The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into two major groups: Gheg and Tosk.Gjinari The Shkumbin river is roughly the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.Brown and Ogilvie (2008), p. 23. The river Shkumbin in central Albania historically forms the boundary between those two dialects, with the population on the north speaking varieties of Geg and the population on the south varieties of Tosk.
Historical considerations
The characteristics of the Albanian dialects Tosk and Gheg,: "In Tosk /a/ before a nasal has become a central vowel (shwa), and intervocalic /n/ has become /r/. These two sound changes have affected only the pre-Slav stratum of the Albanian lexicon, that is the native words and loanwords from Greek and Latin" in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages, have led to the conclusion that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migration to the Balkans.: "The dialectal split into Gheg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become Christianized in the fourth century AD; Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism, such as Tosk murgu "monk" (Geg mungu) from Lat. monachus.": "The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far-reaching phonological changes which have so altered the shape of inherited words while Slavic and Turkish words do not show those changes. Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into Balkans in the fifth and sixth centuries AD"
According to the view of Demiraj, during the process of dialect split Albanian populations were roughly in their present location,Demiraj, Shaban. Prejardhja e shqiptarëve në dritën e dëshmive të gjuhës shqipe.(Origin of Albanians through the testimonies of the Albanian language) Shkenca (Tirana) 1999 while Eric Hamp notes that "it must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems possible that this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present location, so that the speech area straddled the Jireček Line".: The isogloss is clear in all dialects I have studied, which embrace nearly all types possible. It must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems possible that this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present location, so that the speech area straddled the Jireček Line.
Gheg dialects
Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg, and Southern Gheg. Northwest Gheg is spoken throughout Montenegro, northwestern Kosovo (west of Pejë), Lezhë, northwestern Mirditë, southwestern Tropojë, western Gusinje, western Pukë, and Shkodër. Northeast Gheg is spoken throughout most of Kosovo, Preshevë, Has, northeastern Mirditë, eastern parts of villages of Shalë commune of Shkodër, eastern parts of villages of other communes of Shkodër bordered with Tropojë, eastern Pukë, eastern Gjakovë, eastern Gusinje, Kukës, Tropojë, and northern Tetovë. Central Gheg is spoken in Debar, Gostivar, Krujë, northern Durrës, northern Tirana, Peshkopi, southern Lezhë, southern Mirditë, Mat, Bulqizë, eastern Strugë, Kumanovo, and southern Tetovë. Southern Gheg is spoken in Durrës, northern Elbasan, northern Pogradec, Librazhd, northern Peqin, southern Bulqizë, Kavajë, Rrogozhinë, northwest Strugë, and Tirana. One fairly divergent dialect is the Upper Reka dialect, which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia, the Arbanasi dialect. Additionally, Istrian Albanian, spoken in parts of Istria until the late 19th century, was a Northwestern Gheg dialect.
Gheg features
No rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- remains -n- (e.g. râna "sand"). Proto-Albanian *ō becomes vo. Nasal vowels: Gheg retains the nasal vowels of late Proto-Albanian and the late Proto-Albanian *â plus a nasal remains â (e.g. nândë "nine"). Although, the quality of the vowel varies by dialect, , , , etc. Some Northeast and Northwest Gheg dialects preserve the nasal in words such as "five" while other Gheg dialects do not, "five". Monophthongization: Occurs in some dialects of Shkodër in a few words, e.g. voe "egg" and hae "food". Phonological vowel length: There is often phonological vowel length in most Gheg dialects. Some dialects of Shkodër have a three length distinction in vowels, for example, short: "yoke", long: "pen", and extra-long: "yokes". a-vowel: In some dialects occurring in some certain words a may become a diphthong (e.g. for ballë "forehead") or become (e.g. for larg "far"). ë-vowel: Final -ë drops and often lengthens the preceding vowel. i-vowel: The i vowel in the word dhi (goat) can be realized as various vowels in the Central Gheg dialects: (Krujë), (Mountainous Krujë), or (Mat), as well as or in other regions. o-vowel: The o derounds to in some words in some dialects (e.g. for sot "today" in Krujë and among some Muslim speakers in Shkodër). u-vowel: The u vowel in different dialects occurring some words may vary, for example rrush "grape" may be , , , , or . y-vowel: The y vowel can remain as y (e.g. dy "two" in much of the Gheg speaking areas), derounded to i (e.g. "two" in Debar), or becomes more open and less rounded to (e.g. "two" in Mat and Mountainous Krujë). In other words in Central Gheg, the y vowel can become as in for sy "eye" (Mat and Krujë). bj/pj: These may yield bgj or pq in some dialects (e.g. pqeshkë for pjeshkë "peach" in Negotin). bl/pl/fl: These may become bj/pj/fj or even bgj/pq in some dialects (e.g. pjak for plak "old" in Toplica or for plak "old" in Negotin). dh and ll: These sounds may interchange in some words in some dialects, especially in the dialects of Kavajë, Tirana, and Durrës where ll completely replaces dh. h: This may drop in any position in some dialects. mb/nd: Consonant clusters such as nd vary greatly by sub-dialect: nder "honor" can realized as , , , , , or . q/gj: In the Gheg dialects, q and gj may remain palatal stops and , change to postalveolar affricates and (and thus merging with Albanian ç and xh), change to alveolo-palatal affricates and , or even change to alveolo-palatal fricatives and . tj/dj: These may become palatal stops and in some dialects.
Malsia Albanian The Northwestern Gheg subdialect encompasses three main Albanian ethnographic regions: Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë. Within the Northwestern Gheg, the area of Malësia e Madhe shows different phonological, syntactic, and lexical patterns than the areas of Shkodër and Lezhë. For this reason, Malsia e Madhe Albanian can be considered a distinct variety of Northwestern Gheg. The different features of this variety can be traced to the historical and geographic isolation of the mountainous region of Malësia e Madhe (Albanian for 'Great Highlands').
The early isolated Malsia Albanian has preserved archaic features of Proto-Albanian and Proto-Indo-European in comparison to other Gheg varieties and to Tosk, such as the word-initial voiceless and voiced stops. Whereas Tosk Albanian has homorganic nasal-stop clusters, having produced a shift from the proto form that featured a word-initial stop to a nasal-stop cluster, which was achieved by placing a prefix en- (< PAlb preposition 'in'). Gheg Albanian is in a transitional position, featuring nasals that resulted from reduced nasal-stop clusters. + Malsia word-initial stop vs. the innovation of nasal-stop clusters in other dialectsPIE Malsia Tosk Gheg 'protect' 'to hold, keep' 'hold, carry' 'bear, carry' 'carry' 'hold, carry' 'stretch, tighten' 'push, press' 'hold, carry' 'share, divide' 'split, cut, divide' , (o-grade of ) 'time, chance, opportunity'
Examples of the formation of nasal-stop clusters by placing the prefix with unstressed word-initial vowel are: Tosk 'to fill', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'where, from where', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'to thrust, put on point', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'to stretch', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ).
The PAlb preposition 'in' has been preserved solely in the Malsia Albanian dialect, whereas in the other Gheg varieties and in Tosk it has been reanalyzed as a prefix attached to other lexical terms, no longer existing as a preposition.
Transitional dialects The transitional dialects are spoken in southern Elbasan so-called Greater Elbasan (Cërrik, Dumre, Dushk, Papër, Polis, Qafe, Shpat, Sulovë, Thanë), southern Peqin, northwestern Gramsh, northern Kuçovë, northern Berat, extreme western Rrogozhinë, northern and central Lushnjë and southern Librazhd (Bërzeshtë, Rrajcë), and Flazian-Falazdim-whish spoken in north of Albania.
Transitional features Rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- becomes -r- (e.g. Gheg râna < rêra, rëra "sand"). Proto-Albanian *ō becomes vo in the western sub-dialects or va in the central and eastern sub-dialects. Nasal vowels: In some sub-dialects of Transitional, some nasal vowels denasalize (e.g. rora "sand" in Sulovë) while in other words the nasals are retained: sŷ "eye" (Dumre, Shpat, Sulovë). ô-vowel: Some sub-dialects have ô for â in some words (e.g. ôma "taste" in Sulovë). Mb/Nd: Clusters such as mb become m in some dialects (e.g. kôma for standard këmba "leg").
Tosk dialects
Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects: Northern Tosk, Labërisht, Çam, Arvanitika, and Arbëresh. Northern Tosk is spoken in Berat, Fier, Skrapar, southern Kuçovë, southern Lushnjë, extreme southeastern Elbasan, most of Gramsh, Kolonjë, northern Mallakastër, northern Vlorë, Korçë, Ohër, Devoll, Përmet, east of the Vjosë river of Tepelenë, southern Struga (western shore of Lake Ohër), Pogradec, Prespa and northern Vlorë. Lab (or Labërisht) is spoken in southern Vlorë, Dukat, Himarë, southern Mallakastër, Delvinë, southern Çepan of Skrapar, eastern and southern Kolonjë, eastern and southern Leskovik, western and southern Përmet, west of the Vjosë river of Tepelenë, Gjirokastër and Sarandë. Çam is spoken in southern Sarandë (Konispol, Ksamil, Markat, Xarrë) and in parts of northern Greece. Tosk dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of Egypt, Turkey, and Ukraine. Çamërisht is spoken in northwestern Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece, mainly on the Peloponnese, Attica, Euboea, and the adjacent islands. Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in Southern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Apulia.
Tosk features
Rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- becomes -r- (e.g. rëra "sand") Proto-Albanian *ō becomes va. Nasal vowels: There is a lack of nasal vowels in Tosk (e.g. sy "eye") and Late Proto-Albanian *â plus a nasal becomes ë (e.g. nëntë "nine"). However, nasal vowels have been reported in the Lab dialects of Himarë and Kurvelesh : "Second difference is the existence of nasal vocals in Gheg which is not a characteristic of Tosk even sometimes the nasality is not really stressed. This nasal-oral feature, according to Desnickaja, forms one of the elements which differentiate the Albanian dialects whereas Gjinari cites Dilo Sheper who said that there are also some nasal vocals in some places of Eastern Albania such as in Kurvelesh and Himarë but the information at that time did not confirmed that". and separately in the Lab dialect of Borsh.. e-vowel: The e becomes ë in some dialects in some words qën for qen "dog" in Vjosë. ë-vowel: The ë may have several pronunciations depending on dialect: mëz "foal" is in Vuno) while ë is more backed in Labërisht. Final -ë drops in many Tosk dialects and lengthens the preceding vowel. y-vowel: The y vowel often derounds to i in the southern dialects Labërisht, Çam, Arvanitika and Arbëresh (e.g. dy "two" becomes di).