Subjunctive and Infinitive in the Gegue Dialect of Albanian

Abstract

The two major dialects of Albanian, Gegue and Tosque, display fundamental differences with regard to the infinitive and subjunctive. While in Tosque the infinitive has been lost (similarly to what has happened in other Balkanic languages), it has been preserved in Gegue, and moreover it has attracted new functions from the subjunctive. Chains of infinitives are common. The infinitive is even used independently of finite verbs, for instance, in conditional constructions and adhortative sentences that may have an overt subject of their own, and in unusual heteroprosopic constructions that do occur. Within the Gegue language region, functional differences appear to be modest, while they are more evident quantitatively: In Northern Gegue, the subjunctive is found very rarely, and obligatory use is not found, whereas in Southern Gegue both categories are often used alternatively for one and the same function.