Traces of Ideology in the Structure of Albanian and new Perspectives for the Solution to the Existing Problems

Abstract

This paper aims at bringing to the surface the main and most problematic issues regarding the post-codification period of Albanian. Forty years after its codification, the Albanian standard language has not yet ceased to manifest itself as a language variant of the “strong” communist leadership. It was an imposed variant of Tosks that was supported strongly by the former communist head of state, a variant which not only unified, but also divided Albanians on geographical bases, especially now in the last 10 years, with the creation of the second majority Albanian-speaking country, namely Kosovo. A new linguistic ideology has partly substituted and partly polarized the views towards existing standard Albanian. New orthographic rules have been discussed and many efforts have been proposed. The inclusion of Gheg dialect elements in the morpho-syntactic structure such as the Gheg infinitive and participle (typical for Albanian before the Codification Congress in 1972) has been suggested, as well, but in most meetings of linguists, the issue has been left for future discussion. Initiatives have been undertaken institutionally, mainly on the part of Kosovars and supported to some extent on the Albanian side. Though not formal, one can notice the establishment of two new linguistic movements, corresponding with the two capitals of Albanian institutional development: Tirana and Prishtina. The former is divided into purists and anti-communists, and the latter brings the Albanian of the Kosovars closer to Standard Albanian by suggesting several linguistic corrections to the concept of what is known as a unifying element of all Albanians – the Standard language. New perspectives have been suggested in order to reduce the gap between ideological concepts and the use of language, although without successful.