Aristotle Spiro | Researcher - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Aristotle Spiro

Studime Filologjike, Nov 30, 2023

We report here on some findings from fieldwork over several years in Palasa, a village near Himar... more We report here on some findings from fieldwork over several years in Palasa, a village near Himara in which the Greek speakers show the effects of long-standing contact with Albanian. We focus on the ethnolinguistic situation, differential borrowing depending on lexical domain, regional ethnobotany, and code-switching in a folk tale.

Studime filologjike , 2022

The article is written in Albanian and discusses the reformulation of the principles of Albanian ... more The article is written in Albanian and discusses the reformulation of the principles of Albanian orthography, focusing on the phonological principle as the fundamental basis. It highlights historical discussions on revising standard Albanian after the 90s, pointing out inadequacies in proposals due to theoretical errors and a lack of understanding of graphemics. The author argues for the phonological principle over the phonetic one, emphasizing the bidirectional relationship between phonemes and graphemes.
The article critiques the concept of a morphological principle in Albanian orthography, asserting that the phoneme: grapheme relationship serves to identify morphemes. It dismisses proposals based on morphological principles and provides examples comparing Albanian with French and English. Additionally, the author introduces secondary principles like the inter-semiotic, traditional-historical, etymological, and symbolic principles, emphasizing their interaction with the phonological principle.
In conclusion, the author asserts the dominance of the phonological principle in Albanian orthography, discrediting the existence of a morphological principle. The article suggests criteria for orthographic improvements, emphasizing system compatibility and the advantages of existing rules.

Ανδρέας Ζαρμπαλάς (επιμελητής), Κατίνα Παπά, Η γυναίκα-Η λογοτέχνις-Η παιδαγωγός, 2023

This article is an analysis of the dialectical elements in the story of the writer Katina Papa (1... more This article is an analysis of the dialectical elements in the story of the writer Katina Papa (1903-1959), whose origin is from the village Giannitsates of Northern Epirus, Albania.
The basic dialectic substrate of Katina Papa consists of the vernacular spoken in Giannitsates. It is what is included in the author's narrative strategy to render in vivid colors a Greek remote part of a society that lived with conservative morals and customs, in the rhythms of outdated times and difficult economic conditions, situations that produced inevitable social dramas. The masterful use of the narrative vernacular is elegantly harmonized with the idiomatic linguistic touches, to produce a literary result that is now accepted as a classic of its kind, able to adequately represent – due to the origin of the author and its subject matter – Northern Epirus literature.

Akte të Kuvendit Ndërkombëtar të Studimeve Albanologjike, Vëllimi II. Gjuhësi dhe Antropologji. (Eds.) Shaban Sinani & Pëllumb Xhufi., 2022

Binary proclisis and definite enclisis: two sides of the same typological evolutionary process in... more Binary proclisis and definite enclisis: two sides of the same typological
evolutionary process in Albanian
The author of this paper offers arguments and evidence that the
postpositive article and the category of definiteness have arisen from the
same grammaticalization process in Albanian. Neither Albanian nor its
«mother» have ever had preposed definite articles.
The postpositivearticle derived from two sources: 1) from the retraction
and grammaticalization of the anaphoric demonstrative preposed to the
host, and 2) from the reinterpretation of old stem indicators (accusative
masculine and feminine and nominative feminine). The preservation of some
old case indicators - or at least of a structural model - is included among those
conservative factors that were functionally re-evaluated within the system
and facilitated the qualitative transition to the new category of definiteness.
The prepositive article of Albanian is originally a demonstrative
pronoun used in an emphatic syntax. After being attracted and agglutinated
to the governing noun and grammaticalized as a suffix, the non-emphatic
order of the same pronoun could optionally be used before the determiners
of the noun. Thus, in Albanian, two series of prepositive articles were
outlined: emphatic and non-emphatic, which correspond to two
homonymous syntaxes. With the exception of the accusative case, the nonemphatic
syntax in the everyday speech allows ommiting the prepositive
articles.
The appearance of the agglutinated definite articles doubled the
inflection forms of the Albanian nouns.
The consolidation of the double inflection in Albanian had
extraordinary consequences. First of all, it finally separated and affirmed it
as a language qualitatively different from its«mother».

The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are direct... more The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are directly felt in its verbal system. E.g., instead of the Simple Present Perfect, the Simple Past is often used: έφαγα 'I ate' rather than έχω φάει 'I have eaten', πήγα 'I went' αντί έχω πάει 'I have gone', etc. The cause of this situation is related, as it has been pointed out (Mirambel 1988: 146), with an established threefold verbal system of MG (present : past : future), not amenable to subdivisions. However, the material that the sub-dialect of Himara offers, allows a revision of the linguistic situation in the general context of MG. In this sub-dialect some «peculiar» verb tenses occur, not located in any other MG dialect. Present Perfect and Past Perfect of the verbs είμαι and έχω are used here: έχω/είχα λάχει or έχω/είχα τύχει 'I have/had been' and έχω/είχα λάβει 'I have/had had'. These structures have been morphologized since the late 18th century. The source of this innovation leads to the linguistic contacts of the Himariotes with Kingdom of Naples, and the impact of Spanish as its official language, while other contact languages like Italian and Albanian played a supportive role in the formation of these tenses.

Μελέτη που αφορά στη σύγκριση των γλωσσικών συστημάτων της ελληνικής και της αλβανικής. Απευθύνετ... more Μελέτη που αφορά στη σύγκριση των γλωσσικών συστημάτων της ελληνικής και της αλβανικής. Απευθύνεται σε εκπαιδευτικούς και ερευνητές και φιλοδοξεί να τους παρουσιάσει βασικά χαρακτηριστικά της αλβανικής γλώσσας και να τους ενημερώσει για τις ιδιαίτερες δυσκολίες στην εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας που είναι πιθανό να εμφανίσουν μαθητές που μιλούν τη μία ή την άλλη γλώσσα σαν μητρική γλώσσα. Πρόκειται για μελέτη υποδομής η οποία δεν περιλαμβάνει συγκεκριμένες διδακτικές προτάσεις αλλά κυριως συγκριτικές επισημάνσεις. Οι εκπαιδευτικοί μπορούν να ενημερωθούν σχετικά με τα προβλήματα των αλβανοφώνων κατά την εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας

Nyjat në gjuhën shqipe. Diakronia dhe sinkronia e një evolucioni tipologjik: prokliza binare dhe enkliza shquese, 2021

The postposition story of the definite articles in Albanian is at the same time the story of thei... more The postposition story of the definite articles in Albanian is at the same time the story of their birth.
The postpositive and prepositive articles were born simultaneously being part of a single grammaticalization process.
The process of forming definite articles is not simply the process of transforming the anaphoric demonstrative into a dependent definite morpheme. It is the transition from a system without definite articles, without the grammatical category of definiteness and indefiniteness to a new linguistic system with articles, and in fact post-positioned and agglutinated.
Several grammatical devices were used for this. Anaphoric demonstrative played, of course, a fundamental role in this process. Through the use of a double series of strong/stressed and weak/unstressed forms, it was passed to the double system of prepositive articles. The strong forms of the anaphoric demonstrative were used to create the enclitic definite articles, which were subsequently agglutinated, while the unstressed forms were used to create the prepositive articles. But there was not just the anaphoric evidence that was used in the process. Also, morphemes of the existing linguistic system, which were not rejected, were used at the end of the word, as well as other endings, due to their continuous use (the ending of the singular Accusative of masculine and feminine nouns) and to their phonetic clarity (the ending of singular noun Nominative of feminine nouns), as well as analogy reanalyzations (definite articles of plural). The diachronic presence of these indicators is a piece of evidence that the transition from a state without definite articles to a state with two series of prepositive articles and postpositive articles is not presented as a simplified process: dropping old i.e. endings and replacing them with other grammatical devices, which led to the creation of definite articles. There was no morphematic gap phase at the end of (proto)Albanian nouns. The old dependent morphemes have co-existed and been co-used with the new free morphemes influenc-ing each other: the old morphemes highlighting the subordination of the strong forms of anaphoric demonstratives, while these helping to reinterpret them as definite indicators.
The grammaticalization processes that began with the creation of a dual inflexion system due to the use of the postpositive agglutinative definite article, continued with the use of the prepositive articles as clitic words in various syntactic environments, which completely changed the morphological view, to the extent that one can speak of a qualitatively new language, a continuation of another language, which is conventionally called proto-Albanian, but which could be identified in the context of a scientific discussion with southern Illyrian.
Further use of the prepositive articles followed the fate of free morphemes: the closer to definite articles they occurred, the more they followed the initial regularity of the coincidence of the strong forms to the weak ones.
The farther away they were from them, the more they have strayed from this affiliation and followed other syntactic rules ((non-)immediate and (non-)emphatic use).
The history of the postpositive article of Albanian is not only the history of the postposition of demonstrative clitics. Demonstrative pronouns, however, constitute the main part of this story.
The origin of the prepositive articles leads exclusively to the former demonstrative pronouns. On the contrary, the postpositive definite articles originate not only in the former indefinite demonstrative pronouns but also in other grammatical devices (former case endings reinterpreted as definiteness indicators).
The prepositive articles represent a complete symmetry of use and distribution. On the contrary, the postpositive articles are more heterogeneous in terms of their origin in the whole case system (cf. the postpositive definite articles in Accusative singular and Nominative singular of feminine nouns). There is no full biunivocal analogy between the prepositive and postpositive articles.
Even from this point of view, it is proven that the history of the Albanian definiteness enclisis begins at its prepositive articles. Although originally clitic demonstratives, they never managed to develop into grammatical indicators of definiteness. Even though the syntactic environment of their original use has been the noun phrase, the status of their connection has always been dependent.
Furthermore, the close connection they established with the adjectives did not constitute a favourable ground for the grammaticalization of a definiteness proclisis. Under these conditions, the whole grammaticalization game of definiteness in Albanian took place in the enclitic position.

Being reinterpreted within the general scheme which was taking shape in the noun system, it was already playing the function of an indicator of definiteness. A new grammatical category was emerging in Albanian: the category of definiteness and indefiniteness.
Thus, from two different syntaxes, emphatic and non-emphatic, two series of prepositive articles derived, while the post-positive article, derived from emphatic syntax, develops syntactic connections with the non-emphatic sequence of prepositive articles.

It can be concluded that 1) Albanian has never had a preposi¬tive definite article, just like the Baltic and Slavic languages. 2) The need for definiteness is originally a need for structural-semantic complementness of the syntax, an indication of the tendency for «morphologization» of its syntax.

Balkan Area - Altaic Studies - General Linguistics: In memoriam Albina Girfanova (1957-2018), 2019

Since the prepositive article cannot be considered part of the Genitive form, the difference bet... more Since the prepositive article cannot be considered part of the Genitive form, the difference between Genitive and Dative is definitely abolished. There is no Dative case in Modern Albanian, but there is only Genitive case instead.
The Alblative case has been also disintegrated in Modern Albania and reinterpreted within the Nominal system as Genitive form.

Modern Greek Dialects & Lingustic Theory 8 (MGDL8), 2019

The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are direct... more The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are directly felt in its verbal system. E.g., instead of the Simple Present Perfect, the Simple Past is often used: έφαγα ‘I ate’ rather than έχω φάει ‘I have eaten’, πήγα ‘I went’ αντί έχω πάει ‘I have gone’, etc. The cause of this situation is related, as it has been pointed out (Mirambel 1988: 146), with an established three-fold verbal system of MG (present : past : future), not amenable to subdivisions.
However, the material that the sub-dialect of Himara offers, allows a revision of the linguistic situation in the general context of MG. In this sub-dialect some «peculiar» verb tenses occur, not located in any other MG dialect. Present Perfect and Past Perfect of the verbs είμαι and έχω are used here: έχω/είχα λάχει or έχω/είχα τύχει ‘I have/had been’ and έχω/είχα λάβει ‘I have/had had’.
These structures have been morphologized since the late 18th century. The source of this innovation leads to the linguistic contacts of the Himariotes with Kingdom of Naples, and the impact of Spanish as its official language, while other contact languages like Italian and Albanian played a supportive role in the formation of these tenses.

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (MGDLT8) Gjirokastër, 4-6 October 2018, 2019

ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF STANDARD ALBANIAN It is indisputable that the Congress o... more ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF STANDARD ALBANIAN
It is indisputable that the Congress of the Albanian Orthography represents a culmination in the history of Albanian language. It introduced a set of codified orthographic rules, which tumed nationwide, i. e. they were implemented with the authority of the legislation, since the Albanian State had rendered the linguistic question a part of its policy. The education system and the media impacted the application of these rules.
The Congress of the Albanian Orthography (1972) put forth the orthographic principles. Due to historical reasons, the theoretical solutions of this question in Albanian have been surpassed by the imperative needs of the practical solutions.
The fundamental principle of the Albanian Orthography was formulated as phonetic, according to which words are pronounced "as they are written". It is a tradition formulation that goes back in the period of the Albanian Renaissance.
The resolution of the Congress of the Albanian Orthography (1972) contains those contradictions which derive from the erroneous lnterpretation of the fundamental principle of the Orthography.
In my opinion, the implemented principle is not phonetic, but phonological. The Orthography of each standardized language, which uses the alphabetic writing system, can be established on the grounds of the phonological principle. It makes no sense talking about orthogaphy by excluding the phonological principle. This constitutes the fundamental principle of every alphabetical writing system.
This principle was not taken into consideration in the Congress of the Albanian Orthography. Besides, a theoretical confusion was amplified by introducing in the Albanian orthography the so-called "morphological principle". The introduction of a grammatical term in the graphematic theory led the situation in confusion.
The dispute about the orthographic principles of the Albanian continued even after this Congress. The adoption of the morphological principle was in fact a compromise solution.
The fundamental principle, which the Albanian logograms are based, can be interpreted as phonological. According to it, each grapheme or grapheme combination (and not each phonetic realization) corresponds to one phoneme.
The so-called morphological principle, which involves the morphological argumentation abusively, is not but the phonological one.
By recognizing the phonological principle as fundamental in the Albanian orthography this will help to define properly and clearly its writing system, it will shed light on the relations between its graphematic and phonological systems.

A. Spiro (ed.), Decodifications and Recodifications. Aspects of Linguistic Description and Intercultural Communication. Albanohellenica Linguistic Series, 2012

AIMING THE OBJECTIVE TRANSLATION: THE SEPTUAGINT EXPERIMENT The case of the Septuagint may be ... more AIMING THE OBJECTIVE TRANSLATION: THE SEPTUAGINT EXPERIMENT

The case of the Septuagint may be conceived as the first human translation experiment. This legend obviously has nothing to do with the truth. Anyway, it served as a vindication for defending the rightness of such an historically important translation attempt and for offering the guarantee of an accurate translation. Taking as a pattern this well-known legend, I conducted a translation experiment, where about 70 students were invited to translate the same text, namely the poem "Amnesia" by Michalis Ganas. The aim of this translational project was to test whether the objective translation is possible or not. Besides, what is objective or ideal translation? The Septuagint Experiment , named after the number of the participants, proves that the objective translation is possible, in the sense that the message can be transferred from one language to another without being altered.

Dialogue between Balkan languages, cultures and Civilisations, 2nd International Scientific Conference, Tirana, 20 September 2013. Proceedings. Tirana, 2014

Linguistic intuition is the speaker’s opinion on language (Chomsky 1965, Crystal 2000, Devitt 200... more Linguistic intuition is the speaker’s opinion on language (Chomsky 1965, Crystal 2000, Devitt 2006). It is the empirical use of language, but also the analysis of its system based on this experience. Linguistic intuition coincide commonly with linguistic reality. But sometimes it does not coincide. Some cases of non coincidence can be brought from all levels of study of Albanian, Greek and other languages (phonetics, orthography, lexical inventory, word formation). Sometimes linguistic intuition can also function negatively in linguistic analysis of the linguist. A typical case is the so called prepositive article of Albanian, which is mostly interpreted as an integral part of the nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals. Its continuous use as a proclitic has reinforced the grammaticalization of the phrase within it is used, but has not led to fusing, since the article has maintained its autonomy due to variability (Lehmann 1985). The prepositive article is an external element that is proposed to the noun or other determinants (adjective, pronoun, numerator), and not part of their structure. For this reason we deny categorically the existence of a dative case in Albanian. We also deny the so-called "declension in the front of the word" (Demiraj 1986), since the "prepositive" article is not part of the morphological structure of the determinants.

The article problem is one of the most disputed in the Albanian language. This problem has been d... more The article problem is one of the most disputed in the Albanian language.
This problem has been displayed as a permanent debate about such questions as "What is the origin of the postpositive (definite) article in Albanian" "Which article is older, the prepositive or postpositive one?" that is "Did the prepositive article derive from the postpositive one or, on the contrary, the postpositive article derive from the prepositive one?".
Several researchers have responded differentiy to these questions, every one of them presenting his arguments.
My article is an effort to shed a new light on the process that gave birth to the Albanian arlicles (both prepositive and postpositive). According to my opinion the main question is not the chronological order of the articles origin (as it has been put so far), but the way through which Albanian articles came to life.
The word "way" entails more or less the real process of acquiring them, a process with which H. Pedersen dealt first (his example pus i thelle *"deep welI" is commonly known). FolIowing Pedersen's path, I intend to bring up this problem again and to deal with it on a new basis.
There is a starting point, which consists of two preconditions that could explain the birth of the postpositive (definite) and prepositive articles in Albanian:
1. Considering the birth process of postpositive (definite) and prepositive articles on the basis of the grammaticalization theory.
2. Detaching the probiem of the prepositive article from adjectives and transferring it to the genitive case of nouns.
The process of the Albanian arlicles origin has passed through four stages. These stages had one single pattem, which was the structure "noun *adpositional element * noun".
The structure "noun + adjective" is related to the substantivated use of adjectives. The best environment for their substantivization was the genitive case. In the course of time postposition became the habitual position of adjectives. The frequent appearance of the article in an almost closed category, like adjectives, gave the impression that the article was a part of the adjective. Its occurrence, too, before nouns in genitive, despite the loose grammatical relation, left the same impression as if article was a part of the genitive form of the noun.

Postposition of definite article is among of the main balkanisms that takes place in Albanian, Ro... more Postposition of definite article is among of the main balkanisms that takes place in Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian. The problem of the article in Albanian has caused remarkable disputes in scholarship. There is a vast literature concerning it, as for instance the researches of F etc., who have contributed to the solution of this thorny problem during the last two centuries. This problem has been displayed as a permanent debate on questions such as «What is the origin of the postpositive (definite) article in Albanian?» «Which article is older, the prepositive or the postpositive?» that is «Did the prepositive article derive from the postpositive one or, vice-versa, the postpositive article derive from the prepositive one?». Based on various argumentations, several researchers put forward a number of opinions with regard to this issue. However, there are chiefly two opinions on the origin of the articles: 1) The prepositive article is older than the postpositive/definite one. The prepositive article was uttered together with the preceding noun and was interpreted as its part. Consequently, it reappeared in its habitual position , in the original formula noun + article + adjective. 2) The postpositive/definite article is older than the prepositive one. Postposition preceded preposition, while the latter of these derived from the former through repetition of the postpositive article. The first opinion was put forth by H. Pedersen and was also embraced by A. Graur (dealing primarily with Romanian articles), B. Bokshi, S. Riza etc. The weakness of this opinion was manifested through the following question: Is it possible for the article to exist at the beginning of the adjective without acting any determinative function? How could it become true for the postpositive article to acquire a determinative function, since it did not exist at the prepositive one? Which way, then, did the determinative function feature the category of the nouns? The second opinion was set forth by E. Çabej (1963:78). It was further espoused by Sh. Demiraj and was silently accepted hitherto as the «official» view of the Albanian Postwar Linguistics. The weakness of this opinion was traced through the following question: How is it possible for an agglutinative element to be separated and to stand out as an independent element, even repeated? What was, then, the need of a mechanic repetition?

ON THE ALBANIAN ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE GREEK LOAN-WORDS Summary This article is an effort to appl... more ON THE ALBANIAN ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE GREEK LOAN-WORDS

Summary

This article is an effort to apply some basic principles in the orthography of Greek loan-words in Albanian, focusing on proper names. The author does not intend to make a comprehensive treatment of this issue.
This kind of problem has its linguistic, philological and cultural-historical side. It is generally posed as a cultural-linguistic contact between Albanians and Greeks, which lasts for a fairly long historical period. The Greek Alphabet has been used in Antiquity by neighbouring Balkan peoples for the needs of writing the words of their-own languages.
Greek proper names in Modern Albanian occur in texts translated both from Ancient and Modern Greek; they can also be translated from a third language, or be uttered in Albanian speech following various models of orthoepy. Greek loan-words have come in to Albanian in a twofold way: orally and philologically (via the different writings of foreign languages). Oral contacts were the earliest ones and they have impacted on the word orthography. These were frequent in South Albania, because of the geographical proximity, which favored the influence of Greek language and culture as well as the dominance and maintenance of the Greek Orthodox religion.
In their efforts to compile a national Alphabet, the scholars of the Albanian Renaissance used the Greek Alphabet and several times it has been taken as a model. Furthermore, the majority of them had acquired Greek education and culture (S. Frashëri, N. Frashëri, J. Vreto, K. Kristoforidhi, A. Xhuvani etc.). The Congress of Manastir (widely known as the Congress of the Alphabet) (14-22 November 1908) decided on the use of the two alphabets: one based on Latin characters (mainly applied by «Bashkimi» and «Agimi» associations) and the other on Latin and Greek alphabets (mainly applied by the Istanbul Association or the Association for Printing Albanian Letters). This decision proves that the Congress of Manastir could not but appreciate the importance of the historical Alba¬nian-Greek ties for the continuity of the cultural life of the nation. The ultimate choice of writing based on the Latin Alphabet was evidence of the occidental orientation that Albanian society was taking.
The situation of today presents the following configuration: There are direct oral linguistic contacts, as well as both direct and indirect written ones between Albanians and Greeks. This situation is reflected as a problem in the Albanian orthography. Words borrowed at different times and by different routes demand a unified normative treatment.
In Albanian there is long-established use of the Roman languages model (Italian and French), in writing Ancient Greek loan-words. Though not being a source, Italian and French can be considered as direct lending languages. From the modern point of view, the Latin model, which they follow, is closer to the original pronunciation of the Ancient Greek words. So, the problem of Albanian-Greek linguistic relations is reduced, in fact, to a problem of analogies between the graphe-matic systems of Ancient Greek and Modern Albanian. In a broader and more practical sense, the comparison would be useful in writing those Ancient Greek words that are used in Modern Greek, being at the same time internationalisms, proper names included. Taking into account the invariability of the graphematic system and the variability of the phonological sys¬tem of Greek, along with the fact that the ma¬jority of Greek texts which are translated into Albanian are written in Modern Greek, the following conclusion can be drawn: the best orthography of Greek loan-words in Albanian is the one based upon the transliteration principle. Thus, the case of Latin and Roman languages turns into a model. On the other hand, it is certain that the phonetic principle does not work in this case. It becomes a trap, if we do not take into consideration that there is an important difference in pronunciation between Ancient and Modern Greek. Should Greek words of ancient origin be written according to the Ancient Greek reading or the Modern one? If written according to the ancient pronunciation, then the transliteration principal is applied. If, on the contrary, according to the modern pronunciation, then the phonetic principle is applied. (Cf. a lot of cases in the period of the Albanian Renaissance).
Related to the problem of the orthography of Greek loan-words, is the one of the Byzantine proper names. The historical-cultural factor serves here again as a starting point. It is commonly known that in the Middle Ages Albania was a part of the Byzantine Empire. The locals were following the canons of the Greek Orthodox Church. Religious consciesness was the most important spiritual component of the everyday life of the people. Religious names and terms, irrespective of the used language, have been considered a part of the same cultural and religious community. There were only linguistic differences in these names, according to the phonetic peculiarities and the habits of use of each language. The same names appear in different phonetic forms both in Albanian and Greek.
Many Albanian proper names of Byzantine origin represent an abridged form of the Greek original, the colloquial one. This form reflects a period when the Albanian language was still uncultivated and its functional use was restricted only to the colloquial style. When switching to the administrative-law style, the name appeared in its complete form, but this time in the official language of Byzantium, in Greek.
As for the use of Modern Greek anthroponyms in Albanian, there is one main problem to be mentioned: should they be written with their original grammatical form, that is with the endings, or be adapted to the Albanian grammatical system by omitting this consonant? It is not possible to offer one simple solution. In the colloquial speech, the grammatical ending can disappear, but at the administrative level as well as in legal documents these endings are indispensable.
Names of Modern Greek origin should be written according to the transcription principle, i.e. they should reflect as much as possible their original pronunciation. Anyway, the grammatical ending is not always necessary. The ending -ς could be omitted, where possible, not only in given names, but also in family ones. It could always be preserved in the Nominative case of the family names as a marker of Greek identity.

Albanohellenica, 2018

ARISTOTLE SPIRO ATHENS COMMON FEATURES BETWEEN THE DIALECTS OF ALBANIAN AND MODERN GREEK ( Abs... more ARISTOTLE SPIRO
ATHENS

COMMON FEATURES BETWEEN THE DIALECTS OF ALBANIAN AND MODERN GREEK
( Abstract )

Language borrowing (lexical or grammatical) is the result of language contact. Borrowed words suggest an enrichment of the experience of the linguistic community with semiotic elements from other communities. Along with borrowed morphemes, they constitute an imitation of certain linguistic attitudes. The most conservative, unchanging part, is the phonetic one. Thus, from our experience we notice that when learning a foreign language B we use phonemes of mother tongue A or apply its intonational schemes in sentences.
But in the cases of communication between different linguistic communities, in our case between dialect speakers in a broader area of Greek-Albanian language contact, one may notice influences from one another’s phonetics. Impact is traced usually in speakers who use Albanian as mother tongue within a territory where Greek has a communicative prestige, and vice versa. In these cases, the phonetic elements of Albanian will appear when the speaker speaks Greek, while the phonetic elements of Greek will appear when the speaker speaks Albanian.
Thus, the borrowed phonetic elements turn also into important components of linguistic behavior.
Dialectal influences in inter-linguistic communication lead to the appearance of isoglosses that are mutually intelligible to the dialect speakers of both languages. A phonetic phenomenon, a word, a construction appears as a common semiotic fact that features the various communicative communities. Thus, a common dialectal word (or semalecteme) of Albanian origin is understandable to Greek dialect speakers, but incomprehensible outside these areas, even to the speakers of other dialects of Albanian, including the Standard. Also, a dialect element of Greek origin in the Albanian dialects is incomprehensible in the other Albanian-speaking area, but understandable in the Greek-speaking area.
The heterogeneous picture of the distribution of Greek borrowings in dialects serves as an evidence of the cultural orientations, which do not always match with the general view of the language contact. The evolution of these common features in the form of isoglosses affecting all elements of the system is carried out under the conditions of the existence of two or more linguistic communities. In these communities, the language used as a communicative model is learned by speakers of other languages, who become the bearers of linguistic, and consequently cultural novelties, in their particular linguistic or cultural group. The formation of these isoglosses takes a relatively long time, overcoming several centuries, and differentiating the participatory dialects by rendering them a more conservative character from the rest of the dialects of each linguistic diasystem.
Anyway, not all common features are explained exclusively by language contact. Some coincidences may occur due to an independent parallel evolution of the phenomena.

Albanohellenica, 2013

ARISTOTLE SPIRO University of Tirana FRICATIVE DENTALS AND OCCLUSIVE PALATALS: GREEK-ALBANIAN ... more ARISTOTLE SPIRO
University of Tirana

FRICATIVE DENTALS AND OCCLUSIVE PALATALS:
GREEK-ALBANIAN ISOPHONES IN THE BALKAN CONTEXT

(Abstract)

When talking about balkanisms, morphological or lexical concordances between three or more languages are usually intended. But in the recent decades there is more discussion about concordances in Phonetics (Sawicka 1996) and Syntax (Rivero & Ralli 2001; Joseph 2001).
From a comparison of the phonetic systems of Greek and Albanian one can realize the existence of some phonemes, which are exclusively common. These are the fricative dentals /θ/, /ð/ and the occlusive palatals [c], [j-], which occur in this phonetic quality in no other Balkan language, except for Greek and Albanian and some dialects of adjacent languages (Arumanian, Slav Macedonian).
There can be talk for an almost clear Greek-Albanian phonetic continuum of the phonemes /θ/ and /ð/. As regards especially the phones [c] and [j-], they have a wide geographical distribution in the Greek-Albanian area, though not in the dimensions of the fricative dentals. The extreme margins of this continuum are affected by the impact of third languages (Serbian, Croatian, Italian, French), which modified the palatal character of these consonants.
The assignment of these isophones as balkanisms remains questionable since they are restricted mainly in two languages (Albanian and Greek), while implication of third languages alters their phonetic quality.

Albanohellenica, 2011

This paper refers to the semalects of Epirus. The author uses the term "Semalect" to designate ... more This paper refers to the semalects of Epirus.
The author uses the term "Semalect" to designate all those declining language forms based mainly (but not exclusively) on the alteration of the meaning of the existing lexical inventory. This covers the so far terminological variety which exists in the linguistic research in several national traditions, cf. slang (En.), argot and jargon (Fr.), furbesco (It.) and gergo (It.), rotwelsch and geheimsprache (Germ.), germanos (Span.), calão (Port.), cărăitorilor or limbă secretă (Rom.), гопники (Russ.), шатровачки or тајни језик (Serb.), тайния език (Bulg.), özel dil (Turk.).

Studime Filologjike, Nov 30, 2023

Studime filologjike , 2022

Ανδρέας Ζαρμπαλάς (επιμελητής), Κατίνα Παπά, Η γυναίκα-Η λογοτέχνις-Η παιδαγωγός, 2023

Akte të Kuvendit Ndërkombëtar të Studimeve Albanologjike, Vëllimi II. Gjuhësi dhe Antropologji. (Eds.) Shaban Sinani & Pëllumb Xhufi., 2022

Nyjat në gjuhën shqipe. Diakronia dhe sinkronia e një evolucioni tipologjik: prokliza binare dhe enkliza shquese, 2021

Balkan Area - Altaic Studies - General Linguistics: In memoriam Albina Girfanova (1957-2018), 2019

Modern Greek Dialects & Lingustic Theory 8 (MGDL8), 2019

The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are direct... more The consequences of grammatical neutralization in the past tenses of Modern Greek (MG) are directly felt in its verbal system. E.g., instead of the Simple Present Perfect, the Simple Past is often used: έφαγα ‘I ate’ rather than έχω φάει ‘I have eaten’, πήγα ‘I went’ αντί έχω πάει ‘I have gone’, etc. The cause of this situation is related, as it has been pointed out (Mirambel 1988: 146), with an established three-fold verbal system of MG (present : past : future), not amenable to subdivisions.
However, the material that the sub-dialect of Himara offers, allows a revision of the linguistic situation in the general context of MG. In this sub-dialect some «peculiar» verb tenses occur, not located in any other MG dialect. Present Perfect and Past Perfect of the verbs είμαι and έχω are used here: έχω/είχα λάχει or έχω/είχα τύχει ‘I have/had been’ and έχω/είχα λάβει ‘I have/had had’.
These structures have been morphologized since the late 18th century. The source of this innovation leads to the linguistic contacts of the Himariotes with Kingdom of Naples, and the impact of Spanish as its official language, while other contact languages like Italian and Albanian played a supportive role in the formation of these tenses.

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (MGDLT8) Gjirokastër, 4-6 October 2018, 2019

A. Spiro (ed.), Decodifications and Recodifications. Aspects of Linguistic Description and Intercultural Communication. Albanohellenica Linguistic Series, 2012

AIMING THE OBJECTIVE TRANSLATION: THE SEPTUAGINT EXPERIMENT The case of the Septuagint may be ... more AIMING THE OBJECTIVE TRANSLATION: THE SEPTUAGINT EXPERIMENT

Dialogue between Balkan languages, cultures and Civilisations, 2nd International Scientific Conference, Tirana, 20 September 2013. Proceedings. Tirana, 2014

ON THE ALBANIAN ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE GREEK LOAN-WORDS Summary This article is an effort to appl... more ON THE ALBANIAN ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE GREEK LOAN-WORDS

Summary

Albanohellenica, 2018

ARISTOTLE SPIRO ATHENS COMMON FEATURES BETWEEN THE DIALECTS OF ALBANIAN AND MODERN GREEK ( Abs... more ARISTOTLE SPIRO
ATHENS

COMMON FEATURES BETWEEN THE DIALECTS OF ALBANIAN AND MODERN GREEK
( Abstract )

Albanohellenica, 2013

ARISTOTLE SPIRO University of Tirana FRICATIVE DENTALS AND OCCLUSIVE PALATALS: GREEK-ALBANIAN ... more ARISTOTLE SPIRO
University of Tirana

FRICATIVE DENTALS AND OCCLUSIVE PALATALS:
GREEK-ALBANIAN ISOPHONES IN THE BALKAN CONTEXT

(Abstract)

Albanohellenica, 2011

After the end of the Cold War and the break up of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the emergen... more After the end of the Cold War and the break up of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the emergence of 15 sovereign states, a new scenery was created in European and world geopolitics. The borders between East and West became looser and the movement of people, commodities and values became easier. Many Eastern European citizens settled in Western European countries. For the purposes of their legalization they had to translate their identity documents into the languages of the host countries. During this translation process various problems arose, which were related to the source language and languages, and sometimes to the different alphabetical systems in the translation pairs. One of the immigration destinations of Eastern Europeans, from the 90s of the last century onwards, was Greece. The Greek public services became the recipient of numerous translated identity documents, which were translated at the translation service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece in Athens, but also at specialized translation offices throughout Greece. According to Greek law, a translation to be considered official must be certified by a Greek lawyer who is fluent in both languages of the translation combination («Code of Lawyers» 1956, as amended by the recent «Code of Lawyers» 2013). How was the translation of all these documents handled? The need for immediate translation solutions was in contrast to the lack of specialized translators from these languages to Greek and vice versa. Thus, while there were translators for Russian, Bulgarian or Romanian, it was more difficult to find translators for Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, Azeri, Uzbek, etc. The need for immediate solutions led to the search for practical ways to approach the problem. We will present here the findings of a survey conducted on a corpus of about 100 Ukrainian identity documents which were translated into Greek. The Ukrainian documents are presented as texts of the source language, which are intended for translation into Greek. A preliminary analysis of the texts is necessary to make the final translation decision. These texts are featured as legal administrative. Their vocabulary is limited, and constitute almost a closed inventory. Their composition is simple and their style is completely neutral. The structure of the basic documents, such as birth, marriage, family or death certificates, is the same as in the former USSR. These features are essential for identifying and locating translation units.

Ismajli, Rexhep (ed.). 2012. Albanian and Balkan Languages. Scientific Conference held on 10-11 November 2011 in Prishtina. Prishtina: Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts - Academy of Sciences of Albania. , 2012

In Greek, the optional repetition of the article before the Nominal Phrase noun + adjective (ο άν... more In Greek, the optional repetition of the article before the Nominal Phrase noun + adjective (ο άνθρωπος ο αγαθός) is a common use of the colloquial speech. A similar phenomenon has been discussed in Albanian in analogue construction (njeriu i mirë or the supposed construction *i njeri i mirë). This is a comparison also set by scholars involved in the research on the articles and, generally, on the determinants (La Piana 1939, Riza 1953, 1979, Demiraj 1973, 1985, Androutsopoulou 2001; Topalli 2009). But is this comparison justified? It is apparently motivated, yet there are some some important structural differences, such as the word order, the extension specter of this construction, the grammatical features of the phrase constituents that differentiate the two languages, noted also in the their historical grammatical consequences. These structural differences, compared to other Balkan languages like Bulgarian, Slavic, Romanian, help to argue whether the (Proto-)Albanian has got prepositive definite articles or not.

The scope of this paper is a general overview of the Modern Greek Dialects of Albania (MGDA). The... more The scope of this paper is a general overview of the Modern Greek Dialects of Albania (MGDA). They are not language islands, but part of the continuum of Northwest Modern Greek Dialects. Before proceeding in the description and classification of these dialects, the article explains the necessity of introducing a compatible terminology, which confirms the status of dialectology as an independent discipline [Spiro, 2000–2001]. Dialectology examines units such as (dia)lecteme, phonolecteme, morpholecteme, syntalecteme, semalecteme and language varieties based on different parts of the system: phonolect, morpholect, syntalect, semalect. MGDA are spoken in 110 villages and spread throughout the regions of Delvino and Saranda (D-S), Upper and Lower Dropull (D), Riza or Foothill Villages (R), Pogon (P), 2 villages of P.rmet (Pr), 3_Greek speaking villages in the region of Himara: the homonymous town (H), Dh.rmi (Dh), Palas. (Pa), and the village of Narta (N), which marks the northernmost extremity of MGDA. Up to the end of the 20th century, not much data was available about MGDA [Chatzidakis, [1888] 1905, Triantafyllides, [1938] (1993)]. Later, more interest was shown in these dialects [Bogas, 1966, Vagiakakos, 1983, 1988]. Manuscripts with the texts from the region were deposited in the I.L.N.E. of_ the Academy of Athens, and in the Laboratory of Folklore at the School of Philosophy (University of Athens). In the late 20th century and the early 21st centuries, field research expeditions worked in the Greek villages of Southern Albania (Spiro, Garaliakos, Sobolev, Novik, Joseph, Brown, Kyriazis etc.). The system of MGDA includes the phonolectemes [∫], [ʒ], [t∫], [dʒ], [λ], optional non-palatalization of /k/, violation of the ‘Trisyllabic Rule’, etc. The particleisation of the auxiliary verb έχει / είχε ‘to have’ in the 3rd Person can be characterised as the main morpholecteme, since such a form does not occur in any other Modern Greek Dialect. Diasystematically, taking into account the character of their vocalism, the position of MGDA, in their majority, is characterised as southern. Yet other criteria can be applied.