Prime Minister Edi Rama has spoken of his concerns that the Albanian language is in danger due to digitalization, particularly text messaging and “txt spk”.
During a consultation with students on 7 November, Rama said, ‘It is not difficult for you to understand me when I say that the Albanian language is in danger. Now everyone complains, even in France, which is a place where language is given tremendous importance. They complain that their language is in danger. But the Albanian language really is in danger.
He added that it is in danger of loss due to improper use, referring to “these messages that you now have in your pockets, with these SMSs and WhatsApp…another culture of communication is created, and that is why everyone is worried about what happens to the language with the younger generation.”
The Albanian language, or Shqip, is spoken by around 7.5 million people worldwide, including Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the diaspora in North America, Europe and Oceania.
It occupies an independent branch of the Indo-European language family and is not closely related to any other Indo-European language. It is split into two main dialects, Gheg, predominantly spoken in the north and Tosk, in the South. Within these two dialects are many further sub-dialects that can vary from town to town.
Arbreshe is another dialect of Shqip spoken in parts of Italy, where Albanians have lived for centuries.
Albanian language iswritten in the Latin script, but there have been several attempts over the years to create individual and unique languages for them. These include the Elbasan Script and Vithkuqi script, both of which are recognized by Unicode.
Despite efforts to revive the knowledge of the language, including lobbying to the government and Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, the state has shown little interest.
https://exit.al/en/2021/09/20/unique-script-for-the-albanian-language-receives-unicode-recognition/
