Latin influence in Proto-Albanian occurred since the first years of the common era, when the Western Balkans were eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire after the Great Illyrian Revolt of 6–9 CE (Bellum Batonianum).
The Latin loanwords in Proto-Albanian were borrowed through the entire period of spoken Latin in the Western Balkans (c. 167 BCE–400 CE), reflecting different chronological layers and penetrating, without any restrictions, into virtually all semantic fields. Even the basic Christian terms are of Latin origin, and since they entered Proto-Albanian before the Gheg–Tosk dialectal diversification, the Proto-Albanian speakers were christianized under the Latin sphere of influence, specifically in the 4th century CE.
Historical linguistic considerations indicate that the Roman province of Moesia Superior, and more specifically the ancient region of Dardania and adjacent zones, constitute the best candidate for the area where Proto-Albanian received its major Latin influence, and where intensive contacts between Proto-Albanian and Proto-Romance occurred, eventually producing the shared innovations between Tosk Albanian and (Proto-)Romanian. Those innovations ultimately prompted the rise of Tosk from Proto-Albanian, a diversification that began not later than the 6th–7th centuries CE (i.e. before the period of contacts with Slavic). Gheg Albanian was already separated from the Albanian–(Proto-)Romanian contact zone at an earlier period. Toponymy provides evidence that Albanian was already spoken since late antiquity in northern and central Albania, but not yet in southern Albania (south of the Shkumbin river). Those considerations indicate that unlike Gheg, the Tosk dialect could not yet have already occupied its historical geographic distribution in late antiquity. On the other hand, the multi-layered Albanian dialects in western North Macedonia provide evidence that the area was inhabited by Albanian-speakers since antiquity. The historical geographic spread of the Albanian dialects as it appeared in medieval times is considered to have been shaped by the settlement of Slavic farmers from the 6th–7th centuries CE.
During the centuries of the Great Migration Period in the Roman Empire after the 3rd century CE, the Imperial structures progressively weakened and eventually collapsed. Proto-Albanian and Proto-Romanian speakers remained in close contact for a substantial time frame as mountain pastoralists. The fact that the Albanian language reflects a clear pastoralist stage does not allow conclusions about the Proto-Albanian speakers' way of life during classical antiquity, as only the speech of the mountain pastoralists managed to survive the Great Migrations. It has been suggested that the Latin influence on Albanian resulted from an urbanized way of life, which was followed by a flight from towns similar to what occurred to the Eastern-Romance speakers. Nevertheless, the extensive influence of the Albanian language on the pastoral vocabulary and its influence, albeit lower, on the crop cultivation vocabulary, in Eastern Romance languages, indicate that Proto-Albanian speakers were already leading a pastoral lifestyle at the time when Latin speakers assumed the same way of life, borrowing from (Proto-)Albanian a number of technical terms.
| Proto-Albanian | Vulgar Latin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Late Proto-Albanian | Balkan Proto-Romance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a > ə | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gheg Alb. | Tosk Alb. | Comm. Rom. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| -n- > -r- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tosk Alb. | Balk. Rom. | Balk. Rom. without -n- > -r- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The post-Roman contact zone between Albanian and Common Romanian is considered to have been located in Dardania and adjacent areas. From this contact the Tosk Albanian dialect is considered to have received the first impetus of developments that were shared with Eastern Romance and that did not affect the Gheg Albanian dialect as it had already separated in earlier times. After a period of common innovations, but before the rise of the rhotacism n > r (which preceded contacts with Slavic from c. 600 CE), speakers of Eastern Romance varieties that were not yet affected by this fundamental sound change separated from the Tosk Albanian–Common Romanian contact zone. In a period that followed the rise of those innovations, Tosk Albanian is considered to have moved – driven by the offensive of the Slavs – to Albania south of the Shkumbin river in its historically documented location.
At the time of the South Slavic incursion and the threat of ethnic turbulence in the Albanian-inhabited regions, the Christianization of the Albanians had already been completed and it had apparently developed for Albanians as a further identity-forming feature alongside the ethnic-linguistic unity. Church administration, which was controlled by a thick network of Roman bishoprics, collapsed with the arrival of the Slavs. Between the early 7th century and the late 9th century the interior areas of the Balkans were deprived of church administration, and Christianity might have survived only as a popular tradition on a reduced degree. The reorganization of the Church as a cult institution in the region took a considerable amount of time, as the Balkans were brought back into the Christian orbit only after the recovery of the Byzantine Empire and through the activity of Byzantine missionaries.
The earliest ascertained church vocabulary of Middle Greek origin in Albanian dates to the 8th–9th centuries, at the time of the Byzantine Iconoclasm, which was started by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. In 726 Leo III established de jure the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over the Balkans, as the Church and the State established an institution. The Eastern Church expanded its influence in the area along with the social and political developments. Between the 7th and 12th centuries a powerful network of cult institutions were revived completely covering the ecclesiastical administration of the entire present-day Albanian-speaking compact area. In particular an important role was played by the Theme of Dyrrhachium and the Archdiocese of Ohrid. The lack of Old Church Slavonic terms in Albanian Christian terminology shows that the missionary activities during the Christianization of the Slavs did not involve Albanian-speakers, indeed, the Christian belief among Albanians had survived through the centuries and already become an important cultural element in their ethnic identity.
Earliest contacts with South Slavic
When the Slavic-speaking farmers migrated to the Balkans and settled the plains from the 6th–7th centuries CE, they encountered Albanian-speaking Indo-Europeans and assimilated part of them, but the language of the Albanians who had taken refuge in the mountainous areas of present-day northern and central Albania, eastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, and Kosovo, managed to survive the Great Migrations. Leading a pastoral lifestyle and although separated from Slavic-speakers, Albanian-speakers were not isolated, and contacts between Albanian and Slavic occurred thereafter. In particular, Tosk Albanian came into contact with Eastern South Slavic dialects, and Gheg Albanian with Western South Slavic dialects. Early long-standing contacts between Slavic-speakers and Albanian-speakers might have been common in mountain passages and agriculture or fishing areas, such as the valleys of the White and Black branches of the Drin and around the Shkodër and Ohrid lakes. Such contacts in these areas caused many changes in Slavic and Albanian local varieties.
As Albanian and South Slavic have been in contact since the early Middle Ages, loanwords in both belong to different chronological strata and reveal different periods of acquisition. The earliest phase of contacts is dated to the 6th–8th century CE, reflecting some of the more archaic phonetic features of Slavic as well as early Albanian phonology. The early Slavic loanwords into Albanian developed Slavic *s as /ʃ/ and *y as /u/ within Albanian phonology of that era. Such toponyms include Bushtricë (Kukës),Dishnica (Përmet),Dragoshtunjë (Elbasan),Leshnjë (Leshnjë, Berat and other areas),Shelcan (Elbasan), Shishtavec (Kukës/Gora), Shuec (Devoll) and Shtëpëz (Gjirokastër),Shopël (Iballë),Veleshnjë (Skrapar) and others. Part of the toponyms of early Slavic origin were acquired in Albanian before undergoing the changes of the Slavic liquid metathesis (before c. end of the 8th century CE). They include Ardenicë (Lushnjë), Berzanë (Lezhë), Gërdec and Berzi (Tiranë) and a cluster of toponyms along the route Berat-Tepelenë-Përmet.
The evolution of the ancient toponym Lychnidus into Oh(ë)r(id) (city and lake), which is attested in this form from 879 CE, required an early long-standing period of Tosk Albanian–East South Slavic bilingualism, or at least contact, resulting from the Tosk Albanian rhotacism -n- into -r- and Eastern South Slavic l-vocalization ly- into o-. The name of the region Labëri resulted through the Slavic liquid metathesis: South Slavic *Labanьja < Late Common Slavic *Olbanьja 'Albania', and was reborrowed in that form into Albanian, in the period when rhotacism was still active in Tosk Albanian.
History of study
Vladimir Orel is one of the main modern international linguists to have dealt with the passage from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Albanian to Modern Albanian. According to Orel, the study of Proto-Albanian syntax remains in its infancy so there are some limitations to the work. However, there have been developments in the understanding of the historical development of phonetics and vocabulary. Other major work has been done by Eqrem Çabej and Shaban Demiraj as well as by major scholars in the field of Romanian historical linguistics as it relates to Albanian (see Albanian–Romanian linguistic relationship) as well as other Balkan linguists. A large amount of work done on Proto-Albanian is published in German, rather than English.
Nomenclature of periodization of Proto-Albanian
Vladimir Orel distinguishes the following periods of Proto-Albanian: 1) "Early Proto-Albanian" (EPA): spoken before the 1st century CE, when Albanian had not yet acquired extensive influence via language contact from Latin/Proto-Romance. 2) "Late Proto-Albanian" (LPA): after extensive Latin contact, with the end of the period seeing contacts between ancient Slavic idioms still close to the Proto-Slavic language, in the 6th and 7th centuries CE. During this period the structure of Proto-Albanian was "shattered" by major changes.
Ranko Matasović distinguishes the following periods of Proto-Albanian: 1) "Pre-Proto-Albanian": essentially equivalent to Vladimir Orel's "Early Proto-Albanian", except that the newer paradigm of Matasović dates Latin/Albanian contact a century earlier, and thus it ends for Matasović in the 1st century BCE rather than the 1st century CE. After this period ends, Latin contact begins to transform the language. 2) "Early Proto-Albanian": corresponds to the earlier phases of what is for Orel "Late Proto-Albanian". For Matasović, the period spans the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE, halting before contact with Slavic idioms begins. 3) "Late Proto-Albanian": includes the last two centuries of LPA for Orel, plus most of the unattested period of "Old Albanian", halting before Turkish influence begins. In this paradigm, Gheg and Tosk split from Early Proto-Albanian, not Late Proto-Albanian, consistent with our knowledge that the split preceded Slavic contact. 4) "Early Albanian": corresponds to the late, Ottoman, phase of Old Albanian in the traditional paradigm, ending in 1800, at which point it transitions to Modern Albanian.
Demiraj, like Matasović and unlike Orel, observes the 5th/6th centuries as a boundary between stages, but instead places the "emergence of Albanian" from its parent after this point, rather than the 14th.
In an Albanian chapter penned by Michiel de Vaan within Klein, Joseph and Fritz' 2018 Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, Demiraj's periods are adhered to. Orel's "Later Proto-Albanian", which is for them also definitively placed before Slavic contact, is referred to as simply "Proto-Albanian" (PAlb) or, in German, "Uralbanisch", reflecting the terminology of earlier writing in German. What is for Orel "Early Proto-Albanian" (EPA), dated definitively before the onset of Latin contact, is for De Vaan, "Pre-Proto-Albanian" (PPAlb); in German, this stage is called "Voruralbanisch" or "Frühuralbanisch". De Vaan also discusses the possibility of breaking "Pre-Proto-Albanian" into two stages: one before the first Greek loanwords, and one that is after the first Greek loanwords, but before contact with Latin.
This page at present is using the paradigm of Orel.
Phonology
Extensive recent studies on Proto-Albanian phonology have been published by Huld (1984), Beekes (1995), Shaban Demiraj (1996), Bardhyl Demiraj (1997), Orel (2000), Hock (2005), Matzinger (2006), Vermeer (2008), Schumacher (2013), and De Vaan (2018).
At present, this page follows Orel's paradigm for periods of Proto-Albanian, and presents the relationship between the synchronic phonologies of both "EPA" and "LPA" with diachronic relationships to each other and to ancestral Indo-European forms as well as descendant Albanian forms.
Stress
In Early Proto-Albanian, stress was paradigmatic, and behaved according to morphological class, with a base on the first syllable. In different paradigms, the stress pattern was varyingly barytonic, oxytonic, and mobile. Unstressed vowels lost one mora—long vowels were shortened, already short vowels were often deleted. In Later Proto-Albanian, however, a new system of unstressed vowel reduction emerged where *a reduced to *ë while all others were simply deleted (except for post-tonic inlaut vowels, which became *ë). Orel gives the following examples:
- EPA *dáusas "ram" (sg) > *dauš > ... > modern dash
- EPA *dáusai "rams" (pl) > *dauši > ... > modern desh
- EPA *dwáigā "branch" (sg) > *déga > ... > modern degë
- EPA *dwáigāi "branches" (pl) > *dégai > ... > modern degë
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i *iː | *u *uː | |
| Mid | *e *eː | *oː | |
| Low | *a *aː |
| Nucleus | -i | -u |
|---|---|---|
| *e | *ei | *eu |
| *a | *ai | *au |
Early Proto-Albanian possessed four distinctive short vowels: *a, *e, *i and *u. Proto-Indo-European *o had merged into *a by the Early Proto-Albanian stage. A five-way distinction was maintained for long vowels: *ā, *ē, *ī, *ō, and *ū. Early Proto-Albanian also had four diphthongs: *ei, *ai, *eu and *au.
Early Proto-Albanian's vowel inventory began to change as a result of Latin contact. Initially Albanian was resistant to the restoration of short *o as a separate phoneme, with Latin unstressed *o being replaced by *a, and stressed Latin *o being replaced by *u. However, in later loans, Latin *o is maintained in Albanian as *o. Additionally, some Latin loans with short *u saw Latin *u replaced by *o, as well as *ə specifically in unstressed positions before sonorants. In two cases, Orel argues that Latin short /u/ was lengthened in Albanian to /u:/, ultimately to render /y/. On the other hand, whatever effect Ancient Greek loanwords had at their time of absorption is unclear, but diachronically the vowels always agree with regular internal Albanian developments.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | *i | *u |
| Mid | (*e) | (*o) |
| Low | *a *å | |
| -u | -i | -e | |
|---|---|---|---|
| u- | *ui | *ue | |
| i- | *ie | ||
| e- | *eu | *ei | |
| a- | *au | *ai | |
Late Proto-Albanian
Late Proto-Albanian exhibited *a, *i and *u throughout its development as distinctive short vowels. *o was restored to the phonemic inventory as a result of loanwords where it was increasingly maintained instead of replaced. Although *e was eliminated by breaking to *ie (which would render je and ja), it was restored by the leveling of /ai/ to /e/ and other phenomena that replaced /a/, /ie/, and /ue/ with /e/. The only long vowel preserved in its original form was *ī. *ō was replaced by *ue, *ē was merged into *ā and both were rounded and eventually raised to *o, while *ū merged with the diphthong *ui, ultimately rendering *y. By Late Proto-Albanian, all the original Indo-European diphthongs had now leveled, but new diphthongs were absorbed in loans, and were also innovated by breaking phenomena: *ie, *ue and *ui. *ai in Latin words with AE shared the fate of inherited Early Proto-Albanian *ai, becoming *e, while Latin AU similarly shared the fate of inherited *au and became *a.
Phonemically nasal vowels emerged in Late Proto-Albanian. First, all vowels standing before nasal consonants were nasalized. The following nasal consonant was then lost in certain morphological contexts, while the vowel remained nasalized, resulting in the emergence of LPA phonemes denoted *â, *ê, *î, and *û. Except in certain Gheg varieties, *ê merged into *â. The traditional view presented by Orel and Desnickaja is that distinctive nasalization was lost by Tosk but retained by Gheg and that this is a taxonomical difference between the two. However this has now been challenged, after Sheper and Gjinari discovered Lab dialects (Lab is a subdialect of Tosk) in the Kurvelesh region that still had distinctive nasal vowels, and Totoni likewise found that the Lab speech of Borsh also still has nasal vowel phonemes. This means that, instead of the traditional view, it is possible that denasalization happened in most Tosk dialects only after the split from Gheg.
Slavic *ū appears to still have been back and round when it was loaned into Albanian, but it is after the diphthongization and resulting fronting of the original Early Proto-Albanian *ū to *y was no longer absorbing new *ū segments, as they are, with only three exceptions, reflected as *u. Slavic *o had already become *a in the Slavic languages that contacted Albanian by the time of contact, and was loaned as *a for the most part; as is reflected also in other non-Slavic languages absorbing these words. After /v/, this *a became *o again in two attested cases: kos ("yogurt", from Proto-Slavic *kvasъ) and vorbë ("clay pot").
It was at the end of the LPA period that length became no longer distinctive in Albanian, although many Gheg and some Lab dialects preserved it and/or re-innovated it. Furthermore, by Old Albanian, all diphthongs had been lost: those ending in -i were all leveled, the -u was lost in those ending in -u, and those ending in -e were converted to glide + vowel sequences; further changes including the frequent effacement of the former first element or otherwise its hardening into an occlusive (typically /v/ for former u-, and gj /ɟ/ for former i-) rendering the former presence of a diphthong rather opaque in many reflexes.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i *y | *u | |
| Mid | *e | *ë | *o |
| Low | *a |
Diachronic development
This table differentiates short vowels form long vowels with the IPA symbol <ː> being applied to the long vowels.
Specifically contextualized reflex results are placed in parentheses.
| Proto-Indo-European | developments before Proto-Albanian | Early Proto-Albanian | Late Proto-Albanian | Tosk Albanian | Gheg Albanian | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin short /a/ merges with EPA /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | PIE *kapyéti "to seize" > EPA *kapa > kap "to grasp"; Lat aptum > Alb aftë "capable"; PIE *n̥bʰ(u)los > EPA *abula > Alb avull "steam, vapor"; PIE *septḿ̥ > EPA *septati > Alb shtatë "seven" | |
| *a | Proto-Indo-European *n̥ and *m̥ merge resulting in *a | |||||
| *a | > /e/ under umlaut and subsequent analogy | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *h₂élbʰit > EPA *albi > elb "barley"; Lat galbinum "yellow" > Alb gjelbër "green"; PIE *wídḱm̥ti > EPA *wīdžatī > Alb -zet "twenty"; PIE *n̥- > EPA *a- > Alb e- (privative prefix) | ||
| >/ɑ̃/ before nasals | /ə/ <ë> | /ɑ̃/ <â, an> | PIE *skandneh₂ > EPA *ksandnā > Alb hënë "moon" (Gheg hanë); Lat canticam > Alb këngë "song" | |||
| /ə/ | deleted after a stressed syllable | PIE *bʰóləteh₂ > EPA *baltā > Alb baltë "swamp" | ||||
| > /e/ after absorption of following laryngeal H_e | /e/ | /ie/ (> /e/ before *ts, *dz, *nd, *nt, *mb) | /ie/ /je/ /ja/ | /ie/ /je/ /ja/ | PIE *dʰeh₁los > EPA *dela > Alb djalë "boy" | |
| > /o/ elsewhere | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | PIE *h₂epó "away", "off" > EPA *apa > Alb pa "without" | |
| >/ɑ̃/ before nasals | /ə/ <ë> | /ɑ̃/ <â, an> | PIE *h₁sónts "being" > EPA *sana > Alb gjë "thing" (Gheg gjâ, sen/send "thing" or sene/sende "things") | |||
| /o/ | /o/ | |||||
| (/e/ under umlaut and subsequent analogy) | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *ǵʰóryos > EPA *darja > Alb derr "pig"; PIE *kʷəpnós "smoke" (?) > EPA *kapna > Alb kem "incense" (Gheg kall "burn") | |||
| > /ɑ̃/ before nasal | /ə/ | /ɑ̃/ | PIE *h₁sónts "being" > EPA *sana > Alb gjë "thing" | |||
| /e/ | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *lenteh₂ > EPA *lentā > Alb lëndë "timber" (Gheg landë) | |||
| /ie/ | /ie/ | /ie/ | PIE *bʰéryeti "to bring, carry" > EPA *berja > Alb bie "to bring" | |||
| /je/ | /je/ | PIE *sméḱru > EPA *smekrā > Alb mjekër "beard" | ||||
| je > e after affricates, palatals, and liquids | je > e after affricates, palatals, and liquids | EPA *awa-leja > Alb fle "to sleep" | ||||
| /ja/ | /ja/ | PIE *h₁ésmi > EPA *esmi > Alb jam; | ||||
| ja > a after affricates, palatals and liquids | ja > a after affricates, palatals and liquids | PIE *swéḱs + *-ti > EPA *seksti > Alb gjashtë "six" | ||||
| /ie/ > /e/ before *ts, *dz, *nd, *nt, *mb | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *én pér én tód > EPA *(en) per en ta > Alb brenda | |||
| /ie/ + /i/ | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *gʷediyos > EPA džedija > Alb zi "black" | |||
| /e/ before *m followed by sibilant or affricate | /i/ | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *semǵʰos > EPA *semdza > Alb gjithë "all" | ||
| Classical Latin /e/ > EPA /ie/ in "usual" layer | > /ie/ in EPA for "usual layer" (not identical to development of inherited /e/ which also went through /ie/) | /je/ | /je/ | Lat versum > Alb vjershë "verse" | ||
| >/e/ in various contexts after sh, before ng/nd, etc. | /e/ | Lat conventum > Alb kuvend | ||||
| /ja/ | /ja/ | Lat hebdomam (or EPA *avā) > Alb javë "week" | ||||
| /ja/ > /a/ after palatals | /a/ | Lat sellam > Alb shalë "saddle" | ||||
| Unstressed /ei/ in Latin loans | /e/ | /e/ | Lat dēbitūram > Alb detyrë "duty" | |||
| Latin /e/ via an unknown different intermediary | /e/ | /e/ | Lat īnfernum > Alb ferr "hell"; Lat commercium > Alb kumerq "toll, duty" | |||
| Latin /e/ loaned into Late Proto-Albanian while it lacked any short /e/ phoneme | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *h₂m̥bʰi > EPA *ambi > Alb mbi "on, upon"; Lat parentem > Alb prind "parent"; PIE *ter- (?) > EPA *trima > Alb trim "brave" | |||
| Between *r̥ and C | /i/ | /i/ | /i/ | |||
| /i/ | ||||||
| > /ĩ/ before nasals | /i/ | /ĩ/ <î> | PIE *h₃rinéHti "to flow" > EPA *rinja > Alb rij "to make humid" (Gheg rî) | |||
| /u/ | /u/ | /u/ | /u/ | /u/ | /u/ | PIE *bʰugʰtos > EPA *bukta > Alb butë "smooth" |
| > /ũ/ before nasals | /u/ | /ũ/ <û> | PIE *ǵónu "knee" > EPA *g(a)nuna > LPA *glûna > Alb gju "knee" (OAlb glû, Gheg gjû) | |||
| Latin /o/ raises before nasals | Lat monachum > murg "monk", contrā > kundër "against" | |||||
| Latin stressed /o/ ultimately merges with PIE *ā elsewhere | /o/ | /o/ | Lat coxam > kofshë "hip", Lat rotam > rrotë "wheel" | |||
| /aː/ | /aː/ | /aː/ | /ɒː/ | /o/ | /o/ | PIE *méh₂treh₂ "mother's sister" > EPA *mātrā > Alb motër "sister" |
| /eː/ | /eː/ | /eː/ | everywhere except gliding to /j/ in clusters: /ɒː/ | /o/ | /o/ | PIE *meh₁ kʷe > LPA *måts > Alb mos "don't" |
| /oː/ | /oː/ | /oː/ | /we/ | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *bʰloh₁ros > EPA blōra + *-tāi > Alb blertë "green" |
| /iː/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *peh₃- "to drink" > EPA *pīja > Alb pi "to drink" (OAlb pii) |
| /uː/ | /uː/ | /uː/ | /ui/ | /y/ | /y/, /i/ in certain conditions | PIE *suHsós > EPA *sūsa > > Alb gjysh "grandfather" |
| /wi/ > /iː/ at word coda after loss of nominative final s | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *súHs "pig" > EPA *sūs > *tsūs > LPA *tθui > Alb thi "pig" | |||
| /wi/ > /iː/ after labial | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *bʰuH- "to grow" > EPA *em- + *būnja > Alb mbij "to thrive" | |||
| /wi/ > /i/ before labial | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *kroupeh₂ > EPA *krūpā > LPA *kruipa > Alb kripë "salt" | |||
| /wi/ > /i/ before j, i, other palatal elements | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *dóru "tree" > EPA *drūnjā > Alb drinjë "brushwood" | |||
| /ai/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | > /ẽ/ > /ɑ̃/ before nasal | /ə/ <ë> | /ɑ̃/ <â, an> | PIE *leh₁d- > EPA *laidna > Alb lë "to let" (Gheg lâ) |
| /e/ | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *h₂éydʰos > EPA *aida > Alb ethe "fever" | |||
| /oi/ | /oi/ | PIE *ḱleytéh₂ > EPA *klaitā > Alb qetë "jagged rock" | ||||
| /ei/ | /ei/ | /ei/ | /i/ | /i/ | /i/ | PIE *ǵʰéymn̥ "winter" > EPA *deimena > Alb dimër "winter" (Gheg dimën) |
| Diphthongs of long vowel + *j | *j elided, long vowel develops regularly | |||||
| /au/ | /au/ | /au/ | >/ɑ̃/ before nasals | /ə/ <ë> | /ɑ̃/ <â, an> | PIE *drew- "strong" > EPA *draunjā > Alb drënjë |
| /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | PIE *h₂ewg- > EPA *auga > Alb ag "dawn" | |||
| /a/ > /e/ | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *h₂ewsros > EPA *ausra > Alb err "darkness" | |||
| /ou/ | /ou/ | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ | PIE *powyos > EPA *pauja > Alb pah "scab, dust" | |
| /a/ > /e/ | /e/ | /e/ | EPA *gaura > Alb ger "squirrel" | |||
| /eu/ | /eu/ | /eu/ | > /ẽ/ > /ɑ̃/ before nasal | /ə/ <ë> | /ɑ̃/ <â, an> | PIE *h₁néwn̥ "nine" > EPA *neunti > Alb nëntë "nine" (Gheg nand) |
| /e/ | /e/ | /e/ | PIE *skéwdeti "to throw" > EPA *skeuda > Alb hedh "to throw" | |||
Development of Indo-European sonorants
The nasal sonorants *n̥ and *m̥ both rendered Early Proto-Albanian *a, which remains *a in modern Albanian (PIE *ǵʰh₂éns "goose" > EPA *gatā > Alb gatë "heron"). Like EPA *a elsewhere, in some cases it was raised to *e, as seen in PIE *h₁ln̥gʷʰtós > EPA *lekta > Albanian lehtë (suffixed with -të).
| Proto-Indo-European | Intermediate developments | Early Proto-Albanian | Later Proto-Albanian | Old Albanian | Tosk Albanian | Gheg Albanian | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *m̥ | *a | continue regular developments of *a from EPA in vowel chart. | PIE *septḿ̥ "seven" > EPA *septati > Alb shtatë "seven" | ||||
| *n̥ | *a | PIE *dl̥h₁gʰós "long" > EPA *dlakta > Alb gjatë "long" | |||||
| *l̥ | *il before consonant clusters, *i or *j | il, li | |||||
| *ul elsewhere | ul, lu | ||||||
| *r̥ | *ir before consonant clusters, *i or *j | ir, ri | |||||
| *ur elsewhere | ur, ru | ||||||
| *l | *l | *l | *l | l | l | PIE *logʰ- "to lay" > EPA *laga > Alb lag "troop" | |
| *l | *λ (ly/-li)? | j l (Cham/Arbëresh/Arvanitika) | j | PIE *gl̥seh₂ > EPA *gulsā > *gluxa > Alb gjuhë "tongue" (Arb/Arv gljuhë); Lat mīlia > Alb mijë "thousand" (Cha milë) | |||
| *ɫ (V_V) | *ɫ | ll /γ/ (some Arbëresh) /ð/ (some Lab) | ll /ð/ (some dialects) | PIE *skōlos > EPA *skōla > Alb hell "skewer" | |||
| *r | *r | *r (V_V) | *r | r | r | PIE *meyh₁reh₂ "peace" > EPA *meirā > Alb mirë "good" | |
| *r (V_V) | *λ (-ri)? | j | j | EPA *birai > *biri > Alb bij "sons" | |||
| *r: (#_) | *r: | rr | rr | EPA *redza > Alb rrjedh "to flow" < PIE *h₃reǵ- | |||
| *m | *m | *m | m | m | PIE *méh₂treh₂ "mother's sister" > EPA mātrā > Alb motër "sister" | ||
| *n | *n | *n | n r (-n-) | n ng /ŋ/ (from /ng/) | PIE *nókʷts "night" > EPA naktā > Alb natë "night" | ||
| *n: (*-sn-, *-Cn-, *-nC-) | n n (-n-) | n ng /ŋ/ (from /ng/) | PIE *h₂ewksneh₂ > EPA *auksnā > Alb anë "vessel" (dialectal) | ||||
| */ɲ/ (*gn-, before front vowels) | nj | nj ni ~ n (northern) | PIE *h₂nḗr "man" > EPA nera > Alb njeri "man" (OAlb njer) | ||||
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m | *n | |||
| Plosive | *p *b | *t *d | *ts *dz | *t͡ʃ *d͡ʒ | *k *g |
| Fricative | *s *z | *x | |||
| Glide | *w | *j | |||
| Lateral | *l | ||||
| Trill | *r | ||||
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m | *n | |||
| Plosive | *p *b | *t *d | *ts | *c | *k *g |
| Affricate | *t͡ʃ | ||||
| Fricative | *f | *θ *ð | *s *z | *ʃ | *x |
| Glide | *w | *j | |||
| Lateral | *l | ||||
| Trill | *r |
| Proto-Indo-European | Pre-Proto-Albanian | Early Proto-Albanian | Later Proto-Albanian | Modern Albanian (Tosk/Gheg) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *s | *s | *z | > *j | ɟ ~ d͡ʒ <gj> | PIE serpenos "snake" > EPA *serpena > Alb gjarpër "snake" (Gheg gjarpën) |
| *s | > *ʃ after *ī, *ū or -i, -u diphthongs | ʃ <sh> | PIE *dʰowsos > EPA *dauša > Alb dash "ram" | ||
| *ʃ word-initially (sometimes) | ʃ <sh> | PIE *suh₂seh₂ > EPA *sūša > Alb shi "rain" | |||
| > t͡s (if next consonant was *s) | > *θ | θ <th> | PIE *súHs "pig" > EPA *sūs > *tsūs > LPA *tθui > Alb thi "pig" | ||
| >*x intervocalically or between EPA sonorant and vowel | h | PIE *gl̥seh₂ > EPA *gulsā > *gluxa > Alb gjuhë "tongue" | |||
| Ø | PIE nos > EPA *nasa > *naxa > Alb na "us" | ||||
| *sK | *sK | *sK | *x | h | PIE *skéwdeti "to throw" > EPA *skeuda > Alb hedh "to throw" |
| *sp- | *sp- | *sp- | f- | f- | PIE *sporeh₂ > EPA *sparā > Alb farë "seed" |
| *st | *st | *st | ʃt | ʃt | PIE *stóygʰos > EPA *staiga > Alb shteg "path" |
| *sd *[zd] | *zd | *zd | ð | dh | PIE *písdeh₂ > EPA *pizda > Alb pidh "female pudenda" |
| *s from Greek, Latin loanwords | *ʃ | ʃ <sh> | Lat summum > Alb shumë "more" | ||
| *p | *p | *p | *p | p | PIE *h₁op- "to take" > EPA *apa > Alb jap ("to give") (Gheg jep, ep) |
| *b, *bʰ | *b | *b | *b | b | PIE *srobʰéyeti "to suck" > EPA *serba > Alb gjerb "to gulp" |
| *w between a vowel and *u | v | PIE *n̥bʰ(u)los > EPA *abula > Alb avull "steam, vapor" | |||
| *t | *t | *t | *t | t | PIE *tréyes > EPA *treje > Alb tre "three" |
| *d, *dʰ | *d | *d | *d | d | PIE *dʰégʷʰeti > EPA *dega > Alb djeg "to burn" |
| > *ð intervocalically or between r and vowel, in 5th or 6th centuries | ð <dh> | PIE *skéwdeti "to throw" > EPA *skeuda > Alb hedh "to throw" | |||
| *ḱ (*c?) | *ḱ (*c?) | >*t͡s | > *θ | θ <th> | PIE *(ḱi)ḱereh₂ "pea"? > EPA *tserā > Alb thjerë "lentil" |
| > *t͡ʃ > *s before i, j, u, or w | s | PIE *ḱupos "shoulder" > EPA *tsupa > Alb sup "shoulder"; PIE *ḱyeh₂ dh₂itéy "this day" > EPA *tsjādīti > Alb sot "today" | |||
| *t͡s retained, conditions unclear | t͡s <c> | PIE *h₂ḱrós "sharp" > EPA *atsara > Alb acar "cold" (but Alb athët "tart") | |||
| > *t͡ʃ, conditions unclear | t͡ʃ <ç> | PIE *ḱentrom "point" > EPA *štšentra > Alb çandër "prop" | |||
| > *k before sonorant | *k | k | PIE *smóḱwr̥ > EPA *smekrā > Alb mjekër "beard" | ||
| *ǵ, *ǵʰ (*ɟ?) | *ǵ (*ɟ?) | *dz | *ð | dh | PIE *ǵómbʰos > EPA *dzamba > Alb dhëmb "tooth" (Gheg dhamb) |
| *dz ~ d? | *ð ~ d? | d | PIE *ǵʰēsreh₂ > EPA *dēsrā > *dāsrā > Alb dorë "hand" | ||
| *d͡ʒ before w | *z | z | PIE *ǵʰwonos > EPA *džwana > Alb zë "voice" (Gheg zâ) | ||
| *k | *k | *k | *k | k | PIE *kápmi "I seize" > EPA *kapmi > Alb kam "to have" |
| *c (palatalised) | q | PIE *ḱlew- "to hear" > EPA *klaunja > Alb qaj "to cry" (OAlb klanj) | |||
| *g, *gʰ | *g | *g | *g | g | PIE *gʰórdʰos > EPA *garda > Alb gardh "fence" |
| *j (palatalised) | gj | PIE *gʰed- > EPA *gadnja > Alb gjej "to find" (Gheg gjêj) | |||
| *kʷ | *kʷ? | *t͡ʃ before front vowels | *s | s | PIE *kʷéleti "to turn" > EPA *tšela > Alb sjell "to bring" |
| *k elsewhere | *k | k | PIE *pékʷeti "to cook" > EPA *peka > Alb pjek "to bake" | ||
| *c (palatalised) | q | PIE *kʷóy > EPA *kai > Alb që "that, which (relative)" | |||
| *gʷ, *gʷʰ | *gʷ? | *d͡ʒ(w) before front vowels | *z | z | PIE *gʷerh₃- "to swallow" > EPA *džērnā > *džārnā > Alb zorrë "bowels" |
| *g elsewhere | *g | g | PIE *dʰégʷʰeti > EPA *dega > Alb djeg "to burn" | ||
| *j (palatalised) | gj | PIE *gwosdis "wood" > EPA *gwazdi > Alb gjeth "leaf" | |||
| *y | *j | *z (#_V) | *j | gj | PIE *yémos > EPA *jama > Alb gjem "bridle" |
| Ø (V_V) | Ø | Ø | PIE *tréyes > EPA *treje > Alb tre "three" | ||
| *w | *w | *w (#_V) | *w | v | PIE *woséyeti > EPA *wesja > Alb vesh "to dress" |
| Ø (V_V) | Ø | Ø | PIE *h₁widʰéwh₂ > EPA *widewā > Alb ve "widow" | ||
The development of IE dorsal consonants in Albanian
Indo-European languages are traditionally divided into two groups based on the development of the three series of dorsal (often called "guttural") stops, viz. the palatal (*ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ), velar (*k *g *gʰ) and labiovelar (*kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ) series. In the "centum" languages (e.g. Italic languages, Germanic languages, Greek) the palatal series has merged with velar series, while the labiovelar series remained distinct; whereas in the "satem" languages (Indo-Iranian languages, Balto-Slavic languages), the labiovelars merged with the plain velars, while the palatals shifted to sibilant consonants.
Many Indo-Europeanists have classified Albanian as a satem language since it has dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ as the common reflex of the palatal series, while velar and labiovelar stops in most cases have merged. However, there is clear evidence that all three IE dorsal series remained distinct (at least before front vowels) in Proto-Albanian:
- *ḱ > /θ/, *ǵ/*ǵʰ > /ð/
- *k > /k/, *g/*gʰ > /g/
- *kʷ > /s/ (before high vowels), /k/ (elsewhere); *gʷ/*gʷʰ > /z/ (before high vowels), /g/ elsewhere.
In the later phonological history of Albanian, the velars /k/ and /g/ were subject to further palatalizations.
The (partial) retention of the Proto-IE three-way contrast for dorsal stops is an archaic feature that links Albanian with the wider Paleo-Balkanic group and is shared with Messapic and Armenian.
Basic traits of Proto-Albanian grammar
Verb conjugation in Proto-Albanian and Old Gheg (Old Albanian)
Introduction; the present tense (thematic verbs), adaptation of borrowings and examples
Verbs in Early Proto-Albanian (Early PA) and contemporary Albanian are divided into thematic verbs and athematic verbs, thus following this division from Proto-Indo-European (PIE).
PA *-a in the first person singular of the present cannot come from PIE *-oh₂, since its reflex in Proto-Albanian would be *-e (if stressed) or *-ë (if unstressed). Therefore, *-a comes from dialectal PIE *-om.[page needed]
The second and third person singular come from PIE *-esi, *-eti with the loss of PIE final *-i already occurred in pre-Albanian.
The second person plural has no reflex from PA but it was shaped later, between the passage from PA to Old Albanian; the modern ending -ni could come from *nū, a PA adverb meaning "now", identical to PIE *nū and Sanskrit nū; otherwise, it derives from the nasal verbal stem -nj- with a final *-i coming from the PA personal pronoun *jus, "you (all)".[page needed]
Most verb stems ending in a closed diphtong (-aj, -ej, -ij, -oj, -uj, -yj) in the singular come from a nasal stem in PA, ending in *-Cnj- or *-Vnj- (e.g., first person singular *-nja)-
As for the third person plural, the PIE thematic vowel *-o- mutates into PA *-i- perhaps due to the influence of the /i̯/ from the verbs in -oj- in the plural.
Most Latin (Classical Latin, Late Latin, Vulgar Latin) verbs belonging to the first declension (infinite -āre) were adapted into stems ending with PA *-ānj- (first person singular *-ānja > Old Gheg -onj > modern Albanian -oj) and, in rarer cases (usually verbal roots ending in liquids, hence -lāre and -rāre), with PA *-enj- (> modern -ej-). An example is modern këndoj < Latin cantāre, which points to a hypothetical PA ~*kandānj- (first person singular ~*kandānja). Another example is shëmbëllej < Late Latin similāre.
Most Latin verbs belonging to the second declension (infinite -ēre) were adapted into stems ending with -oj- and PA *-enj-.
Most Latin verbs belonging to the third declension(unstressed and short infinite -ere) were adapted into stems ending with PA *-ānj- > modern -oj- and, in rarer cases, with -ej-. An example is modern fërgoj < Vulgar Latin frīgĕre.
Most Latin verbs belonging to the fourth declension (infinite -īre) were adapted into stems ending with PA *-inj- (> modern -ij-) and, in rarer cases, with -ej-. An example is modern vij < Old Gheg vijn < Latin venīre.
Most Proto-Slavic verbs ending in *-iti /i:ti:/ in the infinite were adapted into stems ending with PA *-itj- (first person singular *-itja > modern -is; the consonant /t/ was probably weakened to /s/ and the final /a/ was unstressed and thus lost). An example is molis < LPA *melitja < PSL *mъdьliti /mudi'li:ti:/, "to debilitate/weaken".
Most Proto-Slavic verbs ending in *-ati /a:ti:/ in the infinitive were adapted into stems ending with PA *-atj- (first person singular *-atja > modern -as).
The remaining Proto-Slavic verbs were adapted into stems ending with *-itj- (> modern -is, -it).
The following examples, except for kap and jap, are all in Old Gheg, a dialect of Old Albanian, and show the verb declension in Old Albanian to trace an idea of the passage between PIE morphology and Proto-Albanian, which then evolved into Old Albanian:
- Standard Albanian kap < *PA *kapa < PIE *kh₂pyéti means "to seize"
- Standard Albanian jap < earlier ap < PA *apa; participle dhënë (Gheg dhanë < ; suppletive/eteroclytic verb)
- Standard Albanian kujtoj (Old Gheg kujtonj, earlier kultonj < Proto-Albanian *kugitānja < perhaps Latin cōgitō, 1° declension) means "to recall";
- di < PA *dīja < PIE *dʰeyh₂- means "to know";
- hjek (Tosk/Standard Albanian heq < earlier helq) < Proto-Albanian *(w)alkja < PIE causative *h₂wolkéyeti means "to pull out, to remove";
- përkas < verb prek < PA *praka means "to touch"
| Pronoun | Verb (present) |
|---|---|
| I | kap < PA *kapa < pre-Alb. *kapom < dialectal PIE *kh₂pyóm ( < *-óh₂) |
| You | kap < *kape(s) < pre-Alb. *kapes < *kh₂pyési |
| He, she, it | kap < *kapet < *kh₂pyéti |
| We | kapim < PA *kapame(s) < pre-Alb. *kapome(s) < *kapyómos |
| You (all) | kapni < *kapesnū/kape(s)ju < *kapyéte |
| They | kapin < PA *kapanti < pre-Alb. *kaponti < *kapyónti |
| Pronoun | Verb (present) |
|---|---|
| I | (Standard Albanian kujtoj < ) kujtonj < kultonj < *kugitānja < cōgitō |
| You | kujton < *kugitānje(s)? < cōgitās |
| He, she, it | kujton < *kugitānjet? < cōgitat |
| We | kujtojmë < *kugitānjame(s)? < cōgitāmus |
| You (all) | kujtoni < *kugitānjesnū/kugitānje(s)ju? < cōgitātis |
| They | kujtonjënë < *kugitānjanti? < cōgitant |
| Pronoun | Verb (present) |
|---|---|
| I | dī < *dīja < *dʰeyh₂- (*dʰeyh₂yoh₂?) |
| You | di |
| He, she, it | di |
| We | dīmë |
| You | dini |
| They | dīnë |
| Pronoun | Verb (present) |
|---|---|
| I | hjek < early Tosk *(w)alkja < Pre-Alb. *(w)alkjom? < (dialectal *h₂wolkéyom?) < *h₂wolkéyoh₂ |
| You | hjek < *(w)alkje(s)? < Pre-Alb. *(w)alkjes < *h₂wolkéyesi |
| He, she, it | hjek < *(w)alkjet? < *h₂wolkéyeti |
| We | hjekmë < *(w)alkjame(s)? < *(w)alkjome(s)? < *h₂wolkéyomos |
| You (all) | hiqëni < *(w)alkjesnū/(w)alke(s)ju? < *h₂wolkéyote |
| They | hjekënë < *(w)alkjanti? < *(w)alkjonti? < *h₂wolkéyonti |
| Pronoun | Verb (present) |
|---|---|
| I | përkas < prek < *praka |
| You | përket |
| He, she, it | përket |
| We | përkasmë |
| You (all) | përkitëni |
| They | përkasënë |
The present tense (athematic verbs) and examples
The verb "to be" (jam < PA *esmi < PIE*h₁ésmi ), as in PIE, is athematic and has a nasal infix *-n- in the third person singular and plural; perhaps, this infix is taken from the original third person plural in PIE, *-enti. PA had two more athematic verbs, kam ("to have" < PA *kapmi < Latin capiō) which is cognate with thematic kap < PA *kapa < PIE *kh₂pyóh₂, and thom ("to say" < PA *tsānsmi < Latin cēnseō). Probably, PA had a fourth athematic verb, ik ("to go") < PA *eika < earlier *eimi (identical to Ancient Greek), but then it was transformed into a thematic verb through the stem of the imperative.
| Pronoun | Verb (present) | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| I | jam < *esmi < PIE *h₁ésmi | The mutation *e > *a is regular and still preserved in Old Gheg and Standard Albanian |
| You | je < *essi < *h₁ési | The mutation *e > *a, preserved in Old Gheg, is not found since this stem is conservative respect to PIE |
| He, she, it | ashtë < *ensti < *h₁ésti | The mutation *e > *a is regular and still preserved in Old Gheg but not in Standard Albanian (*a > regularly reduce to ë) |
| We | jemi < *esmei < *h₁é-, *h₁smós | The stem is based on "je" |
| You (all) | ini < essinū/essiju < *h₁é-, *h₁sté | The stem is based on "je"; in Standard Albanian, this is more evident since the verb form is "jeni" |
| They | janë < *esnti < *h₁é-, *h₁sénti | The stem is based on "jane"; an analogous phenomenon is in Romanian: "I am - they are" > "eu sunt - ei sunt" |
The last verb, vete(m) in Standard Albanian, has two historical versions: an original version from PIE and a later version which culminates into the contemporary version. The original versions in Early PA and PA are the direct reflex of athematic PIE *weh₂dʰ-, perhaps *weh₂dʰmi; then, the pre-modern version in Late PA is a reworked version that fuses the original version in PA and the suffix *-te,[page needed] originally the preposition "to", *tek(u) (< PIE neuter demonstrative *to-, "this/that" < PIE *só).
| Pronoun | Verb |
|---|---|
| I | vetem (Tosk)/vete (Gheg) < Late PA *vemte < PA *vem < Early PA *wadmi < PIE *weh₂dʰmi? |
| You | vete < *vete < *ve < *wadesi < *weh₂dʰsi? |
| He, she, it | vete < *vette < *vet < *wadeti < *weh₂dʰti? |
| We | vemi < ? < Early PA *wadmei < *weh₂dʰmos? |
| You (all) | venë < ? < *weh₂dʰté? |
| They | vendosin < ? < *weh₂dʰénti? |
The aorist tense and imperfect tense in Proto-Albanian; examples
The asigmatic aorist conjugation is based on the athematic paradygm and has a mobile accent perhaps due to the augmentation, which consists in the prefix *e-. The same structure can be found in Greek. In contemporary Albanian, the augmentation prefix is lost. In the third person singular, the ending *-i should come from PA and PIE personal/demonstrative pronoun *is.
The sigmatic aorist conjugation is based on the athematic paradygm as well and zero-grade in morphology is explained by the influence of the participles in PA.
The endings of the imperfect originally come from the endings of the asigmatic aorist; at a later stage, the original vowel *-e- changed into *-i-.
| Pronoun | Verb (asigmatic aorist) |
|---|---|
| I | kapa < ekapà < pre-Alb. ekap(o)m |
| You | kape < ekapè(s) < ekapes |
| He, she, it | kapi < ekàpet |
| We | kapëm < ekapame < ekapome |
| You | kapët < ekapete |
| They | kapën < ekapanti < ekaponti |
| Pronoun | Verb (sigmatic aorist) |
|---|---|
| I | dhashë < Late PA *(e)ðaśa < PA *edasa < Late PIE *h₁e-dh₃(e)smi |
| You | dhe < *edō(s) < edōss < *h₁e-dh₃(e)ss |
| He, she, it | dha < edast < *h₁e-dh₃(e)st |
| We | dhamë < eda(s)me < *h₁e-dh₃(e)(s)me |
| You | dhatë < edate < *h₁e-dh₃(e)te |
| They | dhanë < eda(s)nti < *h₁e-dh₃(e)(s)nti |
Personal pronouns in Proto-Albanian
| Pronoun | PIE | Proto-Albanian (nom.) |
|---|---|---|
| I | *éǵh₂ | *uǵ > *udz |
| You | *túh₂ | *tū |
| He | *h₁ey + *ís | *aei (*a-ei) |
| She | *h₁ey + *-éh₂ | *ajā (*a-jā) |
| We | *wéy > *nos | *nōs |
| You (all) | *yū́(s) | *jus |
| They (m.) | *h₁ey + [*só > m. acc. plur. *tons] | *ata (*a-ta) |
| They (f.) | *h₁ey + [*tód > f. nom. plur. *téh₂es] | *atā(s) [*a-tā(s)] |
Noun declensions in Proto-Albanian
Nouns in Proto-Albanian are divided in to *a-stem nouns (< PIE *-os, whence they are also called *o-stem nouns) and *ā-stem nouns (< PIE *-éh₂). There was a third group of nouns in Early PA, the *i-stem nouns (e.g., natë "night" < PA *naktā < PIE *nókʷts), which then merged into *o-stem nouns.[page needed]
There are 5 cases (2 strong cases and 2 weak cases): nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative, with a strong degree of syncretism among cases. PIE locative, vocative and instrumental were lost.[page needed]
Contemporary Albanian has a vocative case -o for both masculine and feminine names:this vocative was borrowed from South Slavic languages (Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian) since, in Proto-Slavic, the feminine vocative became *-o, which is an innovation from PIE *-éh₂.
Noun declension in the masculine indefinite
*a-stem nouns had a final *-a in the strong cases (nominative and accusative), reflecting PIE *-o-; since this final *-a was unstressed in most cases, it was lost in contemporary Albanian.[page needed] Hence, today most of masculine words in the strong cases end in consonants except for some false feminine words ending in -ë. The two strong cases already merged into a single ending in the singular in Early PA, while the three weak cases already converged into a single ending in the singular as well. The ending was either *-i or *-u; the second one was used after preceding vowels, semi-vowels and velar consonants *k- and *g-. These two endings reflect PIE locative *-éy, but it is unknown if the weak cases already merged in Pre-Albanian. Today, weak cases are distinguished each other by the use of clitics.
In the plural, *a-stem nouns, strong cases ended in *-ō/*-ai. *-ō is the reflex of PIE *-ōs, while *-ai is the reflex of PIE *-oy. Then, in some words, one of the two ending became either fixed or preferred. In the words without preferred ending, stressed *-ō/*-ai developed into contemporary -e and -a (this last ending is the result of an overlap from the feminine declension already in PA in which the expected *-ō/*-ai was substituted by *-ā); in words with preferred ending *-ō (unstressed), it developed into contemporary -ë; in words with preferred ending *-ai (unstressed), it developed into contemporary zero-ending, which means that most of the plural end in consonant.[page needed]
In the genitive and dative plural, *-ō comes from PIE genitive plural *-ōm (stressed) and culminates into contemporary -e. The other modern ending -eve comes from a modification of PIE genitive plural, *-wōm > PA *-wō;the alternative modern ending -ave comes from a modification of PIE genitive plural *-éh₂wōm through the feminine thematic vowel of the feminine *-éh₂-, thus reflecting the overlap with the feminine in the strong cases.
The ablative plural -esh comes from PA *-aisu, from PIE *-oysu. Ablative in -t is common in North Gheg and it was transferred from the definite declension.
Examples of indefinite noun declension in PA (*a-stem)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | dem < Early PA *dàma < PIE *dm̥h₂os | dema < Early PA *dàmā < PIE *dm̥h₂ōs |
| Acc. | dem < *dàma < *dm̥h₂om? | dema < *dàmā < *dm̥h₂oms? |
| Gen. | demi < *dàmei < *dm̥h₂éy | demave (deme) < *damāwō (*damō) < Late PIE *dm̥éh₂wōm (PIE *dm̥h₂ōm) |
| Dat. | demi < *dàmei < *dm̥h₂éy | demave (deme) < *damāwō (*damō) < *dm̥éh₂wōm (*dm̥h₂ōm) |
| Abl. | demi < *dàmei < *dm̥h₂éy | demash < *damaisu < *dm̥h₂oysu |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | djalë < Early PA *delà < PIE *dʰh₁ilós | djem < Early PA *delō/ai < PIE *dʰh₁ilōs |
| Acc. | djalë < *delà < *dʰh₁ilóm? | djem < *delō/ai < *dʰh₁iloms? |
| Gen. | djali < *delei < *dʰeh₁léy | djemve < *delō < Late PIE *dʰh₁ilwōm |
| Dat. | djali < *delei < *dʰeh₁léy | djemve < *delō < *dʰh₁ilwōm |
| Abl. | djali *delei < *dʰeh₁léy | djemsh < *delaisu < *dʰh₁iloysu |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | gjak < Early PA *źaka < PIE *sokʷós | gjaqe (gjaku) < Early PA *źakō/ài < PIE *sokʷōs |
| Acc. | gjak < *źaka < *sokʷóm? | gjaqe (gjakun) < *źakō/ài < *sokʷóms? |
| Gen. | gjaku < *źakei < *sokʷéy | gjakut (North Gheg) < from definite declension |
| Dat. | gjaku < *źakei < *sokʷéy | gjakut < from definite declension |
| Abl. | gjaku < *źakei < *sokʷéy | gjakut < from definite declension |
Noun declension in the feminine indefinite
*ā-stem nouns had a final *-ā in the nominative; this vowel was hit by vowel reduction and became -ë, which is the mark of the indefinite feminine words.[page needed] The two strong cases (nominative and accusative) already merged in Early PA. The plural of all weak cases comes from PA *-āi, which comes from PIE dative-locative *-éh₂i.
The nominative plural *-ā is identical to the nominative singular and comes from PIE *-éh₂s. If the long vowel was stressed, it becomes contemporary Albanian -a, otherwise it becomes contemporary -ë.
The weak cases in PA were copied by analogy from the *a-stem nouns[page needed] and show the thematic vowel of the feminine, *-éh₂-.
Examples of indefinite noun declension in Early PA (*ā-stem)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | karpë < Early PA *karpā < PIE *kerpéh₂ | karpa < Early PA *karpā < PIE *kerpéh₂es |
| Acc. | karpë < *karpā < *kerpéh₂m? | karpa < *karpā < *kerpéh₂m̥s |
| Gen. | karpeje [(karpe) < *karpāi < *kerpéh₂i] | karpave < *karpāwō < Late PIE *kerpéh₂wōm |
| Dat. | karpeje [(karpe) < *karpāi < *kerpéh₂i] | karpave < *karpāwō < *kerpéh₂wōm |
| Abl. | karpeje [(karpe) < *karpāi < *kerpéh₂i] | karpash < *karpāsu < *kerpéh₂su |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | farë < Early PA *(s)pàrā < PIE *sporéh₂ | fara, [farë < *(s)pàrā < *sporéh₂es] |
| Acc. | farë < *(s)pàrā < *sporéh₂m? | fara < *(s)pàrā < *sporéh₂m̥s? |
| Gen. | fareje [(fare) < *(s)parāi < *sporéh₂i] | farave < *(s)pàrāwō < Late PIE *sporéh₂wōm |
| Dat. | fareje [(fare) < *(s)parāi < *sporéh₂i] | farave < *(s)pàrāwō < *sporéh₂wōm |
| Abl. | fareje [(fare) < *(s)parāi < *sporéh₂i] | farash < *(s)pàrāisu < *sporéh₂su |
Some examples of adjectives in PA
In PA adjectival declension, all cases other than the nominative singular and plural were lost. Adjectives in PA had either masculine or feminine gender depending on the gender of the word they refer to. The derivation of adjectives from PIE to Proto-Albanian follows all the rules for indefinite nouns.[page needed] Masculine adjectives in PA usually ended in *-a in the singular (< PIE *-os), while their feminine counterparts usually ended in *-ā (< PIE *-éh₂); rarely, masculine adjectives ended in *-i. In contemporary Albanian, masculine adjectives can either end in consonant or in -ë (< stressed PA *-a).
Adjectives in contemporary Albanian always go in couple with the "adjectival article", a particle always found before the adjective. It's declination in the masculine singular, feminine singular and plural is "i, e, të". The adjectival article in the feminine comes from PA *ō(d) < PIE *ēd ~ *ōd (ablative sg. stem of PIE *ē- ~ *ō-); this particle was most likely a demonstrative.
| Adjective (singular) | Meaning |
|---|---|
| i bardhë < PA *bardzà < PIE *bʰórh₁ǵos e bardhë < PA *bardzā < *bʰórh₁ǵéh₂ | White |
| zi < zëi < PA *džedi < Early PA *gʷedija < PIE *gʷoh₁dʰ(y)os | Black |
| i blerë < *blōrà < *bʰloh₁ros | Green |
| *melana < *melh₂nos | Evil |
| *stanà < *sth₂nós | Standing |
| i ur < *wàra < *weh₁ros | True |
| *wījà < *weh₁yos | Twisted |
| i çalë < *štšalà < *skolós | Lame |
| i parë < *parà < *peros | First |
| i madh < *màdza < *méǵh₂os | Big |
| i fortë < Latin fortis | Strong |
| i verdhë < Vulgar Latin viridem (nom. viridis) | Yellow |
Numerals in Proto-Albanian
| Number | PIE | Proto-Albanian |
|---|---|---|
| One (1) | *h₁óynos | *ainja |
| Two (2) | *dwóh₁ | *duwō (m.); *duwai (f.) |
| Three (3) | *tréyes | *treje |
| Four (4) | *kʷetwóres > obl. *kʷétur- | *kátur |
| Five (5) | *pénkʷe | *penče |
| Six (6) | *swéḱs | *seksti |
| Seven (7) | *septḿ̥ | *septati |
| Eight (8) | *(h₁)oḱtṓw | *aktṓ |
| Nine (9) | *h₁néwn̥ | *neunti- |
| Ten (10) | *déḱm̥(t) | *detsa |
Classification & isoglosses with other Indo-European branches
The closest language to Albanian is Messapic, with which it forms a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). 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. Hyllested & Joseph (2022) identify the highest shared number of innovations between (Proto-)Albanian and (Proto-)Greek.
Innovative creations of agricultural terms shared only between Albanian and Greek, such as *h2(e)lbh-it- 'barley' and *spor-eh2- 'seed', were formed from non-agricultural Proto-Indo-European roots through semantic changes to adapt them for agriculture. Since they are limited only to Albanian and Greek, they can be traced back with certainty only to their last common Indo-European ancestor, and not projected back into Proto-Indo-European. A remarkable Greek/Albanian isogloss is a very ancient form for "hand": *mər-, cf. the Albanian verb marr ("hold") and the Greek márē ("hand"), and also Greek márptō ("grab").
A common Balkan Indo-European root *aiğ(i)- ("goat") can be reflected in Albanian edh ("goat, kid") < PAlb *aidza and dhi ("nanny goat) < PAlb *aidzijɑ̄ with Greek αἴξ ("goat", gen. αἰγός) and Armenian ayc ("(nanny) goat"). It has been noted that the Balkan IE root and all the alleged Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian roots with a meaning "goat" are likely to be not Proto-Indo-European, as they may all originate as independent and relatively early, post-PIE borrowings, from the substrate languages spoken by the sedentary farmers who were encountered by immigrating Indo-European pastoralists. The view of a substrate borrowing can be corroborated by areal words for "goat" in other IE languages, such as Gothic gaits ("goat") and Latin haedus ("kid"), reflecting *gʰaid̯(-o)-, considered as a substrate word usually linked with Semitic languages (cf. Akkadian gadû, Aramaic gaδiā ̄"kid"). However it was most likely not directly borrowed from Semitic, but from a European substrate language that in turn had loaned the word from a common third source. Hence it can be viewed as an old cultural word, which was slowly transmitted to different European languages, and then adopted by the newcoming Indo-European speakers. Within this scenario it should be remarked the exclusive sharing of a common proto-form between Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, which could have been borrowed at a pre-stage that was common to these languages.
Shortly after they had diverged from one another, Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, undoubtedly also underwent a longer period of contact (as can be seen, for example, in the irregular correspondence: Greek σκόρ(ο)δον, Armenian sxtor, xstor, and Albanian hudhër, hurdhë "garlic"). Furthermore, intense Greek–Albanian contacts certainly have occurred thereafter. An example of secondary derivations from Palaeo-Balkan linguistic contacts is the Thracian word σπίνος spínos 'a kind of stone, which blazes when water touches it' (i.e. 'lime'), attested in Aristotle and Theophrastus, with cognate Greek τίτανος (Attic) and κίττανος (Doric) 'gypsum, chalk, lime', stemming PIE *k̑witn̥Hos 'white, whitish': although from the same PIE root, Albanian shpâ(ni) 'lime, tartar' and Greek σπίνος 'lime' derive from a secondary origin as they were probably borrowed from Thracian due to phonetic reasons. Indeed, the original IE cluster *k̑w- yields Albanian s- before any vowel, while in Thracian it could yield sp-.
Specifically Indo-Iranian/Greek/Albanian and Greek/Armenian/Albanian isoglosses are both relatively rare, examples including ndaj (to divide; Indo-Greek-Albanian) and ëndërr ("dream"; Greek/Armenian/Albanian). Armenian/Albanian isoglosses are considered "insignificant" by Orel. There are a considerable number of Indo-Iranian/Albanian isoglosses, which are notably often connected with horses, horse tending, and milk products.
In older literature, Orel (2000) argues that Albanian has a large number of isoglosses that are common to Albanian, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic, as part of a "North Eastern" lexical grouping, with a large number of these referring to wood or objects made out of wood. Orel (1998) noted 24 isoglosses between Balto-Slavic and Albanian, 48 common words between Baltic and Albanian and 24 between Albanian and Slavic. Hyllested & Joseph (2022) review Orel's common items and argue that a substantial number don't have convincing etymologies or do not constitute isoglosses between Balto-Slavic and Albanian. An example is Albanian murg (dark) and Lithuanian margas (colourful) which Orel considers to be isoglosses but both are equally related to Proto-Germanic *murkaz, ancient Greek ἀμορβός amorbos and Proto-Slavic *mergъ.
Orel identifies only one Albanian/Italic/Celtic isogloss, blertë ("green"), cognate to Latin flōrus ("bright") and Irish blár ("gray"). Specifically Celtic/Albanian vocabulary was previously thought to be limited although including at least one core vocabulary item (hënë "moon", cognate to Welsh cann "white" and Breton cann "full moon"), but recent work by Trumper in 2018 has proposed a larger though still not overwhelming set, with the notable addition of dritë ("light").
Although knowledge of Tocharian is fragmentary, the one known Albanian/Tocharian isogloss is "very important" as noted by Orel: kush ("who", cognate to Tocharian A kus, with the same meaning).
References
Notes
- Also the analysis of the influence of substrates on the Old Serbo-Croatian language and the toponymic and Romanian evidence indicate that the South Slavs who became Serbo-Croatian speakers settled in a zone of former Albanoid speech, which reasonably explains why the resultant population was well-predisposed to preserve the richest system of lateral consonant distinctions and alternations among the later Slavic-speaking peoples.
- The exact extension of the region is under investigation. Scholars argue that the main region of the Balkan interior where a post-Roman Latin-speaking population could have survived included the Upper Morava valley in southern Serbia and areas of present-day Kosovo, northern Albania, northern Macedonia, eastern Montenegro, and western Bulgaria. An evidence is considered the fact that after the arrival of Slavic speech, this region constituted a separation zone between the South Slavic varieties allowing the differentiation between Eastern South Slavic and Western South Slavic. Furthermore, the Torlakian dialects – the transitional South Slavic dialects – are influenced by the features which emerged in the Albanian and Eastern Romance spoken in this area.
- Newer toponymical loanwords, although having the same Slavic form, preserved the Slavic /s/ and other features, as Albanian no longer developed phonological changes during that later period of contacts, hence they resulted different from the earlier loans, e.g. Bistricë (Sarandë) instead of Bushtricë or Selcan (Këlcyrë) instead of Shelcan.
- Absent for early part of period
- Absent for early part of period
Citations
- Matzinger 2016, p. 6: "Folgende Lautwandel charakterisieren u.a. das Uralbanische (Protoalbanische) und grenzen es dadurch als eine eigenständige idg. Sprache von anderen idg. Sprachen ab. Diese Phase kann präzisiert als Frühuralbanisch bezeichnet werden. Da das Hethitische (im antiken Kleinasien) und das mykenische Griechische schon im 2. Jahrtausend v.Chr. als voll ausgebildete, d.h. individuelle Sprachen dokumentiert sind, kann auch die Vorstufe des Albanischen (das Frühuralbanische) mindestens ab dem ersten Jahrtausend v.Chr. als eine ebenso schon voll ausgebildete, d.h. individuelle Sprache angesetzt werden".
-
- Demiraj 2020, p. 34: "All such changes took place prior to the contacts between Albanian and Balkan Slavonic, i.e. before the 7th century СЕ." p. 37: "Thus, mоkёrё 'millstone', from ancient Greek μᾱχανᾱ́ 'instrument', shows the effects of rhotacism, and mjek 'doctor', from Latin medicus, shows the effects of the loss of medial voiced stops, а change which inherited words also underwent ( e.g. еrё 'smell' < *od-ro-, cf. Latin odor); however, Slavic loanwords, coming after the arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans in the 6th century, show the effects of neither change, and neither do Turkish loans, borrowed during the period of Ottoman rule."
- De Vaan 2018, p. 1732: "Internal comparison between the Tosk and Geg dialects allows us to reconstruct a Proto-Albanian stage (PAlb.; in German Uralbanisch; see Hock 2005; Klingenschmitt 1994: 221; Matzinger 2006: 23; B. Demiraj 1997: 41–67; Hamp 1992: 885–902). Additional external information on the development of the phonology is provided by different layers of loanwords, of which those from Slavic (from ca. 600 CE onward) and from Latin (ca. 167 BCE−400 CE) are the most important. Since the main phonological distinction between Tosk and Geg, viz. rhotacism of n, is found in only a few Slavic loanwords in Tosk (Ylli 1997: 317; Svane 1992: 292 f.), I assume that Proto-Albanian predated the influx of most of the Slavic loanwords.
- Matzinger 2006, p. 41: "Diese Zeitspanne von der Antike bis ca. 600 n.Chr. wird in der Geschichtsschreibung die uralbanische Zeit genannt." ["This period from ancient times to ca. 600 CE is called the Proto-Albanian period in historiography."]
- Friedman 2022, pp. 189–231.
- Lazaridis & Alpaslan-Roodenberg 2022, pp. 1, 10.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 235; Friedman 2020, p. 388; Majer 2019, p. 258; Trumper 2018, p. 385; Yntema 2017, p. 337; Ismajli 2015, p. 45; Demiraj 2004, pp. 58–59.
- De Vaan 2018, p. 1732
- Matasović 2019, p. 6
- Fortson 2010, p. 392: "The dialectal split into Gheg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become Christianized in the fourth century AD; Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism, such as Tosk murgu "monk" (Geg mungu) from Lat. monachus."
- Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 9: "The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far-reaching phonological changes which have so altered the shape of inherited words while Slavic and Turkish words do not show those changes. Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into Balkans in the fifth and sixth centuries AD"
- Brown & Ogilvie 2008, p. 23: "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"
- Vermeer 2008, p. 606: "As is well known, the rise of Tosk as a recognizable dialec-tal unit involves two innovations that have parallels in early Romanian: Romanian centralized its *a in nasal contexts and part of the dialects under-went the development of intervocalic -n- to -r-. Romanian also famously borrowed vatër 'hearth' with patently Tosk va- and proceeded to spread it to wherever Vlachs expanded subsequently. The shared Tosk-Romanian innovations obviously constitute the final stage of the crucial and well-publicized period of Albanian-Romanian convergence. Since these inno-vations are found either not at all or only marginally in the Slavic loans into Romanian and Albanian, it follows that the rise of Tosk preceded both the expansion of Romanian and the influx of Slavic Ioans."
- Friedman 2023, p. 345.
- Demiraj 2013, pp. 32–33.
- Thorsø 2019, p. 258.
-
- Friedman 2022, pp. 189–231: "On the other hand, there is some evidence to argue that Albanian is descended from the Illyrian complex."
- Coretta et al. 2022, p. 1122: "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)."
- Matasović 2019, p. 5: "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-."
- Parpola 2012, p. 131: "The poorly attested Illyrian was in antiquity an important Indo-European language in the Balkans, and it is widely believed to survive in the Albanian language (cf. Mallory 1989: 73–76; Fortson 2004: 405–406 and 390)."
- 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."
- 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."
- Holst 2009, pp. 65–66: ""Illyrisch" möchte ich nicht klassifizieren, da hierüber nicht einmal klar ist, ob es sich tatsächlich um eine Sprache handelt und nicht Ma-terial aus mehreren Sprachen, die auf albanischem Boden Spuren hinterlassen haben. Falls man jedoch Illyrisch als die Vorläufersprache des Albanischen definiert (wofür einiges spricht), ist Illyrisch automatisch im Zweig des Albani-schen enthalten." ["I don't want to classify "Illyrian" because it is not even clear whether it is actually one language and not material from several languages that have left traces on Albanian soil. However, if Illyrian is defined as the precursor language to Albanian (which there is some evidence for), Illyrian is automatically included in the branch of Albanian."]
- Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 11: "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."
- Friedman 2020, p. 388; Matzinger 2018, p. 1790; Ismajli 2015, p. 45.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 235; Trumper 2018, p. 385; Yntema 2017, p. 337.
- Crăciun 2023, pp. 77–81; Huld 1986, pp. 245–250; Huld 1984, p. 158.
- Huld 1986, pp. 245–250; Huld 1984, p. 158; Lafe 2022, pp. 362–366.
- Huld 1986, pp. 245–250; Huld 1984, p. 158.
- Crăciun 2023, pp. 77–81; Witczak 2016, pp. 40–41; Huld 1986, pp. 245–250; Huld 1984, p. 158.
- Witczak 2016, pp. 40–41.
- Vermeer 2008, pp. 604–605.
- Joseph 2016, pp. 132–133.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143; Rusakov 2017, p. 557; Matzinger 2017, p. 49; Prendergast 2017, p. 149.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143.
- Fischer & Schmitt 2022; Lafe 2022; B. Demiraj 2016; Curtis 2012; Matzinger 2009; Sh. Demiraj 2006b.
- Friedman 2003, pp. 44–45.
- Morozova, Ovsjannikova & Rusakov 2020, pp. 280–281; De Vaan 2018, p. 1732; Matzinger 2018, pp. 1791–1792; Baldi & Savoia 2017, p. 46; Matzinger 2017, pp. 30–31; Fortson 2010, p. 448; Millar 2010, pp. 79–81; Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 9, 11.
- Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 9, 11; Fortson 2010, p. 448; Millar 2010, pp. 79–81; Matzinger 2018, pp. 1791–1792; De Vaan 2018, p. 1732; Fischer & Schmitt 2022, p. 16.
- Rusakov 2017, p. 557; Prendergast 2017, p. 149; Matzinger 2017, p. 49; Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143; Bednarczuk 2023, p. 43.
- Hamp 2002, p. 249; Friedman 2019, p. 19.
- Bednarczuk 2023, p. 43; Demiraj 2020, pp. 34, 37; De Vaan 2018, p. 1732; Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143; Fortson 2010, p. 448; Vermeer 2008, p. 606; Matzinger 2006, p. 41; Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 9, 11.
- Demiraj 2016, pp. 91–92; Rusakov 2013, pp. 138–143; Matzinger 2009, pp. 29–30.
- Schmitt 2020.
- Curtis 2012, pp. 25–26.
- Vermeer 1996, p. 127.
- Millar 2010, p. 81.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 132, 138–143.
- Bednarczuk 2023, p. 43.
- Rusakov 2017, p. 557; Bednarczuk 2023, p. 43; Prendergast 2017, p. 149; Rusakov 2013, pp. 132, 138–143; Tomić 2006, p. 41; Malcolm 1998, pp. 39–40; Vermeer 1996, pp. 128–129.
- Prendergast 2017, p. 149; Rusakov 2013, pp. 132, 138–143; Tomić 2006, p. 41; Malcolm 1998, pp. 39–40; Vermeer 1996, pp. 128–129.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 132, 138–143; Vermeer 1996, pp. 128–129.
- Prendergast 2017, p. 152.
- Rusakov 2013, pp. 132, 138–143; Bednarczuk 2023, p. 43.
- Demiraj 2002, pp. 36–37.
- Fischer & Schmitt 2022, p. 25.
- Demiraj 2011, p. 63.
- Demiraj 2011, pp. 63–64, 70.
- Demiraj 2011, p. 64.
- Demiraj 2011, p. 71.
- Leeming 2005, p. 44.
- Curtis 2012, pp. 25–26; Matzinger 2018, p. 1791; Morozova, Ovsjannikova & Rusakov 2020, pp. 280–281.
- Morozova, Ovsjannikova & Rusakov 2020, pp. 280–281.
- Orel 2000, p. 38.
- Ylli 1997, p. 317; Orel 2000, p. 38.
- Ylli 2000, p. 197.
- Ylli 2000, p. 103.
- Ylli 2000, p. 106.
- Ylli 2000, p. 136.
- Ylli 2000, p. 175.
- Ylli 2000, p. 174.
- Ylli 2000, p. 183.
- Ylli 2000, p. 269.
- Ylli 2000, p. 165.
- Ylli 2000, p. 267.
- Viereck 1993, p. 122; Hyllested 2016, p. 67.
- Orel 2000, p. 1
- Orel 2000, p. XII
- Matasović 2019, p. 39
- Demiraj 2006, p. 483
- Demiraj 1997, pp. 41–67
- Matzinger 2006, p. 23
- Klingenschmitt 1994, p. 221
- Orel 2000, pp. 20–21
- Matasović 2019, p. 7
- Orel 2000, p. 270
- Orel 2000, pp. 8–12
- Orel 2000, pp. 15–16
- Paçarizi 2008, pp. 101–102
- Totoni 1964, p. 136
- Orel 2000, p. 15
- Orel 2000, pp. 42
- Orel 2000, pp. 143–144
- Orel 2000, p. 3
- Orel 2000, pp. 2–3
- Orel 2000, pp. 3–4
- de Vaan, Michiel (2018). "The phonology of Albanian". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Vol. 3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 1735.
- Orel 2000, p. 27
- Orel 2000, p. 42
- Orel 2000, pp. 271–272
- Rusakov 2017, pp. 566–571
- Orel 2000, pp. 273–274
- Orel 2000, p. 65
- Fortson 2010, p. 58–59.
- Fortson 2010, p. 449.
- Fortson 2010, p. 450.
- Rusakov 2017, p. 559.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, pp. 238–239.
- Rusakov 2017, p. 571.
- Matzinger 2005, p. 47.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, pp. 229.
- Orel 2000.
- Orel 2000, p. 201.
- Orel 2000, p. 203.
- Orel 2000, p. 204.
- de Vaan, Michiel (2020). Old Albanian – Morphology, Part 1. Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- Orel 2000, p. 233.
- Orel 2000, p. 237.
- Orel 2000, p. 235.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 235.
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 226.
- Kroonen et al. 2022, pp. 11, 26, 28
- Bubenik 1997, p. 104.
- Thorsø 2019, p. 255.
- Joseph 2013, p. 7.
- Witczak 2012, pp. 159–161.
- Orel 2000, pp. 259–260
- Orel 2000, pp. 250–251
- Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 223.
- Orel 2000, p. 257
- Orel 2000, pp. 256–257
- Trumper 2018, p. 379.
- Orel 2000, p. 260
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Proto Albanian is the ancestral reconstructed language of Albanian before the Gheg Tosk dialectal diversification before c 600 CE Albanoid and other Paleo Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo European migrations in the region Whether descendants or sister languages of what was called Illyrian by classical sources Albanian and Messapic on the basis of shared features and innovations are grouped together in a common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo European language family The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE with the beginning of the early Proto Albanian phase Proto AlbanianReconstruction ofAlbanian dialects RegionWestern BalkansErac 1000 BCE 600 CEReconstructed ancestorsProto Indo European Proto AlbanoidLower order reconstructionsProto Gheg Proto ToskNotesThe only survivor of the Albanoid languages of the Paleo Balkan group Proto Albanian is reconstructed by way of the comparative method between the Tosk and Gheg dialects and between Albanian and other Indo European languages as well as through contact linguistics studying early loanwords from and into Albanian and structural and phonological convergences with other languages Loanwords into Albanian treated through its phonetic evolution can be traced back as early as the first contacts with Doric Greek West Greek since the 7th century BCE but the most important of which are those from Latin dated by De Vaan to the period 167 BCE to 400 CE and from Slavic dated from 600 CE onward The evidence from loanwords allows linguists to construct in great detail the shape of native words at the points of major influxes of loans from well attested languages In historical linguistics Proto Albanian is broken up into different stages which are usually delimited by the onset of contact with different well attested languages Pre Proto Albanian is the early stage of the precursor of Albanian during the first millennium BCE marked by contacts with Ancient Greek but not yet by contacts with Latin Proto Albanian proper is dated to the period of contacts with Latin starting from the 2nd century BCE after the Roman conquest of the Western Balkans but the major Latin influence occurred since the first years of the common era when the Western Balkans were eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire Common Albanian or its two dialects Proto Gheg and Proto Tosk experienced the earliest contacts with South Slavic languages since the Slavic migrations to the Balkans in the 6th 7th centuries CE The rise of Tosk from Proto Albanian was prompted before Slavic contacts circa 600 CE as evidenced by the fact that Latin and ancient Greek loanwords are treated like native words with regard to taxonomical differences between Gheg and Tosk but the same is not true of Slavic loans HistoryBalkanic ArmenianGraeco Albanian Graeco Phrygian GreekPhrygian extinct Illyric Messapic extinct Albanian GhegToskAlbanian in the Palaeo Balkanic Indo European branch based on the chapters Albanian Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 and Armenian Olsen amp Thorso 2022 in Olander ed The Indo European Language Family Albanoid and other Paleo Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo European migrations in the region about 3000 to 2500 BCE They replaced the pre Indo European languages which left traces of the Mediterranean Balkan substratum Shortly after they had diverged from one another Pre Albanian Pre Greek and Pre Armenian underwent a longer period of contact as shown by common correspondences that are irregular for other IE languages Furthermore intense Greek Albanian contacts have continued thereafter The precursor of Albanian can be considered a completely formed independent IE language since at least the first millennium BCE with the beginning of the early Proto Albanian phase The precursor of Albanian is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons as well as for some linguistic evidence or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo European language that was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic Messapic which is grouped in the same IE branch of Albanian developed in southeast Italy after crossing the Adriatic Sea at least since the Early Iron Age being attested in about six hundred inscriptions from Iron Age Apulia In classical antiquity Proto Albanian was spoken in the central western part of the Balkan Peninsula to the north and west of the Ancient Greeks as shown by early Doric Greek West Greek and Ancient Macedonian loanwords that were treated with characteristic Albanian features by classical place names exclusively observing Albanian accent and phonetic rules as well as by several Proto Albanian items preserved in ancient glossaries Albanian linguistic historyIndo Europeanization of the BalkansProto AlbanoidPrehistoric Balkan contactsPre Proto Albanian c 1000 167 BCE Contacts with Doric Greek Ancient Macedonian and Koine GreekProto Albanian c 167 BCE 600 CE Contacts with Latin and Proto Romance Tosk Albanian Eastern Romance innovationsProto GhegProto Tosk c 600 1300 CE Contacts with Common Romanian Middle Greek South SlavicOld Albanian Old Gheg varieties Old Tosk varieties c 1300 1800 CE Dispersal throughout the Balkans Italy and Turkey contacts with other Balkan languages Western Romance and Ottoman Turkish Contacts with Ancient Greek Proto Albanian speech came into contact in its earlier stage with Ancient Greek since the 7th century BCE when the Greek colonies were founded on the Adriatic coast of Albania In that period early loanwords were borrowed from Doric Greek West Greek either directly from the colonists or indirectly through trade communication in the hinterland During the 5th 4th centuries BCE Proto Albanian directly loaned words from Ancient Macedonian at a time when this language gained prominence in the region and was not yet replaced by Koine Greek Several Proto Albanian terms have been preserved in the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria and other ancient glossaries Some of the Proto Albanian glosses in Hesychius are considered to have been loaned to the Dorik Greek as early as the 7th century BCE Evidence of a significant level of early linguistic contact between Albanian and Greek is provided by ancient common structural innovations and phonologic convergence such as the rise of the close front rounded vowel y documented in Attic and Koine Greek the rise of dental fricatives the voicing of voiceless plosives after nasal consonants the replacement with a form that featured a prefix of the inherited present tense 3rd person singular of the verb be documented in Koine Greek Those innovations are limited only to the Albanian and Greek languages and are not shared with other languages of the Balkan sprachbund Since they precede the Balkan sprachbund era those innovations date to a prehistoric phase of the Albanian language spoken at that time in the same area as Greek and within a social frame of bilingualism among early Albanians having to be able to speak some form of Greek Contacts with Latin Romance and Middle Greek The Roman province of Moesia Superior in red which included ancient Dardania is considered as the best candidate for the area where Proto Albanian received its major Latin influence and where it experienced intensive contacts with Proto Romance during the post Latin period which eventually produced the Tosk Albanian Proto Romanian innovations that prompted the rise of Tosk from Proto Albanian 010234567809101112class notpageimage Toponyms that evolved through Proto Albanian phonetic changes in late antiquity in bold those that were also loaned to South Slavic after antiquity 0 Drin river 1 Nish city 2 Shkoder city 3 Shkup city 4 Sharr mountains 5 Ulkin city 6 L j esh city 7 Shtip city 8 Mat river 9 Ishem river 10 Durres city 11 Vlone city 12 Oh e r id city and lake from its ancient form required an early long standing period of Tosk Albanian East South Slavic bilingualism or at least contact before its first attestation in 879 CE Proto Albanian came into contact with Latin since the Illyro Roman wars in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE when the Roman Republic defeated the Illyrians and began to establish its rule in the Western Balkans gradually consolidating its dominion during the last two centuries BCE But the major Latin influence in Proto Albanian occurred since the first years of the common era when the Western Balkans were eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire after the Great Illyrian Revolt of 6 9 CE Bellum Batonianum The Latin loanwords in Proto Albanian were borrowed through the entire period of spoken Latin in the Western Balkans c 167 BCE 400 CE reflecting different chronological layers and penetrating without any restrictions into virtually all semantic fields Even the basic Christian terms are of Latin origin and since they entered Proto Albanian before the Gheg Tosk dialectal diversification the Proto Albanian speakers were christianized under the Latin sphere of influence specifically in the 4th century CE Historical linguistic considerations indicate that the Roman province of Moesia Superior and more specifically the ancient region of Dardania and adjacent zones constitute the best candidate for the area where Proto Albanian received its major Latin influence and where intensive contacts between Proto Albanian and Proto Romance occurred eventually producing the shared innovations between Tosk Albanian and Proto Romanian Those innovations ultimately prompted the rise of Tosk from Proto Albanian a diversification that began not later than the 6th 7th centuries CE i e before the period of contacts with Slavic Gheg Albanian was already separated from the Albanian Proto Romanian contact zone at an earlier period Toponymy provides evidence that Albanian was already spoken since late antiquity in northern and central Albania but not yet in southern Albania south of the Shkumbin river Those considerations indicate that unlike Gheg the Tosk dialect could not yet have already occupied its historical geographic distribution in late antiquity On the other hand the multi layered Albanian dialects in western North Macedonia provide evidence that the area was inhabited by Albanian speakers since antiquity The historical geographic spread of the Albanian dialects as it appeared in medieval times is considered to have been shaped by the settlement of Slavic farmers from the 6th 7th centuries CE During the centuries of the Great Migration Period in the Roman Empire after the 3rd century CE the Imperial structures progressively weakened and eventually collapsed Proto Albanian and Proto Romanian speakers remained in close contact for a substantial time frame as mountain pastoralists The fact that the Albanian language reflects a clear pastoralist stage does not allow conclusions about the Proto Albanian speakers way of life during classical antiquity as only the speech of the mountain pastoralists managed to survive the Great Migrations It has been suggested that the Latin influence on Albanian resulted from an urbanized way of life which was followed by a flight from towns similar to what occurred to the Eastern Romance speakers Nevertheless the extensive influence of the Albanian language on the pastoral vocabulary and its influence albeit lower on the crop cultivation vocabulary in Eastern Romance languages indicate that Proto Albanian speakers were already leading a pastoral lifestyle at the time when Latin speakers assumed the same way of life borrowing from Proto Albanian a number of technical terms Proto AlbanianVulgar LatinLate Proto AlbanianBalkan Proto Romancea gt eGheg Alb Tosk Alb Comm Rom n gt r Tosk Alb Balk Rom Balk Rom without n gt r The post Roman contact zone between Albanian and Common Romanian is considered to have been located in Dardania and adjacent areas From this contact the Tosk Albanian dialect is considered to have received the first impetus of developments that were shared with Eastern Romance and that did not affect the Gheg Albanian dialect as it had already separated in earlier times After a period of common innovations but before the rise of the rhotacism n gt r which preceded contacts with Slavic from c 600 CE speakers of Eastern Romance varieties that were not yet affected by this fundamental sound change separated from the Tosk Albanian Common Romanian contact zone In a period that followed the rise of those innovations Tosk Albanian is considered to have moved driven by the offensive of the Slavs to Albania south of the Shkumbin river in its historically documented location At the time of the South Slavic incursion and the threat of ethnic turbulence in the Albanian inhabited regions the Christianization of the Albanians had already been completed and it had apparently developed for Albanians as a further identity forming feature alongside the ethnic linguistic unity Church administration which was controlled by a thick network of Roman bishoprics collapsed with the arrival of the Slavs Between the early 7th century and the late 9th century the interior areas of the Balkans were deprived of church administration and Christianity might have survived only as a popular tradition on a reduced degree The reorganization of the Church as a cult institution in the region took a considerable amount of time as the Balkans were brought back into the Christian orbit only after the recovery of the Byzantine Empire and through the activity of Byzantine missionaries The earliest ascertained church vocabulary of Middle Greek origin in Albanian dates to the 8th 9th centuries at the time of the Byzantine Iconoclasm which was started by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian In 726 Leo III established de jure the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over the Balkans as the Church and the State established an institution The Eastern Church expanded its influence in the area along with the social and political developments Between the 7th and 12th centuries a powerful network of cult institutions were revived completely covering the ecclesiastical administration of the entire present day Albanian speaking compact area In particular an important role was played by the Theme of Dyrrhachium and the Archdiocese of Ohrid The lack of Old Church Slavonic terms in Albanian Christian terminology shows that the missionary activities during the Christianization of the Slavs did not involve Albanian speakers indeed the Christian belief among Albanians had survived through the centuries and already become an important cultural element in their ethnic identity Earliest contacts with South Slavic When the Slavic speaking farmers migrated to the Balkans and settled the plains from the 6th 7th centuries CE they encountered Albanian speaking Indo Europeans and assimilated part of them but the language of the Albanians who had taken refuge in the mountainous areas of present day northern and central Albania eastern Montenegro western North Macedonia and Kosovo managed to survive the Great Migrations Leading a pastoral lifestyle and although separated from Slavic speakers Albanian speakers were not isolated and contacts between Albanian and Slavic occurred thereafter In particular Tosk Albanian came into contact with Eastern South Slavic dialects and Gheg Albanian with Western South Slavic dialects Early long standing contacts between Slavic speakers and Albanian speakers might have been common in mountain passages and agriculture or fishing areas such as the valleys of the White and Black branches of the Drin and around the Shkoder and Ohrid lakes Such contacts in these areas caused many changes in Slavic and Albanian local varieties As Albanian and South Slavic have been in contact since the early Middle Ages loanwords in both belong to different chronological strata and reveal different periods of acquisition The earliest phase of contacts is dated to the 6th 8th century CE reflecting some of the more archaic phonetic features of Slavic as well as early Albanian phonology The early Slavic loanwords into Albanian developed Slavic s as ʃ and y as u within Albanian phonology of that era Such toponyms include Bushtrice Kukes Dishnica Permet Dragoshtunje Elbasan Leshnje Leshnje Berat and other areas Shelcan Elbasan Shishtavec Kukes Gora Shuec Devoll and Shtepez Gjirokaster Shopel Iballe Veleshnje Skrapar and others Part of the toponyms of early Slavic origin were acquired in Albanian before undergoing the changes of the Slavic liquid metathesis before c end of the 8th century CE They include Ardenice Lushnje Berzane Lezhe Gerdec and Berzi Tirane and a cluster of toponyms along the route Berat Tepelene Permet The evolution of the ancient toponym Lychnidus into Oh e r id city and lake which is attested in this form from 879 CE required an early long standing period of Tosk Albanian East South Slavic bilingualism or at least contact resulting from the Tosk Albanian rhotacism n into r and Eastern South Slavic l vocalization ly into o The name of the region Laberi resulted through the Slavic liquid metathesis South Slavic Labanja lt Late Common Slavic Olbanja Albania and was reborrowed in that form into Albanian in the period when rhotacism was still active in Tosk Albanian History of studyVladimir Orel is one of the main modern international linguists to have dealt with the passage from Proto Indo European to Proto Albanian to Modern Albanian According to Orel the study of Proto Albanian syntax remains in its infancy so there are some limitations to the work However there have been developments in the understanding of the historical development of phonetics and vocabulary Other major work has been done by Eqrem Cabej and Shaban Demiraj as well as by major scholars in the field of Romanian historical linguistics as it relates to Albanian see Albanian Romanian linguistic relationship as well as other Balkan linguists A large amount of work done on Proto Albanian is published in German rather than English Nomenclature of periodization of Proto Albanian Vladimir Orel distinguishes the following periods of Proto Albanian 1 Early Proto Albanian EPA spoken before the 1st century CE when Albanian had not yet acquired extensive influence via language contact from Latin Proto Romance 2 Late Proto Albanian LPA after extensive Latin contact with the end of the period seeing contacts between ancient Slavic idioms still close to the Proto Slavic language in the 6th and 7th centuries CE During this period the structure of Proto Albanian was shattered by major changes Ranko Matasovic distinguishes the following periods of Proto Albanian 1 Pre Proto Albanian essentially equivalent to Vladimir Orel s Early Proto Albanian except that the newer paradigm of Matasovic dates Latin Albanian contact a century earlier and thus it ends for Matasovic in the 1st century BCE rather than the 1st century CE After this period ends Latin contact begins to transform the language 2 Early Proto Albanian corresponds to the earlier phases of what is for Orel Late Proto Albanian For Matasovic the period spans the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE halting before contact with Slavic idioms begins 3 Late Proto Albanian includes the last two centuries of LPA for Orel plus most of the unattested period of Old Albanian halting before Turkish influence begins In this paradigm Gheg and Tosk split from Early Proto Albanian not Late Proto Albanian consistent with our knowledge that the split preceded Slavic contact 4 Early Albanian corresponds to the late Ottoman phase of Old Albanian in the traditional paradigm ending in 1800 at which point it transitions to Modern Albanian Demiraj like Matasovic and unlike Orel observes the 5th 6th centuries as a boundary between stages but instead places the emergence of Albanian from its parent after this point rather than the 14th In an Albanian chapter penned by Michiel de Vaan within Klein Joseph and Fritz 2018 Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo European Linguistics Demiraj s periods are adhered to Orel s Later Proto Albanian which is for them also definitively placed before Slavic contact is referred to as simply Proto Albanian PAlb or in German Uralbanisch reflecting the terminology of earlier writing in German What is for Orel Early Proto Albanian EPA dated definitively before the onset of Latin contact is for De Vaan Pre Proto Albanian PPAlb in German this stage is called Voruralbanisch or Fruhuralbanisch De Vaan also discusses the possibility of breaking Pre Proto Albanian into two stages one before the first Greek loanwords and one that is after the first Greek loanwords but before contact with Latin This page at present is using the paradigm of Orel PhonologyExtensive recent studies on Proto Albanian phonology have been published by Huld 1984 Beekes 1995 Shaban Demiraj 1996 Bardhyl Demiraj 1997 Orel 2000 Hock 2005 Matzinger 2006 Vermeer 2008 Schumacher 2013 and De Vaan 2018 At present this page follows Orel s paradigm for periods of Proto Albanian and presents the relationship between the synchronic phonologies of both EPA and LPA with diachronic relationships to each other and to ancestral Indo European forms as well as descendant Albanian forms Stress In Early Proto Albanian stress was paradigmatic and behaved according to morphological class with a base on the first syllable In different paradigms the stress pattern was varyingly barytonic oxytonic and mobile Unstressed vowels lost one mora long vowels were shortened already short vowels were often deleted In Later Proto Albanian however a new system of unstressed vowel reduction emerged where a reduced to e while all others were simply deleted except for post tonic inlaut vowels which became e Orel gives the following examples EPA dausas ram sg gt daus gt gt modern dash EPA dausai rams pl gt dausi gt gt modern desh EPA dwaiga branch sg gt dega gt gt modern dege EPA dwaigai branches pl gt degai gt gt modern degeVowels Simple vowels in EPA Front Central BackHigh i iː u uːMid e eː oːLow a aːDiphthongs in EPA Nucleus i u e ei eu a ai au Early Proto Albanian possessed four distinctive short vowels a e i and u Proto Indo European o had merged into a by the Early Proto Albanian stage A five way distinction was maintained for long vowels a e i ō and u Early Proto Albanian also had four diphthongs ei ai eu and au Early Proto Albanian s vowel inventory began to change as a result of Latin contact Initially Albanian was resistant to the restoration of short o as a separate phoneme with Latin unstressed o being replaced by a and stressed Latin o being replaced by u However in later loans Latin o is maintained in Albanian as o Additionally some Latin loans with short u saw Latin u replaced by o as well as e specifically in unstressed positions before sonorants In two cases Orel argues that Latin short u was lengthened in Albanian to u ultimately to render y On the other hand whatever effect Ancient Greek loanwords had at their time of absorption is unclear but diachronically the vowels always agree with regular internal Albanian developments LPA simple vowels Front BackHigh i uMid e o Low a a Earlier LPA diphthongs u i eu ui uei iee eu eia au ai Late Proto Albanian Late Proto Albanian exhibited a i and u throughout its development as distinctive short vowels o was restored to the phonemic inventory as a result of loanwords where it was increasingly maintained instead of replaced Although e was eliminated by breaking to ie which would render je and ja it was restored by the leveling of ai to e and other phenomena that replaced a ie and ue with e The only long vowel preserved in its original form was i ō was replaced by ue e was merged into a and both were rounded and eventually raised to o while u merged with the diphthong ui ultimately rendering y By Late Proto Albanian all the original Indo European diphthongs had now leveled but new diphthongs were absorbed in loans and were also innovated by breaking phenomena ie ue and ui ai in Latin words with AE shared the fate of inherited Early Proto Albanian ai becoming e while Latin AU similarly shared the fate of inherited au and became a Phonemically nasal vowels emerged in Late Proto Albanian First all vowels standing before nasal consonants were nasalized The following nasal consonant was then lost in certain morphological contexts while the vowel remained nasalized resulting in the emergence of LPA phonemes denoted a e i and u Except in certain Gheg varieties e merged into a The traditional view presented by Orel and Desnickaja is that distinctive nasalization was lost by Tosk but retained by Gheg and that this is a taxonomical difference between the two However this has now been challenged after Sheper and Gjinari discovered Lab dialects Lab is a subdialect of Tosk in the Kurvelesh region that still had distinctive nasal vowels and Totoni likewise found that the Lab speech of Borsh also still has nasal vowel phonemes This means that instead of the traditional view it is possible that denasalization happened in most Tosk dialects only after the split from Gheg Slavic u appears to still have been back and round when it was loaned into Albanian but it is after the diphthongization and resulting fronting of the original Early Proto Albanian u to y was no longer absorbing new u segments as they are with only three exceptions reflected as u Slavic o had already become a in the Slavic languages that contacted Albanian by the time of contact and was loaned as a for the most part as is reflected also in other non Slavic languages absorbing these words After v this a became o again in two attested cases kos yogurt from Proto Slavic kvas and vorbe clay pot It was at the end of the LPA period that length became no longer distinctive in Albanian although many Gheg and some Lab dialects preserved it and or re innovated it Furthermore by Old Albanian all diphthongs had been lost those ending in i were all leveled the u was lost in those ending in u and those ending in e were converted to glide vowel sequences further changes including the frequent effacement of the former first element or otherwise its hardening into an occlusive typically v for former u and gj ɟ for former i rendering the former presence of a diphthong rather opaque in many reflexes Vowels of late LPA transitioning to Old Albanian Front Central BackHigh i y uMid e e oLow aDiachronic development This table differentiates short vowels form long vowels with the IPA symbol lt ː gt being applied to the long vowels Specifically contextualized reflex results are placed in parentheses Proto Indo European developments before Proto Albanian Early Proto Albanian Late Proto Albanian Tosk Albanian Gheg Albanian ExampleLatin short a merges with EPA a a a a a PIE kapyeti to seize gt EPA kapa gt kap to grasp Lat aptum gt Alb afte capable PIE n bʰ u los gt EPA abula gt Alb avull steam vapor PIE septḿ gt EPA septati gt Alb shtate seven a Proto Indo European n and m merge resulting in a a gt e under umlaut and subsequent analogy e e PIE h elbʰit gt EPA albi gt elb barley Lat galbinum yellow gt Alb gjelber green PIE widḱm ti gt EPA widzati gt Alb zet twenty PIE n gt EPA a gt Alb e privative prefix gt ɑ before nasals e lt e gt ɑ lt a an gt PIE skandneh gt EPA ksandna gt Alb hene moon Gheg hane Lat canticam gt Alb kenge song e deleted after a stressed syllable PIE bʰoleteh gt EPA balta gt Alb balte swamp gt e after absorption of following laryngeal H e e ie gt e before ts dz nd nt mb ie je ja ie je ja PIE dʰeh los gt EPA dela gt Alb djale boy gt o elsewhere a a a a PIE h epo away off gt EPA apa gt Alb pa without gt ɑ before nasals e lt e gt ɑ lt a an gt PIE h sonts being gt EPA sana gt Alb gje thing Gheg gja sen send thing or sene sende things o o e under umlaut and subsequent analogy e e PIE ǵʰoryos gt EPA darja gt Alb derr pig PIE kʷepnos smoke gt EPA kapna gt Alb kem incense Gheg kall burn gt ɑ before nasal e ɑ PIE h sonts being gt EPA sana gt Alb gje thing e e e PIE lenteh gt EPA lenta gt Alb lende timber Gheg lande ie ie ie PIE bʰeryeti to bring carry gt EPA berja gt Alb bie to bring je je PIE smeḱru gt EPA smekra gt Alb mjeker beard je gt e after affricates palatals and liquids je gt e after affricates palatals and liquids EPA awa leja gt Alb fle to sleep ja ja PIE h esmi gt EPA esmi gt Alb jam ja gt a after affricates palatals and liquids ja gt a after affricates palatals and liquids PIE sweḱs ti gt EPA seksti gt Alb gjashte six ie gt e before ts dz nd nt mb e e PIE en per en tod gt EPA en per en ta gt Alb brenda ie i i i PIE gʷediyos gt EPA dzedija gt Alb zi black e before m followed by sibilant or affricate i i i PIE semǵʰos gt EPA semdza gt Alb gjithe all Classical Latin e gt EPA ie in usual layer gt ie in EPA for usual layer not identical to development of inherited e which also went through ie je je Lat versum gt Alb vjershe verse gt e in various contexts after sh before ng nd etc e Lat conventum gt Alb kuvend ja ja Lat hebdomam or EPA ava gt Alb jave week ja gt a after palatals a Lat sellam gt Alb shale saddle Unstressed ei in Latin loans e e Lat debituram gt Alb detyre duty Latin e via an unknown different intermediary e e Lat infernum gt Alb ferr hell Lat commercium gt Alb kumerq toll duty Latin e loaned into Late Proto Albanian while it lacked any short e phoneme i i PIE h m bʰi gt EPA ambi gt Alb mbi on upon Lat parentem gt Alb prind parent PIE ter gt EPA trima gt Alb trim brave Between r and C i i i i gt ĩ before nasals i ĩ lt i gt PIE h rineHti to flow gt EPA rinja gt Alb rij to make humid Gheg ri u u u u u u PIE bʰugʰtos gt EPA bukta gt Alb bute smooth gt ũ before nasals u ũ lt u gt PIE ǵonu knee gt EPA g a nuna gt LPA gluna gt Alb gju knee OAlb glu Gheg gju Latin o raises before nasals Lat monachum gt murg monk contra gt kunder against Latin stressed o ultimately merges with PIE a elsewhere o o Lat coxam gt kofshe hip Lat rotam gt rrote wheel aː aː aː ɒː o o PIE meh treh mother s sister gt EPA matra gt Alb moter sister eː eː eː everywhere except gliding to j in clusters ɒː o o PIE meh kʷe gt LPA mats gt Alb mos don t oː oː oː we e e PIE bʰloh ros gt EPA blōra tai gt Alb blerte green iː iː iː iː i i PIE peh to drink gt EPA pija gt Alb pi to drink OAlb pii uː uː uː ui y y i in certain conditions PIE suHsos gt EPA susa gt gt Alb gjysh grandfather wi gt iː at word coda after loss of nominative final s i i PIE suHs pig gt EPA sus gt tsus gt LPA t8ui gt Alb thi pig wi gt iː after labial i i PIE bʰuH to grow gt EPA em bunja gt Alb mbij to thrive wi gt i before labial i i PIE kroupeh gt EPA krupa gt LPA kruipa gt Alb kripe salt wi gt i before j i other palatal elements i i PIE doru tree gt EPA drunja gt Alb drinje brushwood ai ai ai gt ẽ gt ɑ before nasal e lt e gt ɑ lt a an gt PIE leh d gt EPA laidna gt Alb le to let Gheg la e e e PIE h eydʰos gt EPA aida gt Alb ethe fever oi oi PIE ḱleyteh gt EPA klaita gt Alb qete jagged rock ei ei ei i i i PIE ǵʰeymn winter gt EPA deimena gt Alb dimer winter Gheg dimen Diphthongs of long vowel j j elided long vowel develops regularly au au au gt ɑ before nasals e lt e gt ɑ lt a an gt PIE drew strong gt EPA draunja gt Alb drenje a a a PIE h ewg gt EPA auga gt Alb ag dawn a gt e e e PIE h ewsros gt EPA ausra gt Alb err darkness ou ou a a a PIE powyos gt EPA pauja gt Alb pah scab dust a gt e e e EPA gaura gt Alb ger squirrel eu eu eu gt ẽ gt ɑ before nasal e lt e gt ɑ lt a an gt PIE h newn nine gt EPA neunti gt Alb nente nine Gheg nand e e e PIE skewdeti to throw gt EPA skeuda gt Alb hedh to throw Development of Indo European sonorants The nasal sonorants n and m both rendered Early Proto Albanian a which remains a in modern Albanian PIE ǵʰh ens goose gt EPA gata gt Alb gate heron Like EPA a elsewhere in some cases it was raised to e as seen in PIE h ln gʷʰtos gt EPA lekta gt Albanian lehte suffixed with te Diachronic development of sonorants Proto Indo European Intermediate developments Early Proto Albanian Later Proto Albanian Old Albanian Tosk Albanian Gheg Albanian Example m a continue regular developments of a from EPA in vowel chart PIE septḿ seven gt EPA septati gt Alb shtate seven n a PIE dl h gʰos long gt EPA dlakta gt Alb gjate long l il before consonant clusters i or j il li ul elsewhere ul lu r ir before consonant clusters i or j ir ri ur elsewhere ur ru l l l l l l PIE logʰ to lay gt EPA laga gt Alb lag troop l l ly li j l Cham Arberesh Arvanitika j PIE gl seh gt EPA gulsa gt gluxa gt Alb gjuhe tongue Arb Arv gljuhe Lat milia gt Alb mije thousand Cha mile ɫ V V ɫ ll g some Arberesh d some Lab ll d some dialects PIE skōlos gt EPA skōla gt Alb hell skewer r r r V V r r r PIE meyh reh peace gt EPA meira gt Alb mire good r V V l ri j j EPA birai gt biri gt Alb bij sons r r rr rr EPA redza gt Alb rrjedh to flow lt PIE h reǵ m m m m m PIE meh treh mother s sister gt EPA matra gt Alb moter sister n n n n r n n ng ŋ from ng PIE nokʷts night gt EPA nakta gt Alb nate night n sn Cn nC n n n n ng ŋ from ng PIE h ewksneh gt EPA auksna gt Alb ane vessel dialectal ɲ gn before front vowels nj nj ni n northern PIE h nḗr man gt EPA nera gt Alb njeri man OAlb njer Consonants EPA Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal VelarNasal m nPlosive p b t d ts dz t ʃ d ʒ k gFricative s z xGlide w jLateral lTrill rLPA Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal VelarNasal m nPlosive p b t d ts c k gAffricate t ʃFricative f 8 d s z ʃ xGlide w jLateral lTrill rDiachronic development Proto Indo European Pre Proto Albanian Early Proto Albanian Later Proto Albanian Modern Albanian Tosk Gheg Examples s s z gt j ɟ d ʒ lt gj gt PIE serpenos snake gt EPA serpena gt Alb gjarper snake Gheg gjarpen s gt ʃ after i u or i u diphthongs ʃ lt sh gt PIE dʰowsos gt EPA dausa gt Alb dash ram ʃ word initially sometimes ʃ lt sh gt PIE suh seh gt EPA susa gt Alb shi rain gt t s if next consonant was s gt 8 8 lt th gt PIE suHs pig gt EPA sus gt tsus gt LPA t8ui gt Alb thi pig gt x intervocalically or between EPA sonorant and vowel h PIE gl seh gt EPA gulsa gt gluxa gt Alb gjuhe tongue O PIE nos gt EPA nasa gt naxa gt Alb na us sK sK sK x h PIE skewdeti to throw gt EPA skeuda gt Alb hedh to throw sp sp sp f f PIE sporeh gt EPA spara gt Alb fare seed st st st ʃt ʃt PIE stoygʰos gt EPA staiga gt Alb shteg path sd zd zd zd d dh PIE pisdeh gt EPA pizda gt Alb pidh female pudenda s from Greek Latin loanwords ʃ ʃ lt sh gt Lat summum gt Alb shume more p p p p p PIE h op to take gt EPA apa gt Alb jap to give Gheg jep ep b bʰ b b b b PIE srobʰeyeti to suck gt EPA serba gt Alb gjerb to gulp w between a vowel and u v PIE n bʰ u los gt EPA abula gt Alb avull steam vapor t t t t t PIE treyes gt EPA treje gt Alb tre three d dʰ d d d d PIE dʰegʷʰeti gt EPA dega gt Alb djeg to burn gt d intervocalically or between r and vowel in 5th or 6th centuries d lt dh gt PIE skewdeti to throw gt EPA skeuda gt Alb hedh to throw ḱ c ḱ c gt t s gt 8 8 lt th gt PIE ḱi ḱereh pea gt EPA tsera gt Alb thjere lentil gt t ʃ gt s before i j u or w s PIE ḱupos shoulder gt EPA tsupa gt Alb sup shoulder PIE ḱyeh dh itey this day gt EPA tsjaditi gt Alb sot today t s retained conditions unclear t s lt c gt PIE h ḱros sharp gt EPA atsara gt Alb acar cold but Alb athet tart gt t ʃ conditions unclear t ʃ lt c gt PIE ḱentrom point gt EPA stsentra gt Alb cander prop gt k before sonorant k k PIE smoḱwr gt EPA smekra gt Alb mjeker beard ǵ ǵʰ ɟ ǵ ɟ dz d dh PIE ǵombʰos gt EPA dzamba gt Alb dhemb tooth Gheg dhamb dz d d d d PIE ǵʰesreh gt EPA desra gt dasra gt Alb dore hand d ʒ before w z z PIE ǵʰwonos gt EPA dzwana gt Alb ze voice Gheg za k k k k k PIE kapmi I seize gt EPA kapmi gt Alb kam to have c palatalised q PIE ḱlew to hear gt EPA klaunja gt Alb qaj to cry OAlb klanj g gʰ g g g g PIE gʰordʰos gt EPA garda gt Alb gardh fence j palatalised gj PIE gʰed gt EPA gadnja gt Alb gjej to find Gheg gjej kʷ kʷ t ʃ before front vowels s s PIE kʷeleti to turn gt EPA tsela gt Alb sjell to bring k elsewhere k k PIE pekʷeti to cook gt EPA peka gt Alb pjek to bake c palatalised q PIE kʷoy gt EPA kai gt Alb qe that which relative gʷ gʷʰ gʷ d ʒ w before front vowels z z PIE gʷerh to swallow gt EPA dzerna gt dzarna gt Alb zorre bowels g elsewhere g g PIE dʰegʷʰeti gt EPA dega gt Alb djeg to burn j palatalised gj PIE gwosdis wood gt EPA gwazdi gt Alb gjeth leaf y j z V j gj PIE yemos gt EPA jama gt Alb gjem bridle O V V O O PIE treyes gt EPA treje gt Alb tre three w w w V w v PIE woseyeti gt EPA wesja gt Alb vesh to dress O V V O O PIE h widʰewh gt EPA widewa gt Alb ve widow The development of IE dorsal consonants in Albanian Indo European languages are traditionally divided into two groups based on the development of the three series of dorsal often called guttural stops viz the palatal ḱ ǵ ǵʰ velar k g gʰ and labiovelar kʷ gʷ gʷʰ series In the centum languages e g Italic languages Germanic languages Greek the palatal series has merged with velar series while the labiovelar series remained distinct whereas in the satem languages Indo Iranian languages Balto Slavic languages the labiovelars merged with the plain velars while the palatals shifted to sibilant consonants Many Indo Europeanists have classified Albanian as a satem language since it has dental fricatives 8 and d as the common reflex of the palatal series while velar and labiovelar stops in most cases have merged However there is clear evidence that all three IE dorsal series remained distinct at least before front vowels in Proto Albanian ḱ gt 8 ǵ ǵʰ gt d k gt k g gʰ gt g kʷ gt s before high vowels k elsewhere gʷ gʷʰ gt z before high vowels g elsewhere In the later phonological history of Albanian the velars k and g were subject to further palatalizations The partial retention of the Proto IE three way contrast for dorsal stops is an archaic feature that links Albanian with the wider Paleo Balkanic group and is shared with Messapic and Armenian Basic traits of Proto Albanian grammarVerb conjugation in Proto Albanian and Old Gheg Old Albanian Introduction the present tense thematic verbs adaptation of borrowings and examples Verbs in Early Proto Albanian Early PA and contemporary Albanian are divided into thematic verbs and athematic verbs thus following this division from Proto Indo European PIE PA a in the first person singular of the present cannot come from PIE oh since its reflex in Proto Albanian would be e if stressed or e if unstressed Therefore a comes from dialectal PIE om page needed The second and third person singular come from PIE esi eti with the loss of PIE final i already occurred in pre Albanian The second person plural has no reflex from PA but it was shaped later between the passage from PA to Old Albanian the modern ending ni could come from nu a PA adverb meaning now identical to PIE nu and Sanskrit nu otherwise it derives from the nasal verbal stem nj with a final i coming from the PA personal pronoun jus you all page needed Most verb stems ending in a closed diphtong aj ej ij oj uj yj in the singular come from a nasal stem in PA ending in Cnj or Vnj e g first person singular nja As for the third person plural the PIE thematic vowel o mutates into PA i perhaps due to the influence of the i from the verbs in oj in the plural Most Latin Classical Latin Late Latin Vulgar Latin verbs belonging to the first declension infinite are were adapted into stems ending with PA anj first person singular anja gt Old Gheg onj gt modern Albanian oj and in rarer cases usually verbal roots ending in liquids hence lare and rare with PA enj gt modern ej An example is modern kendoj lt Latin cantare which points to a hypothetical PA kandanj first person singular kandanja Another example is shembellej lt Late Latin similare Most Latin verbs belonging to the second declension infinite ere were adapted into stems ending with oj and PA enj Most Latin verbs belonging to the third declension unstressed and short infinite ere were adapted into stems ending with PA anj gt modern oj and in rarer cases with ej An example is modern fergoj lt Vulgar Latin frigĕre Most Latin verbs belonging to the fourth declension infinite ire were adapted into stems ending with PA inj gt modern ij and in rarer cases with ej An example is modern vij lt Old Gheg vijn lt Latin venire Most Proto Slavic verbs ending in iti i ti in the infinite were adapted into stems ending with PA itj first person singular itja gt modern is the consonant t was probably weakened to s and the final a was unstressed and thus lost An example is molis lt LPA melitja lt PSL mdliti mudi li ti to debilitate weaken Most Proto Slavic verbs ending in ati a ti in the infinitive were adapted into stems ending with PA atj first person singular atja gt modern as The remaining Proto Slavic verbs were adapted into stems ending with itj gt modern is it The following examples except for kap and jap are all in Old Gheg a dialect of Old Albanian and show the verb declension in Old Albanian to trace an idea of the passage between PIE morphology and Proto Albanian which then evolved into Old Albanian Standard Albanian kap lt PA kapa lt PIE kh pyeti means to seize Standard Albanian jap lt earlier ap lt PA apa participle dhene Gheg dhane lt suppletive eteroclytic verb Standard Albanian kujtoj Old Gheg kujtonj earlier kultonj lt Proto Albanian kugitanja lt perhaps Latin cōgitō 1 declension means to recall di lt PA dija lt PIE dʰeyh means to know hjek Tosk Standard Albanian heq lt earlier helq lt Proto Albanian w alkja lt PIE causative h wolkeyeti means to pull out to remove perkas lt verb prek lt PA praka means to touch kap Standard Albanian Pronoun Verb present I kap lt PA kapa lt pre Alb kapom lt dialectal PIE kh pyom lt oh You kap lt kape s lt pre Alb kapes lt kh pyesiHe she it kap lt kapet lt kh pyetiWe kapim lt PA kapame s lt pre Alb kapome s lt kapyomosYou all kapni lt kapesnu kape s ju lt kapyeteThey kapin lt PA kapanti lt pre Alb kaponti lt kapyontikujtonj Old Gheg from Latin cōgitare Pronoun Verb present I Standard Albanian kujtoj lt kujtonj lt kultonj lt kugitanja lt cōgitōYou kujton lt kugitanje s lt cōgitasHe she it kujton lt kugitanjet lt cōgitatWe kujtojme lt kugitanjame s lt cōgitamusYou all kujtoni lt kugitanjesnu kugitanje s ju lt cōgitatisThey kujtonjene lt kugitanjanti lt cōgitantdi Old Gheg Pronoun Verb present I di lt dija lt dʰeyh dʰeyh yoh You diHe she it diWe dimeYou diniThey dinehjek Old Gheg Pronoun Verb present I hjek lt early Tosk w alkja lt Pre Alb w alkjom lt dialectal h wolkeyom lt h wolkeyoh You hjek lt w alkje s lt Pre Alb w alkjes lt h wolkeyesiHe she it hjek lt w alkjet lt h wolkeyetiWe hjekme lt w alkjame s lt w alkjome s lt h wolkeyomosYou all hiqeni lt w alkjesnu w alke s ju lt h wolkeyoteThey hjekene lt w alkjanti lt w alkjonti lt h wolkeyontiperkas Old Gheg Pronoun Verb present I perkas lt prek lt prakaYou perketHe she it perketWe perkasmeYou all perkiteniThey perkaseneThe present tense athematic verbs and examples The verb to be jam lt PA esmi lt PIE h esmi as in PIE is athematic and has a nasal infix n in the third person singular and plural perhaps this infix is taken from the original third person plural in PIE enti PA had two more athematic verbs kam to have lt PA kapmi lt Latin capiō which is cognate with thematic kap lt PA kapa lt PIE kh pyoh and thom to say lt PA tsansmi lt Latin censeō Probably PA had a fourth athematic verb ik to go lt PA eika lt earlier eimi identical to Ancient Greek but then it was transformed into a thematic verb through the stem of the imperative jam Old Gheg Pronoun Verb present CommentI jam lt esmi lt PIE h esmi The mutation e gt a is regular and still preserved in Old Gheg and Standard AlbanianYou je lt essi lt h esi The mutation e gt a preserved in Old Gheg is not found since this stem is conservative respect to PIEHe she it ashte lt ensti lt h esti The mutation e gt a is regular and still preserved in Old Gheg but not in Standard Albanian a gt regularly reduce to e We jemi lt esmei lt h e h smos The stem is based on je You all ini lt essinu essiju lt h e h ste The stem is based on je in Standard Albanian this is more evident since the verb form is jeni They jane lt esnti lt h e h senti The stem is based on jane an analogous phenomenon is in Romanian I am they are gt eu sunt ei sunt The last verb vete m in Standard Albanian has two historical versions an original version from PIE and a later version which culminates into the contemporary version The original versions in Early PA and PA are the direct reflex of athematic PIE weh dʰ perhaps weh dʰmi then the pre modern version in Late PA is a reworked version that fuses the original version in PA and the suffix te page needed originally the preposition to tek u lt PIE neuter demonstrative to this that lt PIE so vemte Tosk Albanian Pronoun VerbI vetem Tosk vete Gheg lt Late PA vemte lt PA vem lt Early PA wadmi lt PIE weh dʰmi You vete lt vete lt ve lt wadesi lt weh dʰsi He she it vete lt vette lt vet lt wadeti lt weh dʰti We vemi lt lt Early PA wadmei lt weh dʰmos You all vene lt lt weh dʰte They vendosin lt lt weh dʰenti The aorist tense and imperfect tense in Proto Albanian examples The asigmatic aorist conjugation is based on the athematic paradygm and has a mobile accent perhaps due to the augmentation which consists in the prefix e The same structure can be found in Greek In contemporary Albanian the augmentation prefix is lost In the third person singular the ending i should come from PA and PIE personal demonstrative pronoun is The sigmatic aorist conjugation is based on the athematic paradygm as well and zero grade in morphology is explained by the influence of the participles in PA The endings of the imperfect originally come from the endings of the asigmatic aorist at a later stage the original vowel e changed into i kap Standard Albanian Pronoun Verb asigmatic aorist I kapa lt ekapa lt pre Alb ekap o mYou kape lt ekape s lt ekapesHe she it kapi lt ekapetWe kapem lt ekapame lt ekapomeYou kapet lt ekapeteThey kapen lt ekapanti lt ekapontijap Standard Albanian Pronoun Verb sigmatic aorist I dhashe lt Late PA e dasa lt PA edasa lt Late PIE h e dh e smiYou dhe lt edō s lt edōss lt h e dh e ssHe she it dha lt edast lt h e dh e stWe dhame lt eda s me lt h e dh e s meYou dhate lt edate lt h e dh e teThey dhane lt eda s nti lt h e dh e s ntiPersonal pronouns in Proto Albanian Pronoun PIE Proto Albanian nom I eǵh uǵ gt udzYou tuh tuHe h ey is aei a ei She h ey eh aja a ja We wey gt nos nōsYou all yu s jusThey m h ey so gt m acc plur tons ata a ta They f h ey tod gt f nom plur teh es ata s a ta s Noun declensions in Proto Albanian Nouns in Proto Albanian are divided in to a stem nouns lt PIE os whence they are also called o stem nouns and a stem nouns lt PIE eh There was a third group of nouns in Early PA the i stem nouns e g nate night lt PA nakta lt PIE nokʷts which then merged into o stem nouns page needed There are 5 cases 2 strong cases and 2 weak cases nominative genitive dative accusative and ablative with a strong degree of syncretism among cases PIE locative vocative and instrumental were lost page needed Contemporary Albanian has a vocative case o for both masculine and feminine names this vocative was borrowed from South Slavic languages Serbo Croatian Macedonian Bulgarian since in Proto Slavic the feminine vocative became o which is an innovation from PIE eh Noun declension in the masculine indefinite a stem nouns had a final a in the strong cases nominative and accusative reflecting PIE o since this final a was unstressed in most cases it was lost in contemporary Albanian page needed Hence today most of masculine words in the strong cases end in consonants except for some false feminine words ending in e The two strong cases already merged into a single ending in the singular in Early PA while the three weak cases already converged into a single ending in the singular as well The ending was either i or u the second one was used after preceding vowels semi vowels and velar consonants k and g These two endings reflect PIE locative ey but it is unknown if the weak cases already merged in Pre Albanian Today weak cases are distinguished each other by the use of clitics In the plural a stem nouns strong cases ended in ō ai ō is the reflex of PIE ōs while ai is the reflex of PIE oy Then in some words one of the two ending became either fixed or preferred In the words without preferred ending stressed ō ai developed into contemporary e and a this last ending is the result of an overlap from the feminine declension already in PA in which the expected ō ai was substituted by a in words with preferred ending ō unstressed it developed into contemporary e in words with preferred ending ai unstressed it developed into contemporary zero ending which means that most of the plural end in consonant page needed In the genitive and dative plural ō comes from PIE genitive plural ōm stressed and culminates into contemporary e The other modern ending eve comes from a modification of PIE genitive plural wōm gt PA wō the alternative modern ending ave comes from a modification of PIE genitive plural eh wōm through the feminine thematic vowel of the feminine eh thus reflecting the overlap with the feminine in the strong cases The ablative plural esh comes from PA aisu from PIE oysu Ablative in t is common in North Gheg and it was transferred from the definite declension Examples of indefinite noun declension in PA a stem dama young bull m with overlap with feminine Case Singular PluralNom dem lt Early PA dama lt PIE dm h os dema lt Early PA dama lt PIE dm h ōsAcc dem lt dama lt dm h om dema lt dama lt dm h oms Gen demi lt damei lt dm h ey demave deme lt damawō damō lt Late PIE dm eh wōm PIE dm h ōm Dat demi lt damei lt dm h ey demave deme lt damawō damō lt dm eh wōm dm h ōm Abl demi lt damei lt dm h ey demash lt damaisu lt dm h oysu dela boy m Case Singular PluralNom djale lt Early PA dela lt PIE dʰh ilos djem lt Early PA delō ai lt PIE dʰh ilōsAcc djale lt dela lt dʰh ilom djem lt delō ai lt dʰh iloms Gen djali lt delei lt dʰeh ley djemve lt delō lt Late PIE dʰh ilwōmDat djali lt delei lt dʰeh ley djemve lt delō lt dʰh ilwōmAbl djali delei lt dʰeh ley djemsh lt delaisu lt dʰh iloysu zaka blood m with velar k Late PA ǵake Case Singular PluralNom gjak lt Early PA zaka lt PIE sokʷos gjaqe gjaku lt Early PA zakō ai lt PIE sokʷōsAcc gjak lt zaka lt sokʷom gjaqe gjakun lt zakō ai lt sokʷoms Gen gjaku lt zakei lt sokʷey gjakut North Gheg lt from definite declensionDat gjaku lt zakei lt sokʷey gjakut lt from definite declensionAbl gjaku lt zakei lt sokʷey gjakut lt from definite declensionNoun declension in the feminine indefinite a stem nouns had a final a in the nominative this vowel was hit by vowel reduction and became e which is the mark of the indefinite feminine words page needed The two strong cases nominative and accusative already merged in Early PA The plural of all weak cases comes from PA ai which comes from PIE dative locative eh i The nominative plural a is identical to the nominative singular and comes from PIE eh s If the long vowel was stressed it becomes contemporary Albanian a otherwise it becomes contemporary e The weak cases in PA were copied by analogy from the a stem nouns page needed and show the thematic vowel of the feminine eh Examples of indefinite noun declension in Early PA a stem karpa rock f Case Singular PluralNom karpe lt Early PA karpa lt PIE kerpeh karpa lt Early PA karpa lt PIE kerpeh esAcc karpe lt karpa lt kerpeh m karpa lt karpa lt kerpeh m sGen karpeje karpe lt karpai lt kerpeh i karpave lt karpawō lt Late PIE kerpeh wōmDat karpeje karpe lt karpai lt kerpeh i karpave lt karpawō lt kerpeh wōmAbl karpeje karpe lt karpai lt kerpeh i karpash lt karpasu lt kerpeh su s para seed f Case Singular PluralNom fare lt Early PA s para lt PIE sporeh fara fare lt s para lt sporeh es Acc fare lt s para lt sporeh m fara lt s para lt sporeh m s Gen fareje fare lt s parai lt sporeh i farave lt s parawō lt Late PIE sporeh wōmDat fareje fare lt s parai lt sporeh i farave lt s parawō lt sporeh wōmAbl fareje fare lt s parai lt sporeh i farash lt s paraisu lt sporeh suSome examples of adjectives in PA In PA adjectival declension all cases other than the nominative singular and plural were lost Adjectives in PA had either masculine or feminine gender depending on the gender of the word they refer to The derivation of adjectives from PIE to Proto Albanian follows all the rules for indefinite nouns page needed Masculine adjectives in PA usually ended in a in the singular lt PIE os while their feminine counterparts usually ended in a lt PIE eh rarely masculine adjectives ended in i In contemporary Albanian masculine adjectives can either end in consonant or in e lt stressed PA a Adjectives in contemporary Albanian always go in couple with the adjectival article a particle always found before the adjective It s declination in the masculine singular feminine singular and plural is i e te The adjectival article in the feminine comes from PA ō d lt PIE ed ōd ablative sg stem of PIE e ō this particle was most likely a demonstrative Adjective singular Meaningi bardhe lt PA bardza lt PIE bʰorh ǵos e bardhe lt PA bardza lt bʰorh ǵeh Whitezi lt zei lt PA dzedi lt Early PA gʷedija lt PIE gʷoh dʰ y os Blacki blere lt blōra lt bʰloh ros Green melana lt melh nos Evil stana lt sth nos Standingi ur lt wara lt weh ros True wija lt weh yos Twistedi cale lt stsala lt skolos Lamei pare lt para lt peros Firsti madh lt madza lt meǵh os Bigi forte lt Latin fortis Strongi verdhe lt Vulgar Latin viridem nom viridis YellowNumerals in Proto AlbanianNumber PIE Proto AlbanianOne 1 h oynos ainjaTwo 2 dwoh duwō m duwai f Three 3 treyes trejeFour 4 kʷetwores gt obl kʷetur katurFive 5 penkʷe penceSix 6 sweḱs sekstiSeven 7 septḿ septatiEight 8 h oḱtṓw aktṓNine 9 h newn neunti Ten 10 deḱm t detsaClassification amp isoglosses with other Indo European branchesThe closest language to Albanian is Messapic with which it forms a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 Hyllested amp 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 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 identify the highest shared number of innovations between Proto Albanian and Proto Greek Innovative creations of agricultural terms shared only between Albanian and Greek such as h2 e lbh it barley and spor eh2 seed were formed from non agricultural Proto Indo European roots through semantic changes to adapt them for agriculture Since they are limited only to Albanian and Greek they can be traced back with certainty only to their last common Indo European ancestor and not projected back into Proto Indo European A remarkable Greek Albanian isogloss is a very ancient form for hand mer cf the Albanian verb marr hold and the Greek mare hand and also Greek marptō grab A common Balkan Indo European root aig i goat can be reflected in Albanian edh goat kid lt PAlb aidza and dhi nanny goat lt PAlb aidzijɑ with Greek aἴ3 goat gen aἰgos and Armenian ayc nanny goat It has been noted that the Balkan IE root and all the alleged Balto Slavic and Indo Iranian roots with a meaning goat are likely to be not Proto Indo European as they may all originate as independent and relatively early post PIE borrowings from the substrate languages spoken by the sedentary farmers who were encountered by immigrating Indo European pastoralists The view of a substrate borrowing can be corroborated by areal words for goat in other IE languages such as Gothic gaits goat and Latin haedus kid reflecting gʰaid o considered as a substrate word usually linked with Semitic languages cf Akkadian gadu Aramaic gadia kid However it was most likely not directly borrowed from Semitic but from a European substrate language that in turn had loaned the word from a common third source Hence it can be viewed as an old cultural word which was slowly transmitted to different European languages and then adopted by the newcoming Indo European speakers Within this scenario it should be remarked the exclusive sharing of a common proto form between Albanian Greek and Armenian which could have been borrowed at a pre stage that was common to these languages Shortly after they had diverged from one another Albanian Greek and Armenian undoubtedly also underwent a longer period of contact as can be seen for example in the irregular correspondence Greek skor o don Armenian sxtor xstor and Albanian hudher hurdhe garlic Furthermore intense Greek Albanian contacts certainly have occurred thereafter An example of secondary derivations from Palaeo Balkan linguistic contacts is the Thracian word spinos spinos a kind of stone which blazes when water touches it i e lime attested in Aristotle and Theophrastus with cognate Greek titanos Attic and kittanos Doric gypsum chalk lime stemming PIE k witn Hos white whitish although from the same PIE root Albanian shpa ni lime tartar and Greek spinos lime derive from a secondary origin as they were probably borrowed from Thracian due to phonetic reasons Indeed the original IE cluster k w yields Albanian s before any vowel while in Thracian it could yield sp Specifically Indo Iranian Greek Albanian and Greek Armenian Albanian isoglosses are both relatively rare examples including ndaj to divide Indo Greek Albanian and enderr dream Greek Armenian Albanian Armenian Albanian isoglosses are considered insignificant by Orel There are a considerable number of Indo Iranian Albanian isoglosses which are notably often connected with horses horse tending and milk products In older literature Orel 2000 argues that Albanian has a large number of isoglosses that are common to Albanian Germanic Baltic and Slavic as part of a North Eastern lexical grouping with a large number of these referring to wood or objects made out of wood Orel 1998 noted 24 isoglosses between Balto Slavic and Albanian 48 common words between Baltic and Albanian and 24 between Albanian and Slavic Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 review Orel s common items and argue that a substantial number don t have convincing etymologies or do not constitute isoglosses between Balto Slavic and Albanian An example is Albanian murg dark and Lithuanian margas colourful which Orel considers to be isoglosses but both are equally related to Proto Germanic murkaz ancient Greek ἀmorbos amorbos and Proto Slavic merg Orel identifies only one Albanian Italic Celtic isogloss blerte green cognate to Latin flōrus bright and Irish blar gray Specifically Celtic Albanian vocabulary was previously thought to be limited although including at least one core vocabulary item hene moon cognate to Welsh cann white and Breton cann full moon but recent work by Trumper in 2018 has proposed a larger though still not overwhelming set with the notable addition of drite light Although knowledge of Tocharian is fragmentary the one known Albanian Tocharian isogloss is very important as noted by Orel kush who cognate to Tocharian A kus with the same meaning ReferencesNotes Also the analysis of the influence of substrates on the Old Serbo Croatian language and the toponymic and Romanian evidence indicate that the South Slavs who became Serbo Croatian speakers settled in a zone of former Albanoid speech which reasonably explains why the resultant population was well predisposed to preserve the richest system of lateral consonant distinctions and alternations among the later Slavic speaking peoples The exact extension of the region is under investigation Scholars argue that the main region of the Balkan interior where a post Roman Latin speaking population could have survived included the Upper Morava valley in southern Serbia and areas of present day Kosovo northern Albania northern Macedonia eastern Montenegro and western Bulgaria An evidence is considered the fact that after the arrival of Slavic speech this region constituted a separation zone between the South Slavic varieties allowing the differentiation between Eastern South Slavic and Western South Slavic Furthermore the Torlakian dialects the transitional South Slavic dialects are influenced by the features which emerged in the Albanian and Eastern Romance spoken in this area Newer toponymical loanwords although having the same Slavic form preserved the Slavic s and other features as Albanian no longer developed phonological changes during that later period of contacts hence they resulted different from the earlier loans e g Bistrice Sarande instead of Bushtrice or Selcan Kelcyre instead of Shelcan Absent for early part of period Absent for early part of period Citations Matzinger 2016 p 6 Folgende Lautwandel charakterisieren u a das Uralbanische Protoalbanische und grenzen es dadurch als eine eigenstandige idg Sprache von anderen idg Sprachen ab Diese Phase kann prazisiert als Fruhuralbanisch bezeichnet werden Da das Hethitische im antiken Kleinasien und das mykenische Griechische schon im 2 Jahrtausend v Chr als voll ausgebildete d h individuelle Sprachen dokumentiert sind kann auch die Vorstufe des Albanischen das Fruhuralbanische mindestens ab dem ersten Jahrtausend v Chr als eine ebenso schon voll ausgebildete d h individuelle Sprache angesetzt werden Demiraj 2020 p 34 All such changes took place prior to the contacts between Albanian and Balkan Slavonic i e before the 7th century SE p 37 Thus mokyoryo millstone from ancient Greek mᾱxanᾱ instrument shows the effects of rhotacism and mjek doctor from Latin medicus shows the effects of the loss of medial voiced stops a change which inherited words also underwent e g eryo smell lt od ro cf Latin odor however Slavic loanwords coming after the arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans in the 6th century show the effects of neither change and neither do Turkish loans borrowed during the period of Ottoman rule De Vaan 2018 p 1732 Internal comparison between the Tosk and Geg dialects allows us to reconstruct a Proto Albanian stage PAlb in German Uralbanisch see Hock 2005 Klingenschmitt 1994 221 Matzinger 2006 23 B Demiraj 1997 41 67 Hamp 1992 885 902 Additional external information on the development of the phonology is provided by different layers of loanwords of which those from Slavic from ca 600 CE onward and from Latin ca 167 BCE 400 CE are the most important Since the main phonological distinction between Tosk and Geg viz rhotacism of n is found in only a few Slavic loanwords in Tosk Ylli 1997 317 Svane 1992 292 f I assume that Proto Albanian predated the influx of most of the Slavic loanwords Matzinger 2006 p 41 Diese Zeitspanne von der Antike bis ca 600 n Chr wird in der Geschichtsschreibung die uralbanische Zeit genannt This period from ancient times to ca 600 CE is called the Proto Albanian period in historiography Friedman 2022 pp 189 231 Lazaridis amp Alpaslan Roodenberg 2022 pp 1 10 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 p 235 Friedman 2020 p 388 Majer 2019 p 258 Trumper 2018 p 385 Yntema 2017 p 337 Ismajli 2015 p 45 Demiraj 2004 pp 58 59 De Vaan 2018 p 1732 Matasovic 2019 p 6 Fortson 2010 p 392 The dialectal split into Gheg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become Christianized in the fourth century AD Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism such as Tosk murgu monk Geg mungu from Lat monachus Mallory amp Adams 1997 p 9 The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far reaching phonological changes which have so altered the shape of inherited words while Slavic and Turkish words do not show those changes Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into Balkans in the fifth and sixth centuries AD Brown amp Ogilvie 2008 p 23 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 Vermeer 2008 p 606 As is well known the rise of Tosk as a recognizable dialec tal unit involves two innovations that have parallels in early Romanian Romanian centralized its a in nasal contexts and part of the dialects under went the development of intervocalic n to r Romanian also famously borrowed vater hearth with patently Tosk va and proceeded to spread it to wherever Vlachs expanded subsequently The shared Tosk Romanian innovations obviously constitute the final stage of the crucial and well publicized period of Albanian Romanian convergence Since these inno vations are found either not at all or only marginally in the Slavic loans into Romanian and Albanian it follows that the rise of Tosk preceded both the expansion of Romanian and the influx of Slavic Ioans Friedman 2023 p 345 Demiraj 2013 pp 32 33 Thorso 2019 p 258 Friedman 2022 pp 189 231 On the other hand there is some evidence to argue that Albanian is descended from the Illyrian complex Coretta et al 2022 p 1122 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 Matasovic 2019 p 5 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 rhinon fog may have the reflex in Alb Gheg re cloud Tosk re lt PAlb ren Parpola 2012 p 131 The poorly attested Illyrian was in antiquity an important Indo European language in the Balkans and it is widely believed to survive in the Albanian language cf Mallory 1989 73 76 Fortson 2004 405 406 and 390 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 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 Holst 2009 pp 65 66 Illyrisch mochte ich nicht klassifizieren da hieruber nicht einmal klar ist ob es sich tatsachlich um eine Sprache handelt und nicht Ma terial aus mehreren Sprachen die auf albanischem Boden Spuren hinterlassen haben Falls man jedoch Illyrisch als die Vorlaufersprache des Albanischen definiert wofur einiges spricht ist Illyrisch automatisch im Zweig des Albani schen enthalten I don t want to classify Illyrian because it is not even clear whether it is actually one language and not material from several languages that have left traces on Albanian soil However if Illyrian is defined as the precursor language to Albanian which there is some evidence for Illyrian is automatically included in the branch of Albanian Mallory amp Adams 1997 p 11 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 Friedman 2020 p 388 Matzinger 2018 p 1790 Ismajli 2015 p 45 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 p 235 Trumper 2018 p 385 Yntema 2017 p 337 Crăciun 2023 pp 77 81 Huld 1986 pp 245 250 Huld 1984 p 158 Huld 1986 pp 245 250 Huld 1984 p 158 Lafe 2022 pp 362 366 Huld 1986 pp 245 250 Huld 1984 p 158 Crăciun 2023 pp 77 81 Witczak 2016 pp 40 41 Huld 1986 pp 245 250 Huld 1984 p 158 Witczak 2016 pp 40 41 Vermeer 2008 pp 604 605 Joseph 2016 pp 132 133 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Rusakov 2017 p 557 Matzinger 2017 p 49 Prendergast 2017 p 149 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Fischer amp Schmitt 2022 Lafe 2022 B Demiraj 2016 Curtis 2012 Matzinger 2009 Sh Demiraj 2006b Friedman 2003 pp 44 45 Morozova Ovsjannikova amp Rusakov 2020 pp 280 281 De Vaan 2018 p 1732 Matzinger 2018 pp 1791 1792 Baldi amp Savoia 2017 p 46 Matzinger 2017 pp 30 31 Fortson 2010 p 448 Millar 2010 pp 79 81 Mallory amp Adams 1997 pp 9 11 Mallory amp Adams 1997 pp 9 11 Fortson 2010 p 448 Millar 2010 pp 79 81 Matzinger 2018 pp 1791 1792 De Vaan 2018 p 1732 Fischer amp Schmitt 2022 p 16 Rusakov 2017 p 557 Prendergast 2017 p 149 Matzinger 2017 p 49 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Bednarczuk 2023 p 43 Hamp 2002 p 249 Friedman 2019 p 19 Bednarczuk 2023 p 43 Demiraj 2020 pp 34 37 De Vaan 2018 p 1732 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Fortson 2010 p 448 Vermeer 2008 p 606 Matzinger 2006 p 41 Mallory amp Adams 1997 pp 9 11 Demiraj 2016 pp 91 92 Rusakov 2013 pp 138 143 Matzinger 2009 pp 29 30 Schmitt 2020 Curtis 2012 pp 25 26 Vermeer 1996 p 127 Millar 2010 p 81 Rusakov 2013 pp 132 138 143 Bednarczuk 2023 p 43 Rusakov 2017 p 557 Bednarczuk 2023 p 43 Prendergast 2017 p 149 Rusakov 2013 pp 132 138 143 Tomic 2006 p 41 Malcolm 1998 pp 39 40 Vermeer 1996 pp 128 129 Prendergast 2017 p 149 Rusakov 2013 pp 132 138 143 Tomic 2006 p 41 Malcolm 1998 pp 39 40 Vermeer 1996 pp 128 129 Rusakov 2013 pp 132 138 143 Vermeer 1996 pp 128 129 Prendergast 2017 p 152 Rusakov 2013 pp 132 138 143 Bednarczuk 2023 p 43 Demiraj 2002 pp 36 37 Fischer amp Schmitt 2022 p 25 Demiraj 2011 p 63 Demiraj 2011 pp 63 64 70 Demiraj 2011 p 64 Demiraj 2011 p 71 Leeming 2005 p 44 Curtis 2012 pp 25 26 Matzinger 2018 p 1791 Morozova Ovsjannikova amp Rusakov 2020 pp 280 281 Morozova Ovsjannikova amp Rusakov 2020 pp 280 281 Orel 2000 p 38 Ylli 1997 p 317 Orel 2000 p 38 Ylli 2000 p 197 Ylli 2000 p 103 Ylli 2000 p 106 Ylli 2000 p 136 Ylli 2000 p 175 Ylli 2000 p 174 Ylli 2000 p 183 Ylli 2000 p 269 Ylli 2000 p 165 Ylli 2000 p 267 Viereck 1993 p 122 Hyllested 2016 p 67 Orel 2000 p 1 Orel 2000 p XII Matasovic 2019 p 39 Demiraj 2006 p 483 Demiraj 1997 pp 41 67 Matzinger 2006 p 23 Klingenschmitt 1994 p 221 Orel 2000 pp 20 21 Matasovic 2019 p 7 Orel 2000 p 270 Orel 2000 pp 8 12 Orel 2000 pp 15 16 Pacarizi 2008 pp 101 102 Totoni 1964 p 136 Orel 2000 p 15 Orel 2000 pp 42 Orel 2000 pp 143 144 Orel 2000 p 3 Orel 2000 pp 2 3 Orel 2000 pp 3 4 de Vaan Michiel 2018 The phonology of Albanian In Klein Jared Joseph Brian Fritz Matthias eds Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo European Linguistics Vol 3 Walter de Gruyter p 1735 Orel 2000 p 27 Orel 2000 p 42 Orel 2000 pp 271 272 Rusakov 2017 pp 566 571 Orel 2000 pp 273 274 Orel 2000 p 65 Fortson 2010 p 58 59 Fortson 2010 p 449 Fortson 2010 p 450 Rusakov 2017 p 559 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 pp 238 239 Rusakov 2017 p 571 Matzinger 2005 p 47 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 pp 229 Orel 2000 Orel 2000 p 201 Orel 2000 p 203 Orel 2000 p 204 de Vaan Michiel 2020 Old Albanian Morphology Part 1 Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar Retrieved 2024 08 09 Orel 2000 p 233 Orel 2000 p 237 Orel 2000 p 235 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 p 235 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 p 226 Kroonen et al 2022 pp 11 26 28 Bubenik 1997 p 104 Thorso 2019 p 255 Joseph 2013 p 7 Witczak 2012 pp 159 161 Orel 2000 pp 259 260 Orel 2000 pp 250 251 Hyllested amp Joseph 2022 p 223 Orel 2000 p 257 Orel 2000 pp 256 257 Trumper 2018 p 379 Orel 2000 p 260 Bibliography Baldi Benedetta Savoia Leonardo M 2017 Cultura e identita nella lingua albanese Culture and Identity in the Albanian Language LEA Lingue e Letterature d Oriente e d Occidente 6 6 45 77 doi 10 13128 LEA 1824 484x 22325 ISSN 1824 484X Bednarczuk Leszek 2023 On certain phonetic balkanisms Rocznik Slawistyczny LXXII 41 46 doi 10 24425 rslaw 2023 147254 ISSN 0080 3588 Beekes Robert Stephen Paul 2011 de 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Albanian Language Contact Convergence and Coexistence Thesis The Ohio State University Archived from the original on 2020 01 24 Retrieved 2024 03 10 De Vaan Michiel 2018 The phonology of Albanian In Klein Jared Joseph Brian Fritz Matthias eds Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo European Linguistics Walter de Gruyter GmbH amp Co KG pp 1732 1749 ISBN 978 3 11 054243 1 Demiraj Shaban 2004 Gjendja gjuhesore e Gadishullit Ballkanik ne lashtesi The linguistic situation of the Balkan Peninsula in antiquity Gjuhesi Ballkanike Balkan Linguistics in Albanian Academy of Sciences of Albania ISBN 9789994363001 Demiraj Shaban 2006 Albanian In Anna Giacalone Ramat Paolo Ramat eds The Indo European languages Routledge language family descriptions Routledge ISBN 9780415412636 Demiraj Shaban 2006b The origin of the Albanians linguistically investigated Academy of Sciences of Albania ISBN 9789994381715 Demiraj Bardhyl 1997 Albanische Etymologien Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz Leiden 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from Historical comparative to Structural Linguistics in Honour of E F K Koerner Vol 2 John Benjamins Publishing pp 217 238 ISBN 9781556197604 Joseph Brian D 2011 Featured Review Acta Slavica Iaponica pdf 29 123 131 hdl 2115 47633 Joseph Brian D 2013 Spiro Aristotel ed On Old and New Connections between Greek and Albanian Some Grammatical Evidence Albanohellenica 5 Albanian Greek Philological Association 9 22 Joseph Brian D 2016 Balkan Indo European and Universal Perspectives on be in Albanian In Andrew Miles Byrd Jessica DeLisi Mark Wenthe eds Tavet Tat Satyam Studies in Honor of Jared S Klein on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday Beech Stave Press pp 130 137 ISBN 9780989514231 Klingenschmitt Gert 1994 Das Albanische als Glied der indogermanischen Sprachfamilie In Jens E Rasmussen Benedicte Nielsen eds In honorem Holger Pedersen Kolloquium der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 26 bis 28 Marz 1993 in Kopenhagen L Reichert ISBN 9783882268232 Kroonen Guus 2012 Non Indo European root nouns in Germanic evidence in support of the Agricultural Substrate Hypothesis In Riho Grunthal Petri Kallio ed A Linguistic Map of Prehistoric Northern Europe Suomalais Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia Memoires de la Societe Finno Ougrienne Vol 266 Societe Finno Ougrienne pp 239 260 ISBN 9789525667424 ISSN 0355 0230 Kroonen Guus Jakob Anthony Palmer Axel I van Sluis Paulus Wigman Andrew 12 October 2022 Indo European cereal terminology suggests a Northwest Pontic homeland for the core Indo European languages PLOS ONE 17 10 e0275744 Bibcode 2022PLoSO 1775744K doi 10 1371 journal pone 0275744 ISSN 1932 6203 PMC 9555676 PMID 36223379 Lafe Genc 2022 I rapporti tra toponimi e voci ereditate dell albanese sulla base dell analisi della loro evoluzione fonetica In Shaban Sinani Francesco Altimari Matteo Mandala eds Albanologu i arvaniteve Atje kam u shpirtin tim Academy of Sciences of Albania pp 355 370 ISBN 978 9928 339 74 4 Lazaridis Iosif Alpaslan Roodenberg Songul et al 26 August 2022 The genetic history of the Southern Arc A bridge between West Asia and Europe Science 377 6609 eabm4247 doi 10 1126 science abm4247 PMC 10064553 PMID 36007055 S2CID 251843620 Leeming David A 2005 The Oxford Companion to World Mythology Oxford University Press ISBN 0195156692 Majer Marek 2019 Parahistoria indoevropiane e fjales shqipe per motren Indo European Prehistory of the Albanian Word for Sister Seminari Nderkombetar per Gjuhen Letersine dhe Kulturen Shqiptare International Seminar for Albanian Language Literature and Culture in Albanian 1 38 University of Prishtina 252 266 ISSN 2521 3687 Malcolm Noel 1998 Kosovo A Short History ISBN 978 0 3304 1224 7 Mallory James P Adams Douglas Q 1997 Encyclopedia of Indo European Culture London Routledge ISBN 978 1 884964 98 5 Manzini M Rita 2018 Introduction Structuring thought externalizing structure Variation and universals In Grimaldi Mirko Lai Rosangela Franco Ludovico Baldi Benedetta eds Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond In Honour of Leonardo M Savoia John Benjamins Publishing Company ISBN 9789027263179 Matasovic Ranko 2013 Substratum words in Balto Slavic Filologija 60 75 102 eISSN 1848 8919 ISSN 0449 363X Matasovic Ranko 2019 A Grammatical Sketch of Albanian for Students of Indo European PDF Report Zagreb Matzinger Joachim 2005 Messapisch und Albanisch International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction in German 2 29 54 Matzinger Joachim 2009 Shqiptaret si pasardhes te ilireve nga kendveshtrimi i gjuhesise historike In Schmitt Oliver Jens Frantz Eva Anne eds Historia e Shqiptareve Gjendja dhe perspektivat e studimeve in Albanian Translated by Pandeli Pani and Artan Puto Botime Perpjekja ISBN 978 99943 0 254 3 Matzinger Joachim 2006 Der altalbanische Text Mbsuame e kreshtere Dottrina cristiana des Leke Matrenga von 1592 eine Einfuhrung in die albanische Sprachwissenschaft Jenaer indogermanistische Textbearbeitung in German Vol 3 Dettelbach J H Roll ISBN 9783897541177 Matzinger Joachim 2016 Die albanische Autochthoniehypothese aus der Sicht der Sprachwissenschaft PDF Report in German via www albanologie uni muenchen de Matzinger Joachim 2017 L elemento latino della lingua albanese un impatto della Via Egnatia The Latin Element of the Albanian Language an Impact of the Via Egnatia Palaver in Italian 6 2 29 60 doi 10 1285 i22804250v6i2p29 eISSN 2280 4250 Matzinger Joachim 2018 The lexicon of Albanian In Klein Jared Joseph Brian Fritz Matthias eds Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo European Linguistics Walter de Gruyter GmbH amp Co KG pp 1788 1800 doi 10 1515 9783110542431 019 ISBN 978 3 11 054243 1 Millar Robert McColl 2010 Authority and Identity A Sociolinguistic History of Europe Before the Modern Age Palgrave ISBN 9780230282032 Morozova M S Ovsjannikova M A Rusakov A Y 2020 Albanian dialects in the light of language contact A quantitative study of loanwords Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 16 2 275 305 doi 10 30842 alp2306573716210 Olsen 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Olander eds Dispersals and Diversification Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Early Stages of Indo European Brill s Studies in Indo European Languages amp Linguistics Vol 19 Brill pp 251 262 ISBN 9789004416192 Tomic Olga M 2006 Balkan Sprachbund Morpho Syntactic Features Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory Vol 67 Springer ISBN 9781402044885 Totoni Menela 1964 E folmja e bregdetit te poshtem Studime Filologjike I in Albanian Tirana Universiteti i Tiranes Trumper John 2018 Some Celto Albanian isoglosses and their implications In Grimaldi Mirko Lai Rosangela Franco Ludovico Baldi Benedetta eds Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond In Honour of Leonardo M Savoia John Benjamins Publishing Company ISBN 9789027263179 Vermeer Willem 1996 Linguistics and Politics The origin of the Albanian language In Gerlachlus Duijzings Dusan Janjic Shkelzen Maliqi eds Kosovo Kosova Confrontation Or Coexistence Nijmegen Peace Research Centre University of Nijmegen pp 123 132 ISBN 9789071701641 Vermeer Willem 2008 The prehistory of the Albanian vowel system A preliminary exploration Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics 32 591 608 ISSN 0169 0124 JSTOR 40997529 Viereck Wolfgang 1993 International congress of dialectologists Issue 76 Franz Steiner ISBN 9783515063326 Witczak Krzysztof Tomasz 2012 Studies in Thracian vocabulary I VII Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia VII 153 168 Witczak Krzysztof 2016 The earliest Albanian loanwords in Greek International Conference on Language Contact in the Balkans and Asia Minor 1 Institute of Modern Greek Studies Ylli Xhelal 1997 Das slawische Lehngut im Albanischen Lehnworter Peter Lang International Academic Publishers hdl 20 500 12657 26220 ISBN 9783954790746 Ylli Xhelal 2000 Das slawische Lehngut im Albanischen Ortsnamen Peter Lang International Academic Publishers hdl 20 500 12657 26167 ISBN 9783954790432 Yntema Douwe 2017 The Pre Roman Peoples of Apulia 1000 100 BC In Gary D Farney Guy Bradley ed The Peoples of Ancient Italy De Gruyter Reference Walter de Gruyter GmbH amp Co KG pp 337 ISBN 9781614513001
