The Gheg dialect is divided by four sub-dialects: Central Gheg, Southern Gheg, Northwestern Gheg (or Western Gheg), and Northeastern Gheg (or Eastern Gheg).
Southern Gheg Southern Gheg is spoken in the ethno-geographic regions of central and, areas of, north-central Albania; among these being: •
Durrës, which includes its surrounding villages and environs and municipal units of
Ishëm and
Shijak; •
Tirana, including the surrounding villages and environs under the municipal units of
Petrelë,
Dajt,
Vorë,
Pezë,
Ndroq,
Zall-Herr,
Zall-Bastar,
Shëngjergj,
Kavajë, and
Rrogozhinë (the last two traditionally being grouped with the Durrës region); •
Elbasan, including its surrounding villages and the settlements under the municipal units of
Labinot-Mal,
Labinot-Fushë,
Bradashesh,
Funarë,
Krrabë, and
Peqin (the last two regions generally speak dialects closer to that of the Durrës and Tirana region); and •
Librazhd, including the surrounding settlements and those under the ethnographic regions and municipal units of
Çermenikë,
Qukës,
Prrenjas,
Hotolisht; and •
Struga Southern Gheg can be further broken down into two major groupings: Southwestern Gheg and Southeastern Gheg. The first group includes the dialects spoken in the regions of Durrës, Tirana, Kavajë and sections of Elbasan such as Peqin and the western villages of Krrabë. The latter group, on the other hand, is spoken in the regions of Elbasan, Librazhd, and Martanesh. The spoken dialects of Shëngjergj, in Tirana, and Krrabë, in Elbasan, act as transitional dialects between the two groups, although the former is closer to the Southwestern group and the eastern villages of the latter with the Southeastern group. The dialects of Ishëm, Vorë, Zall-Herr, and Zall-Dajt represent the northernmost extensions of Southern Gheg (specifically Southwestern Gheg), and as such, they show direct influences from Central Gheg (spoken in neighbouring
Krujë,
Mat, and
Bulqizë); thus they can be labelled as transitional dialects. Certain settlements to the extreme south of the Southern Gheg dialect zone, which are included in the largely Southern Gheg-speaking units, speak transitional dialects depicting both characteristics of Gheg and Tosk Albanian. These include villages such as Dars in Peqin, the coastal villages of southernmost Kavajë like Rreth-Greth, and a number of settlements in Qukës and Hotolisht.
Central Gheg Central Gheg is a sub-dialect of Gheg spoken in the interior basin of the Mat river, extending eastwards to and beyond the Black Drin river, including
Kruja and
Fushë Kruja,
Mati, part of
Mirdita,
Lurë,
Luma and
Dibër Valley. Central Gheg is also spoken outside of Albania, with the majority of Albanians from North Macedonia speaking dialects of Central Gheg - including the divergent idiom spoken in
Upper Reka. These regions include
Polog Valley (
Tetovo and
Gostivar) and the
Southwestern Statistical Region (
Kičevo,
Debar and parts of
Struga). According to linguists such as Jorgji Gjinari and Xhevat Lloshi, the Central Gheg dialect group represents a sub-group of the larger Southern Gheg zone.
Northern Gheg • Northeastern Gheg include the Albanians of
Bujanoc,
Besianë,
Gjilan,
Mitrovicë,
Medvegjë,
Preshevë,
Prishtinë,
Vushtrri, and the formerly Albanian-populated territories of Niš Sanjak (
Niš,
Vranje,
Toplica District). • Northwestern Gheg or often called as Prizren old dialect is mostly spoken in
Prizren, (
Shkodër,
Shiroka,
Vermosh,
Selcë,
Vukël,
Lëpushë,
Nikç,
Tamarë,
Tuzi,
Shestani-Kraja,
Ulcinj,
Bar,
Plav,
Gusinje,
Pejë,
Gjakovë,
Lezhë and the rest of
Malësia) dialect: the
Arbanasi dialect of
diaspora Albanians in Croatia The Italian linguist Carlo Tagliavini puts the Gheg of Kosovo and North Macedonia in Eastern Gheg.
Northeastern Gheg Northeastern Gheg, sometimes known as
Eastern Gheg, is a variant or sub-dialect of Gheg Albanian spoken in Northeastern
Albania,
Kosovo, and
Serbia. The Northeastern Gheg dialectal area begins roughly down from the eastern Montenegrin-Albanian border, including the Albanian districts (Second-level administrative country subdivisions) of
Tropojë,
Pukë,
Has,
Mirditë and
Kukës; the whole of Kosovo, and the
municipalities of
Bujanovac and
Preševo in Serbia. The tribes in Albania speaking the dialect include Nikaj-Merturi, Puka, Gashi, and Tropoja. The Albanian speech in roughly around
Skopje,
Karadak, and
Kumanovo in
North Macedonia, is sometimes regarded part of Northeastern Gheg. Calques of
Serbian origin are evident in the areas of
syntax and
morphology. The Northeastern Gheg slightly differs from Northwestern Gheg (spoken in
Shkodër), in turn, the Northeastern Gheg dialects themselves differ greatly among themselves. The dialect is also split in a few other minority dialects, where the phoneme [y] of standard Albanian is pronounced as [i], i.e. "ylberi" to "ilberi" (both meaning rainbow); "dy" to "di" (both meaning two). In Northeastern Gheg, the palatal stops of standard Albanian, such as [c] (as in
qen, "dog") and [ɟ] (as in
gjumë, "sleep"), are realised as palato-alveolar affricates, [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] respectively.
Northwestern Gheg Northwestern Gheg, sometimes known as
Western Gheg, is a sub-dialect of Gheg Albanian spoken in Northwestern
Albania and Southern
Montenegro. The tribes that speak this dialect are the
Malësor,
Dukagjin and other highlander tribes which include (
Malësia):
Hoti,
Gruda,
Triepshi,
Kelmendi,
Kastrati,
Shkreli,
Lohja, etc., (
Dukagjin) :
Shala,
Shoshi,
Shllaku,
Dushmani, etc., etc..(
Lezhë),...(
see Tribes of Albania). The main contrast between Northwestern Gheg and Northeastern Gheg is the slight difference in the tone and or pronunciation of the respective dialects. Northwestern Gheg does not have the more deeper sounding a's, e's, etc. and is considered by some to sound slightly more soft and clear in tone compared to Northeastern Gheg, yet still spoken with a rough Gheg undertone compared to the Southern Albanian dialects. Other differences include different vocabulary, and the use of words like
"kon" (been), and "
qysh" (how?) which are used in Northeastern Gheg, and not often used in Northwestern Gheg. Instead Northwestern Gheg speakers say
"kjen o ken" (been), and use the adverb
"si" to say (how?). For example in Northeastern Gheg to say "when I was young", you would say,
"kur jam kon i ri", while in Northwestern Gheg you would say "
kur kam ken i ri,
kur jam ken i ri.". Although there is a degree of variance, Northwestern Gheg and Northeastern Gheg are still very much similar, and speakers of both sub-dialects have no problem understanding and having a conversation with one another.
Malsia Albanian The Northwestern Gheg subdialect encompasses three main Albanian ethnographic regions:
Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë. Within the Northwestern Gheg, the area of Malësia e Madhe shows different phonological, syntactic, and lexical patterns than the areas of Shkodër and Lezhë. For this reason,
Malsia e Madhe Albanian (
MMA) can be considered a distinct variety of Northwestern Gheg. The different features of this variety can be traced to the historical and geographic isolation of the mountainous region of Malësia e Madhe (Albanian for 'Great Highlands'). The early isolated Malsia Albanian has preserved archaic features of
Proto-Albanian and
Proto-Indo-European in comparison to other Gheg varieties and to Tosk, such as the word-initial voiceless and voiced stops. Whereas Tosk Albanian has homorganic nasal-stop clusters, having produced a shift from the proto form that featured a word-initial stop to a nasal-stop cluster, which was achieved by placing a prefix
en- (< PAlb preposition 'in'). Gheg Albanian is in a transitional position, featuring nasals that resulted from reduced nasal-stop clusters. Examples of the formation of nasal-stop clusters by placing the prefix with unstressed word-initial vowel are: Tosk 'to fill', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'where, from where', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'to thrust, put on point', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ); Tosk 'to stretch', from PAlb (vs. Malsia ). The PAlb preposition 'in' has been preserved solely in the Malsia Albanian dialect, whereas in the other Gheg varieties and in Tosk it has been reanalyzed as a prefix attached to other lexical terms, no longer existing as a preposition. ==Phonology==