North dialect (Tosk) and south dialect (Gheg) in Jorgji Gjinari’s perspective

Abstract

Jorgji Gjinari is one of the most distinguished Albanian dialectologists. He set the example that the facts of Albanian language might be studied better synchronically, when they are touched upon ex catedra, right where they exist. This is also the reason why his researches are coherent and of a great importance. Amidst his manifold scientific contribution, the scholar Gjinari paid close attention to the varieties of the Northern Tosk, by contrasting it to the Southern Tosk variety. He emphasizes that: “The study of the varieties of the Northen Tosk is of a crucial importance” and that “they are reflected in the written Tosk, more than the other Southern varieties” (Gjinari 1962). This comparison is useful to demonstrate that the sharp division among the two dialects has not been and it is not a reality, especially not a convenient one to the standard of Albanian. But, that reality of yesterday and of today, due to the process of urbanization and demographic concentration, are serving as a unifying ground of the extreme components. Nevertheless, this claim has to be verified in the actual situation of the language in use. Further research might shed light to how the assertions of four or five previous decades, made by professor Gjinari and other dialectologists, and how the relocation of the population toward urban centers, the metropolis and the seacoasts present a new perspective of the dialects situation and a new combination of this “language mixture” with the standard toward the language in use.