Arvanitika or Arvanitic (native name: arbërisht, Greek: αρβανίτικα arvanitika) is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Arvanitika is sometimes also described as Graeco-Albanian or similarly,^[1] although today such designations are considered offensive by many Arvanites themselves, who identify nationally and ethnically as Greeks and not Albanians (GHM 1995). The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions } Albanians (Shqiptarët are an Ethnic group and a Nation, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture speaking the Albanian language Arvanitika is today an endangered language, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it fluently. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Name

Main articles: Albania (toponym) and Arvanites#Names

The name Arvanítika and its native equivalent Arbërishte ^[2] are derived from the ethnonym Arvanites, which in turn comes from the toponym Arbëna (Greek: Άρβανα), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in what is today Albania (Babiniotis 1998). This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. Its native equivalents (Arbërorë, Arbëreshë and others) formerly were the self-designation of Albanians in general. Both Arbëna and Albania/Albanian go further back to name forms attested since antiquity, and may be ultimately variants of the same root, although this is debated.

Classification

The place of Arvanitika within Albanian

Arvanitika was brought to southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by settlers from what is today Albania. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. Arvanitika is also closely related to Arbëresh, the dialect of Albanian in Italy, which largely go back to Arvanite settlers from Greece. Arbëresh, Arbërisht or Arbërishte is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë; the Albanian-speaking minorities in Italy Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Italian Arbëresh has retained some words identical to Greek words (for instance Haristis 'thank you', from ευχαριστώ; dhrom 'road', from δρόμος; Ne 'yes', from ναι, in certain villages). Italo-Arbëresh and Graeco-Arvanitika have a mutually intelligible vocabulary base, the unintelligible elements of the two dialects stem from the usage of Italian or Greek modernisms in the absence of native ones.

While linguistic scholarship unanimously describes Arvanitika as a dialect of Albanian^[3] many Arvanites are reported to dislike the use of the name "Albanian" to designate it^[4], as it carries the connotation of Albanian nationality and is thus felt to call their Greek identity into question. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of

Owing to its special social circumstances and ethnolinguistic identity, Arvanitika is currently listed as a separate entry ("Arvanitika Albanian", code "aat") in the draft international ISO 639-3 catalogue of language names^[5], where it is categorised as part of an Albanian "macrolanguage"^[6]. ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages Similarly, the Ethnologue lists a separate sub-entry for "Albanian, Arvanitika" ([6]), along with parallel entries for Gheg Albanian, Tosk Albanian and Arbëresh^[7]. Ethnologue Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics a Christian Gheg (or Geg) is one of the two major dialects of the Albanian language. Tosk is the southern dialect of the Albanian language. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern dialect is the Shkumbin River. There is no entry for Arvanitika in parts 1 and 2 of the international ISO 639 standard of language codes, which only has a single entry for Albanian (codes "alb", "sqi", or "sq"). ISO 639 is the set of international standards that lists short codes for Language names

Sociolinguistic work^[8] has described Arvanitika within the conceptual framework of "ausbausprachen" and "abstandssprachen"^[9]. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties In terms of "abstand" (objective difference of the linguistic systems), linguists' assessment of the degree of mutual intelligibility between Arvanitika and Standard Tosk range from fairly high^[10] to only partial (Ethnologue). The Ethnologue also mentions that mutual intelligibility may even be problematic between different subdialects within Arvanitika. Mutual intelligibility between Standard Tosk and Arvanitika is higher than that between the two main dialect groups within Albanian, Tosk and Gheg. See below for a sample text in the three language forms. Trudgill (2004: 5) sums up that "[l]inguistically, there is no doubt that [Arvanitika] is a variety of Albanian".

In terms of "ausbau" (sociolinguistic "upgrading" towards an autonomous standard language), the strongest indicator of autonomy is the existence of a separate writing system, the Greek-based Arvanitic alphabet. The Arvanitic alphabet uses the Greek script to write the Arvanitic language, similar to other older Albanian alphabets which also used the Greek script A very similar system was formerly in use also by other Tosk Albanian speakers between the 16th and 18th century^[11]. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system However, this script is very rarely used in practice today, as Arvanitika is almost exclusively a spoken language confined to the private sphere. There is also some disagreement amongst Arvanites (as with the Aromanians) as to whether the Latin alphabet should be used to write their language^[12]. Aromanians (or Macedo-Rumans; in Aromanian they call themselves Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are a people living throughout the southern Balkans Spoken Arvanitika is internally richly diversified into sub-dialects, and no further standardization towards a common (spoken or written) Standard Arvanitika has taken place. At the same time, Arvanites do not use Standard Albanian as their standard language either, as they are generally not literate in the Latin-based standard Albanian orthography, and are not reported to use spoken-language media in Standard Albanian. In this sense, then, Arvanitika is not functionally subordinated to Standard Albanian as a dachsprache ("roof language"), in the way dialects of a national language within the same country usually are. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties

Geographic distribution

Map of traditional Modern Greek dialectual isoglosses. Modern Greek (el Νέα Ελληνικά or el Νεοελληνική lit An isogloss is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain linguistic feature e The white area in the middle represents where Arvanitika was the common language before the 20th century. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on

See also: Arvanites#Demographics

There are three main groups of Arvanitic settlements in Greece. Most Arvanites live in the south of Greece, across Attica, Boeotia, the Peloponnese and some neighbouring areas and islands. Attica (Αττική Attikí;) is a periphery (subdivision in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece Boeotia ( Greek: Βοιωτία; - Voiotía, also Viotía) is one of the Prefectures of Greece. The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus ( Greek: Πελοπόννησος Pelopónnisos; see also List of Greek place names) is a large Peninsula A second, smaller group live in the northwest of Greece, in a zone contiguous with the Albanian-speaking lands proper. A third, outlying group is found in the northeast of Greece, in a few villages in Thrace. Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe

According to some authors, the term "Arvanitika" in its proper sense applies only to the southern group ^[13] or to the southern and the Thracian groups together ^[14] i. e. to those dialects that have been separated from the core of Albanian for several centuries. The dialects in the northwest are reported to be more similar to neighbouring Tosk dialects within Albania and to the speech of the former Muslim Cham Albanians (Çamërishte), who used to live in the same region ^[15]. Cham Albanians, or Chams ( Albanian: Çamë Greek: Τσάμηδες Tsámidhes) are a group of ethnic Albanians who originally resided These dialects are classified by Ethnologue as part of core Tosk Albanian, as opposed to "Arvanitika Albanian" in the narrow sense, although Ethnologue notes that the term "Arvanitika" is also often applied indiscriminately to both forms in Greece^[16]. In their own language, some groups in the north-west are reported to use the term Shqip ("Albanian") to refer to their own language as well as to that of Albanian nationals, and this has sometimes been interpreted as implying that they are ethnically Albanians^[17].

Ethnic map of the Balkans before the First Balkan War. The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 pitted the Balkan League ( Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria The Albanian-speaking regions (including Arvanitika) are indicated in a shade of very light blue.

The Arvanitika of southern Greece is richly sub-divided into local dialects. Sasse (1991) distinguishes as many as eleven dialect groups within that area: West Attic, Southeast Attic, Northeast-Attic-Boeotian, West Boeotian, Central Boeotian, Northeast Peloponnesian, Northwest Peloponnesian, South Peloponnesian, West Peloponnesian, Euboean, and Andriote.

Estimated numbers of speakers of Arvanitika vary widely, between 30,000 and 150,000. These figures include "terminal speakers" (Tsitsipis 1998) of the younger generation, who have only acquired an imperfect command of the language and are unlikely to pass it on to future generations. The number of villages with traditional Arvanite populations is estimated to 300. There are no monolingual Arvanitika-speakers, as all are today bilingual in Greek. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Arvanitika is considered an endangered language due to the large-scale language shift towards Greek among the descendants of Arvanitika-speakers in recent decades. An endangered language is a Language that it is at risk of falling out of use generally because it has few surviving speakers ^[18]

Characteristics

Arvanitika shares many features with the Tosk dialect spoken in Southern Albania. Tosk is the southern dialect of the Albanian language. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern dialect is the Shkumbin River. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. However, it has received a great deal of influence from Greek, mostly related to the vocabulary and the phonological system. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly At the same time, it is reported to have preserved some conservative features that were lost in mainstream Albanian Tosk. For example, it has preserved certain syllable-initial consonant clusters which have been simplified in Standard Albanian (cf. Arvanitika gljuhë IPA: [ˈgljuhə] ('language/tongue'), vs. Standard Albanian gjuhë [ˈɟuhə]). In recent times, linguists have observed signs of accelerated structural convergence towards Greek and structural simplification of the language, which have been interpreted as signs of "language attrition", i. e. effects of impoverishment leading towards language death^[19]. In Linguistics, language death (also language extinction, linguistic extinction, and sometimes pejoratively as linguicide) is a process

Writing system

Arvanitika has rarely been written. Reportedly (GHM 1995), it has been written in both the Greek alphabet (often with the addition of the letters b, d, e and j, or diacritics, e. 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 g. [7]) and the Latin alphabet. Orthodox Tosk Albanians also used to write with a similar form of the Greek alphabet (e. g. [8]).

Language samples

Grammar

Source: Arvanitikos Syndesmos Ellados

Pronouns

Verb paradigms

Comparison with other forms of Albanian

Some common phrases

Source: Arvanitikos Syndesmos Ellados

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ E. Arvanitika or Arvanitic ( Albanian: Arbërisht, Greek: αρβανίτικα arvanitika) is the variety of Albanian g. Furikis (1934)
2. ^ Misspelled as Arberichte in the Ethnologue report, and in some other sources based on that.
3. ^ E. g. Haebler (1965); Trudgill (1976/77); Sasse (1985, 1991); Breu (1990); Furikis (1934), Babiniotis (1985: 41).
4. ^ GHM 1995
5. ^ ISO 639 code sets
6. ^ an intermediate category between a language family on the one hand and a single language with dialects on the other. According to [1] "macrolanguages" are defined as "clusters of closely-related language varieties that [. . . ] can be considered individual languages, yet in certain usage contexts a single language identity for all is needed". This applies in "a transitional socio-linguistic situation in which sub-communities of a single language community are diverging, creating a need for some purposes to recognize distinct languages while, for other purposes, a single common identity is still valid".
7. ^ [2]?
8. ^ For detailed sociolinguistic studies of Arvanite speech communities, see Trudgill/Tzavaras 1977; Tsitsipis 1981, 1983, 1995, 1998; Banfi 1996, Botsi 2003.
9. ^ Trudgill 2004, citing the conceptual framework introduced by Kloss (1967).
10. ^ Trudgill 2004: 5, Botsi 2003
11. ^ [3], [4]
12. ^ GHM 1995
13. ^ Botsi 2003: 21
14. ^ Gordon 2005
15. ^ Euromosaic 1996
16. ^ Gordon 2005
17. ^ GHM 1995, quoting Banfi 1994
18. ^ Salminen (1993) lists it as "seriously endangered" in the Unesco Red Book of Endangered Languages. ([5]). See also Sasse (1992) and Tsitsipis (1981).
19. ^ Trudgill 1976/77; Thomason 2001, quoting Sasse 1992

[edit] References

• Babiniotis, Georgios (1985): Συνοπτική Ιστορία της ελληνικής γλώσσας με εισαγωγή στην ιστορικοσυγκριτική γλωσσολογία. Arvanitika or Arvanitic ( Albanian: Arbërisht, Greek: αρβανίτικα arvanitika) is the variety of Albanian ["A concise history of the Greek language, with an introduction to historical-comparative linguistics] Athens: Ellinika Grammata.
• Babiniotis, Georgios (1998), Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας ["Dictionary of Modern Greek"]. Athens: Kentro Lexikologias.
• Banfi, Emanuele (1994): "Minorités linguistiques en Grèce: Langues cachées, idéologie nationale, religion. " ["Linguistic minorities in Greece: Hidden languages, national ideology, religion. "] Paper presented at the Mercator Program Seminar at the Maison des Sciences de l’ Homme, on 6 June 1994, in Paris.
• Banfi, Emanuele (1996), "Minoranze linguistiche in Grecia: problemi storico- e sociolinguistici" ["Linguistic minorities in Greece: Historical and sociolinguistic problems"]. In: C. Vallini (ed. ), Minoranze e lingue minoritarie: convegno internazionale. Naples: Universtario Orientale. 89-115.
• Botsi, Eleni (2003): Die sprachliche Selbst- und Fremdkonstruktion am Beispiel eines arvanitischen Dorfes Griechenlands: Eine soziolinguistische Studie. ("Linguistic construction of the self and the other in an Arvanite village in Greece: A sociolinguistic study"). PhD dissertation, University of Konstanz, Germany. Online text
• Breu, Walter (1990): "Sprachliche Minderheiten in Italien und Griechenland. " ["Linguistic minorities in Italy and Greece"]. In: B. Spillner (ed. ), Interkulturelle Kommunikation. Frankfurt: Lang. 169-170.
• Euromosaic (1996): "L'arvanite / albanais en Grèce". Report published by the Institut de Sociolingüística Catalana. Online version
• Furikis, Petros (1934): "Η εν Αττική ελληνοαλβανική διάλεκτος". ["The Greek-Albanian dialect in Attica"] Αθήνα 45: 49-181.
• GHM (=Greek Helsinki Monitor) (1995): "Report: The Arvanites". Online report
• Gordon, Raymond G. (ed. ) (2005): Ethnologue: Languages of the world. 15th edition. Dallas: SIL International. Online database
• Haebler, Claus (1965): Grammatik der albanischen Mundarten von Salamis. ["Grammar of the Albanian dialects of Salamis"]. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz.
• Hammarström, Harald (2005): Review of Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th Edition. LINGUIST List 16. 2637 (5 Sept 2005). Online article
• Joseph, Brian D. "Comparative perspectives on the place of Arvanitika within Greece and the Greek environment", 1999, pp. 208-214 in L. Tsitsipis (ed. ), Arvanitika ke Elinika: Zitimata Poliglosikon ke Polipolitismikon Kinotiton Vol. II. Livadia: Exandas, 1999 PDF.
• Η Καινή Διαθήκη στα Αρβανίτικα: Διάτα ε Ρε ['The New Testament in Arvanitika']. Athens: Ekdoseis Gerou. No date.
• Kloss, Heinz (1967): "Abstand-languages and Ausbau-languages". Anthropological linguistics 9.
• Salminen, Tapani (1993-1999): Unesco Red Book on Endangered Languages: Europe. [9].
• Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1985): "Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel: Die Gräzisierung der albanischen Mundarten Griechenlands" ["Language contact and language change: The Hellenization of the Albanian dialects of Greece"]. Papiere zur Linguistik 32(1). 37-95.
• Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1991): Arvanitika: Die albanischen Sprachreste in Griechenland. ["Arvanitika: The Albanian language relics in Greece"]. Wiesbaden.
• Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1992): "Theory of language death". In: M. Brenzinger (ed. ), Language death: Factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 7-30.
• Sella-Mazi, Eleni (1997): "Διγλωσσία και ολιγώτερο ομιλούμενες γλώσσες στην Ελλάδα" ["Diglossia and lesser-spoken languages in Greece"]. In: K. Tsitselikis, D. Christopoulos (eds. ), Το μειονοτικό φαινόμενο στην Ελλάδα ["The minority phenomenon in Greece"]. Athens: Ekdoseis Kritiki. 349-413.
• Strauss, Dietrich (1978): "Scots is not alone: Further comparative considerations". Actes du 2^e Colloque de Language et de Litterature Ecossaises, Strasbourg 1978. 80-97.
• Thomason, Sarah G. (2001): Language contact: An introduction. Washington: Georgetown University Press. Online chapter
• Trudgill, Peter (1976-77): "Creolization in reverse: reduction and simplification in the Albanian dialects of Greece", Transactions of the Philological Society, 32-50.
• Trudgill, Peter (2004): "Glocalisation [sic] and the Ausbau sociolinguistics of modern Europe". In: A. Duszak, U. Okulska (eds. ), Speaking from the margin: Global English from a European perspective. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Online article
• Trudgill, Peter, George A. Tzavaras (1977): "Why Albanian-Greeks are not Albanians: Language shift in Attika and Biotia. " In: H. Giles (ed. ), Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations. London: Academic Press. 171-184.
• Tsitsipis, Lukas (1981): Language change and language death in Albanian speech communities in Greece: A sociolinguistic study. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
• Tsitsipis, Lukas (1983): "Language shift among the Albanian speakers of Greece. " Anthropological Linguisitcs 25(3): 288-308.
• Tsitsipis, Lukas (1995): "The coding of linguistic ideology in Arvanitika (Albanian): Language shift, congruent and contradictory discourse. " Anthropological Linguistics 37: 541-577.
• Tsitsipis, Lukas (1998a): Αρβανίτικα και Ελληνικά: Ζητήματα πολυγλωσσικών και πολυπολιτισμικών κοινοτήτων. ["Arvanitika and Greek: Issues of multilingual and multicultural communities"]. Vol. 1. Livadeia.
• Tsitsipis, Lukas (1998b): A Linguistic Anthropology of Praxis and Language Shift: Arvanitika (Albanian) and Greek in Contact. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-823731-6. (Review by Alexander Rusakov on Linguist List. )
• The bilingual New Testament: H καινη Διαθηκη του Κυριου και Σωτηρος ημων Iησου Χριστου, διγλωττος, τουτεστι γραικικη και αλβανιτικη. Dhjata e re e Zotit sonë që na shpëtoi, Iisu Hrishtoit mbë di gjuhë, do me thënë gërqishte e dhe shqipëtarçe. Epistasia Grêgoriou Archiepiskopou tês Euboias. Korfoi. En tê typografia tês Dioikêseôs. 1827

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue entry
• UNESCO's entry on Arvanitika Albanian
• Arvanitic dialogues - Arvanite League of Greece (in Arvanitika and in Greek)
• Study on the third person pronoun of Arvanitika by Panayotis D. Arvanitika or Arvanitic ( Albanian: Arbërisht, Greek: αρβανίτικα arvanitika) is the variety of Albanian Kupitoris, 24 March 1989