ALBANIAN, TOSK: a language of Albania

The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.

SIL code: ALN

ISO 639-1: sq

ISO 639-2(B): alb

ISO 639-2(T): sqi

Population	2,900,000 in Albania (1989). 3,202,000 in Albania including Gheg (1989), 98% of the population (1989). Population total all countries 3,000,000 for Tosk, 5,000,000 for all Albanian (L. Newmark and WA 1999).
Region	Mainly south Albania to the Shkumbi River. Also spoken in Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Sweden, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, USA.
Alternate names	TOSK, ARNAUT, SHKIP, SHQIP, SKCHIP, SHQIPERË, ZHGABE
Dialects	ARBANASI (ZADAR), SREM (SYRMIA), CAMERIJA, KORCA.
Classification	Indo-European, Albanian, Tosk.
Comments	Reported to be inherently unintelligible with Gheg Albanian and partially intelligible with Arvanitika Albanian of Greece. Not intelligible with Arbëreshë of Italy. Tosk has been the basis of the official language for Standard Albanian since 1952. It is used in schools. The Jevgjit claim to be Egyptians, but may be assimilated Roma. National language. Grammar. SVO. Deciduous forest. Coastal, mountain slope. Peasant agriculturalists; animal husbandry: sheep, petroleum workers. Sea level to 800 meters. Muslim, Christian (Orthodox). Bible 1993.

Also spoken in:

Turkey (Europe)

Language name	ALBANIAN, TOSK
Population	15,000 first language speakers (1980), out of 65,000 in Turkey (1993 Johnstone), 1,075 monolinguals (1965 census).
Comments	96% of speakers can use Turkish as second language. Sunni Muslim. Bible 1993. See main entry under Albania.