tjetërën

Tjetërën is a term found in Albanian dialectology and folklore that refers to a definite form of the adjective tjetër, meaning "the other." In some regional varieties, tjetërën marks a specific "other" item or person within a known set, rather than any other. It is not part of standard Albanian orthography but appears in references to deictic and nominal expressions in certain dialect contexts.

Origin and distribution: The form is documented primarily in southern and central Albanian speech communities, particularly in informal speech and oral tradition. Its grammatical status varies by source, with some descriptions treating it as a determiner, others as a nominalized adjective, reflecting broader regional variation in Albanian deictic systems.

Usage and cultural significance: In folk songs, proverbs, and narrative speech, tjetërën can function to distinguish a second participant in a dialogue or to indicate a specific alternative within a sequence. The term thus operates as a marker of specificity within intersubjective references, rather than as a general lexical item.

Scholarly status: There is no single, authoritative treatment in prescriptive grammars; dialectology sources discuss it as an example of regional deictic variation in Albanian. See also Albanian dialects, Deixis, and Lexical variation in Albanian.