The Albanian language: developments in the lexicon under the new social and political order
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Jani Thomaj
Abstract
In the past decade the Albanian language has undergone a period of significant change in terms of lexical development. These developments are almost entirely attributable to extralinguistic factors. The turbulent transition from a centralized socialist system to a market economy in the 1990s was accompanied by an immediate opening of Albania to the outside world. This upheaval also brought about a social and intellectual liberation, a change in mental outlook, and freedom from the weight of dictatorship and the totalitarian mindset. The transformation from collectivized property to private property and the birth of political and cultural pluralism constituted a novel variable within Albanian society.
The pluralism of press and broadcast media and the phenomenal growth in the number of political parties are two important constituents for change in the lexical norm of the Albanian language, both in a positive and negative sense. A predisposition towards direct contact with Western languages and cultures, interpreted as a sign of the “Europeanization” of Albania, led to the proliferation of many foreign words, primarily English, into the lexicon of Albanian, especially in the domains of economics, trade, jurisprudence, information technology, politics, and administration. This study concerns itself with interpretation, classification, and examples of these changes.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Überblick über die Entwicklung der Soziolinguistik in Albanien
- Variations sociolinguistiques en albanais du Nord — sur la base des données du parler de la ville du Shkodra
- The anatomy of survival in Arbëresh numeral forms
- Features of dysfunctional attrition in the Arbresh of Piana degli Albanesi
- Some differences between varieties of Albanian with special reference to Kosovo
- Who’s “mixing” the languages? Statistical-sociolinguistic analyses of differently developed bilingual practice of Albanian-speaking school pupils in German-speaking Switzerland
- Standard Albanian — linguistic controversy in post-Communist Albania
- The Albanian language: developments in the lexicon under the new social and political order
- The First Congress phenomenon: the case of Albanian
- Book reviews
- Rexhep Ismajli: ‘‘Në gjuhë’’ dhe ‘‘për gjuhë’’ (Rrjedhat e planifikimit të shqipes në Kosovë 1945–1968)
- Small languages and small language communities 50
- Can A Language of A Million Speakers Be Endangered? Language Shift and Apathy Among Northern Khmer Speakers in Thailand
Articles in the same Issue
- Überblick über die Entwicklung der Soziolinguistik in Albanien
- Variations sociolinguistiques en albanais du Nord — sur la base des données du parler de la ville du Shkodra
- The anatomy of survival in Arbëresh numeral forms
- Features of dysfunctional attrition in the Arbresh of Piana degli Albanesi
- Some differences between varieties of Albanian with special reference to Kosovo
- Who’s “mixing” the languages? Statistical-sociolinguistic analyses of differently developed bilingual practice of Albanian-speaking school pupils in German-speaking Switzerland
- Standard Albanian — linguistic controversy in post-Communist Albania
- The Albanian language: developments in the lexicon under the new social and political order
- The First Congress phenomenon: the case of Albanian
- Book reviews
- Rexhep Ismajli: ‘‘Në gjuhë’’ dhe ‘‘për gjuhë’’ (Rrjedhat e planifikimit të shqipes në Kosovë 1945–1968)
- Small languages and small language communities 50
- Can A Language of A Million Speakers Be Endangered? Language Shift and Apathy Among Northern Khmer Speakers in Thailand
