Arbëresh language

Arbëresh comprises the Albanian linguistic varieties spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Italy, brought there by several migratory waves of Albanians from Albania and Greece since the Late Middle Ages. Arbëresh varieties are derived from the old Tosk Albanian varieties spoken in the south-western Balkans, and throughout the centuries they have developed in Italy in contact with the neighboring Italo-Romance-speaking communities. Other Tosk Albanian varieties from the Late Middle Ages referred to as Arvanitika are spoken in Greece by the Arvanites. E Mbësuame e Krështerë by Luca Matranga from Piana degli Albanesi is the earliest known Old Tosk text, a translation of a catechism book from Latin.
The Arbëreshë people are bilingual, also speaking Italian. Arbëresh is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. While Italian law protects the language and culture of the Albanian people in Italy, the language taught at school and university is Standard Albanian, constituting an issue for the Arbëresh communities' preservation of their native idiom, which has remained separated from the main Albanian-speaking compact area for around 500 years. Alongside the fact that Arbëresh is rarely written, another issue for the language attrition is the differentiation between the Albanian varieties used in Italy: the Arbëresh local idioms in some areas are so different from each other that Arbëresh people of those areas use Italian or Standard Albanian as lingua franca to communicate with each other.

History

Between the 11th and 14th centuries, Albanian-speaking mercenaries from the areas of medieval Albania, Epirus and Morea now Peloponesse, were often recruited by the Franks, Aragonese, Italians and Byzantines.
The invasion of the Balkans by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century caused large waves of emigration from the Balkans to southern Italy. In 1448, the King of Naples, Alfonso V of Aragon, asked the Albanian noble Skanderbeg to transfer to his service ethnic Albanian mercenaries. Led by Demetrio Reres and his two sons, these men and their families were settled in twelve villages in the Catanzaro area of Calabria. The following year, some of their relatives and other Albanians were settled in four villages in Sicily. In 1459 Ferdinand I of Naples also requested assistance from Skanderbeg. After victories in two battles, a second contingent of Albanians was rewarded with land east of Taranto, in Apulia, where they founded 15 villages. After the death of Skanderbeg, resistance to the Ottomans in Albania came to an end. Subsequently, many Albanians fled to neighbouring countries and some settled in villages in Calabria.
There was a constant flow of ethnic Albanians into Italy into the 16th century, and other Albanian villages were formed on Italian soil. The new immigrants often took up work as mercenaries with Italian armies. For instance, between 1500 and 1534, Albanians from central Greece were employed as mercenaries by Venice, to evacuate its colonies in the Peloponnese, as the Turks invaded. Afterwards these troops reinforced defences in southern Italy against the threat of Turkish invasion. They established self-contained communities, which enabled their distinct language and culture to flourish. Arbëreshë, as they became known, were often soldiers for the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice, between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Despite an Arbëreshë cultural and artistic revival in the 19th century, emigration from southern Italy significantly reduced the population. In particular, migration to the Americas between 1900 and 1940 caused the total depopulation of approximately half of the Arbëreshë villages. The speech community forms part of the highly heterogenous linguistic landscape of Italy, with 12 recognised linguistic minorities Italian state law. The exact Arbëresh speech population is uncertain, as the Italian national census does not collect data on minority language speakers. This is also further complicated by the Italian state's protection of the Albanian culture and population as a whole and not Arbëresh Albanian specifically. This law theoretically implements specific measures in various fields such as education, communication, radio, press and TV public service, but in the case of the Arberesh community the legal construction of the language as "Albanian" and the community as the "Albanian population" effectively homogenises the language and has not led to adequate provision for the linguistic needs of the communities.

Classification

Arbëresh varieties derive from varieties of Old Tosk Albanian, which were spoken in southern Albania and Greece. They have experienced a similar evolutionary pattern to Arvanitika, the Albanian linguistic varieties spoken in Greece. Arbëresh varieties are spoken in Southern Italy in the regions of Abruzzi, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Apulia and Sicily. The varieties of Arbëresh are closely related to each other but are not always entirely mutually intelligible.
Arbëresh retains many features of medieval Albanian from the time before the Ottoman invasion of Albania in the 15th century. Arbëresh varieties also retain some Greek elements, including vocabulary and pronunciation, most of which they share with Arvanitika varieties. Many of the conservative features of Arbëresh were lost in mainstream Albanian Tosk. For example, it has preserved certain syllable-initial consonant clusters which have been simplified in Standard Albanian. Arbëresh most resembles the varieties of Albanian spoken in the southern region of Albania, notably Lab Albanian, as well as Cham Albanian.
Arbëresh was commonly called Albanese in Italy until the 1990s. Until the 1980s Arbëresh was mostly a spoken language, except for its written form used in the Italo-Albanian Byzantine Church, and Arbëreshë people had no practical connection with the Standard Albanian language – which was unified as a mainly Gheg-based standard from 1908 to 1969, and as a mainly Tosk-based standard from 1969 – as they did not use the standard Albanian form of writing.
Since the 1980s, some efforts have been organized to preserve the cultural and linguistic heritage of the language.
Arbëresh has been replaced by local Romance languages and by Italian in several villages, and in others is experiencing contact-induced language shift. Many scholars have produced language learning materials for communities, including those by Giuseppe Schirò Di Maggio, Gaetano Gerbino, Matteo Mandalà, Zef Chiaramonte.
The Arbëresh local idioms in some areas are so different from each other that Arbëresh people of those areas use Italian or Standard Albanian as lingua franca to communicate with each other.

Language or dialect

Arbëresh language beside medieval mainland Tosk Albanian is also descended from Arvanitika which evolved separately from other forms of Albanian since the 13th century when its first speakers emigrated to Morea from Southern Albania and Epirus. A dialect is defined linguistically as closely related and, despite their differences, by mutual intelligibility. In the absence of rigorous linguistic intelligibility tests, the claim cannot be made whether one is a dialect or a separate variant of the same language group.

Varieties

The varieties of Arbëresh largely correspond with the regions where they are spoken, while some settlements have distinctive features that result in greater or lesser degrees of mutual intelligibility.
The Siculo-Arbëresh variety is spoken exclusively in the Province of Palermo and in three villages: Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Cristina Gela and Contessa Entellina; while the varieties of Piana and Santa Cristina Gela are similar enough to be entirely mutually intelligible, the variety of Contessa Entellina is not entirely intelligible. Therefore a further dialect within Siculo-Arbëresh known as the Palermitan-Arbëresh variety can be identified, as well as a Cosenza variety, a Basilicata variety, and a Campania variety represented by the speech of one single settlement of Greci. There is also a Molisan-Arbëresh and an Apulio-Arbëresh.
Within the Cosenza Calabrian varieties of Arbëresh, the dialect of Vaccarizzo Albanese is particularly distinct. Spoken in the villages of Vaccarizzo Albanese and San Giorgio Albanese in Calabria by approximately 3,000 people, Vaccarizzo Albanian has retained many archaic features of both Gheg and Tosk dialects.

Phonology

Some features of Arbëresh distinguish it considerably from standard Albanian while also maintaining features still used in other Tosk Albanian dialects. In some cases these are retentions of older pronunciations.

Vowels

;Ë
The letter is pronounced as either a mid central vowel or as a close back unrounded vowel. So the word is pronounced either or depending on the dialect.
;Y to I
Arbëresh lacks the close front rounded vowel of Albanian, which is replaced by the close front unrounded vowel. For example becomes tihj, and becomes hini.

Consonants

GJ, Q
The letters and are pronounced as a palatalized voiced velar plosive and a palatalized voiceless velar plosive, rather than a voiced palatal plosive and a voiceless palatal plosive as in standard Albanian. E.g. the word is pronounced rather than, is pronounced rather than, and is pronounced.
GL, KL
In some words, Arbëresh has preserved the consonant clusters and. In Standard Albanian these have mostly become the palatal stops gj and q, e.g. glet not , klumësht not , and klisha instead of .
H, HJ
The letter is pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative. As such, the Albanian word is pronounced, not. Arbëresh additionally has the palatalized counterpart,. Therefore, the word is pronounced. The letter combination is present in a few standard Albanian words, but is not treated as a separate letter of the alphabet as it is in Arbëresh.
LL, G, GH
The letters and are realised as a voiced velar fricative. The vast majority of these words originate in Sicilian, but the sound also occurs in words of Albanian origin. Often when pronounced is replaced by in the Arbëresh orthography, with in theory reserved for . This feature is very strong that it is carried over into the Italian speech of inhabitants of Piana degli Albanesi and Santa Cristina Gela in words such as grazie, frigorifero, gallera, magro, gamba etc. which are realised respectively as,,,, etc. In Piana degli Albanesi the tendency is to treat Italian loanwords differently from Sicilian, which results in the difference between llampjun, pronounced as , and lampadhin, pronounced as . In the first example, the becomes because it comes from Sicilian, whereas in the process of transference from the Italian lampadina to Arbëresh lampadhin, the does not change but the becomes.

Written	Pronounced	English
gëzim		joy
grish		invite
llah		eat until stuffed
pagëzim		baptism

Written	Pronounced
fughurë
fugatjar
garazh
ghurg
ghust
ghuant
maghare

Final devoicing of consonants

Arbëresh has retained an archaic system of final devoicing of consonants in contrast with Standard Albanian. The consonants that change when in final position or before another consonant are the voiced stops b, d, g, gj; the voiced affricates x, xh; and the voiced fricatives dh, ll, v, z, zh.

Original voiced	b	d	g/gh /	gj	x	xh	dh	ll	v	z	zh
Devoiced	p	t	k	q	c	ch	th	h	f	s	sh

Examples:b > p: thelb - d > t: Vent - dh > th: zgledh - g > k: lig - gj > q: zogj - j > hj: vaj - ll > h: uthull - x > c: ndanx - z > s: loz - zh > sh: gozhda -

Stress

Stress in Arbëresh is usually on the penultimate syllable, as in Italian.

Morphology

In Arbëresh, just like in Tosk, the first person present indicative is marked by the word ending in NJ, whereas in standard Albanian this is normally marked by J.
So, 'I live' is rrónj in Arbëresh and rroj in standard Albanian.
The present continuous or gerund differs from Standard Albanian; Arbëresh uses the form jam'e bënj instead of po bej.

Writing system

The language is not usually written outside of the church and a few highly educated families, but officials are now using the standard Albanian alphabet, which is used on street signs in villages as well as being taught in schools.

Letter	IPA	Example
a		tata
b		brënda
c		qaca
ç		çë
d		ndanx
dh		dhaskal
e		rritrenjet
ë	/	mëmë
f		falem
g		ngë
gh		ghua
gj		gjitonia
h	/	hora
hj		hjedh
i		grish
j		jinë
k		kloft
l		lalë
ll		llah
m		mbatanë
n		ngrënit
nj		njera
o		vova
p		pincar
q		qiell
r		rto
rr		rritrat
s		sprasmja
sh		klumësht
t		tihj
th		thelb
u		uthull
v		vaj
x		xathur
xh		xhishu
z		zgledh
zh		gozhda

Non-Albanian derived elements

Vocabulary

The adoption of words of ancient Greek origin or of the Koine comes above all from their use in Byzantine religious practices, when the corresponding use in Albanian declined, the "courtly" one of the church was used. The Arberesh use ancient Greek in their liturgies. Thus synonyms are created, such as parkales or lutje for the word "prayer".
Some Arbëresh words appear to be of Koine Greek influence. Examples:

amáhj < .
haristís < . Arvanitika uses fharistisem.
hora <
parkalés from .
hiravol, < χειρόβολο.

Some Arbëresh words appear to be of Albanian Arvanitika which has influenced the current Greek areas since the Middle Ages. Examples:

dhomat, < Gr. δεμάτιον.
argomē, < όργωμα. Today surviving in the toponym Argomazit of Piana dei Albanesi.
kalogreshza, < καλόγρια = woman monk.
gjitonia, < γειτονία.
dhaskal, < δάσκαλος.

On the Koine Greek elements in the Italo-Albanian dialects see T. Jochalas.

Archaic Latin-Sicilianisms

In the Arbëresh varieties of Sicily and Calabria there are loanwords from the Sicilian language that have crystallized into the Arberesh language matrix at some time in the past but have now mostly disappeared, or evolved in the Romance vocabulary of the local population. This also occurs in other Arberesh varieties outside of Sicily with the local Romance varieties of their communities.
Examples:

ghranet < Sic. granna, meaning 'grains'. It is still used in some contexts by modern Sicilian speakers, but in all situations in Arbëresh. Another Arbëresh word for 'money' is haromë, but is no longer used.
qaca < Sic. chiazza; used in all Arbëresh dialects as well as Sicilian. The Albanian word sheshi which means 'square' in standard Albanian means 'plateau' in Arbëresh.
rritrenjet < Norman French via Sic. retained in Arbëresh, but no longer in use in modern Sicilian.
rritrat < Sic. 'picture', more common in Arbëresh than in modern Sicilian.
zdar < Sic. sdari; no longer commonly used in Sicilian.
zgarrar < Sic. sgarrari.

Incorporation

Alongside the Sicilian vocabulary element in Siculo-Arbëresh, the language also includes grammatical rules for the incorporation of Sicilian-derived verbs in Arbëresh, which differs from the rules concerning Albanian lexical material.
Examples:pincar, originally mendonj – mbanj mend but also mëndinj; derived from the Sicilian 'pinzari'. Which conjugates in the present tense as follows:

U pincar = I think
Ti pincar = You think
Ai/Ajo pincar = He/She thinks
Na pincarjëm = We think
Ju pincarni = You think
Ata/Ato pincarjën = They think

In the past tense this conjugates as follows:

U pincarta = I thought
Ti pincarte = You thought
Ai/Ajo pincarti = He/She thought
Na pincartëm = We thought
Ju pincartët = You thought
Ata/Ato pincartën = They thought

Contractions

M’e tha mua	He told it to me
Ngë m’i tha mua	He did not tell it to me
T’e thom	I tell you it
T’i thom	I tell you it

Diminutives and augmentatives

The Arbëresh diminutive and augmentative system is calqued from Sicilian and takes the form of = Sic. -azz; for example "kalac", and the diminutive takes the form of from Sic. /-c-edd; for example "vajziçele". The Arbëresh word for "swear word" is fjalac and comes from a fusion of the Arbëresh word of Albanian etymology: "fjalë" plus the Sicilian augmentative /-azz/ minus the feminine gendered ending /-a/; this calques the Sicilian word palurazza which is cognate with Italian parolaccia.

Comparison with other forms of Albanian

There are many instances in which Arberisht differs greatly from Standard Albanian, for instance:

Arbërisht	Shqip	Meaning
Falem	Përshëndetje / Tungjatjeta	Hello
Mirë se na jerdhët / Mirë se vini	Mirë se erdhët	Welcome
Mirëmenat	Mirëmëngjes	Good morning
Vjen’ më rarë or vjen më thënë	do të thotë or do me thënë	It means
Bëjëm të shkonj	më le të kaloj	Let me pass
Shkòmë musturën	më jep piperin	Pass me the pepper
Zotërote ë një "zot"?	Zotëri, jeni prift?	Sir, are you a priest?
E ghrish zotërisë satë për një pasjatë	ju ftoj për një shëtitje	I invite you for a stroll
Zglith/djovasë mirë	lexo mirë	Read well
qëroi isht burinë i lik	moti është shumë i keq	The weather is very bad
U rri Sëndahstinë	jetoj në Shën Kristinë	I live in Santa Cristina
Ka bëjëm të ngrënit	do ta gatuajmë ushqimin	We will prepare the food
U ka jecur njera qacës	unë kam ecur tek sheshi	I have walked to the square
Ghajdhuri isht ndë horë/katund	gomari është në katund/fshat	The donkey is into the village
Jam e vete ngulem/flë	unë do të shtrihem/fle	I'm going to sleep
lip ndjesë se zgarrarta/gabova shumë	më fal se gabova shumë	I'm sorry that I've made so many errors
Ajo isht jime shoqe	ajo është gruaja ime/Im shoqe	She is my wife
Flit t'arbrisht	fol shqip	Speak Albanian
Jim shoq isht e ngulet	burri im/Im'shoq është duke fjetur	My husband is sleeping
Më përqen rritëratin tënd	më pëlqen fotografia jote	I like our photograph
Mortatë or motrëmëmë	hallë or tezë	Aunt
Lalë or vovi	xhaxha or Lalë	Uncle or Older brother
Lalbukri	burri i hallës	Uncle uncle in law
Vova	motra e madhe	Older sister
Tata	babai or at/tata	Father
Mëmë	nënë or mama	Mother
Mëdhè	edhe/ende	Also
ghua	vëlla	brother
Ndrëngova	Kuptova	I understood
Sprasmja	Fund	end
Jot'ëm sempri të thëshjë të mos haje nga tajuri çë ngë ka' klënë pastruar!	Jot'ëmë përherë/gjithmonë të thoshte të mos haje nga pjata që nuk është pastruar!	Your mother always said don't eat from plates that haven't been cleaned!
Kemi besë se ai ngë i ftes	besojmë se ai nuk ka faj	We believe he is not at fault

Grammar comparison

There are many elements of Arberesh grammar that differ considerably from Albanian, for example:

Arbërisht	Shqip	Meaning	Notes
ka shkosh	do të kalosh	You will pass	Arbërisht uses the common Balkan participle ka, whereas Shqip uses do which translates as 'want', which is also a feature of the Balkan sprachsbund
flini alluras/anangasij	folni/flisni shpejt	Speak fast
flëni	flini	Sleep!
bëjëm të shkonj	më lër të kaloj	Let me pass	Shqip uses 'allow me to pass' whereas Arbërisht uses 'we do to pass' and 'able to pass'.
vajta	Vajta/shkova	I went	Arbërisht conjugates from the Tosk word të vete whereas shkova means 'I passed' in Arbërisht
ke gjegjur	ke dëgjuar	You have heard
Zoti/prifti zën fill parkalesin/lutjen	Prifti fillon lutjen	The priest starts the prayer
Stis	Ndërtoj	I build
Jo, nëng/ngë e kam parë	Jo, nuk e kam parë	No, I haven't seen it
jam e flas, je flet, ai isht e flet, ajo isht e flet, jem'e flasjëm, jan'e flasjën, jan'e flini	po flas, ti po flet, ai po flet, ajo po flet, po flasim, po flasin, po flisni	I am talking, you are talking, he is talking, she is talking, we are talking, they are talking, you are talking	The present continuous is marked with the structure 'I am, You are, He is, She is, We are, They are etc. Whereas Shqip uses po which literally means 'yes'
ki’ të zgjoneshjëm	duhet të ishim zgjuar	We should have got up
Ku ë/isht/osht Mëria?	Ku është Maria?	Where is Maria?	The locative marker te which literally means 'to' is added before ku 'where'.
Mërìa rri alartë	Maria jeton lartë	Maria lives upstairs
Si ë Zotërote?	Si jeni ju, Zotëri?	How are you? sir?	The polite or formal is marked by use of Zotërote with ju being reserved for the plural only

Name

The name Arbërishte is derived from the ethnonym "Albanoi", which in turn comes from the toponym "Arbëria", which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in what is today Albania. Its native equivalents used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. Both "Arbëria" and "Albania/Albanian" go further back to name forms attested since antiquity.
Within the Arbëresh community the language is often referred to as "Tarbrisht" or "Gjegje". The origin of the term "gjegje" is uncertain, however this does mean "listen" in Arbërisht. Gheg is also the name of one of the two major dialects of Albanian as spoken in the Balkans. According to the writer Arshi Pipa, the term Gegë was initially used for confessional denotation, being used in pre-Ottoman Albania by its Orthodox population when referring to their Catholic neighbors.

Arbëresh names

Every Italo-Albanian person is given a legal Italian name and also a name in Albanian Arbërisht. Quite often the Arbëresh name is merely a translation of the Italian name. Arbëresh surnames are also used amongst villagers but do not carry any legal weight; the Arbëresh surname is called an "ofiqe" in Arbërisht. Some Arbëresh 'ofiqe' are 'Butijuni', 'Pafundi', 'Skarpari'.
Examples of Italian names and their Arbëresh equivalents:

Italian	Arbëresh
Giuseppe	Zef, Josif
Marco	Marku
Luca	Lekë, Lekini/u
Francesco	Frangjishk, Nxhiku, Çiku
Nicola	Kola, Koll, Nikoll
Angelica	Ëngjëlliqe
Gabriele	Gavril, Bjelli
Alessandro	Lishëndër-i
Elena, Elenuccia	Lena, Lenuca
Giacomo	Minu, Minikeli, Jakini
Mario, Mariuccio	Marjani, Marjucë
Emanuele, Manuele	Manuel-i
Maria	Mëria
Martino	Martini, Tinuçë
Gaetano	Tani
Eleuterio	Lëfteri
Antonio	Ndon, Nton, Gjon
Gaspare	Ghaspani
Domenica	Mima
Lorenzo	Lloreu
Giovanni	Jani, Xhuan, Vanù
Demetrio	Dhimitër-i
Spiridione	Spiridhon, Dhoni, Spiro
Rosalia, Rosario	Sallja, Saridu
Tommaso, Tommasino	Masinë
Cosimo	Gësmëni
Saverio	Shaverë
Andrea	Ndrica

Language samples

Verbs

	Form	English
Infinitive	të bunj	to do
Gerund	jam e bunj	doing

Some common phrases

Arberesh	English
Falem	Hello.
Çë bun? Si rri?	What are you doing? How are you?
Jam shum mirë	I am very well
Të haristis, je mirë?	Thank you, and are you well?
O, jam edhe u mirë.	Yes, I'm fine too.
Flet arbreshin?	Do you speak Arbërisht?
Ka vjen?	Where are you from?
Jam arbëresh	I'm Italo-Albanian
Mëma isht ka Srigari	My mother is from San Cosmo Albanese
Ju parkales	Please
Gëzonem të të njoh	Pleased to meet you
Mirëdita	Good morning
Shihemi	See you soon
Gjegjemi njize	We'll speak soon
Si të thon?	What's your name?
Mua më thonë Marieja	My name is Maria
Ëj/ò	Yes
Arà/ëj	Yes
Ora/ëj	Yes
Jo	No

Prepositions

Arbëresh	English
te	to
nga/ka	from
prapa	behind
te ana e	beside, next to
mbatanë	on the other side
kundër	against
me	with
'e, i, të	of
brënda	within, inside
jashtë	outside
sipër	on, above
njera	until
për	for
nën	under
mjes/midis/ndër	between, among

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns replace nouns once they are able to be understood from their context.

Arbëresh	English
ai/ajo	that
ata/ato	those
ki/kjo	this
rta/rto	these
mosgjë/farëgjë	none