All social animals communicate with each other, from bees and ants to whales and apes, but only humans have developed a language which is more than a set of prearranged signals.
Our speech even differs in a physical way from the communication of other animals. It comes from a cortical speech centre which does not respond instinctively, but organises sound and meaning on a rational basis. This section of the brain is unique to humans.
When and how the special talent of language developed is impossible to say. But it is generally assumed that its evolution must have been a long process.
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab13#ixzz2fFuHUg4R
Explain in two-three paragraphs how your native languages evolved?
Our speech even differs in a physical way from the communication of other animals. It comes from a cortical speech centre which does not respond instinctively, but organises sound and meaning on a rational basis. This section of the brain is unique to humans.
When and how the special talent of language developed is impossible to say. But it is generally assumed that its evolution must have been a long process.
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab13#ixzz2fFuHUg4R
Explain in two-three paragraphs how your native languages evolved?
The Albanian language is among the most old ones in the Balkans. It has been spoken by the Illyrians which are forerunners of the Albanians. Even though its ancient it has been documented very late. The first book written in old Albanian was "Meshari" by Gjon Buzuku. It was written in 1555 and represents a summary of religious texts and Psalms. Other documents are the "Epiphany Formula" (1462), "Arnold von Harf dictionary" (1496) etc. Other materials and texts were written during the Middle Age by famous names like Pjeter Budi, Pjeter Bogdani, Frank Bardhi, Marin Barleti etc. This complex language has been saved with much love and commitment during centuries by the Albanian people.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very interesting comment Fatijon. I believe there are many complexities in relation to the origin of the Albanian language, as with all other languages, and it is still a vast area of research for many linguists, who are trying to find solutions to some points in relation to the history of the Albanian language. One such point is the fact that the Albanian is an isolated language without relation to any other languages spoken in the region.
DeleteIt is a similar case with the Greek language. The explanation there is that since Alexander the Great's conquest, the Greek that was spoken in Alexandria, became the official language of the vast empire, and was used by many people who contributed into its linguistic body by entering words from as many as 40 different languages into use over time. This indicates that the language cannot have been native to any ethnic community, but rather used as a 'lingua franca' - common language between the various ethnic groups that merged under one empire, which was later inherited by Byzantium as well. Thus Greek is not related to any other language generically because it was a product of civilizational development, rather than cultural heritage.
How would you explain the isolated character of the Albanian language? Do you think it was a mixture of different languages, and if so, do you think that the original substrate or the influences prevailed?
Points of interest for further discussion:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvanites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_attrition
The historical development of the Macedonian language dates back to the 9th century AD when Slavonic literacy began with a standard Macedonian language. The modern codification of the Macedonian literary language was in 1944. Krste Petkov Misirkov, is considered as the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language, was an outspoken and unambiguous advocate of Macedonian linguistic and national separatism. In his book On Macedonian Matters, published in 1903 in Sofia and immediately suppressed by the Bulgarians, Misirkov wrote, 'I am a Macedonian. I write in the central Macedonian dialect, which from now on I shall always consider the Macedonian literary language.' He not only advocated completely separating our (Macedonian) interests from those of other Balkan states and independently continuing our own cultural and national development, but he also called for the recognition of the Slavs in Macedonia as a separate nationality - Macedonians.'
ReplyDeleteI find your emphasis on the work of Misirkov very inspiring for further thought on the matter. Today we live in a world where many nations use the same language, yet represent separate cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For instance, English is spoken by the British, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and even Indians, and many more. However, English was the language of the colonized world, and it represented the only way for different cultures to interact with each other.
DeleteIn your opinion, how important is the standardization of the modern Macedonian language for the preservation of the Macedonian national identity? In other words, do you think that the Macedonian national identity depends on the standardization of the modern Macedonian language?
The Slavs first came to the Balkan Peninsula in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. In the ninth century monks Saints Cyril and Methodius developed the first writing system for the Slavic language (the first alphabet, “Glagolica” who had 41 letters and the first books were religious, like the Bible and etc). They wanted Macedonians to learn on their language, not on Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian.
ReplyDeleteThe dialects were a problem. The people who lived in Macedonia were influenced from the other countries and spoke a mixture of languages. In the northern and western part they spoke between Macedonian and Serbian, and the south-east, Macedonian-Bulgarian. They needed an OFFICIAL MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE .The founder of the OFFICIAL MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE is Krste Petkov Misirkov. He said that the Macedonian language should be taken from the center of Macedonia because they were the least influenced from the other countries. That’s the language we speak today.
I find your initial statement very provocative, and I would like to challenge you to a further research. You say that the Slavs came to the Balkan Peninsula in the sixth and seventh century. I am familiar with this theory, however since it has not been supported by archeological evidence, meaning there is no evidence of proto Slavic culture that developed in the Pripet Marshes, which is the region behind the Carpathian mountains, the alleged homeland of the Slavs. Florin Curta, a professor at the Columbia University, in his book "The Making of the Slavs" says that: "there is no evidence, until the early regnal years of Heraclius, of an outright migration of the Slavs (Sclavenes) to the region south of the Danube river...In other words there is a continuation of cultural life in Macedonian cities and no indication of Slavic intrusion which would influence the life in the cities."
DeleteOn the other hand, we have evidence that Slavic was spoken in Peloponnesus in Greece, for more than two centuries after the migrations took place, and it was in the 8th and 9th century that Byzantium initiated a process known as Re-hellenisation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnese)
So if we consider this theory, that the Slavs never really came to the Balkan Peninsula, but migrated across it, forced by intrusion of Avars, Huns, and Tatars first of all, then it points at the fact that the Slavs are native to the region. If this is the case, how much of the language spoken by the ancient population of Macedonia has been absorbed in the language that Ss. Cyril and Methodius used to spread word of God to the Slavic people in general? Or to put it another way, is it possible that the ancient Macedonians also spoke a form of proto-Slavic language?
The Macedonian language is a Slavic language,specifically one of the South Slavic languages. Its beginnings are in the Slavic alphabet written by St. Cyril & Methodius in the 9th century. The next step in the development of the language is in the alphabet written around 886 by St. Clement in the Ohrid literary school. Significant evidence for the Macedonian language we get in the writings of Yoakim Karchovski and Cyril Peichinovich especially his tombstone. However it's considered that the foundation of the Macedonian literary language is in the book "On Macedonian Matters" published in 1903 by Krste Petkov Misirkov. Most of today's components in the language are contained in it. According to Misirkov the language should be based on the central Macedonian dialects and speeches. The language was appointed as an official language in Macedonia on 2 August 1944. Through history the language was often mixed with the other Slavic languages (especially Bulgarian & Serbian) and that's why today we can meet a lot of problems and discussions about its authenticity.
ReplyDeleteI find one of your statements very interesting. You say that the beginnings of the Macedonian language are in the Slavic alphabet written by Ss Cyril and Methodius in the 8th century. Do you think that people before that did not have their own language since they did not have their own alphabet? Can a language exist without a script, transmitted in oral form? Do you think that Cyril and Methodius created the Glagolitic script? If so, why did their students insist on replacing it with the Cyrillic alphabet?
DeleteThere are some indication that the Glagolitic script was first invented by a Bishop from Croatia in the 5th century, and it was known as Hieronymian alphabet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic_alphabet#Hieronymian_version).
If this is true, why do you think Cyril advocated this alphabet to be used with the Slavic languages? Why do you think his students replaced it another alphabet that they named Cyrillic, in his honour?
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ReplyDeleteThe origins of the Macedonian language come from the 9th century and its a South Slavic language from the Indo-European family tree of languages. The beginnings of our language started with the first alphabet that was written by the brothers St. Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century when they created the Glagolitic alphabet. Later on when St. Cyril passed away his brother simplified that alphabet along with his students St. Kliment and St. Naum. The alphabet that they simplified was called after Cyril, Cyrillic alphabet or script. There was no Macedonian language when they were occupied by the Ottomans but two writers Yoakim Krcovski and Cyril Peichinovich started writing in some kind of Macedonian language with their dialects but still they used a lot of foreign words from the Serbian, Bulgarian and the Turkish language. In the beginning of the 20th century Krste P. Misirkov wanted a simple Macedonian language. In 1903 Krste P. Misirkov published his book “ About Macedonian Matters” and in this book in the 5th article he talks about forming the Macedonian language. This book was written in the central dialects specifically the dialects from Ohrid, Prilep, Bitola and Veles. On 2nd August 1944 just after the Second World War the solution about forming a Macedonian language was delivered to the Language commission in Macedonia. The current alphabet that we have was published on 5th May 1945 and since then the struggle for having a language for our own was finished, but in our language we still have dozens of words in Serbian, Bulgarian and Turkish.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting view. You mention that the Glagolitic alphabet was simplified into the Cyrillic. Could you find some evidence to support this view?
DeleteLanguage is one of the most important features of people. As far as the Macedonian people and state are concerned, language is of extreme significance and offers confirmation of their historical continuity. The Macedonian language has a rich history and has played a key role in the development of the spiritual culture, creative activity and the preservation of the distinctive national identity of the Macedonians.
ReplyDeleteThe first writing system for the Slavonic languages was implemented by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the IX century (862). First they created the Glagolitic alphabet which was the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic, and it contained 38 letters. Cyril advocating faith manages with his ability of powerful orator and philosopher to persuade the Pope to officially recognize the Slavic language. Thus in 869 year Slavic becomes equal to Latin, Greek and Jewish language and could be used in worship. Cyrillic was created later, based on the Greek alphabet and it has 44 letters. Slavic literacy was spreading by literary schools, like the one in Lesnovo and Ohrid. Afterwards in XIX century people like Kiril Pejchinovikj,Yoakim Karchovski,Gjorgjija Pulevski appeared on the stage, who were Macedonian educators and with their written texts they helped with the mission of spreading the Macedonian language and culture.
One of the most important contributors in the standardization of the Macedonian literary language was Blaže Koneski. On the first session of ASNOM 2nd August 1944 the Macedonian language was accepted as an official language of Macedonia.
What I find challenging to research further are the literary schools of Lesnovo, Ohrid and Preslav, in Bulgaria. Apparently, while the Ohrid school was more devoted to the Glagolitic script, Preslav school started spreading the Cyrillic script. At this time the Bulgarian Kingdom was ruled by Tatar Khans. Boris I of Bulgaria was the first to be converted to Christianity, yet he accepted the Slavic language as official, although the Tatars spoke a different language, and he accepted the Cyrillic script thanks to the work of St.Clement and St.Naum, the students of Ss. Cyril and Methodius. What made Boris I of Bulgaria accept this script and language? (in your opinion)
DeleteThe Old Macedonian language belongs to the group of the oldest languages on the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the modern Macedonian language belongs to the group of South Slavic languages. The Slavs first came to the Balkan Peninsula in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. The first writting system was developed by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century, with the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabetс. Ohrid Literary School was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on orders of Boris 1st.of Bulgaria. Then comes the time of the Ottoman occupation and domination.
The evolution of the Macedonian language continues with the works of Kiril Peichinovich and Yoakim Krchovski and their educators work. They made simpler and more understanding schoolbooks for the schools and churches. Krste Petkov Misirkov has incredible influence to the development of the Macedonian language, especially with the book "On Macedonian Matters", published on 1903. The Macedonian language received a lot of influence from its occupiers, such as the Bulgarians, Serbians, Greeks, Turks etc. One of the most important contributors in the standardisation of the Macedonian literary language was Blaze Koneski. The Macedonian language was proclaimed the official language of the Republic of Macedonia at the First Session of the Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia, held on August 2, 1944.
Macedonian is an Indo-European language from the family Slavic languages belonging to the South Slavic group. At the same time, it is a Balkan language. The historical development of the Macedonian language dates back to the 9th century AD when the Slavonic literacy began with a standard Macedonian language. The development of the Macedonian language started in the 9th century, with the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet composed by the brothers St. Cyril and Methodius.
ReplyDeleteThe development of the Macedonian language continues with the very important works of Kiril Peychinovich and Yoakim Krchovski, and their teaching activities. Kiril Peychinovich was the first author who composed an epitaph for himself in verse.Until then every writer was only translating the church books.
Krste Petkov Misirkov and his book “ On Macedonian Matters” were the culmination of the development of the Macedonian language.Misirkov argued for the creation of a standard literary Macedonian language from the central dialects of Macedonia. One of the most important contributors in the standardisation of the Macedonian literary language was Blaže Koneski. The first document written in the literary standard Macedonian language is the first issue of the Nova Makedonija newspaper in 1944.
The Macedonian language was declared as an official language of the Republic of Macedonia on the first session of ASNOM (The Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia) on 2 August 1944.
Turkish language is one of the world’s oldest languages, with about 64 million native speakers. This language belongs to the Ural-Altaic group and it has been spoken for about 8500 years. It is also important to mention that the Turkish language holds the 15th place of the most spoken languages.
ReplyDeleteFirst written words of this ancient language were found in the Sumerian Tablets and later in the Yenisey Inscriptions before thousands of years. Other important documents are “Divanü Lügati't-Türk” (in English: The main Turkish dictionary) written by Kaşgarlı Mahmud (between 25 January 1072 - 10 February 1074) and “Kutadgu Bilig” by Yusuf Has Hacib (1069-1070).
Another characteristic of this language is that it changed many alphabets. First it started with the Orhun Alphabet and then changed in the Arabic alphabet with Turkish origin which functioned during the Ottoman Empire. In 1 November 1928, the Arabic alphabet was changed into the Latin one, as a part of the Ataturk’s reforms, after the Turkish Republic was born. The current alphabet is the Latin one with 29 letters and it continues to be written and spoken not just in Turkey, but here at Balkan’s as well.
The History of Macedonian Language
ReplyDeleteThe historical development of Macedonian language dates back 9th century AD. The Macedonian language is a Slavic language , one of the South Slavic languages. The monks Saints Cyril and Methodius developed the first writing system for the Slavic language.The first alphabet, “ Glagolica " who had 41 letters.Next there is the development of the language alphabet written around 866 by St Clement in the Ohrid litrary school. We also have very significant evidence from the writing of Yoakim Krcovski and Cyril Peichinovic becuase they were the first one who write on Macedonian dialect language, especually tombostone of Cyril. In the past we have problem with the dialect.People who lived in Macedonia were influenced from the other countries and spoke a mixture of languages. But for this problem Krste Petkov Misirkov contributed much with the book "On Macedonian Matters" published in 1903.He said that the Macedonian language should be taken from the center of Macedonia because they were the least influenced from the other countries. The language was appointed as an official language on 2 August 1944.
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ReplyDeleteThe Evolving of the Albanian language
ReplyDeleteAlbanian language is one of the oldest languages in Europe. Its heritage comes from the Illyrian language. We don’t know much about the Illyrian language because there are no written documents in it, but there are lots of personal names found which are very similar to modern Albanian names, some hydronyms and toponyms which makes it enough for more than 60 scholars to claim that Albanian language is descended from Illyrian.
However it is one of the few Indo-European languages which share its branch with no other extant language.
The first written documents in Albanian came very late for several reasons.
The first certain document in Albanian is “Formula e Pagezimit”(1462) by Pal Engjelli, whereas the first book came in 16th century by Gjon Buzuku-“Meshari” and later in that century several different books from Leke Matrenga, Pjeter Budi, Frang Bardhi and Pjeter Bogdani who formed the core of the Albanian Literature.
Although Albanians were suppressed throughout history and suffered a lot, they managed to save their language and today it is spoken by 8 million people around the world, primarly in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro, Italy and in lots of other European and American countries as well.
I personally think that the first written documents came too late because Albanians had their National Awakening very late due to lots of different reasons.
The history of Macedonian language
ReplyDeleteLanguage is the most important aspect in the life of all beings. We use language to express our thoughts and our emotions. The Macedonian language is one of the southern slavic language along with Serbian , Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian, Montenegrin and Bulgarian language.
History of the Macedonian language begins in the IX century with the emergence of the brothers Cyril and Methodius who created the oldest Slavic alphabet letter ( glagolitic alphabet). Later on when St. Cyril died his brother along with his students St. Kliment and St. Naum simplified that alphabet. The new alphabet that they simplified was called Cyrillic alphabet which has got 31 letters.
Later in the XIX century many writers like Joakim Krcovski, Kiril Pejcinovic, the brothers Konstantin and Dimitrija Miladinovi , Grigor Prlicev started writing in some kind of Macedonian language with their dialects. But, in the XX century Krste Petkov Misirkov , the most important author for Macedonian language, in 1903 in Sofia published his book “ About Macedonian Matters”. The most important is the 5th article when he talks about the formation of the Macedonian language. He said that the language should be based on the central Macedonian speeches.
One of the most important contributors in the standardization of the Macedonian literary language was Blaze Koneski and on the first session of ASNOM 2nd August 1944 the Macedonian language was accepted as an official language of Republic of Macedonia.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE
ReplyDeleteAbout the language:
The Macedonian language belongs to the South Slavic group of languages. It’s spoken by 2-3 million people, in Macedonia and in the Macedonian diaspora which consists of ethnic Macedonian immigrants and their descendants in countries such as: Australia, Italy, Germany, Canada, the USA etc. It’s also spoken by the minority of Macedonians in Serbia, Albania and other countries.
Evolution of the language: Slavic Period
The Slavic language was spoken by the Slavs that first inhabited the area near Thessaloniki. But, they needed a system of signs they would use to keep evidence and communicate with each other at distance. The Slavic literacy appeared in the second half of the 9th century, more specifically in the year 862 when St. Cyril, the brother of Methodius ‘forged’ the first Slavic alphabet – the Glagolitic alphabet, with 38 letters. The Cyrillic script emerged a bit later with 44 letters, and it used the Greek alphabet as a platform. The mission to literalize the Slavs was accomplished through the local literary schools. The most popular at that time were the Ohrid Literary School in Macedonia and the Preslav Literary School in Bulgaria. There are only 3 existing artifacts from the Slavic Period: Codex Zogra, Codex Assemanius and Codex Mary, all written in the Glagolitic alphabet.
Damaskins and division of the language
In the period between the XII and the XVIII century, the old Slavic language kept its basic function – preaching and worshipping God. But, through time the language changed with the implementation of elements from various languages, which resulted in the forming of different varieties of the Slavic language: Macedonian, Serbian, Russian, Polish etc. Between the XV and the XVIII century we witness the appearance of the texts called ‘damaskins’. There are around 200 ‘damaskins’ from Macedonia. They’re named that way because of the Greek preacher Damaskin Studit who came up with the idea that the people should use a simple and understandable language. Through time the Slavic language started dividing into: ‘proficient style’ – Church-Slavonic and loose style – vernacular(which was used in several transcripts and administrative texts called gramotes).
Standardization of the Macedonian language
The standardization of the Macedonian language began in 1875 with the book written by Gjorgjija Pulevski. In 1903, Krste Petkov Misirkov wrote the book “For the Macedonian things”, which was published in Sofia, 1903. The book consists of 5 chapters in which there’s a generous explanation of the Macedonian national program. That means that these 5 chapters describe the economical, political, cultural and lingual preconditions for the forming of a modern Macedonian nation. One of the chapters is devoted to the creation of the Macedonian standard language. Misirkov had 3 principles: 1. The platform of the Standard Macedonian Language should be based on the central dialects, more specifically the dialects of Bitola, Prilep and Veles. 2. The spelling should be based on phonetically phonological principles. 3. The vocabulary of the Standard Macedonian Language should include words from all of the Macedonian dialects.
The officializing of the Macedonian language
The Macedonian language was proclaimed the official language of the Republic of Macedonia at the First Session of the Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia, held on August 2, 1944. The first official Macedonian grammar was developed by Krume Kepeski. One of the most important contributors in the standardisation of the Macedonian literary language was Blaže Koneski. The first document written in the literary standard Macedonian language is the first issue of the Nova Makedonija newspaper in 1944. Makedonska Iskra (Macedonian Spark) was the first Macedonian newspaper published in Australia, from 1946 to 1957. A monthly with national distribution, it commenced in Perth and later moved to Melbourne and Sydney.
TURKISH LANGUAGE
ReplyDeleteTurkish is a very ancient language and belongs to the Altaic branch of the Ural-Altaic family of languages. As one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, it is spoken by almost 65 million people in Turkey and over a large
geographical area in Europe and Asia. It is spoken in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uyghur and with some populations in Cyprus, Mongolia, Iran, Iraq. Furthermore, over a million speakers are found in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece, more than 1.5 million speakers live in Germany and nearly half a
million live in other European countries.Turkish is a very ancient language going back 5500 to 8500 years. It has a phonetic,morphological and syntactic structure, and at the same time it possesses a rich vocabulary.
The oldest written records are found upon stone monuments in central Asia, in the Orphan, Yenisei and Tales regions within the boundaries of present-day Mongolia. These were erected to bilge Kalgan (735), Cultigens (732), and the
vizier Koyukuk (724-726). These monuments document the social and political life of the Gokturk dynasty., Turkish literature was the joint product of the Turkish clans and was mostly oral. The oldest known examples of Turkish writings are on
obelisks dating from the late 7th and early 8th centuries. The compendium of the Turkic dialects (Divânü Lügati't-türk), written during the 11th century by Kaşgarlı Mahmud of the Kara-Khanid khanate, constitutes an early linguistic treatment of the family. The compendium is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Turkic languages and also includes the first known map of the Turkic speakers' geographical distribution. The "book of Dede Korkut", put down in writing in the 14th century, is an extremely valuable work that preserves the memory of that epic era in beautiful language.
Turkish languages changed four alphabets. First one is Orphan, Uygur, Arabic and Latin. Then there was the "new language" movement started by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In 1928, five years after the proclamation of the republic, the
Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin one, which in turn speeded up the movement to rid the language of foreign words. Nowadays the current alphabet is the Latin one with 29 letters
I have also read about Cirillic alphabet which they've used, I will be glad if you enlighten me about .
DeleteHISTORY OF TURKISH LANGUAGE
ReplyDeleteTurkish is a very ancient language and belongs to the Altaic branch of the Ural-Altaic family of languages. The history of Turkish language is examined in a few periods:
Old Turkish period is the first period which is followed with written sources. It has been lived between 6 and 13th centuries. The texts of old Turkish period is collected in three groups:
1. Kokturk texts
2. Uygur texts
3. Karahanli texts.
The first examples of Turkish literature come from this period namely as ‘Orkhon Inscriptions’. These examples are the oldest stone inscription and are known as the first documentation of Turkish literary language.
Middle Turkish period covers the time between 13-15th centuries. It is the period that connects old Turkish with new Turkish.
New Turkish period was the time which Turkish dialects and literature developed, and it has existed from 15th- 20th century.
And, today’s Turkish is Modern Turkish which has been in use since 20th century and in the same time which is spoken in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan etc. Furthermore, over a million speakers are found in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece, more than 1.5 million speakers live in Germany and nearly half a million live in other European countries.
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ReplyDeleteHISTORY OF ALBANIAN LANGUAGE
ReplyDeleteAlbanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia and Greece.The earliest written document that mentions the Albanian language is a late-13th-century crime report from Dubrovnik.
The center of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In AD 1079 they are recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin river. The Shkumbin, a seasonal stream that lies near the old Via Egnatia, is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk-Gheg. The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migration to the Balkans, which means that in that period (5th to 6th centuries AD) Albanians were occupying pretty much the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jirecek line. References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from the 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "Formula e pagëzimit" (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit. ("I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that per.
The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari, or "missal", was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku, a Roman Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin-Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë.
Before World War II the language predominantly used for official purposes was Gheg Albanian because King Zog I was a Gheg leader. Prior to World War II, dictionaries consulted by developers of the standard have included Lexikon tis Alvanikis glossis (Albanian: Fjalori i Gjuhës Shqipe (Kostandin Kristoforidhi, 1904), Fjalori i Bashkimit (1908), and "Fjalori i Gazullit" (1941). After World War II standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect, while standardization was directed by the Institute of Albanian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.Two dictionaries were published in 1954: an Albanian language dictionary and a Russian–Albanian dictionary. New orthography rules were eventually published in 1967 and 1973 (Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe (Orthography of the Albanian Language). More recent dictionaries from the Albanian government are Fjalori Drejtshkrimor i Gjuhës Shqipe (1976) (Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian Language) and Dictionary of Today's Albanian language (Fjalori Gjuhës së Sotme Shqipe) (1980).
The Albanian language has evolved like every language.The first time when this language was recorded had an alphabet with 22-23 characters but nowadays the Albanian language has 36 characters.It has roots from Thraco-Illyrian and its in the group of Indo-European languages. The Albanian language has 2 dialects:
ReplyDelete1)-"Gegërisht" and "Toskërisht".
The old language was very interesting to listen but it was hard to learn and to use but nowadays we use this language, which is so after WW-II.
Like every language having words borrowed from foreign languages also this language has borrowed words{çekiç,streh,çarçaf,ingredient}etc.
The first 3 documents to prove that this language existed even before the first book "Meshari"-by GjonBuzuku (1555).
-"Perikopeja e ungjëllit"the end of the XV century and starting the XVI century its 3rd document in Albanian language it is composed of 2 small part of the Bible.This document was found out of manuscripts in XIV century.
-"Fjalorii Arnold FonHarfit"-is the 2nd document, written in XV century (1497).
There was one German traveler who departed from Köln to Palestine but he stopped for 3 years in Albania and he had to learn basic things for communication like:water,sugar,street,animal,food,etc.
-"Formula e pagëzimit"-this is the old document in Albanian language,it was written in 1462 by archbishop in "Durës".
Albanian language
ReplyDeleteThe Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by five million people,primarily in Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia.
It derives, no doubt, by one of the ancient languages of the Balkan Peninsula, Illyrian or Thracian.The thesis of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians is supported by prominent Austrian scholar Johannas Georges von Hahn in his work "Albanesische Stidien", published in 1854.
The first document written in Albanian, is the one called "Formula e pagëzimit" of 1462 by Pal Engjëlli.“Formula e pagëzimit" was found in the Library Laurentiana,Milan,by famous Romanian historian Nikolla Jorga and published by him in 1915.
The second document, written in Albanian language is “Glossary of Arnold von Harf”, of 1496.
The first book written in Albanian, as we know till now is "Meshari" of Gjon Buzuku, 1555.The book contains 220 pages, written in two columns.It was discovered for the first time in Rome by one of the writers of the north, Gjon Nikollë Kazazi.
The two main dialects of the Albanian language are :gehg in north and tosk in south.
Naum Veqilharxhi in 1824 began working to create the Albanian alphabet and in 1844 and 1845 was published "Evetar"
In 1967, was published by the Institute of History and Linguistics, the new project "Albanian spelling rules"
History of Macedonian Language
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Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian and Croatian.
Early Macedonian Language
Prior to the South Slavic Cyrillic script their alphabet was with dashes and lines.
Тhe Byzantine empire which ruled with those regions wanted to convert the pagan tribes into the Christian religion, so they needed to invent their own Slavic alphabet understandable for the all South Slavic people. The first Slavic alphabet, which the Macedonian language stems from, as well as other South Slavic languages, was invented by the Slavic brother Cyril and Methodius from Thessalonica because all the Slavic people needed to understand each other, and that alphabet was Glagolitic. After their death their mission was continued by Clement and Naum. They reconstructed the Glagolitic alphabet and in the honour of the first alphabet’s creator Cyril, they named the alphabet Cyrillic. Clement and Naum founded the first Slavic University in the Balkans where the Slavic alphabet and the worship of God were studied in Slavic language.
Middle Macedonian Language
In the first half of the nineteenth century the lectures in the schools were studied in Greek and Bulgarian language. The reformers from this time were: Marko Cepenkov from Prilep, Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov Dzinot from Veles, Kiril Pejcinovic from Tearce and Joakim Krcovski form Kicevo.
They were writing in the popular Macedonian language spoken by the people.
The big contribution for the Macedonian language and literacy ws given by: Konstantin and Dimitar Miladinov together with Rajko Zinzifov, Grigor Prlicev. They were fighting for distinguishing the Macedonian from the Bulgarian language.
Modern Macedonian language
In the beginning of the twentieth century Krste Petkov Misirkov wanted to separate the Macedonian language from other Balkan languages, in particular from the Bulgarian influence in the Macedonian language. In his book On Macedonian Matters (За Македонцките работи) he wanted to create a standard Macedonian language and wanted to proof that the Macedonian language is different from the other Balkan languages.
In the first half of the twentieth century Kosta Solev Racin has written the book White Dawns (Бели Мугри) in 1939 year in Zagreb, where the difficult life of the Macedonian people is described in that time. Blaze Koneski conceived the first Macedonian grammar in 1952 and his grammar is still studied today from that period we have a standard Macedonian language.