Linguistic variation within the Northwestern Gheg Albanian dialect

. In previous literature and linguistics analysis, the Northwestern Gheg Albanian dialect is classified as one zone that encompasses the area of northwestern Albania and southwestern Montenegro (B. Demiraj 1997: 40, Gjinari 1989: 54-8, Mëniku 2008: vii., Shkurtaj 2016: 26). The area is assumed to form a single subdialect; however, evidence from various levels of linguistic analysis discussed in this paper challenges this assumption. The area of Malsia Madhe in northwestern Albania and southwestern Montenegro exhibits different phonological, syntactic, and lexical patterns than the area of Shkodër. The southernmost point of this Gheg subdialect is Lezhë, which also has its own set of distinct idiosyncratic differences. This analysis provides an overview of the main differences between the areas of Malsia Madhe, Shkodër, and Lezhë, all typically grouped in the northwestern Gheg subdialect. This includes an evaluation of phonological, grammatical, semantic, and lexical differences between the three principal areas of Northwestern Gheg. Finally, it also offers a diachronic view of how this subdialect contributes to and challenges the history of the Albanian language’s development from Proto-Albanian and Proto-Indo-European.

affinities with both Malsia and the dialect of Shkodër (see Gjinari 1989: 139, 143, Shkurtaj 2016: 245-46).The southernmost part of this subdialect is Lezhë, which exhibits linguistic variation unlike the other Northwestern Gheg areas.In what follows, we discuss the similarities and differences between the principal areas of Northwestern Gheg (Malsia Madhe, Shkodër, Lezhë) and provide a diachronic account of them.
Figure 1.Albanian dialects and sub-dialects Figure 2. Northwestern Gheg dialectal subgroupings 2. Phonological differences 2.1.HOMORGANIC NASALS AND STOPS.In terms of the phonological differences, the areas of Malsia Madhe, Shkodër, and Lezhë exhibit variation within the categories of stops and nasals in word-initial position.Word-initial stops in Malsia Madhe Albanian (Malsia) usually correspond to nasals in Shkodër and in Lezhë.This variation occurs within the categories of labials, alveolars and velars (see 1-6).
(1) Malsia pshtjell [pʃtjɛɫ] ~ Shkodër/Lezhë mshtjell [mʃtjɛɫ] 'to cover, wrap' (2) Malsia bush [bu:ʃ] ~ Shkodër/Lezhë mush [mu:ʃ]  Evidence shows that Malsia has preserved word-initial stops from Proto-Albanian.The nasals in Shkodër and in Lezhë originate from reduced nasal-stop clusters that are present in Standard Tosk Albanian (mb > m, nd > n, ŋg > ŋ).These clusters formed in the period of Old Albanian from the Proto-Albanian preposition *en 'in' < Proto-Indo-European *h1en 'in'.The Proto-Albanian preposition en was later reanalyzed as a prefix /n/ that attaches to verbs, adverbs, and prepositions.The word-initial unstressed vowel dropped (en > n-), and the prefix underwent homorganic nasal assimilation.Thus, forms such as Standard Tosk mbusha 'I filled' developed from *en-busa.The word-initial stop forms in Malsia are also attested in ancient Indo-European languages such as Greek and Hittite. 1 Malsia never underwent this change due to the preservation of Proto-Albanian *en 'in' as a preposition.Cliticization of the prefix /n/ to verb and noun stems has become quite productive in Standard Albanian. 2he Old Gheg verb pshtjell [pʃtjɛɫ] 'to cover, wrap' is found in the texts of the writer Buzuku (1555) and surfaces in Shkodër and Lezhë as mshtjell [mʃtjɛɫ], with a word-initial labial nasal [m] (see 1).The Gheg form used in Shkodër and in Lezhë is a reduction from mbështjell [mbəʃtjɛɫ]. 3The Standard Tosk Albanian greeting mirëmbrëma 'good afternoon/evening' is stated as mirprâma in Malsia, while in the Gheg of Shkodër and Lezhë it is more commonly heard as mirmrâma. 4A German explorer in 1497 by the name of Arnold von Harff recorded various Gheg Albanian terms in his expedition through the coastal cities of Ulqin (in present-day Montenegro) and Durrës in Albania.It is here that he records the greeting for 'good evening' as <myreprama> with a voiceless labial stop /p/ (see Elsie 2003: 31-2).
The variants with word-initial stops in Shkodër and in Lezhë were commonly used in the past and are still present in a few terms.Fishta, a Gheg author and priest, in his work Mrizi i Zânavet used both forms of terrnoi and ndrroi for 'to change' as well as psimet and msimet for 'teachings' (Fishta 2019(Fishta [1941]]: 58, 79).Beci (2002: 21-45) cites the adverb pas 'after, behind' with a word-initial /p/, which is present in Shkodër, Lezhë, and Malsia, in contrast to Modern Tosk mbas.Interestingly, in the word-final environment, [p] is consistently found in the term hup 'to lose, be lost, get lost' in Malsia, Shkodër, Lezhë, and even in Ulqin. 5The Standard Tosk equivalent is humb with a word-final nasal-stop cluster.Schumacher and Matzinger (2013: 978) state that humb represents a present stem with a nasal infix, while hup is from a root aorist.Some of the etymological reconstructions position an initial cluster *sk as a regular sound change to account for the reflex of the voiceless glottal fricative /h/.Meyer (Wb.154) cited in Orel (1998: 152) connects humb with hup, and Barić (ARST 36-37) connects hup with Latin sūpō 'to upset, to overturn'.S. Demiraj (2013: 86) compares the Greek reflex *s > h in a few Albanian examples.His analysis includes *selkō >heq/helq, comparable to Greek helkō and Latin sulcus.S. Demiraj also notes that *s > h may be an ancient feature of Albanian that occurs less frequently than in Greek. 6Hamp (1965: 128) rather suggests a nasal present from the base *hwp, Proto-Albanian *humpo.
Finally, Shkurtaj (2016) indicates that variation has arisen in the Albanian political sector of Malsia Madhe (not including Malsia Madhe in Montenegro).The variation is most noticeable in lexical terms that differ between stops and nasals.In the older generation "brezin e vjetër" we find terms with stops, whereas in the younger generation "brezin e ri" there are nasals.For instance, Shkurtaj (2016: 238) cites opâk 'traditional Albanian shoe' with a word-final voiceless velar stop /k/ in the older generations and opâŋ with a word-final velar nasal /ŋ/ in the younger generations.This social variation is less prominent on the Montenegrin political side of the border in both the older and younger generations.

FRICATIVE MANNER ASSIMILATION.
A second phonological process that is uncovered when comparing Malsia lexical terms to Standard Albanian is fricative manner assimilation.In 7-10, corresponding to the Malsia cluster psh is fsh in the Standard and all other varieties of Albanian.The Malsia cluster psh seems to be the older form as the same sequence of voiceless labial stop /p/ and a sibilant (in IE mostly the alveolar /s/) is found in other IE cognates.By positing this change (psh > fsh), the etymologies of the A final example in 10, summarizes the need for further study in the variation found in Northwestern Gheg and its contribution to etymological reanalyses.
(10) Malsia rrapsh ~ Standard Albanian rrafsh 'plane, flat surface' Meyer (Wb.360) cites rrafsh as an analogically restored variant of rrafshoj 'to flatten' based on a borrowing from Slavic *orvьnъ [orvĭŭnŭ] 'even' (cf.Bulgarian raven, Serbo-Croatian ravan, in Orel 1998: 376-377).The variant rrapsh is not cited in any etymological dictionaries, showing that they are not aware and unable to consider a change of psh > fsh.This etymology accounts for the fricative change of v > f, but not for [p] in rrapsh.The term is seen in the Malsia place name of Rrapsha Hoti and related to rrap 'plane tree' from Proto-Albanian *rapa a denominative of rrjep 'flay, whip' (in Orel 378).Interestingly, rrap may refer to a plane tree's broad leaves.The same meaning is found in the English source of 'plane' in 'plane tree', ultimately from Latin plānus meaning 'flat, level'.Considering the example in 9, and the other examples of psh > fsh, an etymology for rrafshoj as a borrowing from Slavic seems implausible.

PALATAL STOPS AND CLUSTERS.
A third phonological difference is observed in the velarpalatal clusters /kj/ and /gj/ still preserved in Malsia and in Shkodër.The origin of the clusters is described as originating from the Proto-Albanian clusters *kl and *gl that are also present in Arvanitika Albanian, a Tosk subdialect spoken in Greece (see Klein et. al. 2018Klein et. al. : 1807)), in Çamërishta, spoken in northwestern Greece (Gjinari 1989: 57), and in the Arbëreshë dialects of southern Italy (Shkurtaj 2016: 25).The palatal /j/ in the Northwestern Gheg clusters /kj/ and /gj/, has been proposed to have emerged from a jotation of the lateral consonant /l/ (Gjinari 1989).However, we hypothesize in §2.3.1, that the Northwestern Gheg clusters may be derived from an earlier *kʎ and *gʎ.
A noteworthy finding that we can observe is that the direction of variation is moving from south to north forming a dialect continuum (see Fig. 2).Lezhë is geographically closer to the heart of the Standard variety and to other Gheg subdialects compared to Shkodër and Malsia Madhe, which might explain the variation present in the area.However, these processes have largely taken place in the past century, leaving traces of older clusters.If pressures from Standard Albanian persist, this variation may continue north, not just into Shkodër, but also into Malsia Madhe.

THE CASE FOR THE COALESCENCE OF CLUSTERS IN MODERN ALBANIAN.
A second argument we make here has to do with the origin of the Modern Albanian palatals stops /c/ and /ɟ/.The process shows evidence of a coalescence with the manner of articulation of the velar stops /k/ and /g/ and the place of articulation of a palatal consonant /j/ or /ʎ/.First, we cite the exact dialectal differences of the clusters and the problems that scholars have had in identifying their exact phonetic qualities.Second, we provide evidence from the different dialects that makes possible a new reconstruction for the velar-palatal clusters.
The exact phonetic quality of the Arvanitika clusters kl and gl assumed to be preserved from Proto-Albanian are also unknown.Moreover, there is disagreement on the exact pronunciations of <l> and <ll> in Albanian in general (see Klein et. al. 2018Klein et. al. : 1806)).Häbler (1965) and Gjinari and Shkurtaj (2003: 373-374) cite the Arvanitika dialect of Salamina (an island east-southeast of Athens), where there is a preservation of the three-way distinction of laterals /l/, /ʎ/ and /ɫ/.In the codification of the Arbëreshë poems of Jeronim De Rada , the scholar Francesco Altimari used the phoneme /ʎ/ for the grapheme <l> in lule 'flower' (see Morozova and Rusakov 2015: 443).This is similar to the situation in Malsia with the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ in contrast to Standard Albanian /l/ (e.g.Malsia lir The shift in Malsia to the palatal approximant /j/ is evident in the clusters kj and gj.Recent shifts from the clusters pl > pj, bl > bj, and fl > fj are also found in Dukagjin and in Malsia Madhe (Zojzi Rr. 1962cited in Gjinari 1989: 88).The Old Gheg writers Buzuku and Budi wrote fluturon '(s)he, it flies', while the Tosk writer Variboba wrote fjuturon with an initial fj- (Schumacher and Matzinger 2013: 439-40).Gjinari (1989) states that the joticization is likely from a palatal <l>.While the shift from a Proto-Albanian *ʎ to a Modern Albanian /j/ is cited as a possibility in Klein et. al. (2018Klein et. al. ( : 1742)).This shift does appear to have also occurred in most Albanian dialects before a velar, but not when preceding a velar, where it would coalesce in Standard Tosk to a palatal stop.Proto-Indo-European *u̯ l̥ k u̯ os > Proto-Albanian *ulka-> Standard Albanian ujk 'wolf' (Schumacher and Matzinger 2013: 229).Evidence for the coalescence of a stop and palatal approximant is evident in the Central Gheg subdialect of western Macedonia, where Albanian tjetër [tjɛtəɾ] 'other' > qetër [cɛtər], and djathë [djɔθə] 'cheese' > gjathë [ɟɔθə] (Mëniku 2008: viii.).
Within Albanian there is already a process of coalescence of stops and palatal approximants (tj > c, dj > ɟ).For Standard Tosk to have arrived at the palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/, would have required a stop and palatal consonant /j/ or /ʎ/.A velar stop and an alveolar or interdental liquid /l/ coalescing to a palatal stop is phonetically less likely.It is possible that the original Albanian clusters were *kʎ and *gʎ, which would coalesce in Standard Tosk and also account for the shift to the yod in Northwestern Gheg.Schumacher and Matzinger (2013: 245) cite the change of *l > ʎ > j /_i# in words such as Standard Albanian popuj 'the people'.They also cite *l + *i̯ > ʎ > j in mijë from Vulgar Latin mili̯ a 'thousand'.Yet, how do we account for the changes of *kl > /kj/ and *gl > /gj/ without positing *kʎ and *gʎ?The most phonetically plausible sequence of changes to account for the variation in all dialects is given in 15 below.The palatal lateral approximant *ʎ loses its palatal feature and yields a lateral approximant /l/ in Arvanitika and Arbëreshë /kl/ and /gl/.In Northwestern Gheg, the palatal lateral approximant *ʎ loses its lateral feature yielding a palatal approximant /j/ in the clusters /kj/ and /gj/.And Standard Tosk underwent a coalescence of the palatal lateral approximant *ʎ and the velar stops /k/ and /g/, resulting in the palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/.
(15) *kʎ, *gʎ > Arvanitika (Tosk) /kl, gl/ Arbëreshë (Tosk) /kl, gl/ Northwestern Gheg /kj, gj/ Standard Tosk /c, ɟ/ These significant variations within the phonology of Northwestern Gheg highlight the need for further research and could thus have an impact on our view of the diachrony of the Albanian language as a whole.This effect of the different systems of laterals may stretch even beyond the Albanian language's borders.As Hamp (2002: 249) points out, the West South Slavic's rich system of lateral distinctions and alternations may be due to contact with Albanian.
2.4.THE NORTHWESTERN GHEG ALBANIAN VELARIZED /ɫ/.Northwestern Gheg Albanian introduces a rare change that can be viewed in both its Modern and Ancient Indo-European context.In the same environment where the Standard Gheg and Tosk dialects use the voiced interdental fricative <dh> /ð/, areas of Northwestern Gheg instead show a velarized lateral approximant <ll> /ɫ/ (also known as "dark l").The use of /ɫ/ is heard to some extent throughout all of Northwestern Gheg.When comparing specific terms to Proto-Indo-European it is clear that the Northwestern Gheg (NW Gheg) forms in 16-17 are innovations.
It is still not clear if the velarized lateral approximant /ɫ/ is a modern innovation.In the southern Tosk variant of Gjirokastër for example, the opposite change of /ɫ/ > /ð/ is evident (llamba > dhamba, mbyll > mbydh, in S. Demiraj 2013: 304).It is difficult to motivate a linguistic reason behind the change, although the variation of /ɫ/ ~ /ð/ in both directions could be a form of hypercorrection.Some forms such as Malsia llez 'to ignite, light, turn on' also calls into question the exact direction of the change.The corresponding Standard Albanian forms are ndez and dhez /ðez/.Pedersen (1900: 338) states that dhez 'to set on fire, burn' and the variant ndez with an initial nasal prefix /n/ are from Albanian djeg.Albanian djeg 'to burn' is from PIE *dheg u̯ h-'to burn'.The term also exists in Malsia and in Northwestern Gheg.Yet, Malsia llez has varying meanings of 'to ignite, light up, to turn on', while djeg is only 'to burn'.A possibility is that llez is a denominal verb derived from an Indo-European *léwk 'light' (cf.Gaulish leux 'light' and Latin lūx 'light').In this case the Standard dh in dhez may be a hypercorrection from an original llez. 10hroughout the Ancient Mediterranean, the change of d > l is well documented, even if poorly understood.The Greek name Odysseus surfaces in Latin as Ulixes.This has been claimed to have been brought to the Italian peninsula through Illyrian intermediacy (Palmer 1988: 40-41).In another case, we find Messapian da 'earth' cognate with Modern Albanian dhe /ðe/ 'earth, land, soil', and the corresponding Northwestern Gheg lle /ɫe:/.Here the variation between an ancient /d/ and the modern /ð/ and /ɫ/ is ever present.This variation goes as far back as Pre-Greek.Beekes (2014: 20) notes the variation of δ /ð/~ λ /l/ in the plant name δάφνη ~ λάφνη 'laurel', the personal name Ὀδυσσεύς ~ Ὀλυσσεύς 'Odysseus', the Mycenaean for 'labyrinth' <da-pu2-ri-to-jo> (genitive) ~ λαβύρινθος and among other words.The use of the velarized lateral approximant /ɫ/ in Northwestern Gheg remains unclear, yet it is an important part of the history of Albanian within its modern and ancient Mediterranean context.

Grammatical and syntactic differences.
There are quite a few grammatical and syntactic differences within Northwestern Gheg Albanian.There is again a divide between Malsia and Shkodër/Lezhë.For instance, in Malsia (18) the third person singular present indicative active form of 'be' (â 'is') is used in perfect forms rather than the auxiliary verb ka 'has' that is seen in Shkodër/Lezhë ( 19  The Malsia phrase is similar to the rarer constructions found in Northeastern Gheg, where the completed past forms surface with jam 'am' rather than kam 'have' (e.g.jam shkue 'I went' rather than kam shkue, see Gjinari 1989: 253). 11 Lexical differences are covered in the next section, but some verbs that cannot be nominalized yield different syntactic constructions.In Malsia, it is more common to hear the form of the verb dvet 'ask', rather than the Standard pyetë 'ask'.The etymologies of the terms are obscure.Orel (2000: 17) considers the -ye-in pyes 'I ask' to be totally unexplained, but also cites the possibility of a derivation from PIE *pūta.In Old Albanian, pyetë is found alongside the form pevét (used by Bogdani), while the Old Tosk writer Variboba used the variant pieiti /piejti/ (see Schumacher and Matzinger 2013: 757-59).Fishta (1958: 166) from Lezhë, used the form pvete with a word-initial /pv/.The question that remains is if the /v/ in pvet and /y/ in pyetë are 11 Brian D. Joseph (p.c. February 2023) points out that the use of 'be' with kê/ken is similar to Italian, cf.è stato 'it has been/it was'.As well as kam shkue, cf.Italian è andato 'I have gone/I went'.irregular changes that are derived from one etymological source, or if the /v/ is the result of contact with another dialect such as Malsia dvet.The origin of the variation is unknown but may have resulted from the preposition të 'to, at' being incorporated to the reflexive stem vet (Malsia vet 'me'), giving *tvet from which dvet by voicing assimilation. 12alsia cannot nominalize certain verbs.This is evident for example in tesh 'to touch', the equivalent of nesh in Shkodër and in Lezhë.Nesh takes the nominal suffix -je to create the deverbal noun neshje 'a coming together' (*tesh-je is not possible in Malsia).This same nonnominalization is evident in dvet across Northwestern Gheg (*dvet-je).However, pyetë 'ask' can be nominalized as pyetje (23).There is not a clear division in Shkodër and Lezhë regarding which form is more commonly used.Although there might be a stylistic difference in that dvet is the colloquial form and it is not used in education and government.In 24, both dvet and pyetë can be used with a corresponding infinitive me (also see Joseph 1983: 90-91 for pyetë).Dvet cannot be used as a participle unlike pyetë (pyetun 'having been asked', *dvetun).( 23 In Standard Albanian new verbs have been created with the addition of specific morphemes, whereas at times in Northwestern Gheg the same processes have not taken place.Take for example the Northwestern Gheg verb vjerr 'hang' and the Standard equivalent var.In the Standard varet, in the nonactive voice, shows semantic extension to the meaning 'to depend' in addition to the meaning 'hangable'.This same extension did not occur in Northwestern Gheg where vjerr means only 'to hang', whereas nonactive vjerret in the same formation would only yield the meaning of 'hangable'.

4.
Lexical and semantic differences.The regions of Malsia Madhe, Shkodër, and Lezhë exhibit interesting lexical and semantic differences.Going from Malsia Madhe south to Shkodër and Lezhë, one encounters differences in the greeting 'good morning'.In Malsia it is natja mir 'good morning'.This is similar to Shkodër nadja mirë, where the only difference is the voicing of the alveolar stop /d/ in nadja 'morning'.This is also a quite radical difference from the other Albanian dialects where the Standard for 'morning' is mengjes and the term for 'night' is nata.The argument of Joseph that nate 'morning' derives from nata 'night' is the most compelling. 13n Lezhë it is more common to hear the forms mirë mëngjesi and the clipped form of mirë mjesi.
In all areas of Northwestern Gheg, it is also common to hear the morning greeting of si ke njeh (njef) 'how do you know/feel yourself'.A strong lexical divide is also present between Malsia and other Gheg and Tosk varieties, as indicated by the items in 25-29.Malsia shows more terms that have interesting equivalents in Ancient Greek, whereas in the other Gheg and Tosk varieties these surface as Latin borrowings.There are also terms that only surface in Malsia Madhe and which show evidence of possible direct lineages from Proto-Indo-European through regular sound change laws.These include Malsia lugz/lugza 'upper stomach, to feel nauseous' < PIE *slug 'swallow' (*sl > l, *u > u, *g > g), 16 Malsia ubel 'well' (n.) < Proto-Albanian *upela < PIE *h1upo-'under' (see Orel 1998: 482), and Malsia paj 'to hold, keep' < PIE *peh2-'protect' (cf.Hittite paḫ(ḫa)š-'to protect', Ancient Greek Πάν 'pastoral deity' possibly from *peh2us-).
Previously unknown forms in Malsia and Northwestern Gheg allow us to posit new etymologies.Standard Albanian lëvore 'tree bark, peel, skin', also has a dialectal variant lëforë 'rind, peel, scale of fish'.The form that surfaces in Malsia is lbogur.No concrete etymology exists for the Albanian term.The Malsia form lbogur shows loss of the pretonic vowel, thus, surfacing with the initial cluster lb-.The Standard form has a -v-, which may have lenited intervocalically from -b-due to preservation of the pretonic vowel.The variants and the hypothesized changes allow us to posit the Albanian term as a derivation of IE *lep-'to peel' (*lep > *leb-ogur > Malsia lbogur; *lep > *leb-ore > Tosk lëvore).
Albanian scholars during the 18 th and 19 th centuries began creating Albanian terms with native elements to replace certain borrowings.Naum Veqilharxhi coined fletore 'book, notebook' (flet 'speaks' + ore) to replace libër 'book' from Latin.Sami Frashëri created gjithëmësime (gjithë 'all' + mësime 'learning') for 'university' rather than universitet (see S. Demiraj 2013: 351).The Albanian term dritare 'window' (derived from dritë 'light' and the suffix -are) is now used instead of penxhere 'window' from Turkish pencere (see Klein et. al. 2018Klein et. al. : 1793)).Gheg in general and Northwestern Gheg in particular, likewise have their own set of innovations/creations that are specific to the area (30-32).( 30 Müller et. al (2016: 3128) cites Albanian barnatore 'drugstore, pharmacy' < barna 'medicinal plants'.The term barnatore is mostly heard in a few Gheg-speaking areas and preserved in Northwestern Gheg, whereas in other areas the modern borrowing of farmaci is more prevalent.4.1.SEMANTIC DIFFERENCES.A few semantic differences appear to be attributed to different layers of borrowing and lexical differentiation.Take for example Malsia shmâkt, the adjective for 'left', which also semantically extends to the meaning of 'to push away to the left'.In Standard Gheg and Tosk, the term surfaces as shmang with a final nasal-stop cluster and the narrowed meaning 'to push away', compared to the meaning it has in Malsia.The adjective for 'left' in Gheg and Tosk is majtë, which appears to be a borrowing from a variety of Romance *manctus based on Latin mancus (cf.Italian manca 'left hand') (see Orel 1998: 242).The borrowing majtë for the adjective 'left', may have contributed to the narrowing of shmang to 17 Kallxim is derived from the verb kallxo 'to show' and the suffix -im.It is used in the specific context: E kam pa i kallxim 'I saw an ad'.This suffix is productive and can be used to designate the action denoted by the verb (English VERB + -ing), the result of an action (fitim 'gain' from fituar 'gained'), a place suggested by the action of the verb (burim 'source', buruar 'sprung up'); this last is the type of -im seen in kallxim 'advertisement' from kallxo 'to show' (see Newmark et.al. 1982: 170). 18The suffixes -ar, -tar, -or, and -tor are used to form common nouns designating persons classified according to their activity of work, a characteristic feature, a place of residence, or birthplace (Newmark et. al. 1982: 164).
'push away' due to lexical competition.The Malsia form shmâkt consists of a prefix sh-, root mâk, and an adjectival suffix -t, also evident in the Albanian adjective djath-të 'right'.The prefix sh-, which also has an allomorph ç-, has undergone semantic bleaching and has been reanalyzed as a single root with mâk in Malsia.ç-is also found as a variant of sh-in the Old Gheg Albanian writings (see Schumacher and Matzinger 2013: 188). 19In La Dottrina Cristiana from 1592 (Albanian: E Mbsuame e Krështerë), the Tosk writer Luka Matrënga used the term <xtaemae´ncaetae> [ʃtəmənkətə] 'of the left', which shows that in Old Tosk the term was used for the adjectival meaning 'left'. 20Following regular dialectal correspondences between Malsia and Standard Tosk, Malsia shmâkt with a nasal vowel would be expected to surface in Tosk as *shmënkë (a medial oral vowel and nasal consonant before the stop, mënk ~ mâk).Old Tosk preserved a regular form with the same meaning as Modern Malsia shmâkt.The same PIE form *mh2n-ko-that yields Latin mancus would regularly yield Malsia (sh)mâk(t).This appears to be a case where Albanian preserves a term from PIE in Malsia and additionally borrows the Latin reflex from the same PIE root in Modern Tosk and Gheg, namely majte. 21 Another difference lies in the form of 'to throw' which is generally hedh in Albanian (from PIE *skéud) but qit in Malsia.The Gheg varieties of Shkodër and Lezhë use qit for 'to dispose'.In the Albanian bible texts (1810-1830) of the south Gheg subdialect of Elbasan written in the Todhri alphabet, the term qitna with the meaning 'throw/get us' surfaces in the prayer in 33, cited in Elsie (2016: 71, 136). 22The term tret 'to throw away/to get rid of' is also heard and a distinct term used in this variety of Gheg.
(33) qítna née prej dúrësh të kundërstárit throw/get away us from the hands of the enemy 'Wrest us out of the hand of the adversary' Some differences in meaning between dialects with the same forms do not seem to be semantically related like the qit example suggests.Malsia zhyt 'to dirty' is used as the verb 'to dive' elsewhere in Albanian.In this case it is not obvious if or how this semantically shifted.Similarly, dergo the verb 'to suck' in Malsia is used as the verb 'to send' elsewhere in Albanian.These may be accidental homophones with different etymological sources.Malsia dergo 'to suck' may be a derivation of PIE *dʰeh1(y)-'to suckle', or Albanian dergj 'to lie down, to lie sick'. 23The etymology of Standard Albanian dërgoj 'to send' is unclear, although some 19 S. Demiraj (1967: 238) cites the productivity of the prefix sh-and the allomorphs (ç, zh, xh). 20Line 11-13, p. 9 <crahhaet tae´ diáthaetae é tae´ xtaemae´ncaetae> /krahət tə diaθətə e tə ʃtəmənkətə/ 'of the right and left shoulder' (https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/alban/matranga/matrat.htm). 21The same situation arises with Albanian ngushtë 'tight, narrow' from Latin angustus, and Albanian angësht from the same PIE root *h2enǵh-. 22The Orthodox cleric Gregory of Durrës (also known as Gregory of Voskopoja) appointed archbishop of Durrës in 1768, made Bible translations in an alphabet he himself invented.The Elbasan Gospel Manuscript, formerly known as Anonimi i Elbasanit contains 61 pages of Bible translations in the southern Gheg dialect of Elbasan.The Todhri script is attributed to Dhaskal Todhri whose full name was Theodor Haxhifilipi (1730-1805) (see Elsie 2016: 4-5).hypotheses position it as a Latin borrowing (Orel 1998: 63).In Gheg and in Northwestern Gheg it is also common to hear the Albanian term çu/çua/çue 'to send, get, wake up'.

Conclusion.
We show here that a great deal of dialectal variation exists within an area that is generally labeled (in most Albanian handbooks/etymological dictionaries) as simply Northwestern Gheg.This variation is evident at most levels of linguistic analysis, which raises questions about their existing classifications.Shkodër and Lezhë share more grammatical and lexical features with one another than they do with Malsia.These differences can be traced to the historical and geographic isolation of Malsia.Our study highlights the importance of distinguishing between the varieties of Northwestern Gheg that are typically grouped together, and the implications this might have on future Albanian dialectological studies, comparative historical analyses, and Albanian's place within the Indo-European family.

( 21 )
Si je kê/ken How are been 'How have you been / How were you?' (22) Si ke ken/qen How have been 'How have you been / How were you?'