Martin /Camaj Albanian Grammar with Exercises, Chrestomathy and Glossaries Collaborated on and translated by Leonard Fox 1984 Otto Harrassowitz . WiesbadenCIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen thek Camaj, Martin: Albaman grammar: with exercises, chrestomathy and glossaries ; Martin Cama). Collab. on and transl. by Leonard Fox. — Wiesbaden. Harrassowitz, 1984. ISBN 3-447-02467-4 © Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1984 Alle Rechte vorbehalten Photographische und photomechansche Wiedergabe nur mit ausdriicklicher Genehmigung des Verlages a7 und Druck- Imprimerie Onentalste, Leuven derische Werterverarbentung Hubert & Co, Gottingen Printed im BelguumCONTENTS GEIREED 9 o oc 0 0 0 0 9 0 Go SUGGESTIONS FOR THE USE OF THIS GRAMMAR . INTRODUCTION . BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS . ACCENTS AND DIACRITICS, ABBREVIATIONS . 1. PHONOLOGY Pronunciation of the sounds 82-5: brief onalatcal description $86-10 . Le Prosopy (§ 11). READING EXERCISE. Il. MORPHOLOGY NOUNS (§§ 12-68). Gender 12-18; postpositive articles §§ 19-25: indefinite plurals §§ 26-39: definite plurals §§40-42; special noun types $8 43-45; irregular plurals 46-47; declensions (Class 1 and Class 2) §§ 48-68 ADJECTIVES (§§ 69-91). Adjective classes §§ 69-11; Class I (formation and declension) §§ 72-73; Class 2 (formation and declension) 874-85; compara- tive and superlative forms of the adjective § 86-91 ADVERBS AND PREPOSITIONS (§§ 92-103) . ‘Adverb types 92-98: comparative form of the adverb §§99-102: prepositions §§ 103 NOUN FORMATION (8§ 104-107). NumBers (§§ 108-116) PRONOUNS (§§ 117-160) . 900000 00520006 Personal pronouns §§122-127; reflexives §128; demonstratives §§ 129-133; possessives §§ 134-142; reflexive possessives §§143- yntactic use of possessives 8 145-146; interrogatives 8 147- . relative 150-153; indefinites 88 154-157; reciprocal pro- nouns 8158; indeclinable indefinites & 159-160. vil xv xvi xvi xvul 47 63 74 82vi Contents, verns (8§ 161-284) ; . The verbal categories and their functions %§ 161-170: conjugation of the auxiliary verbs jam ‘I am’ and kam ‘I have’ §171; modal verbs $§172-174; tense and aspect 8175-180; analytical tense forms $$ 181-187; moods and their functions 188-193; non-finite forms of the verb (Participle, Infinitive and Gerund) §§ 194-199: verbal classes §§ 200-204; synthetic conjugation forms (present and preterite systems) §§205-232; construction and conjugation of the Medio-Passive §§ 233-249; impersonals §§ 250-251; verb formation §§ 252-261; the full conjugation paradigm §§ 262-280: irregular verbs §§ 281-284 I. SYNTAX ENCE STRUCTURE (8§ 285-294) COORDINATE CLAUSES ($§ 295-303) fo Correlative clauses §299; disjunctive clauses §300: adversative clauses § 301; resultative clauses § 302; clauses of uncertainty § 303 SEN SUBORDINATE CLAUSES (88 304-317) . es Subject clauses §308: object clauses §309; attributive clauses §310; semporal clauses §311; causal clauses $312; the conditional sentence § 313; modal clauses § 314: subordinate concessive clauses §315: purposive clauses §316; comparative clauses §317 INDIRECT SPEECH (§§ 318-320) . KEY TO THE EXERCISES CHRESTOMATHY GLOSSARY Albanian-English English-Albanian SUBJECT INDEX . 126 233 242 245 256 257 272 303 303 325 335FOREWORD The present Albanian Grammar was onginally conceived as a second edition of my Lehrbuch der albanischen Sprache (Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. 1969), which 1s now out of print. During more than a decades's use of this latter work as a textbook for my classes in Albanian (in my capacity as Professor of Albanian Studies at the University of Munich). I came to recognize certain weaknesses and shortcomings in it, some of which were also drawn to my attention by the remarks of students and colleagues. The elimination of such inadequacies and the incorpora- tion of new material led to a change in the arrangement and consequently in the methodological process involved. As a result of this new conceptual approach, a completely new work resulted in which I have incorporated grammatical forms derived from the literary tradition, as well as from older Albanian texts and grammars, which were omitted from the Lehrbuch. In view of the fact, therefore, that the Albanian Grammar and the Lehrbuch der albanischen Sprache represent two different aims and modes. of presentation, the publishing firm of Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, is preparing a second edition of the Lehrbuch which will include corrections and a few minor additions. This restructuring was, to a certain extent, also influenced by the language reform in Albania, begun in 1952 and officially completed in 1972. The results of this reform are incorporated in the present work, without regard to the personal opinions of the author respecting certain aspects of the “unified language”. The aim of this Albanian Grammar is to present a complete picture of the language in its three most important variants: Geg, Tosk and Arbéresh. Viewed methodologically, the contrasts among the three are presented here not only in the lexicon, but in all elements of the grammar, in order that an insight into the basic structure of the language (here also termed Common Albanian) may be obtained. The formation of the standardized literary language has, of course. also been based upon this procedure. The following are presented in notes: a) particulars of Arbéresh: b) older linguistic phenomena documented in carly authors and in archaic or peripheral dialects. The notes attempt to complete the presentation of Albanian grammar by giving a diachronic dimension which will be of undoubted interest to linguistic historiansvill Foreword In this Albanian Grammar, the Tosk variants are given in parentheses (cf. the Lehrbuch), as the Geg variants are more numerous and have all been included herein. It should be noted. however, that the occurrence of a variant outside of parentheses or notes does not imply any priority on the level of the standardized forms of the language. In the interests of completeness, I did not want to omit either Tosk or Geg lexical variants which frequently occur in both the spoken and written language; they are presented with the sign ~ between them. Such doublets often arise in the plural, as e.g.: sg. kopsht-i ‘garden’ —-pl. kopshte~ kopshtiye (Tosk kopshtinj ~ qipshte) “gardens. From among these variants kopshte was finally chosen as the standard form —in the glossary of the present work it is given in stalic. Taking account of the process of standardization, the exercises are translated in the Key from English into the contemporary official. nor- malized form of the language whose foundation is Tosk. This Albanian Grammar is divided into three basic sections, aside from the Introduction: (1) Phonology, (11) Morphology and (III) Syntax. In the Phonemic Changes part of Section (1), dialectal transformations are given as well, in order to facilitate learning the spoken language and also for those who happen to speak one or another Albanian dialect with which they wish to compare the standard variants. The Morphology is divided systematically into 19 chapters. Form and function are conceived as a unity, based upon which rules are constructed and illustrated by examples. At the end of each chapter or ‘Lesson’, exercises and texts in the normalized language are presented (together with appropriate Geg and Tosk variants, if any), so that clear access to the results of the language reform as expressed in the contemporary literary language is made possible. An attempt has been made throughout to bind together all the parts and phenomena of the language by means of copious in order to explain typologically, as well, the correlations of the . In the morphological section of the book, great care has been taken with the word order in syntagms, as the order of words and their linkage by means of prepositive and postpositive elements or articles are fundamental characteristics of the language. In this manner, one part of the syntax is de facto built into the morphology in order to elucidate the analytical mechanism of Albanian directly in the structure of the syntagms. The Syntax is comprised in one chapter or ‘Lesson’ and provides the essential structure of clause construction. The Chrestomathy which follows includes samples of the three variants of Albanian, as well as of the contemporary literary language. Finally, there is a Glossary to the wholeForeword Ix book exclusive of the Chrestomathy, and an Index which refers to para- graph numbers, rather than page numbers. The material, form and divisions of this Albanian Grammar are naturally geared to the practical requirements of students interested in the language. At the same time, this book 1s also intended for young people of Albanian ancestry in the United States, Australia and elsewhere who have perhaps learned Geg or Tosk at home and who wish to master the contemporary literary language; this applies, as well, to the Italo-Albamians (Arbéresh) of Southern Italy who, for the first ume in any Albanian grammar, will be able to compare the particular characteristics of their written or spoken dialect with those of Common Albanian. The interests of specialists and university students have, of course, also been taken into account. The author has always been closely connected with the latter and without their collaborauon this grammar would never have been written. I wish to thank Mr. Leonard Fox for translating this work from German, for preparing the Key: by translating directly all the Albanian exercises, and for adapting various grammatical rules, explanations and vocabulary definitions to accomodate the special requirements of English- speaking students, I am gratefully obliged to the publishing firm of Otto Harrassowitz. with which I have worked for many years, and especially to its Director. Dr. Helmut Petzolt, for their continual harmonious cooperation. | would also like to thank the Otto Harrassowitz Verlag for its fine typographical work, as well as for the handsome appearance of this book. Munich, October 1983 Martin CamaSUGGESTIONS FOR THE USE OF THIS GRAMMAR This book contains the fundamentals of Albanian differentiated into two aspects: the grammar of the language and tts application. The grammar comprises twenty sections, each with a series of rules and paradigms, as well as examples to illustrate the rules. From the very outset, the variants should also be noted. together with the specific correlation between these variants, in order that the total structure of Albanian be viewed as a whole. The application is represented by the exercises at the end of each section, which are given in the most recent normalized variant, and a text in literary Geg. These are a preparation for the subsequent mastery of the complicated texts of the chrestomathy and their various vocabularies. Those who are only interested in the contemporary official variant of Albanian should concentrate on the exercises and their translation into English. Once this is accomplished, they should be retranslated into Albanian. The Key to the exercises should be used 1n an intelligent manner, 1.¢. only as a check on comprehension. It should be borne in mind that the current variant of the language being used in Albania 1s young and stll in the process of formation, so that forms and variants presented in this grammar may well be reactivated. In order to maintain the proper dynamic connection between grammar and application, particularly at the beginning, it will be necessary for the student to refer back frequently to material already studied. In order to find words and linguistic phenomena more rapidly, the vocabulary and the index, which refers to the paragraphs into which the book is divided, will be quite helpful. In studying this grammar, it is of major importance to take note of the formal combinations of small and large parts of speech and their order in the syntagms. Through these. paradigmatic markings and semantic dif- ferentiations take place. A note on the exercises. In working through the exercises, the student will notice that some words used in these have been omitted from the vocabu- lary which immediately precedes them. This has been done deliberately with a view to encouraging active memorization of the words employed, all of which are to be found in the Glossary at the end of the book. In, many cases, words used to illustrate grammatical rules in the body of the lesson are utilized in the exercises, but not repeated again in the vocabulary. The author's intention at all times has been to stimulate an active, rather than a passive, participation in learning Albanian.INTRODUCTION I. The Albanian language (gjuha shgipe) 1s the language of the Albanians (shqiptaré as they call themselves). Albantan 1s spoken primarily in the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania (Shgipéria—Shqipnia). This country extends along the western part of the Balkan peninsula on the south-east coast of the Adriatic Sea between Epirus and Montenegro. and borders Greece and Yugoslavia on the south, east and north, while the sea forms its western boundary. As of 1980, the estumated population of Albania (28.748 square km ) was 2,670,400. As may be seen from the map, the inner part of the country 1s moun- tainous (average altitude 708 meters) and on the coast, mostly level. The northern Alps are over 2,000 meters high (cf. Jezerea 2,693 meters). The chmate 15 mediterranean with hot summers (up to 44°C) and a great deal of sun; the winters are marked by abundant rainfall (1300 mm. per year). The largest rivers are Drini, Buna, Mati, Shkumbini, Semami, Vjosa, ete Drint (285km, long) 1s particularly important, as three large hydroelectric stations — Fierza, Komant and Vau1 Déyés have been built on it during the last decades, In earlier times the major sources of the economy were products of cattle breeding (dairy products, wool and, especially, leather for export) and agriculture Due to the configuration of the country with its rich pastures in the mountains (bjeshka = the Alps) and almost evergreen valleys in winter (vérria = the winter places), a combination of agriculture and cattle breeding was developed. The outhne (skeleton) of this economic structure was partially retained even after total collectivization and the building up of light and heavy industry. II. Outside of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania, Albanian 1s spoken in Yugoslavia, ic. in the Kosova Autonomous Region. in the republics of Macedonia and Montenegro, and in the settlement of Arbé- nésh (Arbanasi) near Zadar. The Albanians of Yugoslavia (1,730,000 in 1981) are Gegs and use their mother-tongue in schools, in literature and science, on the stage and in mass media. Albanian-speaking people live scattered in various areas of Greece. in approximately 60 communities spread from the Abruszt to Sicily in southern Haly, as well as in Turkey and the USA. The Albanians of southern Italy and Greece speak an archaic form of Tosk. The Halo-Albanians call themselves arbérésh (the rhotacived form of Arbénésh Albanians’) and many of them maintain their language, customs and dress. Important authors have written in this idiom,XI Introduction e.g. Jul Variboba (1725-1788), Nikola Keta (1742-1803), Jeronm De Rada (1814-1903), Zef Schird (1865-1927) and others. II. Approximately until the invasion of the Turks, the differences between the two major dialects (Geg and Tosk) were not as marked as today, as may be seen from the old religious texts. The independent development of the dialects was strengthened by the lack of contact among the inhabitants during the period of Ottoman domination. Geg is spoken in the north of the country and Tosk in the south. The river Shkumbini is considered as the approximate dividing line. The essential differences between Tosk and Geg are: 1. The presence of nasal vowels in Geg and their absence in Tosk: 24 G.: 78 T. ‘voice’, pé G.: pe T. ‘thread’. 2. Intervocalic m is retained in Geg and transformed into r in Tosk (rhotacism): zani G.: zéri T. “the voice’, peni G.: peri T. “the thread’, vena G.: vera T. ‘the wine’. 3. The Geg diphthong -ue- corresponds to -ua- in Tosk: grue (grua) ‘woman’, shkue (shkuar) “having gone’. Both ue/ua derive from a long -6- (*gr6, *shki 4. Initial vo in Geg corresponds to Tosk va: votér G.: vatér T. ‘hearth’, vorfén G.: varfér T. ‘orphan’, voj G.: vaj T. ‘oil’. There exist other differences too, particularly in the morphology, e.g. the different forms of the future: kam me shkue G. (auxiliary verb have + infinitive) and do té shkoj T. (I want + subjunctive) ‘I will go’. These differences, however, are gradually diminishing in the literary language and common forms are progressively coming into use in both dialects. Notes 1, Arbéresh, in its conservative elements, 1¢. aside from innovations developed in the course of its history on Italian soil, belongs to the Southern Albanian dialect group. The differences between Arbéresh and literary Tosk in phonology (cf. the contrast shortlong in vowels) and morphology are not inconsiderable. 2. Arbéresh has its own future form, constructed with ker ~ kat (ke. ka ‘you (8g.) have, he, she, it has’ + se conjunction) + present subjunctive. ket ~ kot gell “Twill bring’. 3, In many Arbéresh dialects (cf Maschito and Ginestra in the province of Campobasso) there 1s also a periphrastic form of the infinitive constructed with pet (pér té) + participle pet qellur “in order to bring’, as the Tosk per te sjelle ~ sjellur “im order to bring’ with consequent function IV. Aside from glosses in various texts and documents of the Middle Ages, the oldest examples of Albanian known until now are two sentences from the second half of the 15th century: the baptismal formula of 1462 and a sentence from the comedy ‘Epirota’, written in Latin by Thomas Medius in 1483Introduction XID The first books in Albanian begin with Meshart (missal) of Gjon Buzuku (1555) in Geg, followed by E mbsuame e Kréshteré of Luka Matranga (1592) in Sicilian Arbéresh. Next in chronological order come the works of Pyetér Budi (1618-21): Rituali Roman (Rituale Romanum) and Paségyra e t'Rréfvemut (Speculum Confessionis); then the Latin-Albanian dictionary (Dictionarium latno-epiroticum) of Frang Bardhi (1635) and later the monumental work, Cuneus Prophetarum, by Pjetér Bogdani (1685). Docu- mentation in the Tosk variant begins later, also with translations of ritual books and texts. From Theodoros A. Kavalliotis’ book, Protopiris (1770), in which there is a trilingual glossary, Albanian - Modern Greek - Aromun, we learn that some of the aforementioned Geg books were also known in the South of the country. The same holds true for the Arbéresh authors they were acquainted with Buzuku’s Meshar: and other Geg ritual books up to Bogdani and Bardhi, so that communication among the three written Albanian variants — although in only one direction — is documented. Albanian literature traces its origin, together with its linguistic and stylistic forms, to the rich oral literature of the people. As indicated above. Albanian belletristic writing begins with Bogdani’s work Cuneus Prophe- tarum (1685) and with folk-poetry of religious content in the works of Budi in the North of the country, as well as with Gyella e S. Mériis (1762) by Jul Variboba in Calabria (Italy). The latter works, although religious in content, are original compositions, 1.e. not translations, like Gjon Buzuku’s great work Meshari (1555). Albanian was artistically developed in oral literary creations. In the oral tradition, particularly in folk-ballads with fixed linguistic forms and metrics, super-regional komé were devel- oped in the course of time, e.g. the Geg of the epic songs in the Shkodra region, which later influenced belletristic writing. It should also be noted that the poets of the Arbéresh variant, especially Jeronim De Rada, who achieved recognition in Europe for the high quality of their work, pro- ceeded from the form and language of the folk-poetry of the Albanian villages of Southern Italy. Less well known is the literature of oriental character, written in Arabic script, which reached its high point at the end of the 18th- beginning of the 19th centuries, especially with Nazim Berati (d. 1760), Hasan Zyko Kamberi, Muhamet Kugyku (1784-1844) and others. The centers of this literary movement were the then important trade and administrative cities of Berat, Korga and Shkodra, as well as the cultural centers of Kosova. such as Gjakova V. Albanian is an Indo-European language and forms a special branch within that family, In the earliest phase of research, it was classed with Balto-Slavic, due to its sarem character, From the beginning, Albanian was connected with Hlyrian, Thracian or Dacian, for which languages noXIV Introduction written records exist. Linguists and historians are, however, unanimous in believing that Albanian is descended from one of these languages, although two divergent opinions have appeared, one for the Illyrian theory, the other for the Thracian one. As a compromise solution, there is a third theory according to which Albanian is the result of a mixture of Illyrian and Thracian or Dacian elements. ‘The Illyrian thesis is winning more and more support. In its support it has been shown that the Doric borrowings are the oldest among those from Greek in Albanian. There is also the fact that the old denomination arbinesh ~ arbéresh ‘Albanian’, the name of an Illyrian tribe, is albanoi in modern Central Albania, and a number of ancient place names in former Illyrian districts may be explained by means of Albanian words. The ultimate proof of this thesis, however, is dependent upon the complex questions of the Illyrians in general and, in particular, upon the relation- ship of the Illyrian language, with the language of the Messapuans (cf. E. Hamp, Albanian and Messapic. Studies presented to J. Whatmough, 1957). ecially in Italy, has proceeded apace with the decipherment of the remains of Messapian which have been discovered in the southwestern part of that country. There is unanimous agreement that Messapian belongs to Illyrian. VI, Albanian, as a Balkan language. developed into its present form, with certainty, primarily in the western part of the Balkan peninsula. By means of earlier analytical research methods and current structural and typo- logical methods, the conclusion has been reached that the language took over, with incredible integrative power, words from various phases of development of Romance and Greek. Borrowings from these languages we! sily integrated and, perhaps through long practice with borrowings, changed from their original form to the point of unrecognizability accord- ing to the phonetic laws of Albanian. Cf., for example, mbret ‘king’ from Lat. imperatorem. Part of the lexical borrowings were given up, according to requirements, or replaced with words from Slavic or Oriental languages. From an examination of the lexicon, scholars who did not know Albanian often had the impression that the language was a hybrid without an individual system. Students of Albanian immediately ~ and justifiably - notice the uniqueness of its phonological and morphological system. One of the basic features of Albanian, as a typical Balkan language, is its analytical character, exhibited in the declension system with its prepositive and postpositive articles, as well as the combination of synthetic and analytic in the verbal system. VII, Literary Albanian has a tradition of more than 500 years. Scholars are of the opinion that the development process of the modern structure ofIntroduction xv Albanian had been completed by the period of documentation (cf. Buzuku, 1555). This does not imply, however, that Albanian has not developed further since that period. The main focus of diachronic differentiations (16th century structure - 20th century structure), on the one hand, and the reason for the further separation of the dialects, on the other, was the rise of the periphrastic system in the verbal area. The periphrastic construc- tions, first of all on the syntactic level, brought about changes in other parts of the grammar, such as the pronominal system, and also caused the disappearance of the old verbal classes which had been constructed synthetically with functions of aspect and modality (cf. the traces in verb formation, Lesson 18). The further development of Common Albanian since the 16th century has also hindered agreement among Albanians from the beginning of this century until today on the correct methods for normalizing the literary language. Decisive roles were frequently played in discussions on this issue by emotional factors of an extra-linguistic nature, which cannot be detailed here. Certainly, a thorough knowledge of the older texts, particularly those in Geg which are close to the structure of Tosk, would have helped to solve many problems in the standardization of the literary language easily and painlessly. The texts, however, remained unknown until quite late. The lack of knowledge regarding the earlier phase of Albanian in general through texts and conservative dialect branches was recognized by the ideologues of the Albanian renaissance (Rilindja); everyone, though, spoke of the necessity for a unified literary language and everyone had his own ideas about it (cf. the periodical “Albania, 1897-1908). The concrete initiative in this direction was taken in 1908 at the Congress of Manastir, where it was decided to accept the Latin alphabet. Some years later, the Albanesische Grammatik im stidgegischen Dialekt (Durazzo, Elbasan, T1- rana) by Prof. Dr. Gustav Weigand appeared in Leipzig (1913). Weigand wished to suggest that the dialect of this zone (with Elbasan as the center) should serve as the basis for the construction of “the national language”. In 1916, the society Komisia letrare shgipe was founded in Shkodra. One of the members was Aleksandér Xhuvani from Elbasan, a pioneer in the area of language standardization and Albanian linguistics. It was decided by this society that the dialect of Elbasan, which was the closest of the Geg dialects to Tosk, should be the foundation for the future national language. The problem was also viewed from the practical standpoint and eminar for teachers was started whose first director was Luigi Gurakuqi (author and statesman). The teachers trained there contributed to a better understanding of both dialects in their written and spoken forms. Komisia letrare shgipe published a brochure in 1918 which indicated the common features of both language variants and also fixed logical orthographic rules for them.XVI Introduction “The convergent rapprochement” of the two dialects remained a principle until 1952, when an administrative decision was made in Tirana that the unified national language would be based on the Tosk variant. A con- ference was organized at the then existing Institute of Sciences regarding the ways and means to be employed in the realization of the program. There was considerable opposition from the members of the Institute (cf. parts of the speeches and discussions in Buletin i Institutit t@ Shkencavet, IV, 1952). “People’s Teacher” Aleksandér Xhuvani, on the other hand, did not openly oppose the precedence of one dialect over the other, but suggested that the change should be made in an evolutionary manner over three generations. After the scholarly and practical argumentation, the old master recalled the words of Stalin: “Marxism does not accept a sudden explosion in the development of language.” Xhuvani added that one cannot “cast off like an old coat (st guné té wetér) or consign to a museum” the language of a large part of the people. The Albanologist Max Lambertz (University of Leipzig) also disapproved of these measures (cf. Lehrgang des Albanischen, Il, Berlin, 1955) and was tireless in his appeals until it was made clear to him from the highest authority that the decision was a political one. Even after 1952, Geg was utilized as a literary language, although this is not officially recognized today; since 1972, however, no new literary texts in Geg have been published in Albania. The official language took over from Geg part of the vocabulary and patterns of word-formation, as well as a good deal of phraseology and other features, so that in its present state, it cannot be identified with pre-1952 literary Tosk. Geg developed further not only in Kosova, but also in Albania on the basis of the southern Geg dialects and even more under the strong influence of the new language variant called the national language. Many today — including the recently deceased linguist Eqrem Cabej, who had never accepted the methods of this language reform — are of the opinion that the two language variants have come so close to each other that they differ only in about five phonological and morphological charac- teristics (see above, p. x1). It is possible that these may eventually become free variants. For someone who writes an Albanian grammar today, it is not easy if — like the author of the present work — he also wishes to make a scholarly contribution to the subject. In order to understand the special character of Albanian, one must bear in mind that the language was reduced to writing quite late in its history, that it is, in fact, a “natural language” which developed in spoken form, from which its tradition arose. The structure of this book (grammar with old and new variants which find application in various ways in texts) was dictated by these circumstances.BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS Buzuku (1555) - Gjon Buzuku. Meshar: (Missale). 1555. (Unique copy in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.) 1. Reproduction and transcnption by Namik Ressuli. 1! “Messale” di Giovann Buzuku. Roma, 1958. 2 Eqrem Gabe) “Meshart™ 1 Gjon Buzukut - 1555 - Botim kritik. Vols. 1-11 Tirana, 1968. Da Lecce (1716) = Francesco Maria Da Lecce. Osservaziont grammaticalt nella lingua albanese. Roma, 1716 ra (1801) = J. Vilara. “Greek-Albanian Grammar 1801 (MS in the Biblio: théque Nationale, Parts, here, in the transcribed text by Titos Jochalas) De Rada (1871) = Giuseppe De Rada. Grammatica della lingua alhanese Firenze, 1871 Kristoforidhi (1882) = Konstai yAdoon; Constantinople. 1882 Vi tin Kristoforidl Tpayparnss ins “AZBavinnis ACCENTS AND DIACRITICS, (4) = indicates the stress in polysyllabic words _maleve “to the moun- tains"; indicates vowel length in monosyllabic words. dét phonetically [d@t] “sea” (4) = indicates nasality and, simultaneously, in polysyllabic_ words marks the stress: katallé ‘cyclops’, long nasal are indicated phonetically by [*]: {gja] ‘thing” @ = phonetic diacritic indicating length: [ka] ‘ox ~ & = __ phonetic diacritic indicating brevity [pat] *he had” ~ = variant. njeri~ njéri (Geg) “person” > = becomes < = derives from (diachronically) u = brackets for phonetic transcription 0 = zero morpheme . = reconstructed form = used between two forms which may be substituted for each other Vv = root Notes 1. The stress /“/ is not marked in Albanian texts as a rule. It has been marked in this Albanian Grammar (including the texts in the Chrestomathy) for didactic purposes, except for paroxytonic words (stressed on the penultimate syllable) which are most frequent in Albanian. Monosyllabic words have been marked with a stress sign whenever the stressed vowel is long: pa [pa] ‘seen’. In words such as these stress and vowel length coincide 2. Geg writers have used the stress sign /'/ to mark vowel length not only in monosyllabic but also polysyllabic words: geveri [qeveri] “goverment In modern Geg texts vowel length and stress coincide as a rule, This did not always occur in old Gep texts. In Buzuku's “Missal” (1555), unstressed vowels occur that are long. fe peendicom [te pendiom| ‘penitence’ADI Acc. adj. Adm adv Alb. Aor Arb coll Com. Alb. cf. Dat. def. Eng. exp. t Fut G. Gen Ger. idem Imp. Imperf. indef. ABBREVIATIONS Ablative Accusative adjective Admirative adverb Albaman Aorist Arbéresh collective Common Albanian compare Dative definite English expressive femmine Future Geg Genntive German the same Imperative Imperfect indefinite Indic. Inf. Ital. Lat. ht. m. a Nom. No. Opt. Part(ic). part. Pass. Perf. pers. Plupf. pl prep. Pres. refl. sg. Suby Th vb. Voc. Med.-Pass. Indicative Infinitive Ttahan Laun literal, literally masculine Medio-Passive neuter Nominative Note Optative Participle particle Passive Perfect person Pluperfect plural preposition Present reflexive singular Subjunctive Tosk verb VocativeI. PHONOLOGY 1, Due to various cultural influences, the Albanians obtained a common alphabet only in 1908. Until then, those with western culture had used Latin letters, while the Orthodox of southern Albania had used Greek letters, mostly with certain alterations. There are also many Albanian works written in the Arabic alphabet, derived through Ottoman. At the Congress of Monastir (Bitola) in 1908, in which Albanian scholars and writers took part, the Latin alphabet was accepted as the common one. In contrast to this, Albanologists used the transcription system of Gustav Meyer in scholarly literature. This system is given in parentheses below, following the official one, while the IPA transcription is given in square brackets wherever there is a divergence. Pronunciation of the Sounds Vowels s: @@7§ (a ¢ ctc.): 24 ‘voice’, pé “thread”, hi “ashes” 8 ‘eye’. Tosk has no nasal vowels: Geg corresponds to Tosk ef, 28 G. 28 T. “voice’. & (¢) [2] is the ‘indistinct vowel” (Alb. e-ja e pazane lit, voiceless e). It sounds like « in Eng. but or a in sofa: i vogél “small”, puné ‘work’, doré *hand’, shtépi house’, kénd6j ‘sing’. In Geg, particularly in final position, -€ disappears and the preceding stressed syllable is length- ened: hané [han] ‘they eat’. y sounds like German ii or French u: gjysmé ‘half’, ylberi ‘rainbow’ Diphthongs 3, Albanian has many diphthongs. The most important are ie ye ue (ua) Other diphthongs result from combinations of a e o with i (pronounced as J); ai ei oi, Still others result from combinations of a e with u: au eu. Consonants 4, Navals; m (m) — a voiced bilabial nasal: dam ‘harm’, tym ‘smoke’. fv (n) — a voiced alveolar nasal: naté ‘night’, jané “they are’ nj (4) [n] — a voiced palatal nasal, cf. Eng. new: njoh “I know’, nji one’. Laterals: \(\) — a voiced alveolar lateral: lule ‘flower’, lopé ‘cow’. W (1) — a voiced dental-velar lateral, approximately Eng. hill: multi ‘mill’, mollé ‘apple’v I. Phonology Vibrants: alveolar r (r): uré ‘bridge’, and strongly trilled rr (7): rrugé ‘street’, burré “man’. Stops: p (p) — voiceless bilabial stop unaspirated (Eng. spot). popull “people”. paté ‘goose’ b (b) — a voiced bilabial stop: boré ‘snow’, bir ‘son’. t (t) — a voiceless post-dental stop, unaspirated (Eng. stop): Tirana, tra “beam, rafter’. d(d) —a voiced post-dental stop: drité ‘light’, dam ‘harm’, det * k (k) —a voiceless velar stop, unaspirated (Eng. score): buké ‘bread’, toké ‘land’ g (g) — a voiced velar stop: gur ‘stone’, larg ‘far’. 4 (K) [cl - - a voiceless palatal stop, approximately k?, but also pronounced as a weak palato-alveolar affricate in many Geg-speaking areas: qafé “throat”, qytét ‘city’. gj (8) [y] — a voiced palatal stop, approximately g’, but also pronounced as a weak palato-alveolar affricate in many Geg-speaking areas: gjumé ‘sleep’, gjané ‘broad’. Affricates and fricatives: ¢ (ts) — a voiceless alveolar stop (cf. Eng. cats): dac ‘tomcat’, cucé ‘girl’. x (dz) - a voiced alveolar affricate (cf. Eng. adze): xehe ‘mine’, nxanés ‘pupil’. ¢ (8) [Uf] — a voiceless palato-alveolar medial affricate (Eng. church) gerdhe ‘nest’, corbé ‘soup’. xh (dz) [d3] - a voiced palato-alveolar affricate (Eng. job): xhade ‘street’, xhakue ‘deacon’. s (s) — a voiceless post-dental fricative: sané hay’, sot ‘today’. 2 (z) — a voiced post-dental fricative: zojé ‘woman’, zog ‘bird” sh (8) [f] — a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative: shumé ‘much’. sharré ‘saw’ zh (2) [3] — a voiced palato-alveolar fricative (Eng. azure): zhur ‘gravel’. f (f) —- a voiceless labio-dental fricative: kafé ‘coffee’, kufi ‘border’ v(v)- a voiced labio-dental fricative: votér ‘hearth’. vjet "year" th (9) [0] - a voiceless apico-dental fricative (Eng. think): thiké *knife’, thom ‘I say’. dh [0] [4] - a voiced apico-alveolar fricative (Eng. that): dhomé ‘room’, dheté (dhjeté) ‘ten’. h(h) a weak voiceless glottal fricative: hollé ‘thin’, kohé ‘time’. jG) — a voiced palatal fricative (Eng. young): jeté ‘life’, jashté *outside’ Summary of the Sounds u ° 5. Vowels < i ©Consonants 3 Diphthongs ai ei oi aueu ie ye ua (ue) Nas mn nj Laterals oi Vibrants: e GP Stops: pb a @ ke qa Affricates and fricatives: ¢ x @ s 7 sh zh fey th dh h J Brief Phonological Description The Consonant System 6. Albanian has 29 consonant phonemes: be ¢ d dh fg gjhjk Ill mnnjp qrrrsshtthyvx xhz zh. It should be noted that no special considerations are made here for either the dialect richest in phonemes or that poorest (coincidence of ¢ and q in northeast Geg). 7. In the consonant system the following correlations may be established: I. Correlation of voice: pt k q ce ¢ ssh f th voiceless 6 dad 68 Gs ma Ao dh cofted The sonants (j, Ll, r rr, m,n, j) do not take part in the voice correlation, as they occur only as voiced sounds; h occurs only as a voiceless sound. Il. Correlation of palatalization: n ¢ xh Hl unpalatalized nj q gi 1 palatalized According to the dialect, | and r are more strongly or more weakly softened. In the Arbéresh dialects (Italy), 1 attains a high degree of palatalization (I). HL. Correlation of nasality: db gj oral nom nj nasal4 I. Phonology In his section on the correlation of approximates or stops, Trubetzkoy (Grundziige der Phonologie) considers also Albanian: IV.c x ¢ xh affricates s zsh zh fricatives To the correlation of approximates belong too: Vv. pb _ bilabials f v_ labiodentals and VI.t d__ postdentals th dh apico-dental fricatives Phonemic Changes 8. Phonemic changes (assimilations) frequently occur as dialectal distin- guishing features. Naturally, these differences do not appear in the Albanian literary language where the tendency is to select and promote one particular form. For example: I. The union of the phonemes t and sh in Geg yield the single phoneme ¢: i motshém = i mogém ‘old’, vjetsh Abl. usually yields vjeg (cf. ai asht njizét vjeg “he is 20 years old’). II. The union of the nasal n and the stop g (ng) in several northern Geg dialects is pronounced as the single phoneme [n], i.e. as a velar nasal: nga [na] ‘from’, kangé [kana] “song’. In the combination n + gj there is a slight initial palatalization: ngj > njgj Lng: ngjalé [nyalé] ‘eel’. In the northern Geg dialects n + gj > nj: njalé ‘idem.”, ungjill ‘Evangel’ > unjill ‘idem.’. In Shkodra n + d is pronounced with a unitary articulatory movement. In articulation the tip of the tongue covers the upper teeth, while breath is expelled through the nose. Earlier authors from this city wrote this phoneme as nn. It can be denoted as an apico-dental nasal. In eastern Geg this reductive process goes further still and ends with the total dis- appearance of the dental: nd > m: ndera ‘honor’ > nera ‘idem.”, ndrikulla ‘the godmother’ > nrikulla ‘idem.’. n+x (n+dz] (postdental nasalized affricate) represents originally the adaptation of the sounds n + z (nasal + alveodental fricative) where a (d) has disappeared in the meantime — n(d) + z > nx: n(d)-2@ > nxa‘I learn’ (2a ‘grasp’), nxij ‘I blacken’ (nfd}-zij). III. mb [mb] (nasalized bilabial) is, on the evidence of the old authors (cf. among others Buzuku, 1555), the result of n+ p or n+ b: npasi (n+pasi) > mbasi ‘afterwards’, nbaston > mbastén ‘it is enough’ (from Ital. bastare). In eastern Geg mb becomes m: mbasi > masi ‘afterwards’, mbastén > mastén ‘it is enough’.Vowels 5 IV. The change of the cluster gt to kt may be termed a facultative reflective phonemic alteration: shteg-tar > shtek-tar ‘traveller’, treg-tar > trek-tar ‘merchant’. Voiceless s, sh are always pronounced z, zh before voiced phonemes: skuq ‘blush’, zbath ‘remove shoes or sock: hkul in contrast with zhgul ‘free, pull out’, shgun > zhgun ‘woollen material’, shgjeté > zhgjeté ‘arrow’. The Vowel System 9. Because Geg has nasal vowels as well as oral vowels, it has more minimal pairs than Tosk. For that reason, the vowel system of each is presented separately. I, There are 12 vowel phonemes in Geg: 1eéaouy oral §6 46 09 ae front series middle series back series El A a It should be noted that nasalization is never present in the rounded vowel © and very seldom in the rounded sound y. In the last decades, the nasal vowels of the Geg literary variant are almost never indicated by means of the diacritic except in cases where there is a question of relevant meaning6 1. Phonology Asht ‘he, she, it is’ — asht ‘bone’. In this grammar nasalization will also be indicated in those forms where n has dropped out, but has left nasal quality on the foregoing vowel: z& ‘voice’ — zani ‘the voice’, thing’ (< gjanja). The older Geg authors indicated nasality by -n- (vowel + n): anshté ‘he, she, it is’. In contrast to Tosk, Geg has long and short vowels which are functionally relevant: participle rrit (rrité) ‘grown’: imperative rrit ‘grow!”, dhé ‘earth’: dhé ‘and’, 1é *born’: 1é ‘let!”, ju pat "you (pl.) saw’: ai pat *he had’ (aorist), dy m.: dy f. ‘two’, sg. gir ‘stone’: pl. gir ‘stones’, drén (droné T.) ‘they fear’: drén ‘he fears’, shim (shumé T.) ‘sum’: shim ‘much’, i fr¥t (fryté T.) ‘thick’: fr¥t ‘fruit’ (cf. tab. 2). II. In Tosk there are 7 vowel phonemes: ie € a ou y oral (cf. tab. 3) In the current Albanian official language in Albania and in Kosova this system is used. v uU al \a/ (tab. 2)Prosody 7 front series middle series back series u i (tab. 3) Notes 1. In Old Albanian, all vowels had both long and short values The long vowels were represented graphically in old texts by a doubling of the respective letter syy ‘eye’. Based upon Vilard’s orthography (1801), such examples of long vowels are also attested in Tosk until the beginning of the 19th century: kum rar [rar] “tyw néony” 2. Correlative to the short and long oral vowels, there are still infrequent cases of phonological relevance involving short and long nasal vowels: vé ‘place’ (imperative 2 sg.) vé ‘I place’. (tab. 4) ‘The Diphthong Phonemes 10. In contemporary grammars published in Tirana, diphthongs are not registered, since the combination of two vowels in the current official language is considered as two vocalic phonemes. Notes 1. Phonemic changes with semanuc function will be tr morphological sections of the Albanian Grammar, The: ted in the appropriate include, among oth8 I Phonology diphthongization (0 > ua ue, e > ye) and monophthongization (ua'ue > u, ye > ee > i). . Characteristic of the dialect branch of Dibra, Mat: and Mirdita (Middle Eastern Geg) 1s the diphthongization of accented vowel 1: 1 > ar ~ é1 (miré > mair ~ méir*good"). Prosody 11. The stress 1s expiratory, immovable and rests on the same syllable Exceptions: sg giarpén (gjarpér) m. ‘snake’ pl. gjarpij (gjarpinj), sg. shkop m. ‘stick’ pl shkopij (shkopinj), sg. madh ‘large’ pl. médhéj (médhénj). In the construction of nouns, the stress moves to the suffix: puné ‘work’ punétor ‘worker’, katand ‘village’ - katundar ‘peasant’. Proceeding from the definite form (katundari, punétori), it may be said that in general the stress lies on the penulumate syllable. In several word pairs, the stress may be relevant: bari ‘the grass’ bari *herd’, mori ‘took’ (Aor.), mori ‘quantity’ Arbéresh. nani ‘still more’ — mani ‘just now’. Notes on the phonological system of Arbéresh |. Taking the consonant system of Common Albanian as a basis, the following consonants are in evidence in the written dialects of Arberesh. Nasals, mn nj Laterals: 1(> qin Falconara) ly ‘Ay I1(> gh. Vibrants: rr Stops: p.b td kg q/gj (as in Tosk) Afiricates and fricatives: ¢)x ¢'xh sz shizh f.v th,dh h(> gh 7) hyy In many Arbéresh dialects there 1s an instability, 1¢. a tendency toward substitution of a) gh y for i (cf. Plana e Arbéreshévet near Palermo, velar fricative or simple postvelar molla > mogha ‘the apple’); after stressed u there 1s even a disappearance of J/, as in Greci: uthull > uthu ‘vinegar’, b) h becomes voiced gh y (voiced fnicative) in $. Demetrio Corone, Macchia (dialect of the poet Jeronim De Rada) 2 In contrast with common Albanian, the vowel system of Arbéresh lacks the phoneme y;, which 1s replaced with 1: sy > si ‘eye’ Thus Arbéresh has 6 vocalic phonemes: The difference between stressed @ (héna ‘moon') and unstressed é (néné ‘mother’) 1s striking, older Arbéresh authors frequently used two distinct graphemes for these 3. As in Geg, the Arbéresh vowels in stressed position may be short or long with consequent semantic relevance: aT - a *hunger™Reading Exercise Uyjku e pocari The Wolf and the Potter GEG Ujku i malit kishte ngrané shumé dele té katundit. The wolf of the mountain had eaten many of the village’s sheep U mblodhén b: e katundit ¢ shkuen né mal The shepherds of the village gathered and went to the mountains té vrasin ujkun. Bashké me bari vojti edhé nji pogar to kill the wolf. Together with the shepherds also went a potter to kill the wolf, Fleeing, the wolf said to the potter: — Njeri i miré, kétyne njérézve u kam faj, por ty ¢ka té bana? “Good man, | am guilty before these people, but what have I done to you? A té ngrana ndonji po? Have I eaten any pot of yours?” TOSK Ujku i malit kishte ngréné shumé dele 18 fshatit. ¢ fshatit e shkuan né mal té vrasin ujkun. Bashké me barinj vajti edhé njé pogar ér té vraré ujkun. Duke ikur, i tha ujku pos: é, kétyre njérézve u kam borxh, por ty ¢° té béra? A té héngra ndonjé pog?Il. MORPHOLOGY Lesson 1 — Leksioni i paré Noun 12. Contemporary Albanian has two genders, masculine and feminine; the neuter gender has almost disappeared. 13. Those nouns are masculine which, in the indefinite form, a) end in a consonant: gjak blood vesh ear dreq devil gur stone fis race, stock zjarm (zjarr) fire b) Some masculine nouns end in a stressed vowel. As stated in the explanation of accents and diacritics (p. xvi), the accent marks the stress in polysyllabic words; in monosyllabic words, however, such as those below, it also marks the length of the vowel. Final stressed vowels are also mostly long (cf. §16): ka ox shi rain vélla brother va ford dhé earth dat sea To this group also belong nouns in a stressed vowel whose stem (c.g. in the definite form) exhibits an n which has disappeared in final position. The Tosk variants without nasals and with their rhotacized forms behave in the same manner (as illustrated by the forms in parentheses). indef. def. hi (hi) ashes hini (hiri) the ashes mulli (mulli) mill mullini (mulliri) the mill za (28) voice zani (zéri) the voice bri (bri) horn brini (briri) the horn gid (aiu) knee gitini (gjuri) the knee fré (fre) bridle fréni (freri) the bridle dry lock bolt dryni the lock bolt The basic rule holds true that gender is known from the definite form. This explains the many exceptions to the (b) rule, as discussed in the following lesson, Ht should be noted that from this point on, the final nasal vowel 1s marked as such only in the indefinite form, since generally if the morpheme W appears, as here in the definite form, it marks nasality by itself: 2@ — vanl, hi hini, cte, The ne holds for nasal vowels followed by m: ba done’, but bame ‘(we) did”Nouns i 14. The old neuter occurs very seldom in Modern Albanian. It may be recognized only in the definite form, 1.¢. by the ending -té indef. def. mish meat mishté the meat muell flour miellté the flour djathé cheese dyathét the cheese gialpé butter gjalpét the butter drithé grain drithét the grain ballé forehead ballét the forehead This category of neuters, denoting names of substances (originally also parts of the body. etc.) is found in older texts and still today in dialects In the course of time, they have become masculines: mish-i m., djathé drithé-i m. Vocabulary (Because it is frequently difficult to predict the plural of many nouns in Albanian, the following system will be used in each lesson’s vocabulary the noun in its indefinite form followed by the appropriate definite aflix. the Tosk variant. if any, in parentheses. the English meaning and finally. the pluralizing suffix or special plural form of the word. Example. dimén indef. , dimni def. (dimér, dimri) Tosk variant. indef. and def. ‘winter’ dimna indef. pl. (dimra) Tosk variant . Although the definite forms are not introduced until Lesson 3 and the plurals until Lesson 4, all forms given in the vocabularies should be memorized from the outset.) votér-votra ‘vatér-vatra) hearth kush — who? votra (vatra) yetér — other shi-u rain sité-a sieve -a breshén-breshni (breshér-breshri) pa without hail ré-ja cloud -0 boré-a snow cka what bie shi it is raining nuse-nusja bride, girl -0 hie breshén (breshér) it is hailing — nji (njéy one bie boré it is snowing trem. three diell-i_ sun diej as not even hie dielli the sun is shining sot today (lit. ‘the sun falls) a interrogative particle qviéri cily -¢ po yes durim patience -e atjé there méngyés-1- morning -e kém — here Zoja woman's name né ing at2) Il Morphology e and s'not por but me with gaya (gjé-ja) thing — gjana (gjéra) —_rez-i__ belt -a aide gaze (gyé e gyézé) riddle ylbér-i__ rainbow -e gd e gjdza (gjé e gjéza) faqekuge f. red-cheeked ha eats mollé-a_ apple @ ~ a get puts out, produces Present Indicative (uné) kam | have (uné) jam Tam ‘ti) ke you (sg.) have (ti) je you (sg.) are (ai, ajo) ka he, she has; there is (ai, ajo) asht (éshté) he, she is (na~ne) kemi we have (na~ne) jemi we are (ju) keni~kini_— you (pl.) have (ju) jen you (pl.) are fata, ato) kané they (m. & f.) (ata, até) jané they (m. & f.) are have (uné) nuk jam 1 am not aka? does he, she have?; is there? a je? are you? (sg.) nuk ka, ska there is no Exercise 1 A &hté ky dhé? Jo, ky &shté hi. Ti ke djathé e uné kam gialpé. A éshté ky djathé? Jo, ky nuk éshté dathé, ky éshté njé gur. Né vatér ka zjarr e hi. A ka gjé tjetér né vatér? Jo, nuk ka gjé tjetér, Né mulli ka drithé e miell. A bie sot boré? Jo, sot nuk bie boré, as breshér, sot kemi diell. Zoja ka njé vélla kévi, njé tjetér vélla éshté né qytét. Kush éshté né qytét? Exercise 2 Does it rain in winter? Yes, in winter it rains, it snows and it hails. We are here and you are there. Do you have patience? We have patience, but they do not have patience. Today I am in the city. Who is in the city today? Text 1 Ga e gjéza Asht nji ga ¢ gjdzé: ha breshén e get boré: gka asht? (Asht mullini) Asht nji gja e gj bie shi pa ré: ¢ka dsht? (Asht sita me miell) Asht nji nuse me tre breza: kush asht? (Asht ylberi) Asht nji nuse fagekuge: kush asht? (Asht moila)Nouns 13 Lesson 2 — Leksioni i dyté 15. Feminine nouns end in -é (neutral vowel) or unstressed -e: sg. pl. se. pl. nané(néné) mother -a_—nuse_bride, young woman -@ Zoj8 (zonjé) woman -a ule flower 4 barré load — -@ ~—lagje neighborhood 4 kambé (kémbé) foot 0 vise pl. places 16. There also exist feminine nouns ending in a stressed vowel, such as bé ‘oath’, pré ‘booty, loot’. Most feminine nouns of this category, however, end in -i and have a collective or abstract meaning: sg. sg. njerézi people, mankind malési mountains mori quantity bukuri beauty 17. Many foreign words and names of countries are included in this category: sg. pl qershi cherry, cherry tree -@ Gjermani Germany (Lat. cerasium) Ttali Ttaly shtépi~ house (Lat. hospi- -0 Greqi Greece shpi tum) Shqipni Albania terezi tailor (Turk.) 6 (Shqipéri) kala castle (Turk.) o 18. Feminine nouns also end in 1 m nr er with foregoing unstressed & or wera cic) sg. pl. sg. pl. vegél tool vegla lakén cabbage lakna sjetull armpit -a (lakér) (lakra) vetull eyelash -a zemér heart zemra gogél ball gogla andérr dream ——andrra dasmé wedding dasma (éndérr) (éndrra) There are exceptions in all of the groupings presented thus far: a) burré m. ‘man’, ball ‘forehead’ (and in most other original neuters that have become mi s), dhé m. ‘earth’, shé m. “brook”; herdsman’, njeri ‘person’ mi m. ‘mouse ér) m. ‘winter’, emén (emér) m. ‘name’, drapén (drapér) m ‘sickle’, gjarpén (gjarpér) m. ‘snake’, pluhun (pluhur) m. ‘dust’, avull m ‘steam, vapor’, popull m. ‘people’.14 II Morphology The rule 1s therefore confirmed whereby the gender of the noun may be positively known only in the definite form. There is a small number of new loanwords in -o which are feminine, such as radio f, ‘radio’, kabllo f. ‘cable’. Note For purposes of correct reading, it should be noted that weak @ was clearly pronounced in Old Albanian even in final position. Final é 1s barely pronounced today, but the stressed vowel in the word 1s lengthened instead. This compensatory lengthening occurs also in Arbéresh, as may be seen in De Rada (1871). kaan [kan] < kané ‘they have’ Vocabulary quméshtore-quméshtorja dairy -@ — shatorr-i__ tent -e, tent-shaped pranveré-a spring -a shkallé-a balcony -@ thertore-thertorja butcher shop -0 —eré-a_ odor erna (éréra} goshe-qoshja corner -@ nuk bén does not make qumésht-i milk nuk vjen does not come rrugé-a street -0 ku where té holla _ pl. money nén under karafil-i carnation -a pér bukuri for beauty tubé-a_ bunch -a, me tubé in a buké-a bread bunch kéni afér nearby deré-a door dyer Present Indicative ‘uné; blei\ buy (ne~na) blejmé we buy /u) blen you (sg.) buy (ju) bleni you (pl.) buy (ai, ajé) blen he, she buys (ata, até) blejné they (m. & f.) buy ¢uné) nuk blej 1 do not buy Exercise 3 ka blejmé né thertore? Né thertore bleimé mish. Ku ka quméshtore né lagje? Njé quméshtore éshté kété nén shtépi, njé tjetér éshté né qoshe. Sot nuk ble} mish, por qumésht. Kush ka té holla ha lakra me mish, kush nuk ka té holla ha buké me qumésht. Né Shqipéri, né Itali dhe né Greqi ka vise pér bukuri. Exercise 4 Is there dust on the street? On the street there is much dust. Where are (is) there flowers nearby? There are (is) no flowers nearby. Where is Zoja?