The modern Albanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 36 letters:

Note: The vowels are shown in bold. Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled bee or occasionally be (biː plural bees. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː Ç, ç ( C - Cedilla) is a letter of Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Tatar, Kurdish language D is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled dee or occasionally de (diː Dh (lowercase dh) is a digraph consisting of the letters D and H. E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E Ë, ë ( E - umlaut or diaeresis) is a letter of Albanian and Kashubian language. F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ef or eff (ɛf G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled gee or occasionally ge (dʒiː The voiced palatal plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added K is the eleventh letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled kay (keɪ L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl Ll / ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural Languages In English In English, ll represents the same sound M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled em (ɛm N is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled en (ɛn O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. Its name in English is spelled o (oʊ plural usually o's or os; sometimes P is the sixteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled pee or occasionally pe (piː Q is the seventeenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cue (kjuː R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ar (ɑr pronounced or) Rr is a Digraph which occurs in several Natural languages In the English language, "rr" is usually pronounced equivalently to "r" S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- Sh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of S and H. T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee or occasionally te (tiː Th is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. for /th/ The most obvious use of the letter combination is to represent U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled vee or occasionally ve (viː X is the twenty-fourth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ex or occasionally ecks (ɛks plural exes Xh is a digraph consisting of the letters X and H. It is used in only a few Writing systems In Albanian, xh represents The letter Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Zh is a Digraph consisting of the letters Z and H. This digraph represents the Voiced postalveolar fricative ( like the Listen (help·info) to the pronunciation of the letters.

History

The modern Latin-based Albanian alphabet is the result of long evolution. Before the creation of the unified alphabet, Albanian was written in six different alphabets, with several sub-variants:

• The Latin alphabet, using various conventions:
  • The oldest surviving Albanian document of the 15th century was written in the Latin alphabet. Early Albanian writers such as Gjon Buzuku, Pjetër Bogdani, Pjetër Budi, and Frang Bardhi also used a Latin-based script, adding Greek characters to represent extra sounds. Gjon Buzuku (16th century was an Albanian Catholic Clergyman who wrote the first known printed book in Albanian. Pjetër Bogdani (ca 1630 - 1689 known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano, is the most original writer of early literature in Albania. Pjetër Budi (1566-1622 known in Italian as Pietro Budi, was the author of four Religious works in Albanian. Frang Bardhi ( Latin: Franciscus Blancus, Italian: Francesco Bianchi) (1606-1643 was an early Albanian church figure and author
  • Evetor. In 1824, Naum Veqilharxhi generated a 33-letter Latin-based alphabet which was mainly used in southern Albania, dropping previous Greek and Arabic characters. Year 1824 ( MDCCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year
  • A Catholic alphabet used by Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanians). Arbëreshë are an ethnic community living in Italy, especially the regions of Calabria and Sicily. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest } Albanians (Shqiptarët are an Ethnic group and a Nation, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture speaking the Albanian language
  • The Istanbul alphabet, created by Sami Frashëri, combining Latin and Greek. Sami Frashëri ( Turkish: Şemseddin Sami Bey born June 1, 1850, Frashër,Kolonje Albania &ndash June 18, 1904 This became widely used as it was also adopted by the Istanbul Society for the Printing of Albanian Writings, which in 1879 printed Alfabetare, the first Albanian abecedarium. Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common An abecedarium (or abecedary is an Inscription consisting of the letters of the Alphabet, almost always listed in order
  • Bashkimi, developed by the Albanian literary society Bashkimi (Unity) in Shkodër with the help of Catholic clergy and Franciscans aiming at more simplicity than its forerunners. Shkodër (Shkodër or Shkodra is a city located on Lake Shkodër in northwestern Albania in the District Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic
  • Agimi, developed by the Agimi ("Dawn") Literary Society in 1901, and spearheaded by Ndre Mjeda. Ndre Mjeda (born November 20, 1866, Shkodër, Albania - August 1, 1937, Shkodër
• The Greek alphabet; used to write Tosk starting in about 1500 (Elsie, 1991). The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early The printing press at Voskopojë published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. History Although located in a rather isolated place in the mountains of southern Albania the city rose to become the most important center of the Aromanians (Macrakis, 1996) The Greek-based modern Arvanitic alphabet is now only used in Greece. The Arvanitic alphabet uses the Greek script to write the Arvanitic language, similar to other older Albanian alphabets which also used the Greek script
• The Ottoman Turkish alphabet, favored by Muslims. The Ottoman Turkish alphabet (الفبا elifbâ) was the version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet that was used for the Ottoman Turkish language during the A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion
• The Elbasan script (18th century); locally used in central Albania. Elbasan script is an eighteenth-century script used for the Albanian language. (Omniglot)
• The Beitha Kukju script (1840); another local script, named after its inventor. Beitha Kukju was an Albanian who invented a script used for the Albanian language in about 1840 called the Beitha Kukju script after its inventor (Omniglot)
• The Cyrillic alphabet (Christophoridēs, 1872). The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by
  • Albanians in Yugoslavia who were educated in Serbian schools only used Cyrillic letters to communicate in Albanian during the 20th century. However, this was restricted to vulgar usage only.

On November 22, 1908, a Congress was held in Manastir regarding the unification of written Albanian into a single alphabet. Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Bitola (Битола; known also by several alternative names) is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - Prominent delegates included Midhat Frashëri, Sotir Peçi, Shahin Kolonja, and Gjergj D. Mid'hat Bey Frashëri (also known as Lumo Skendo) ( March 25, 1880, Ioannina, Ottoman Empire - October 3, 1949 Kyrias. There was much debate and the contending alphabets were Istanbul, Bashkimi and Agimi. However, the Congress was unable to make a clear decision and opted for a compromise solution of using both the widely used Istanbul and a new Latin one. During 1909 and 1910 there were movements by Young Turks supporters to adopt an Arabic alphabet, as they considered the Latin-based alphabet to be un-Islamic. Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The Young Turks ( Turkish: Jön Türkler (plural from French: Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favoring reforming the For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. In Korçë and Gjirokastër, demonstrations took place favoring the Latin-based alphabet, and in Elbasan, Muslim clerics led a demonstration for the Arabic alphabet, telling their congregations that using the Latin alphabet would make them infidels. Korçë (Korçë or Korça is a major city in the Korçë District of south-eastern Albania, located at near the border with Gjirokastër or Gjirokastra ( Albanian ɟɪɾokaˈstəɾ Ljurocastru Αργυρόκαστρο Argyrókastro) is a City Elbasan ( Albanian: Elbasan or Elbasani) is a City in central Albania. In 1911, the Young Turks dropped their opposition to the Latin-based alphabet; finally, the modified Bashkimi alphabet was adopted, and is still used today. Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The Young Turks ( Turkish: Jön Türkler (plural from French: Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favoring reforming the

Keyboard Layouts

Windows XP default

The Albanian keyboard layout is German based (QWERTZ). The QWERTZ or QWERTZU keyboard is a widely used Computer and Typewriter keyboard layout that is mostly used in German -speaking regions The specific Albanian characters are directly accessible (ë, Ë, ç, Ç).

Prektora

A preferable alternative to the default one is Prektora, a (QWERTY) keyboard layout for Windows XP and Vista. QWERTY (ˈkwɜː(rti is the most common modern-day Keyboard layout on English-language computer and Typewriter keyboards It takes its (ë, Ë, ç, Ç, é, É, ô, Ô, â, Â)

JLG Extended Keyboard Layout

The JLG Extended Keyboard Layout is a layout working on a US keyboard layout. This layout allows to make all specific Albanian characters.

• ë = CTRL + " then e
• Ë = CTRL + " then E
• ç = CTRL + , then c
• Ç = CTRL + , then C

See also

• Albanian language
• Alphabets derived from the Latin

References

• Van Christo, "The Long Struggle for the Albanian Alphabet", formerly available at [1]; archived at [2]. Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - Variants of the Latin alphabet are used by the Writing systems of many languages throughout the world Christo in turn says "Much of the above material was excerpted or otherwise derived from Stavro Skendi's excellent book The Albanian National Awakening: 1878-1912, Princeton University Press, 1967". Stavro Skendi (b 1905 in Korçë; d August 17, 1989 in Long Island) was a U
• Robert Elsie, "Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing", Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 15:20 (1991) [3].
• Omniglot on Albanian
• Christophoridēs, Kōnstantinos, Psalteri, kequem mbas ebra istese vietere skip nde gegeniste prei Konstantinit Kristoforidit, Constantinople, 1872.
• Macrakis, Stavros M. , "Character codes for Greek: Problems and modern solutions" in Macrakis, 1996. Includes discussion of the Greek alphabet used for languages other than Greek. [4]

External links

• Albanian alphabet on YouTube