55-643: The Aromanians in Albania ( Aromanian : Rrãmãnji/Armãnji tu Arbinishii ; Albanian : Arumunët/Vllehët në Shqipëri ) are an officially recognised ethnic minority in Albania . The Aromanians in Albania are officially called the Minoriteti Vllah/Arumun . The local population often refers to them as Vllehë , Çobenjë (from Turkish çoban , "shepherd"), Xacët or Xinxarët , Gogët , and Llacifacët . The Aromanians were first recognized at
110-517: A Greek influence. Other differences are the sound /ts/ , which corresponds to Romanian /tʃ/ , and the sounds: /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ , which exist only in local variants in Romanian. Aromanian is usually written with a version of the Latin script with an orthography that resembles both that of Albanian (in the use of digraphs such as dh , sh , and th ) and Italian (in its use of c and g ), along with
165-406: A Ta, s’yinã amirãria a Ta, si facã vrearea a Ta, cum tu tser, ashã sh'pisti loc. Pãnia a nostã, atsa di cathi dzuã, dãnu sh’azã, sh‘ yiartãni amartiili a nosti, ashe cum li yiãrtãm sh’noi a amãrtor a noci, sh’nu ni du la pirazmo, ma viagljãni di atsel rãu. Cã a Ta esti amirãria sh'puteria, a Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui shi a Ayiului Spirit, tora, totãna sh’tu eta a etilor. Amin. Tati
220-506: A Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui sh a Ayiului Duhu, tora, totna sh tu eta a etilor. Amen. The Macedonian Aromanian publicist, translator and writer Dina Cuvata [ bg ; mk ] translated Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows: Tuti iatsãli umineshtsã s'fac liberi shi egali la nãmuzea shi ndrepturli. Eali suntu hãrziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti un cu alantu sh si poartã tu duhlu
275-603: A common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties. An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the adstratum languages (external influences); whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by the Slavic languages , Aromanian has been more influenced by Greek , with which it has been in close contact throughout its history. Aromanian is native to Albania , Bulgaria , Greece , North Macedonia , Romania and Serbia . In 2018, it
330-564: A completely distinct Aromanian identity claim that they are both nationally and ethnically Aromanians and would deny having Greek or Romanian national consciousness. The Aromanians have their own political party in Albania. It is known as the Alliance for Equality and European Justice (ABDE), it was founded in 2011 and aims for the unification of all the Albanian Aromanians. There are only two other Aromanian political parties in
385-480: A complex issue relating to the Aromanians of Albania and the wider Balkans . Moscopole The city of Moscopole (Albanian: Voskopojë ) was once home to the largest Aromanian population in the world. It was the cultural and commercial centre of the Aromanians with a population of over 3,500 people. The city was razed to the ground by Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1788, causing an exodus of Aromanian people across
440-404: A etãlu. Amin. Tatã a nostu, tsi eshtsã tu tseru, s'ayiseascã numa a Ta, s'yinã amirãriljea a Ta, si facã vrearea a Ta, cumu tu tseru, ashi sh'pisti locu. Pãnea a nostã atsea di cathi dzuã dãnãu sh'adzã sh'yiartãnã amãrtiile a noasti ashi cum ilj yirtãmu sh'noi a amãrtoshloru a noshtsã. Sh'nu nã du tu pirazmo, Sh'aveagljinã di atsel arãulu. Cã a Ta easti Amirãriljia sh'putearea
495-585: A frãtsãljiljei. The following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian , with an English translation. The spelling of Aromanian is that decided at the Bitola Symposium of August 1997. The word choice in the Romanian version was such that it matches the Aromanian text, although in modern Romanian other words might have been more appropriate. The English translation is only provided as
550-589: A guide to the meaning, with an attempt to keep the word order as close to the original as possible. University of Tirana The University of Tirana ( Albanian : Universiteti I Tiranës , abbreviated UT ) is a public university located at the central borough of Tirana 10 in Tirana , Albania . It was established as the State University of Tirana ( SUT ) in 1957 through merging of five existing institutes of higher education. The main building
605-478: A national minority. Aromanian, Daco-Romanian (Romanian), Istro-Romanian language , and Megleno-Romanian language are descendants of a proto-language called Common Romanian , itself descending from the Proto-Romance language . No later than the 10th century Common Romanian split into southern and northern dialects, and Aromanian and Romanian have developed differently from these two distinct dialects of
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#1732781048688660-416: A nost tsi esht tu tser, s’ayiãsiaste numa a Ta, s’zine amirãria a Ta, si fache vrera a Ta, cum tu tser, ashe sh'pisti loc. Penia a noste, atsa di cathi dzue, denu sh’aze, sh‘ yiartãni amartiãli a nosti, ashe cum li yiãrtem sh’noi a amãrtor a noci, sh’nu ni du la pirazmo, ma viagãni di atsel reu. Che a Ta esti amirãria sh'putera, al Tati shi al Hiyiu shi al Ayiu Duh, tora, totãna sh’tu eta
715-680: A strong impetus mostly among people doing business in the cities. The Romanian state began opening schools for the Romanian-influenced Vlachs in the 1860s, but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by the Greeks, who thought that Romania was trying to assimilate them. 19th-century travellers in the Balkans such as W. M. Leake and Henry Fanshawe Tozer noted that Vlachs in the Pindus and Macedonia were bilingual, reserving
770-665: A week. Beside TV media is also the internet radio RTV Armakedon. In the University of Tirana , the Aromanian language is covered by the Faculty of Foreign Languages. In the 2023 census, 2,459 people declared themselves as Aromanians in Albania. 8,266 people declared themselves to be Aromanians in the 2011 census. On the quality of the specific data the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for
825-599: Is a sensitive one, partly because of opposition within the Greek Vlachs community to actions leading to the introduction of the language into the education system, viewing it as an artificial distinction between them and other Greeks. For example, the former education minister, George Papandreou , received a negative response from Greek-Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs expressed strong opposition to
880-623: Is an Eastern Romance language , similar to Megleno-Romanian , Istro-Romanian and Romanian , spoken in Southeastern Europe . Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs (a broader term and an exonym in widespread use to define Romance communities in the Balkans). Aromanian shares many features with modern Romanian , including similar morphology and syntax, as well as a large common vocabulary inherited from Latin . They are considered to have developed from Common Romanian ,
935-532: Is due to the historical predominance of the Greek language in the region and the successive destruction of Aromanian books and documents throughout history. The oldest known written text in the language is an inscription from 1731 by Nektarios Terpos at the Ardenica Monastery , now in Albania. It is followed by the inscription of the so-called Simota Vase , dated to the first half of the 18th century. In
990-448: Is not standardized . However, there have been some efforts to do so. Notable examples include those of Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu , Tiberius Cunia [ bg ; ro ; roa-rup ] and Iancu Ballamaci. Aromanian exhibits several differences from standard Romanian in its phonology, some of which are probably due to influence from Greek or Albanian. It has spirants that do not exist in Romanian, such as /θ, ð, x, ɣ/ and which are
1045-436: Is taught as a subject in some primary schools. In North Macedonia, Aromanian-speakers also have the right to use the language in court proceedings. Since 2006, Aromanian has had the status of a second official municipal language in the city of Kruševo , the only place where Aromanian has any kind of official status apart from general state recognition. Apart from North Macedonia, the Aromanians are also recognized in Albania as
1100-475: Is the largest and highest ranking university in Albania . It includes eight colleges, 50 academic departments, and 41 study programs or majors. Most programs are offered in Tirana ; a few smaller affiliated campuses are located in other Albanian cities, including Saranda in the southern part of the country and Kukës in the north. It offers three-year Bachelor , one- or two-year Master , and three- to five-year doctorate degree programs, in accordance with
1155-707: The Balkans . Many of them ended up in what would become North Macedonia , Albania and Greece . The largest concentration of Aromanians was in the Pelister region of North Macedonia, the city of Kruševo and around the Lake Prespa . The Moscopolitans ( Moscopoleanji in Aromanian), is one of the largest population of Aromanians today. They speak the Grabovean/Moscopolean dialect of Aromanian and are
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#17327810486881210-584: The Codex Dimonie possibly from the early 19th century. Some scholars mention other old, little-studied written instances of Aromanian. German Byzantinist Peter Schreiner dated a small glossary of Aromanian from Epirus in a manuscript of the Chronicle of Ioannina to the 16th or 17th century based on its writing. There are also claims about an Aromanian inscription from 1426 in the St. Zacharia Church in
1265-596: The European Commission . His conviction met with broad condemnation in Greece, where at least one editorial compared the situation to the suppression of Kurdish and other minority languages in Turkey and noted the irony that some prosecutors in fact came from non-Hellenophone families that had once spoken Aromanian or Turkish. Bletsas was eventually acquitted. Tatã a nostu tsi eshti tu tser, si ayisiascã numa
1320-692: The London Conference of 1912–13 as a minority group within Albania. They fought the Ottoman Empire alongside the Serbians and Greeks during the Balkan Wars . During the communist regime in Albania, the Aromanians were not recognised as a separate minority group. Following the fall of communism in Albania , there was a revival of ethnic Aromanian identity in the country. Assimilation and identification have been and continue to be
1375-450: The London Conference of 1912–1913 as a minority group until the communist era (1967). From 1967 until 1992, they were known as simple Albanians , and from 1992 until 2017, they were known as a cultural and linguistic minority. Since 2017, the Aromanians are an officially recognized ethnic minority in Albania. The existing political divisions among the Aromanian population in Albania are the pro-Greek and Aromanian-only factions, which are
1430-876: The Monastery of the Holy Apostles near Kleino (Aromanian: Clinova ), now Greece, there is an inscription in Aromanian dated from around 1780. The St. Athanasius Church in Moscopole, now Albania, also includes an old Aromanian writing. Other early Aromanian manuscripts are the Aromanian Missal potentially from the beginning of the 18th century, the works of Theodore Kavalliotis (1770), Constantin Ucuta (1797), Daniel Moscopolites (1802), Gheorghe Constantin Roja (1808/1809) and Mihail G. Boiagi (1813) and
1485-642: The Moscopole variant; the Muzachiar variant from Muzachia in central Albania; the variant of Bitola; Pelister , Malovište ( Aromanian : Mulovishti ) , Gopeš ( Aromanian : Gopish ) , Upper Beala; Gorna Belica ( Aromanian : Beala di Suprã ) near Struga, Kruševo ( Aromanian : Crushuva ) , and the variant east of the Vardar river in North Macedonia. The Aromanian language
1540-697: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 's Recommendation 1333 (1997) that the tuition of Aromanian be supported so as to avoid its extinction. This recommendation was issued after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany . On a visit to Metsovo , Epirus in 1998, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language, but its decline continues. A recent example of
1595-567: The 17th century, when Grabova shared the fate of Moscopole and during the inter-war period, starting with 1931, many of Grabovars emigrated to Elbasan and Lushnjë . In 1933, 15 families from the village emigrated to Romania ; they initially settled in Southern Dobruja and then, in 1940, in the village of Nisipari , Constanța County , from where they moved to the larger nearby towns (Medgidia, Ovidiu, Constanța ) Another important immigration began in 1950, when communist authorities used
1650-736: The 1960s that Albanian Aromanians migrated to Tirana , Stan Karbunarë , Skrapar , Pojan , Bilisht and Korçë, and that they inhabited Karaja, Lushnjë , Moscopole, Drenovë and Boboshticë (Aromanian Bubushtitsa ). The Myzeqe ( Aromanian : Muzachia ) is an area in southwestern-central Albania which encompasses parts of the county of Fier ( Aromanian : Ferãcã ) . It has a large Aromanian population spread across many villages. The Aromanian inhabitants of Myzeqe are referred to as Muzachiars or Muzachirenji in Aromanian. A large portion of Aromanians can be found in Southeastern Albania. The Aromanians were first recognized at
1705-538: The Farsharot and Grabovean types have neither diphthongs nor the phoneme /ɨ/. The Aromanian alphabet consists of 27 letters and 9 digraphs . In addition, the digraph "gh" ( / ɟ / before "e" and "i") is used as well. The grammar and morphology are very similar to those of other Romance languages: The Aromanian language has some exceptions from the Romance languages, some of which are shared with Romanian :
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1760-475: The Latin dialect for inside the home. By 1948, the new Soviet-imposed communist regime of Romania had closed all Romanian-run schools outside Romania and, since the closure, there has been no formal education in Aromanian and speakers have been encouraged to learn and use the Greek language. This has been a process encouraged by the community itself and is not an explicit State policy. The decline and isolation of
1815-460: The Protection of National Minorities stated that "the results of the census should be viewed with the utmost caution and calls on the authorities not to rely exclusively on the data on nationality collected during the census in determining its policy on the protection of national minorities.". In the context of the census conducted in 2011 in Albania, representatives of the Aromanian community in
1870-639: The Romanian-oriented groups was not helped by the fact that they openly collaborated with the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during the occupation of Greece in WWII . In contrast, the vast majority of Vlachs fought in the Greek resistance, including leaders like Alexandros Svolos and Andreas Tzimas , and a number of Vlach villages were destroyed by the Germans. The issue of Aromanian-language education
1925-542: The auxiliary verb am (have) as the imperfect ( aviam ) and the past participle, as in Spanish and French , except that French replaces avoir (have) with être (be) for some intransitive verbs. Aromanian shares this feature with Meglenian as well as other languages in the Balkan language area . Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person ( aviam , aviai , avia , aviamu , aviatu , avia ), whereas
1980-742: The church was demolished by the Albanian communist authorities in 1959. It was reconstructed from 1995 to 2005. The St. Sotir Church in Korçë is one of the few churches in Albania serving the Aromanian minority of the country. Aromanian-language media include the newspapers Popullorë and Ta Néa tis Omónias , both being pro-Greek. There are also the newspapers Frația Vëllazëria and Fratsilia which appear only irregularly, and also Fãrshãrotu and Arumunët/Vllehtë , as well as RTSH 2 and RTSH Gjirokastra. RTSH 2 broadcasts from Monday to Friday news and programms in Aromanian, while RTSH Gjirokastra broadcasts only once
2035-488: The complete disappearance of verb infinitives , a feature of the Balkan sprachbund . As such, the tenses and moods that, in Romanian, use the infinitive (like the future simple tense and the conditional mood ) are formed in other ways in Aromanian. For the same reason, verb entries in dictionaries are given in their indicative mood, present tense, first-person-singular form. Aromanian verbs are classified in four conjugations. The table below gives some examples and indicates
2090-405: The conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian. The future tense is formed using an auxiliary invariable particle "u" or "va" and the subjunctive mood . In Romanian, declension of the future particle plus an infinitive is used. Whereas in standard Romanian the pluperfect (past perfect) is formed synthetically (as in literary Portuguese ), Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with
2145-515: The country stated that the results do not reflect the real number of the Aromanian population of Albania. According to Tom Winnifrith in 1995, that there were about 200,000 individuals who were of Aromanian descent in Albania, regardless of proficiency in Aromanian, or spoke Aromanian without necessarily considering themselves to have a separate identity. According to Frank Kressing and Karl Kaser in 2002, there were between 30,000 and 50,000 Aromanians in Albania. In 2004 Arno Tanner pointed out Albania as
2200-470: The craftsmen from Grabova to build the industrial units in Korçë, Pogradec , Gramsh , Elbasan, and Tirana . The people of Grabova speak the Grabovean/Moscopolean dialect of Aromanian. Aromanians in Albania are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians like the rest of Aromanians. In Korçë ( Aromanian : Curceaua , Curceauã , Curceau or Curciau ), they have an Aromanian-language church named St. Sotir ( Ayiu Sutir ). First built in 1925,
2255-528: The definite article is a clitic particle appended at the end of the word, both the definite and indefinite articles can be inflected , and nouns are classified in three genders , with neuter in addition to masculine and feminine. Unlike other Romance languages, Aromanian lacks an infinitive form for verbs, the synthetic infinitive inherited from Latin became a noun like in Romanian (for example cântare < CANTARE ). Aromanian grammar has features that distinguish it from Romanian, an important one being
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2310-550: The descendants of the Graboveans/Moscopoleans in Krusevo (Aromanian: Crushuva, Macedonian: Крушево) are today a fully recognized minority group under the constitutional law of North Macedonia . Grabova Grabova was a medieval town created in the 10th century. Aromanians have left Grabova on several occasions, although the village has never been completely deserted. The first wave of depopulation took place in
2365-518: The first in Aromanian. Even before the incorporation of various Aromanian-speaking territories into the Greek state (1832, 1912), the language was subordinated to Greek , traditionally the language of education and religion in Constantinople and other prosperous urban cities. The historical studies cited below (mostly Capidan ) show that especially after the fall of Moscopole (1788) the process of Hellenisation via education and religion gained
2420-702: The former village of Linotopi [ bg ; el ; mk ; sq ] in Greece, but according to Hristu Cândroveanu , it was destroyed during restoration works by order of Greek priests because it was not in Greek. Aromanian is not a homogenous linguistic entity. Its main varieties include the Pindus type, the Gramoste type, the Farsherot type, Olympus type, and the Moscopole type. It has also several regional variants, named after places that were home to significant populations of Aromanians (Vlachs); nowadays located in Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. Examples are
2475-515: The letter ã , used for the sounds represented in Romanian by ă and â/î . It can also be written with a modified Romanian alphabet that includes two additional letters, ń and ľ , and rarely with a version of the Greek script . Compared to Daco-Romanian, the Aromanian varieties have preserved from Proto-Romanian the word-final glide [w] alongside [j] (in the Pindean and Gramostean types), while
2530-399: The most numerous groups, as well as the pro-Romanian faction, the latter being less numerous. All of them promote their Aromanian ethnic background but differ on how they define their national identity. Namely, the pro-Greek group would concur with the majority of Aromanians in Greece that they are nationally Greek with Aromanian linguistic and cultural traits. On the other hand those supporting
2585-694: The only country where Vlachs make a relatively significant percentage of population, around 2%. In Albania, Aromanian communities inhabit Moscopole, their most famous settlement, the Kolonjë District (where they are concentrated), a quarter of Fier (Aromanian Ferãcã ), while Aromanian was taught, as recorded by Tom Winnifrith, at primary schools in Andon Poçi near Gjirokastër , Shkallë (Aromanian Scarã ) near Sarandë , and Borovë near Korçë ( Curceaua , Curceauã , Curceau or Curciau ) (1987). A Romanian research team concluded in
2640-467: The past participle does not change. The Aromanian gerund is applied to some verbs, but not all. These verbs are: A literature in the Aromanian language exists. The Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) produces radio and television broadcasts in Aromanian. Radio Romania International has Aromanian service producing radio shows in Aromanian. Films produced in the Aromanian language include Toma Enache 's I'm Not Famous but I'm Aromanian (2013),
2695-460: The proto language over the course of the next one thousand years. Greek influences are much stronger in Aromanian than in other Eastern Romance languages, especially because Aromanian has used Greek words to coin new words ( neologisms ), especially within Greece, while Romanian has based most of its neologisms on French . However, there has also been an increasing tendency for Aromanian-speakers outside of Greece to borrow terms from Romanian, due to
2750-608: The sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction (later overturned in the Appeals Court) to 15 months in jail of Sotiris Bletsas , a Greek Aromanian who was found guilty of "dissemination of false information" after he distributed informative material on minority languages in Europe (which included information on minority languages of Greece), produced by the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and financed by
2805-513: The shared alphabet and contact with Romanian over the Internet, where Romanian-language material is much more available than it is in Aromanian. With the arrival of the Turks in the Balkans , Aromanian also received some Turkish words. Still, the lexical composition remains mainly Romance. Compared to other Balkan languages, the earliest documents and manuscripts of Aromanian appear late. This
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#17327810486882860-684: The world, the Democratic Union of the Vlachs of Macedonia (DSVM) and the Party of the Vlachs of Macedonia (PVM), both in North Macedonia. Education: Finance: Arts/Music: Politics: Religion: Other: Aromanian language The Aromanian language (Aromanian: limba armãneascã , limba armãnã , armãneashti , armãneashte , armãneashci , armãneashce or limba rãmãneascã , limba rãmãnã , rrãmãneshti ), also known as Vlach or Macedo-Romanian ,
2915-649: Was estimated that Aromanian had 210,000 native speakers, of which 50,000 were in Albania, 50,000 in Greece, 50,000 in Romania, 32,000 in Serbia, 18,200 in North Macedonia, and 9,800 in Bulgaria. Aromanian-speakers also exist in the diaspora, with at least 53 speakers recorded to be living in Australia at the time of the 2021 Australian census . Aromanian has a degree of official recognition in North Macedonia, where it
2970-589: Was founded in 1957 as the State University of Tirana ( Albanian : Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës ), through the merging of five existing institutes of higher education , the most important of which was the Institute of Sciences, founded in 1947. Immediately after the death of Enver Hoxha in 1985, the university was renamed the Enver Hoxha University of Tirana ( Albanian : Universiteti i Tiranës Enver Hoxha ) until 1992. The university
3025-542: Was planned by Italian architect, Gherardo Bosio at the beginning of 1940. It is situated at the Mother Teresa Square , south of the city center of Tirana . The primary language of instruction is Albanian , but there are a number of faculties of foreign languages which are carried out in English , French , Greek , Italian , Spanish , German , Chinese and other languages. The University of Tirana
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