Albanian OCR

Albanian Language

Albanian ( Shqip [əˈliːp] ) is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo, where it is the official language. It is also spoken by Albanians living in neighbouring areas, with minor populations in Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia. Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian-based dialects can be found scattered in Greece (Arvanites), southern Italy (Arbëreshë) and Sicily (Arbëresh). Speakers are also found elsewhere in those countries as well as in Egypt, Israel and Turkey. The total number of speakers is more than 8 million. Tosk , Gheg and Arberesh dialects are sub-dialects of Albanian . They have been heavily influenced both by the surrounding Slavic languages and by Turkish.