about introduction sounds words structures references
AI Grammars

about

Old Albanian

is first attested in the 15th century. It is not closely related to any IE language we know in detail. Two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk, can be distinguished (see introduction). Gheg has nasal vowels, while Tosk shows rhotacism comparable to that of Latin (see sounds). Old Albanian has a definite article which is postponed like in other Balkan languages. The language encodes the speaker’s surprise through an admirative mood (see words). Possessive constructions in Old Albanian are head-marked (see structures).

Lecturers

Michiel de Vaan

UNIL Université de Lausanne

Brian Joseph

The Ohio State University

introduction

Old Albanian, intro, unit 1

SQI-INT-001

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49071

language and speakers: modern spread of Albanian, Albanian in the Middle Ages and in Antiquity, the names Albania and Shqipëria

slides

Old Albanian, intro, unit 2

SQI-INT-002

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49070

authors and texts: preliterary fragments, Buzuku, Budi, Bardhi, Bogdani, Da Lecce, Matranga, Variboba

 slides

Old Albanian, intro, unit 3

SQI-INT-003

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49069

dialectology: Geg and Tosk, diaspora, rhotacism, nasal vowels, vowel systems in dialects, diphthongs, lexicon, verbal syntax, Proto-Albanian

 slides

Old Albanian, intro, unit 4

SQI-INT-004

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49068

The layered lexicon: The Indo-European layer, Ancient Greek, Latin, Romanian, Slavic, Turkish, Venetian and Italian

 slides

Old Albanian, intro, unit 5

SQI-INT-005

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49080

Albanian in its areal context: modalities for viewing Albanian historically (genetically/areally), the Balkan Sprachbund

 slides

sounds

Old Albanian, sounds, unit 1

SQI-PHO-001

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49079

segmental phonology and writing: phonology and spelling of the modern standard language, modern dialects, Old Geg and Old Tosk

 slides

words

Old Albanian, words, unit 1

SQI-MOR-001

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49078

stem formation of the verb: present stems, imperative stems, aorist stems, optative stems, participles, stem suppletion

 slides

Old Albanian, words, unit 2

SQI-MOR-002

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49077

the verb ‘to be’: forms of the paradigm, insights from a Balkanological, an Indo-European, or a cross-linguistic perspective

 slides

structures

Old Albanian, structures, unit 1

SQI-STR-001

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49076

semantics of the verb: verb categories, tense/aspect (form and function), voice (active, non-active), mood, participle

 slides

Old Albanian, structures, unit 2

SQI-STR-002

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49075

admirative: formation and meanings of the admirative in Modern Albanian, admirative in Old Albanian and in the diaspora, origin of the admirative

 slides

Old Albanian, structures, unit 3

SQI-STR-003

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49074

verb phrase: morphosyntax, future tense (dialectal differences, areal properties), infinitive (and finite complementation)

 slides

Old Albanian, structures, unit 4

SQI-STR-004

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49073

noun phrase: focusing on the areas of innovation (origin and areal perspective) , case, definiteness, particles of concord

 slides

Old Albanian, structures, unit 5

SQI-STR-005

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5446/49072

progressive po: understanding Albanian with attention to Indo-European, Balkan, and natural human languages in general.

 slides

references

Lecturers' references

selection out of the lecturers’ references, enriched by Paulien Veenstra and project members:


general

general introductions, encyclopedias, literature, writing, history, miscellaneous


Curtis, Matthew C. 2018. The dialectology of Albanian. In Klein, Jared & Joseph, Brian & Fritz, Matthias (eds.), Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics (HSK 41.3). Vol. 3. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1800–1811.
Demiraj, Shaban. 1998. Albanian. In Giacalone Ramat, Anna & Ramat, Paolo (eds.), The Indo-European Languages. London: Routledge. 480–501.
Elsie, Robert. 1995. History of Albanian Literature. 2 Vols. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Hamp, Eric P. 1994. Albanian. In Asher, R.E. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 65–67.
Rusakov, Alexander. 2016. Albanian. In Kapović, Mate (ed.), The Indo-European Languages. 2nd edn. London: Routledge. 552–608.


grammar

grammars, treatments of major grammatical domains


Buchholz, Oda & Fiedler, Wilfried. 1987. Albanische Grammatik. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie Leipzig.
Camaj, Martin. 1984. Albanian grammar, with exercises, chrestomathy, and glossaries. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.
Fiedler, Wilfried. 2004. Das albanische Verbalsystem in der Sprache des Gjon Buzuku (1555). Prishtina: ASHAK.
Mann, Stuart. 1977. An Albanian Historical Grammar. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
Newmark, Leonard & Hubbard, Philipp & Prifti, Peter. 1982. Standard Albanian: A Reference Grammar for Students. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Orel, Vladimir. 2000. A concise historical grammar of the Albanian language: reconstruction of Proto-Albanian. Leiden: Brill.


lexicon

dictionaries, headword search tools, further sources of information about the lexicon


Matzinger, Joachim & Schumacher, Stefan. 2013. Die Verben des Altalbanischen. Belegwörterbuch, Vorgeschichte und Etymologie. Unter Mitarbeit von Anna-Maria Adaktylos. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Matzinger, Joachim. 2018. The lexicon of Albanian. In Klein, Jared & Joseph, Brian & Fritz, Matthias (eds.), Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics (HSK 41.3). Vol. 3. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1788–1800.
Orel, Vladimir. 1998. Albanian Etymological Dictionary. Leiden: Brill.
Topalli, Kolec. 2017. Fjalor etimologjik i gjuhës shqipe [Vocabulary Etymology of the Albanian Language]. Durrës: Jozef.


text

text collections, corpora, treebanks


Elsie, Robert. 1995. History of Albanian Literature. 2 Vols. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Gippert, Jost & Martinez, Javier & Korn, Agnes. TITUS TEXTUS (Text Database). TITUS: Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien. (Accessed 2021-06-29.)
Matzinger, Joachim. 2006. Der altalbanische Text Mbsuame e Krështerë (Dottrina cristiana) des Lekë Matrënga von 1592: Eine Einführung in die albanische Sprachwissenschaft. Dettelbach: Röll.
Morozova, Maria & Rusakov, Alexander & Arkhangelsky, Timofey. Albanian National Corpus. (Accessed 2021-06-29.)
Ressuli, Namik. 1958. Il "Messale" di Giovanni Buzuku: Riproduzione e trascrizione. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
Shtjefën, Gjeçov & Fox, Leonard. (eds.). 1989. Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit: The code of Lekë Dukagjini. New York: Gjonlekaj Publishing Company.


teaching material

coursebooks, exercises, materials or introductions supporting teaching


Camaj, Martin. 1984. Albanian grammar, with exercises, chrestomathy, and glossaries. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.
Joseph, Brian & Constanzo, Angelo & Slocum, Jonathan. 2011. Early Indo-European Online: Albanian Online. University of Texas: Linguistics Research Centre. (Accessed 2021-06-29.)