“The Language of Generations” in Elbasan and the “Linguistic Form” used by Kristoforidhi from a Morphological Perspective with the Albanian Standard

Abstract

Language, in its entirety of forms and expressions, is closely related to the social community that uses it. No societal change occurs without being reflected in language. It should be noted that language and social development are in such a close and inseparable relationship that it is difficult to imagine a social change without the presence of  the language  as an element that plays a fundamental role in shaping and materializing it. Social changes, along with the natural development of language over time, bring about transformations in all language aspects: phonetics, grammar, and lexicon. Based on these premises, the object of this study is the language variety of Elbasan, as part of Gheg dialect of the Albanian language, to distinguish its morphological features in synchronic and diachronic aspect. The aim is to highlight the changes occurred under the influence of various sociolinguistic factors and their development over time. To achieve the objectives of this paper, the study is focused in two aspects. First, the morphological features are studied across three generations: the younger generation (12-17 years old), the middle generation (35-50 years old) and the older generation (70-80 years old). Than the data are compared to “the language” used in his books by translator and scolar from Elbasan, Kostandin Kristoforidhi (1827-1895). This paper aims to shed light on the morphological characteristics of the language variety of Elbasan nowadays across different generations, in order to reveal how conservative or innovative has it remained under the continuous influence of social and cultural developments, particularly under the ongoing influence of the standard language. Moreover, the paper aims to highlight the extent to which linguistic features used in Kristoforidhi’s works are still present in the nowadays  speech of Elbasan, and in which age groups such linguistic traces are found.

Received: 12 December 2024 / Accepted: 14 January 2025 / Published: 06 March 2025