Albanian, Tosk

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A language of Albania

ISO 639-3
als
Alternate Names
Arnaut, Shkip, Skchip, Tosk, Zhgabe
Autonym
Shqip
Population

1,570,000 in Albania (2012 UNSD). Ethnic population: 2,310,000 ethnic Albanians (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 1,870,730.

Location

Widespread south of the Shkumbin river.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (1998, Constitution, Article 14(1)).

Classification
Indo-European, Albanian, Tosk
Dialects

Northern Tosk, Lab Tosk (Labërisht), Cham Tosk (Çam). Not intelligible with Arbëreshë [aae] of Italy. The basis of official standard Albanian since 1952. There is a transitional dialect zone which is neither Gheg [aln] nor Tosk. It is spoken in a few towns and villages around the Shkumbin river such as Shpat and Sulovë. A member of macrolanguage Albanian [sqi].

Typology

SVO; prepositions; noun head initial; gender (masculine/feminine/neuter); definite article affix; case-marking (4 cases); verb affixes mark person, number; passives; tense; 29 consonant and 7 vowel phonemes; non-tonal; stress on penultimate syllable.

Language Development
Taught in primary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1993.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Albanian, Tosk
Writing

Elbasan script [Elba], no longer in use. Greek script [Grek], no longer in use. Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Muslim, Christian.

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