shqipen

Shqipen is the Albanian language, the native tongue of the Albanian people. It forms its own branch within the Indo-European family and is spoken by about 7 to 8 million people worldwide. The majority live in Albania and Kosovo, with significant communities in North Macedonia, Montenegro, and the diaspora across Europe and the Americas.

Shqipen has two main dialect groups, Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south. Standard Albanian, used in education, media, and government, is based largely on the Tosk dialect, with influence from Gheg. The dialects differ in sound, vocabulary, and some grammar, but are generally mutually intelligible.

Historically, Albanian is attested in writing from the 15th to 16th centuries. The language is written with a Latin-based alphabet. A formal Latin-based Albanian alphabet was adopted in 1908 at the Congress of Monastir, with subsequent reforms to standardize spelling. The current alphabet contains 36 letters, including digraphs such as gj, dh, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh, zh, which are treated as single letters in spelling.

Today, Albanian is the official language of Albania and one of the official languages of Kosovo; it has recognized status in North Macedonia and Montenegro and is widely taught in schools. It is used in education, media, literature, and daily communication among Albanian-speaking communities and in diaspora communities.