Albanian alphabet
Encyclopedia
The modern Albanian
alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 36 letters:
Note: The vowels are shown in bold. to the pronunciation of the letters.
. In this manuscript there is a quoted phrase about the existence of books in Albania "licet Albanenses aliam omnino linguam a latina habeant et diversam, tamen litteram latinam habent in usu et in omnibus suis libris" (The Albanians indeed have a language quite different from Latin, however they use Latin letters in all their books). Though the reference to the existence of the Albanian language is clear, that to writing in Albanian is ambiguous. It cannot be said for certain whether the author meant books in Albanian language written with Latin letters or simply books written in Latin.
The first certain document in Albanian "Formula e pagëzimit
" (1462) (Baptesimal formula), issued by Pal Engjëlli
, (1417–1470) was written in Latin characters. It was a simple phrase that was supposed to be used by the relatives of a dying person if they couldn't make it to churches during the troubled times of the Ottoman invasion.
Also, the five Albanian writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Gjon Buzuku
, Lekë Matrënga
, Pjetër Budi
, Frang Bardhi
and Pjetër Bogdani
) who form the core of early Albanian literature
, all used a Latin alphabet for their Albanian books; this alphabet remained in use by writers in northern Albania until the beginning of the 20th century.
, an Albanian scholar and translator, drafted in Istanbul
, Ottoman Empire
, a Memorandum for the Albanian language. He then went to Malta
where he stayed until 1860 in a Protestant seminary
, finishing the translation of The New Testament in the Tosk and Gheg dialects. He was helped by Nikolla Serreqi from Shkodër
with the Gheg version of the Testament. Nikolla Serreqi was also the propulsor for the use of the Latin script for the translation of the New Testament, which had already been used by the early writers of the Albanian literature and Kristoforidhi enthousiastically embraced the idea of a Latin alphabet.
In November 1869, a Commission for the Alphabet of the Albanian Language was gathered in Istanbul. One of its members was Kostandin Kristoforidhi
and the main purpose of the Commission was the creation of a unique alphabet for all the Albanians. In January 1870 the Commission ended its work of the standardization of the alphabet, which was mainly in Latin letters. A plan on the creation of textbooks and spread of Albanian schools was drafted. However this plan was not realized, because the Ottoman Government wouldn't finance the expenses for the establishment of such schools.
Although this commission had gathered and delivered an alphabet in 1870, the writers from the North still used the Latin based alphabet, whereas in Southern Albania writers used mostly the Greek letters. In Southern Albania, the main activity of Albanian writers consisted mostly in translating Greek Orthodox religious text and not in forming any kind of literature which could form a strong tradition for the use of Greek letters. As the Albanologist Robert Elsie has written:
The turning point was the aftermath of the League of Prizren
(1878) events when in 1879 Sami Frashëri and Naim Frashëri
formed the "Association for Albanian publications". Sami Frashëri, Koto Hoxhi
, Pashko Vasa
and Jani Vreto
created an alphabet. This was based on the principle of "one sound one letter" (except for the rr digraph). This was called the "Istanbul alphabet" (also "Frashëri alphabet"). In 1905 this alphabet was in widespread use in all Albanian territory, North and South, including Catholic, Muslim and Orthodox areas.
One year earlier, in 1904 had been published the Albanian dictionary of Kostandin Kristoforidhi
, after the author's death. The dictionary had been drafted 25 years before its publication and was written in the Greek alphabet.
The so-called Bashkimi alphabet was designed for being written on a French typewriter and includes no diacritics other than é
(compared to ten graphemes of the Istanbul alphabet which were either non-Latin or had diacritics).
, Ottoman Empire
, modern-day Republic of Macedonia
. The Congress was hosted by the Bashkimi ("unity") club, and prominent delegates included Gjergj Fishta
, Ndre Mjeda
, Mit'hat Frashëri, Sotir Peçi
, Shahin Kolonja
, and Gjergj D. Qiriazi. 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, with minor changes, and a modified version of the Bashkimi alphabet. Usage of the alphabet of Istanbul declined rapidly and it was essentially extinct over the following decades.
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. 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 script would make them infidels. 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.
The modifications to the Bashkimi alphabet were made to include characters used in the Istanbul and Agimi alphabets. Ç was chosen over ch since c with cedilla could be found on every typewriter, given its extensive use in Romance languages. Other changes were more esthetic and as a way to combine the three scripts.
A second congress at Monastir (Bitola) was held on 21 March 1910, which confirmed the decision taken in the first congress of Monastir. After Albanian independence
in 1912, there were two alphabets in use. Following the events of the Balkan wars and World War I, the Bashkimi variant dominated the terrain. The Bashkimi variant is at the origin of the official alphabet of the Albanian language in use today.
The present-day q was variously written as ch, chi, k, ky, kj, and as a k with various diacritics (dot, overline, apostrophe). Q was first used in Frashëri's Stamboll mix-alphabet in 1879 and also in the Grammaire albanais of 1887.
. The second sound was written as h, kh, ch, and Greek khi χ.
The letters ξ and ψ were also used to represent modern letter combinations ks and ps, respectively.
a а
b б
c ц
ç ч
d д
dh
e е
ë ъ
f ф
g г
gj гї, гj, ђ
h х
i ї, и
j ѣ, j
k к
l л, љ
ll л
lj лї, љ
m м
n н
nj нї, њ
o о
p п
q кї, ћ
r р
rr рр
s с
sh ш
t т
th ө
u у
v в
x дс
xh џ
y
z з
zh ж
alphabet
a آ
b ب
c تس
ç چ
d د
dh ذ
e َا
ë
f ف
g غ
gj ﻚ
h ﻫ
i ِ ا
j ى
k ڧ
l لل
ll
lj ل
m م
n ن
nj نى
o
p ٻ
q ﮎ
r ر
rr رر
s س
sh ش
t ت
th ث
u او
v و
x دس
xh ج
y َ و
z ز
zh ژ
). The specific Albanian characters are directly accessible (ë, Ë, ç, Ç).
) keyboard layout for Windows 7, Vista, XP and 2000 (in 32 and 64 bit) (ë, Ë, ç, Ç, é, É, ô, Ô, â, Â).
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 36 letters:
| Letter: | A A A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :... |
B B B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:... |
C C Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets... |
Ç Ç is a Latin script letter, used in the Albanian, Azerbaijani, Ligurian, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Zazaki alphabets. This letter also appears in Catalan, French, Friulian, Occitan and Portuguese as a variant of the letter “c”... |
D D D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the... |
Dh | E E E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:... |
Ë Ë is a letter in the Albanian, Ripuarian, Uyghur Latin Script, Ladin, and Kashubian languages. This letter also appears in Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Abruzzese dialect , and Luxembourgish language as a variant of letter "e"... |
F F F is the sixth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The origin of ⟨f⟩ is the Semitic letter vâv that represented a sound like or . Graphically, it originally probably depicted either a hook or a club... |
G G G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,... |
Gj | H H H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts.... |
I I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
J J Ĵ or ĵ is a letter in Esperanto orthography representing the sound .While Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for its four postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets, the base letters are Romano-Germanic... |
K K K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA.... |
L L Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet... |
Ll Ll Ll/ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural languages.-In English:In English, ll represents the same sound as single l:... |
M M M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water... |
N N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
Nj | O O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
P P P is the sixteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Usage:In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words... |
Q Q Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones... |
R R R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R... |
Rr | S S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
Sh Sh (digraph) Sh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of S and H.-English:In English, sh usually represents . The exception is in compound words, where the s and h are not a digraph, but pronounced separately, e.g. hogshead is hogs-head , not *hog-shead... |
T T T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets... |
Th Th (digraph) Th is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.-Cluster /t.h/:The most literal use of ⟨th⟩ is to represent a consonant cluster of /t/ and /h/ as in English knighthood... |
U U U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details.... |
V V V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details.... |
X X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
Xh | Y Y Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound... |
Z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
Zh |
| Value: | a | b | t͡s | t͡ʃ | d | ð | e | ə | f | ɡ | ɟ | h | i | j | k | l | ɫ | m | n | ɲ | o | p | c | ɾ | r | s | ʃ | t | θ | u | v | d͡z | d͡ʒ | y | z | ʒ |
Note: The vowels are shown in bold. to the pronunciation of the letters.
History
The history of the Albanian alphabet is closely linked with the influence of religion among Albanians. The writers from the North of Albania used Latin letters under the influence of the Catholic Church, those from the South of Albania under the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others used Arabic letters under the influence of Islam. There were also attempts for an original Albanian alphabet in the period of 1750-1850. The current alphabet in use among Albanians is one of the two variants approved in the Congress of Monastir held by Albanian intellectuals from November 14 to 22 November 1908, in Monastir (Bitola, Macedonia).Alphabet used in the early literature
A first reference for Latin letters was in a medieval Latin manuscript of 1332, possibly attributed to a monk called Brocardus Monacus or to one Guillaume AdamGuillaume Adam
Bishop Guillaume Adam, O.P. was a missionary, writer and French Catholic archbishop.-Life:Adam served as the Papal missionary in Persia from 1314 to 1317, one of six Dominicans sent by Pope John XXII to Persia...
. In this manuscript there is a quoted phrase about the existence of books in Albania "licet Albanenses aliam omnino linguam a latina habeant et diversam, tamen litteram latinam habent in usu et in omnibus suis libris" (The Albanians indeed have a language quite different from Latin, however they use Latin letters in all their books). Though the reference to the existence of the Albanian language is clear, that to writing in Albanian is ambiguous. It cannot be said for certain whether the author meant books in Albanian language written with Latin letters or simply books written in Latin.
The first certain document in Albanian "Formula e pagëzimit
Formula e pagëzimit
The Formula e pagëzimit is the first written document in Albanian retrieved. The sentence in Albanian is Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. and was contained in a pastoral letter written in Latin by Pal Engjëlli...
" (1462) (Baptesimal formula), issued by Pal Engjëlli
Pal Engjëlli
Pal Engjëlli was an Albanian Catholic clergyman, Archbishop of Durrës and Cardinal of Albania who in 1462 wrote the first known sentence retrieved so far in Albanian. Pal Engjëlli is reported to have been a friend, co-worker and close counselor of Skanderbeg. As his envoy, he frequently traveled...
, (1417–1470) was written in Latin characters. It was a simple phrase that was supposed to be used by the relatives of a dying person if they couldn't make it to churches during the troubled times of the Ottoman invasion.
Also, the five Albanian writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Gjon Buzuku
Gjon Buzuku
Gjon Buzuku was an Albanian Catholic clergyman who wrote the first known printed book in Albanian.Gjon Buzuku was born in the village of Ljare in the Bar district, close to Northern Albania , then Ottoman Empire. He probably lived in or near Venice, Italy...
, Lekë Matrënga
Lekë Matrënga
Luca Matranga was an Arbëresh writer and priest from Sicily. He is regarded as one of the authors of the era of early Albanian literature.-Works:...
, Pjetër Budi
Pjetër Budi
Pjetër Budi , known in Italian as Pietro Budi, was a bishop of Sapë and the author of four religious works in Albanian. He is a noted and respected figure of Albanian cultural history...
, Frang Bardhi
Frang Bardhi
Frang Bardhi was an Albanian bishop and author of the early eras of Albanian literature.-Life:He was born in Kallmet or Nënshat in the northern Albanian Zadrima region near Lezhë...
and Pjetër Bogdani
Pjetër Bogdani
Pjetër Bogdani , known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano, is the most original writer of early literature in Albania. He is author of the Cuneus Prophetarum , 1685, the first prose work of substance written originally in Albanian Pjetër Bogdani (ca. 1630 - 1689), known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano, is...
) who form the core of early Albanian literature
Albanian literature
The Albanian literature is the literature written by Albanians.-Renaissance:The expansion of the Ottoman Empire pushed many Albanians from their homeland during the period of the Western European Renaissance humanism...
, all used a Latin alphabet for their Albanian books; this alphabet remained in use by writers in northern Albania until the beginning of the 20th century.
National Awakening 19th century endeavors
In 1857 Kostandin KristoforidhiKostandin Kristoforidhi
-Additional readings:*])]*])]*])]*. In: Besa. Nr. 193, Jg. 2007. S. 2–7....
, an Albanian scholar and translator, drafted in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, a Memorandum for the Albanian language. He then went to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
where he stayed until 1860 in a Protestant seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
, finishing the translation of The New Testament in the Tosk and Gheg dialects. He was helped by Nikolla Serreqi from Shkodër
Shkodër
Shkodër , is a city located on Lake of Shkoder in northwestern Albania in the District of Shkodër, of which it is the capital. It is one of the oldest and most historic towns in Albania, as well as an important cultural and economic centre. Shkodër's estimated population is 90,000; if the...
with the Gheg version of the Testament. Nikolla Serreqi was also the propulsor for the use of the Latin script for the translation of the New Testament, which had already been used by the early writers of the Albanian literature and Kristoforidhi enthousiastically embraced the idea of a Latin alphabet.
In November 1869, a Commission for the Alphabet of the Albanian Language was gathered in Istanbul. One of its members was Kostandin Kristoforidhi
Kostandin Kristoforidhi
-Additional readings:*])]*])]*])]*. In: Besa. Nr. 193, Jg. 2007. S. 2–7....
and the main purpose of the Commission was the creation of a unique alphabet for all the Albanians. In January 1870 the Commission ended its work of the standardization of the alphabet, which was mainly in Latin letters. A plan on the creation of textbooks and spread of Albanian schools was drafted. However this plan was not realized, because the Ottoman Government wouldn't finance the expenses for the establishment of such schools.
Although this commission had gathered and delivered an alphabet in 1870, the writers from the North still used the Latin based alphabet, whereas in Southern Albania writers used mostly the Greek letters. In Southern Albania, the main activity of Albanian writers consisted mostly in translating Greek Orthodox religious text and not in forming any kind of literature which could form a strong tradition for the use of Greek letters. As the Albanologist Robert Elsie has written:
The turning point was the aftermath of the League of Prizren
League of Prizren
The League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nation commonly known as the League of Prizren was an Albanian political organization founded on 10 June 1878 in Prizren, in the Kosovo province of the Ottoman Empire....
(1878) events when in 1879 Sami Frashëri and Naim Frashëri
Naim Frashëri
Naim Frashëri was an Albanian poet and writer. He was one of the most prominent figures of the Albanian National Awakening of the 19th century, together with his two brothers Sami and Abdyl...
formed the "Association for Albanian publications". Sami Frashëri, Koto Hoxhi
Koto Hoxhi
Koto Hoxhi was an advocate of the Albanian language. He taught this language secretly to his students in Qestorat in Southern Albania. He was imprisoned and died in prison for his beliefs.-Biography:...
, Pashko Vasa
Pashko Vasa
Pashko Vasa also known as Vaso Pasha or Vaso Pashë Shkodrani, was an Albanian writer, poet and publicist of the Albanian National Awakening, and Governor of Lebanon from 1882 until his death.-Secretary in the British Consulate:From 1842 to 1847 he worked as a secretary for the...
and Jani Vreto
Jani Vreto
Jani Vreto was an Albanian writer, publisher and important figure of the Albanian National Awakening.- Life :Jani Vreto was born in Postenan, a village near Leskovik, southern Albania in 1822...
created an alphabet. This was based on the principle of "one sound one letter" (except for the rr digraph). This was called the "Istanbul alphabet" (also "Frashëri alphabet"). In 1905 this alphabet was in widespread use in all Albanian territory, North and South, including Catholic, Muslim and Orthodox areas.
One year earlier, in 1904 had been published the Albanian dictionary of Kostandin Kristoforidhi
Kostandin Kristoforidhi
-Additional readings:*])]*])]*])]*. In: Besa. Nr. 193, Jg. 2007. S. 2–7....
, after the author's death. The dictionary had been drafted 25 years before its publication and was written in the Greek alphabet.
The so-called Bashkimi alphabet was designed for being written on a French typewriter and includes no diacritics other than é
É
is a letter of the Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Kashubian, Luxembourgish, Slovak, and Catalan, Danish, English, French, Galician, Irish, Italian, Occitan, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese language as a variant of the letter “e”...
(compared to ten graphemes of the Istanbul alphabet which were either non-Latin or had diacritics).
Congress of Monastir
In 1908, the Congress of Monastir was held by Albanian intellectuals in BitolaBitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, modern-day Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. The Congress was hosted by the Bashkimi ("unity") club, and prominent delegates included Gjergj Fishta
Gjergj Fishta
Gjergj Fishta was an Albanian Franciscan friar, poet, rilindas, and a translator. Notably he was the chairman of the commission of the Congress of Monastir, which sanctioned the Albanian alphabet. In 1937 he completed and published his epic masterpiece Lahuta e Malcis, an epic poem written in Gheg...
, Ndre Mjeda
Ndre Mjeda
Ndre Mjeda was an Albanian Gheg poet. He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and the Franciscan poet Leonardo De Martino....
, Mit'hat Frashëri, Sotir Peçi
Sotir Peçi
Sotir Peçi was an Albanian politician, educator and mathematician. In 1906 he published the first Albanian-language newspaper in the United States of America in Boston. In 1908 he participated as a delegate in the Congress of Monastir...
, Shahin Kolonja
Shahin Kolonja
Shahin Kolonja was an Albanian journalist and politician.Born in Starje, southern Albania Kolonja was a graduate of the school of civil service and had served as director of several idadiye schools. Later he was arrested in Bitola and sentenced to three years in prison for disseminating...
, and Gjergj D. Qiriazi. 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, with minor changes, and a modified version of the Bashkimi alphabet. Usage of the alphabet of Istanbul declined rapidly and it was essentially extinct over the following decades.
During 1909 and 1910 there were movements by Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
supporters to adopt an Arabic alphabet, as they considered the Latin-based alphabet to be un-Islamic. In Korçë
Korçë
Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...
and Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër is a city in southern Albania with a population of 43,000. Lying in the historical region of Epirus, it is the capital of both the Gjirokastër District and the larger Gjirokastër County...
, demonstrations took place favoring the Latin-based alphabet, and in Elbasan
Elbasan
Elbasan is a city in central Albania. It is located on the Shkumbin River in the District of Elbasan and the County of Elbasan, at...
, Muslim clerics led a demonstration for the Arabic alphabet, telling their congregations that using the Latin script would make them infidels. In 1911, the Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
dropped their opposition to the Latin-based alphabet; finally, the modified Bashkimi alphabet was adopted, and is still used today.
The modifications to the Bashkimi alphabet were made to include characters used in the Istanbul and Agimi alphabets. Ç was chosen over ch since c with cedilla could be found on every typewriter, given its extensive use in Romance languages. Other changes were more esthetic and as a way to combine the three scripts.
| Bashkimi alphabet: | A a A A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :... |
B b B B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:... |
Ts ts | Ch ch Ch (digraph) Ch is a digraph in the Roman alphabet and Uyghur. It is treated as a letter of its own in Chamorro, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Igbo, Quechua, Guarani, Welsh, Cornish, Breton and Belarusian Łacinka alphabets. In Vietnamese, it also used to be considered a letter for collation purposes but this is no... |
D d D D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the... |
Dh dh | É é É is a letter of the Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Kashubian, Luxembourgish, Slovak, and Catalan, Danish, English, French, Galician, Irish, Italian, Occitan, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese language as a variant of the letter “e”... |
E e E E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:... |
F f F F is the sixth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The origin of ⟨f⟩ is the Semitic letter vâv that represented a sound like or . Graphically, it originally probably depicted either a hook or a club... |
G g G G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,... |
Gh gh Gh (digraph) Gh is a digraph found in many languages.-English:In English, ⟨gh⟩ historically represented . In modern English, ⟨gh⟩ is almost always either silent or pronounced... |
H h H H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts.... |
I i I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
J j J Ĵ or ĵ is a letter in Esperanto orthography representing the sound .While Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for its four postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets, the base letters are Romano-Germanic... |
K k K K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA.... |
L l L Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet... |
Ll ll Ll Ll/ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural languages.-In English:In English, ll represents the same sound as single l:... |
M m M M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water... |
N n N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
Gn gn | O o O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
P p P P is the sixteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Usage:In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words... |
C c C Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets... |
R r R R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R... |
Rr rr | S s S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
Sh sh Sh (digraph) Sh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of S and H.-English:In English, sh usually represents . The exception is in compound words, where the s and h are not a digraph, but pronounced separately, e.g. hogshead is hogs-head , not *hog-shead... |
T t T T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets... |
Th th Th (digraph) Th is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.-Cluster /t.h/:The most literal use of ⟨th⟩ is to represent a consonant cluster of /t/ and /h/ as in English knighthood... |
U u U U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details.... |
V v V V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details.... |
Z z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
Zh zh | Z z Y Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound... |
X x X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
Xh xh |
| Istanbul alphabet: | A a A A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :... |
B b B B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:... |
C c C Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets... |
Ç ç Ç is a Latin script letter, used in the Albanian, Azerbaijani, Ligurian, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Zazaki alphabets. This letter also appears in Catalan, French, Friulian, Occitan and Portuguese as a variant of the letter “c”... |
D d D D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the... |
Б δ | E e E E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:... |
♇ ε | F f F F is the sixth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The origin of ⟨f⟩ is the Semitic letter vâv that represented a sound like or . Graphically, it originally probably depicted either a hook or a club... |
G g G G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,... |
Γ γ | H h H H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts.... |
I i I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
J j J Ĵ or ĵ is a letter in Esperanto orthography representing the sound .While Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for its four postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets, the base letters are Romano-Germanic... |
K k K K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA.... |
L l L Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet... |
Λ λ | M m M M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water... |
N n N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
И ŋ | O o O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
Π p P P is the sixteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Usage:In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words... |
Q q Q Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones... |
R r R R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R... |
Ρ ρ | S s S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
Ϲ σ | T t T T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets... |
Θ θ | U u U U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details.... |
V v V V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details.... |
X x X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
X̦ x̦ | Y y Y Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound... |
Z z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
Z¸ z¸ |
| Manastir alphabet (modified Bashkimi, current alphabet): | A A A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :... |
B B B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:... |
C C Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets... |
Ç Ç is a Latin script letter, used in the Albanian, Azerbaijani, Ligurian, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Zazaki alphabets. This letter also appears in Catalan, French, Friulian, Occitan and Portuguese as a variant of the letter “c”... |
D D D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the... |
Dh | E E E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:... |
Ë Ë is a letter in the Albanian, Ripuarian, Uyghur Latin Script, Ladin, and Kashubian languages. This letter also appears in Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Abruzzese dialect , and Luxembourgish language as a variant of letter "e"... |
F F F is the sixth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The origin of ⟨f⟩ is the Semitic letter vâv that represented a sound like or . Graphically, it originally probably depicted either a hook or a club... |
G G G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,... |
Gj | H H H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts.... |
I I I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound... |
J J Ĵ or ĵ is a letter in Esperanto orthography representing the sound .While Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for its four postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets, the base letters are Romano-Germanic... |
K K K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA.... |
L L Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet... |
Ll Ll Ll/ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural languages.-In English:In English, ll represents the same sound as single l:... |
M M M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water... |
N N N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet... |
Nj | O O O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a... |
P P P is the sixteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Usage:In English and most other European languages, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. Both initial and final Ps can be combined with many other discrete consonants in English words... |
Q Q Q is the seventeenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic sound value of Qôp was , a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in English or most Indo-European ones... |
R R R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R... |
Rr | S S S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent... |
Sh Sh (digraph) Sh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of S and H.-English:In English, sh usually represents . The exception is in compound words, where the s and h are not a digraph, but pronounced separately, e.g. hogshead is hogs-head , not *hog-shead... |
T T T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets... |
Th Th (digraph) Th is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.-Cluster /t.h/:The most literal use of ⟨th⟩ is to represent a consonant cluster of /t/ and /h/ as in English knighthood... |
U U U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details.... |
V V V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details.... |
X X X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic... |
Xh | Y Y Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound... |
Z Z Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal... |
Zh |
A second congress at Monastir (Bitola) was held on 21 March 1910, which confirmed the decision taken in the first congress of Monastir. After Albanian independence
Albanian Declaration of Independence
The Albanian Declaration of Independence is the declaration of independence of the Albanian Vilayet from the Ottoman Empire. Albania was proclaimed independent in Vlorë on November 28, 1912.-Background:...
in 1912, there were two alphabets in use. Following the events of the Balkan wars and World War I, the Bashkimi variant dominated the terrain. The Bashkimi variant is at the origin of the official alphabet of the Albanian language in use today.
List of alphabets used for written Albanian
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 script, using various conventions:
- The oldest surviving Albanian document of the 15th century was written in the Latin script. Early Albanian writers such as Gjon BuzukuGjon BuzukuGjon Buzuku was an Albanian Catholic clergyman who wrote the first known printed book in Albanian.Gjon Buzuku was born in the village of Ljare in the Bar district, close to Northern Albania , then Ottoman Empire. He probably lived in or near Venice, Italy...
, Pjetër BogdaniPjetër BogdaniPjetër Bogdani , known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano, is the most original writer of early literature in Albania. He is author of the Cuneus Prophetarum , 1685, the first prose work of substance written originally in Albanian Pjetër Bogdani (ca. 1630 - 1689), known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano, is...
, Pjetër BudiPjetër BudiPjetër Budi , known in Italian as Pietro Budi, was a bishop of Sapë and the author of four religious works in Albanian. He is a noted and respected figure of Albanian cultural history...
, and Frang BardhiFrang BardhiFrang Bardhi was an Albanian bishop and author of the early eras of Albanian literature.-Life:He was born in Kallmet or Nënshat in the northern Albanian Zadrima region near Lezhë...
also used a Latin-based script, adding Greek characters to represent extra sounds. - Evetor. In 1824, Naum VeqilharxhiNaum VeqilharxhiNaum Veqilharxhi born Naum Bredhi was an Albanian lawyer and scholar. In 1844, he created a unique alphabet for the Albanian language using characters he had created himself, the Vithkuqi script...
generated a 33-letter Latin alphabet which was mainly used in southern Albania, dropping previous Greek and Arabic characters. - A Catholic alphabet used by ArbëreshëArbëreshëThe Arbëreshë are a linguistic and ethnic Albanian minority community living in southern Italy, especially the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, Molise, Calabria and Sicily...
(ItaloItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
-AlbaniansAlbaniansAlbanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
). - The Istanbul alphabet, created by Sami Frashëri, combining Latin and Greek. 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 abecedariumAbecedariumAn abecedarium is an inscription consisting of the letters of an alphabet, almost always listed in order. Typically, abecedaria are practice exercises....
. - Bashkimi, developed by the Albanian literary society Bashkimi (Unity) in ShkodërShkodërShkodër , is a city located on Lake of Shkoder in northwestern Albania in the District of Shkodër, of which it is the capital. It is one of the oldest and most historic towns in Albania, as well as an important cultural and economic centre. Shkodër's estimated population is 90,000; if the...
with the help of CatholicCatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
clergy and FranciscanFranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s aiming at more simplicity than its forerunners. It used digraphs for unique sounds of the Albanian language. It resembles the current alphabet with the differences being the use of ch for ç, c for q, ts for c, é for e, e for ë, gh for gj, gn for nj, and z/zh have swapped places with x/xh. - Agimi, developed by the Agimi ("Dawn") Literary Society in 1901, and spearheaded by Ndre MjedaNdre MjedaNdre Mjeda was an Albanian Gheg poet. He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and the Franciscan poet Leonardo De Martino....
. It made use of diacritics instead of digraphs used by Bashkimi.
- The oldest surviving Albanian document of the 15th century was written in the Latin script. Early Albanian writers such as Gjon Buzuku
- The Greek alphabetGreek alphabetThe Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
; used to write Tosk starting in about 1500 (Elsie, 1991). The printing press at Voskopojë published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century (Macrakis, 1996). - The Ottoman Turkish alphabetOttoman Turkish alphabetThe Ottoman Turkish alphabet was the version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet that was used for the Ottoman Turkish language during the time of the Ottoman Empire and in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, until the adoption of the new Turkish alphabet, derived from the Latin script, on...
, favored by Muslims. - The Elbasan scriptElbasan scriptThe Elbasan script is a mid 18th-century alphabetic script used for the Albanian language. It was named after the city of Elbasan where it was invented...
(18th century); locally used in central Albania. (Omniglot) - The Beitha KukjuBeitha KukjuVithkuqi script, also called Büthakukye or Beitha Kukju after the appellation applied to it by German Albanist Johann Georg von Hahn, was an alphabet invented for writing the Albanian language between 1825 and 1845 by Albanian scholar Naum Veqilharxhi...
script (1844); another local script, named after the birthplace of its inventor, Naum VeqilharxhiNaum VeqilharxhiNaum Veqilharxhi born Naum Bredhi was an Albanian lawyer and scholar. In 1844, he created a unique alphabet for the Albanian language using characters he had created himself, the Vithkuqi script...
. (Omniglot) - The Cyrillic script (Christophoridēs, 1872).
- 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.
Older versions of the alphabet in Latin characters
Before the standardisation of the Albanian alphabet, there were several ways of writing the sounds peculiar to Albanian, namely c, ç, dh, ë, gj, ll, nj, q, rr, sh, th, x, xh, y, z and zh.c, ç, k, and q
The earliest Albanian sources were written by people educated in Italy, as a consequence, the value of the letters were similar to those of the Italian alphabet. The present-day c was written with a z, and the present-day ç was written as c as late as 1895. Conversely, the present-day k was written as c until 1868. c was also written as ts (Reinhold 1855), tz (Rada 1866) and zz. It was first written as c in 1879 by Frashëri but also in 1908 by Pekmezi. ç was also written as tz (Leake 1814), ts (with a overlined s, Reinhold 1855), tš, ci (Kristoforidis 1872), tç (Dozon 1878), č (by Agimi) and ch (by Bashkimi). ç itself was first used by Frasheri (1879).The present-day q was variously written as ch, chi, k, ky, kj, and as a k with various diacritics (dot, overline, apostrophe). Q was first used in Frashëri's Stamboll mix-alphabet in 1879 and also in the Grammaire albanais of 1887.
dh and th
The present day dh was originally written with a character similar to the greek xi (ξ). This was doubled (ξξ) to write 'th'. These characters were used as late as 1895. Leake first used dh and th in 1814. dh was also written using the Greek letter delta (δ), while Alimi used đ and Frasheri used a d with a hook on the top stem of the letter.ë
This letter was not usually differentiated from e, but when it was, it was usually done by means of diacritics: ė (Bogdani 1685, da Lecce 1716 and Kristoforidis 1872), e (with a circle Lepsius 1863), ẹ̄ (Miklosich 1870) or by new letters ö (Reinhold 1855), υ (Rada 1866), ε (Meyer 1891, note Frasheri used ε for e, and e to write ë) and ə (Alimi). Rada first used ë in 1870.gj and g
These two sounds were not usually differentiated. They were variously written as g, gh and ghi. When they were differentiated, g was written as g or (by Liguori 1867) as gh, while gj was written as gi (Leake 1814), g with an overline (Reinhold 1855), g with an acute accent (first used by Lepsius 1863), gy (Dozon 1878) and a modified g (Frasheri). Librandi first used 'gj' in 1897. Rada (1866) used g, gh, gc, and gk for g, and gki for gj.h
The older versions of the Albanian alphabet differentiated between two h sounds, one for [h] one for the Voiceless velar fricativeVoiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English....
. The second sound was written as h, kh, ch, and Greek khi χ.
ll and l
Three “l” sounds were distinguished in older Albanian alphabets, represented by IPA as /lveolar lateral approximant. l /l/ was written as l. ll /ɫ/ was written as λ, italic l, lh and ł. Blanchi (1635) first used ll. /ʎ/ was written as l, li, l’, lh, gl, ly and lj.nj
This sound was most commonly written as gn in Italian fashion. It was also written as italic n (Leake 1814), overlined n (Reinhold 1855), ń (first used by Lepsius 1863), dotted n (Miklosich 1870 and Meyer 1888). The Grammaire albanais first used nj in 1887.rr
Blanchi first used rr to represent this sound. However, also used were Greek rho (ρ) (Miklosich 1870), dotted r (Kristoforidis 1872), rh (Dozon 1878 and Grammaire albanais 1887), overlined r (Meyer 1888 and 1891), r with a grave accent (Alimi) and p (Frasheri, who used a modified p for [p]).sh and s
These two sounds were not consistently differentiated in the earliest versions of the Albanian alphabet. When they were differentiated, s was represented by s or ss, while sh was represented by sc, ſc, overlined s (Reinhold 1855), ç (Dozon 1878) and š. sh was first used by Rada in 1866.x
Frasheri first used x to represent this sound. Formerly, it was written variously as ds (Kristoforidis 1872), dz, z, and zh.xh
The Grammaire albanais (1887) first used xh. Formerly, it was written variously as gi, g, dš, dž, x and zh.y
This sound was written as y in 1828. Formerly it was written as uk, italic u (Leake 1814), ü, u with two underdots, and ε.z
Leake first used z to represent this sound in 1814. Formerly, it was written variously as a backward 3, Greek zeta (ζ), x (Bashkimi) and a symbol similar to p (Altsmar).zh
This sound was variously written as an overlined ζ, sg, ž, j, underdotted z, xh (Bashkimi), zc. It was also written with a backward 3 in combination: 3gh and 3c.Older versions of the alphabet in Greek characters
Orthodox Albanians in the south of the country used the Greek alphabet to write in Albanian.| Modern Albanian | Albanian written in the Greek alphabet |
|---|---|
| a | α |
| b | μπ, π, dotted π, b, b |
| c | τζ, τσ |
| ç | τσσ, τσ (σ with two dots) |
| d | ντ, τ, dotted δ, d |
| dh | δ |
| e | ε |
| ë | α with a small vertical stroke underneath, underlined ε |
| f | φ |
| g | γκ, γ, dotted γ, γ’ |
| gj | γκι, γι, dotted γj, γj |
| h | χ, dotted χ |
| i | ι, η |
| j | γ, γι, j |
| k | κ, dotted κ |
| l | λ |
| ll | λ, dotted λ |
| lj | λι, dotted λ, λj |
| m | μ |
| n | ν |
| nj | ννι, dotted ν, νj |
| o | ο, ω |
| p | π |
| q | κι, κj, dotted κ |
| r | ρ |
| rr | ρρ, dotted ρ |
| s | σ, ς |
| sh | σσ, σ with two dots, σ’, σς |
| t | τ |
| th | θ |
| u | ου, uk |
| v | β |
| x | dσ |
| xh | dς, dσ (σ with two dots) |
| y | ιου, υ |
| z | ζ |
| zh | ζζ, dotted ζ |
The letters ξ and ψ were also used to represent modern letter combinations ks and ps, respectively.
Older versions of the alphabet in Cyrillic characters
Modern Albanian: Albanian written in Cyrillic scripta а
b б
c ц
ç ч
d д
dh
e е
ë ъ
f ф
g г
gj гї, гj, ђ
h х
i ї, и
j ѣ, j
k к
l л, љ
ll л
lj лї, љ
m м
n н
nj нї, њ
o о
p п
q кї, ћ
r р
rr рр
s с
sh ш
t т
th ө
u у
v в
x дс
xh џ
y
z з
zh ж
Older versions of the alphabet in Arabic characters
Modern Albanian - Albanian written in thealphabet
a آ
b ب
c تس
ç چ
d د
dh ذ
e َا
ë
f ف
g غ
gj ﻚ
h ﻫ
i ِ ا
j ى
k ڧ
l لل
ll
lj ل
m م
n ن
nj نى
o
p ٻ
q ﮎ
r ر
rr رر
s س
sh ش
t ت
th ث
u او
v و
x دس
xh ج
y َ و
z ز
zh ژ
Windows default
The Albanian keyboard layout is German based (QWERTZQWERTZ
thumb|175px|A computer QWERTZ keyboardThe QWERTZ or QWERTZU keyboard is a widely used computer and typewriter keyboard layout that is mostly used in Central Europe...
). The specific Albanian characters are directly accessible (ë, Ë, ç, Ç).
Prektora
A preferable alternative to the default one is Prektora, a (QWERTYQWERTY
QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...
) keyboard layout for Windows 7, Vista, XP and 2000 (in 32 and 64 bit) (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, or Alt + 0235
- Ë = CTRL + " then E, or Alt + 0203
- ç = CTRL + , then c, or Alt + 0231
- Ç = CTRL + , then C, or Alt + 0199