http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/claims-about-old-albanian-leave-scholars-lost-for-words
The Austrian linguist, Norbert Jokl, is often described as “the father of Albanology” for his tireless work in the early half of the 20th century, documenting this little studied language.
Today, two new Austrians are taking on the quest to better understand the Indo-European tongue and show that it shaped the development of many Balkan languages.
Linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger have begun the painstaking task of completing the first lexicon of verbs in Old Albanian.
The central hypothesis of their project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund, is that Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages.
Using the entire body of available Old Albanian literature, which dates from the 16th to the 18th centuries, they are analysing 1,500 pages of text, mainly from forgotten Catholic sources.
“Until now, little research has been carried out on these texts, as we are dealing almost exclusively with Catholic religious literature, which was first forgotten and then became taboo in the Communist era,” Matzinger said.
“Following the fall of Communism, this literature has once again emerged from the shadows, but, so far, there has been a lack of money and of background knowledge about [Albanian] Catholicism,” he added.
Different languages in the same geographical area often reveal similarities, despite lack of evidence of a common origin.
This phenomenon, known by the German term “sprachbund”, is evident in the Balkans, where the Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Romanian languages share words and structures.
But the Austrian researchers believe that Albanian was pivotal to the development of these other languages, rather than simply trading words with them.
The initial stage of the project, which has involved an in-depth examination of Old Albanian, has uncovered many hitherto unknown aspects to it.
“We discovered a great many verbal forms that are now obsolete or that have been lost through restructuring,” Schumacher said. “Until now, these forms have barely even been recognised or, at best, have been classified incorrectly.”
These lost verbs and structures are crucial in explaining the linguistic history of Albanian and its influence over other languages, the two researchers say.
They believe that they already have evidence to suggest that Albanian is the source of the suffixed definite article in Romanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian, for example, as this has been a feature of Albanian since ancient times.
Local Linguists Question Theory
The Albanian language’s influence on other regional languages, and claims that it is one of Europe’s oldest tongues, have long been a subject of dispute in the Balkans.
This is because the theory has political and ethnic implications and a potential impact on modern states’ claims to still disputed territory.
Some nationalists link the theory about the Albanian language’s antiquity to the related claim that Albanians must, therefore, have inhabited the region long before the Slavs arrived in the 5th to 6th centuries.
But while the Austrian research adds weight to the theory of the Albanian language’s antiquity, their work has received a cool welcome from Albanologists in Albanian and Kosovo, albeit often for different reasons.
Some scholars maintain that they have reached the same results as the two Austrians on their own.
Others remain distinctly cautious about the whole idea that Albanian “shaped” other languages.
Clirim Xhunga, a Tirana-based historian known for his nationalistic stance towards the language, said the Austrians’ research had not shown up any new linguistic, historical or etymological results.
Xhunga says his own work has already shown that a multitude of languages in and beyond the Balkans owe their origin to Albanian. In his articles published in Albanian newspapers he has suggested that both Latin and Ancient Greek derive from Albanian.
Kosovar academics, meanwhile, are less grandiose in their assessment of Albanian’s primary role.
Qemal Murati, from the Institute of Albanology in Pristina, said Albanian had exchanged a good deal with neighbouring languages but he doubted that it had shaped them.
“Albanians have for a long time had contact with the peoples of the Balkans, such as Greeks, southern Slavs, Turks, Roma, Jews and others,” he noted. “Albanians have taken and given plenty of elements in terms of vocabulary and grammar,” he added.
But he warned against the notion that Albanian shaped other languages, saying the claim should be treated with “strict scientific objectivity”, and citing the Albanian linguist, Eqrem Çabej, who said: “Let as talk with documents, as no one believes words anymore.”
Rexhep Ismaili, a Pristina-based linguist, is also cautious about some of the claims made about the Albanian language and its pedigree.
Albanian is clearly one of the ancient languages of the Balkans, he said, but its written form did not come until the 14th century.
In fact, the oldest surviving document in Albanian, a baptismal formula contained in a circular written by the Archbishop of Durres, dates from 1462.
It starts: “Unte paghesont premenit Atit et birit et spertit senit.” [“I baptise you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."]. In modern Albanian, this would be “Unë të përgëzoj në emër të atit, birit e shpirtit të shenjtë”.
“We cannot talk about the impact of one language over another,” Ismaili suggests, “but of a mutual fund of Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages of the Balkans”.
The Austrian linguist, Norbert Jokl, is often described as “the father of Albanology” for his tireless work in the early half of the 20th century, documenting this little studied language.
Today, two new Austrians are taking on the quest to better understand the Indo-European tongue and show that it shaped the development of many Balkan languages.
Linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger have begun the painstaking task of completing the first lexicon of verbs in Old Albanian.
The central hypothesis of their project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund, is that Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages.
Using the entire body of available Old Albanian literature, which dates from the 16th to the 18th centuries, they are analysing 1,500 pages of text, mainly from forgotten Catholic sources.
“Until now, little research has been carried out on these texts, as we are dealing almost exclusively with Catholic religious literature, which was first forgotten and then became taboo in the Communist era,” Matzinger said.
“Following the fall of Communism, this literature has once again emerged from the shadows, but, so far, there has been a lack of money and of background knowledge about [Albanian] Catholicism,” he added.
Different languages in the same geographical area often reveal similarities, despite lack of evidence of a common origin.
This phenomenon, known by the German term “sprachbund”, is evident in the Balkans, where the Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Romanian languages share words and structures.
But the Austrian researchers believe that Albanian was pivotal to the development of these other languages, rather than simply trading words with them.
The initial stage of the project, which has involved an in-depth examination of Old Albanian, has uncovered many hitherto unknown aspects to it.
“We discovered a great many verbal forms that are now obsolete or that have been lost through restructuring,” Schumacher said. “Until now, these forms have barely even been recognised or, at best, have been classified incorrectly.”
These lost verbs and structures are crucial in explaining the linguistic history of Albanian and its influence over other languages, the two researchers say.
They believe that they already have evidence to suggest that Albanian is the source of the suffixed definite article in Romanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian, for example, as this has been a feature of Albanian since ancient times.
Local Linguists Question Theory
The Albanian language’s influence on other regional languages, and claims that it is one of Europe’s oldest tongues, have long been a subject of dispute in the Balkans.
This is because the theory has political and ethnic implications and a potential impact on modern states’ claims to still disputed territory.
Some nationalists link the theory about the Albanian language’s antiquity to the related claim that Albanians must, therefore, have inhabited the region long before the Slavs arrived in the 5th to 6th centuries.
But while the Austrian research adds weight to the theory of the Albanian language’s antiquity, their work has received a cool welcome from Albanologists in Albanian and Kosovo, albeit often for different reasons.
Some scholars maintain that they have reached the same results as the two Austrians on their own.
Others remain distinctly cautious about the whole idea that Albanian “shaped” other languages.
Clirim Xhunga, a Tirana-based historian known for his nationalistic stance towards the language, said the Austrians’ research had not shown up any new linguistic, historical or etymological results.
Xhunga says his own work has already shown that a multitude of languages in and beyond the Balkans owe their origin to Albanian. In his articles published in Albanian newspapers he has suggested that both Latin and Ancient Greek derive from Albanian.
Kosovar academics, meanwhile, are less grandiose in their assessment of Albanian’s primary role.
Qemal Murati, from the Institute of Albanology in Pristina, said Albanian had exchanged a good deal with neighbouring languages but he doubted that it had shaped them.
“Albanians have for a long time had contact with the peoples of the Balkans, such as Greeks, southern Slavs, Turks, Roma, Jews and others,” he noted. “Albanians have taken and given plenty of elements in terms of vocabulary and grammar,” he added.
But he warned against the notion that Albanian shaped other languages, saying the claim should be treated with “strict scientific objectivity”, and citing the Albanian linguist, Eqrem Çabej, who said: “Let as talk with documents, as no one believes words anymore.”
Rexhep Ismaili, a Pristina-based linguist, is also cautious about some of the claims made about the Albanian language and its pedigree.
Albanian is clearly one of the ancient languages of the Balkans, he said, but its written form did not come until the 14th century.
In fact, the oldest surviving document in Albanian, a baptismal formula contained in a circular written by the Archbishop of Durres, dates from 1462.
It starts: “Unte paghesont premenit Atit et birit et spertit senit.” [“I baptise you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."]. In modern Albanian, this would be “Unë të përgëzoj në emër të atit, birit e shpirtit të shenjtë”.
“We cannot talk about the impact of one language over another,” Ismaili suggests, “but of a mutual fund of Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages of the Balkans”.
