The use of foreign words and some modern borrowings in the Albanian language

By: Ragip Gjoshi

LOGIN

The Albanian language, for its current shaping, has been conditioned by historical, social, economic, political factors, as well as by internal factors. Undoubtedly, the development of the language depends on the presence of borrowings which enrich the language, but at the same time "damage" its present and past, when Albanian words exist instead of foreign ones that we use without need. In this report, of the presence and absence of the word, the relationship of Albanian with neighboring languages ​​and not only with them has increased in recent years, giving the possibility of presence and influence in the Albanian language, to the English language.

Looking for the use of foreign words in the Albanian language, we noted about 151 such words and terms, observing how they are reflected in today's educational dictionaries against the dictionaries of expressions and foreign words published in 1954, 1980, 2000 and 2006. We have done this research by comparing the research of previous studies on borrowings, making surveys, observations and interpretations about the language and about its use and writing today.

We have supported the loan collection process: In the language written in the main educational documents of Kosovo; in the language used in newspapers and dictionaries; spoken language, such as everyday conversations, mainly among young people; in the language of news moderators, show presenters, television and radio debutantes, also the names of phenomena that we encounter in everyday education, etc. Meanwhile, the study of loanwords in Albanian was done by referring to the study books for this field by Gjovalin Shkurtaj, Emil Lafe, Vesel Nuhi, Jani Thomai, Shezai Rrokaj, Hajri Shehu, Aleksandër Xhuvan, Shaban Demiraj and others. Looking at the references and findings about the occurrence of loanwords in the Albanian language in the books of these authors, we can say that the factors that influence their use depend on: emigration, education abroad of young people, the policy being followed by the state for education and employment outside Kosovo, bilingual speakers, globalism, mixed marriages and the consequences that these borrowings cause in communication (Dordo, 2006:25). Therefore, we looked at the borrowings in the main state pedagogical documents and in general in the field of education, finding the explanations for them in Glossary of terms in education (Gjokutaj, 2016).

A few words about the protection and enrichment of our language

The Albanian language, based on many linguistic studies, appears to have resisted assimilation by foreign languages. But it is still endangered by those same languages. Professor Shkurtaj says about this situation: Albanian no longer looks like our language, but like a mixture or 'hybrid' of the type of 'Franglais' (French), against which the French have been fighting with so much zeal and patriotism for years. We are also threatened today by the danger of an 'Anglo-Albanianism', therefore if we do not want a perplexed Albanian to perplex the minds of Albanians, the state and the entire civilized Albanian society must be shaken from lethargy and come out of the fog of this the Albanian-English language that threatens to overtake us (Short, 2003:78).

In our case and topic, the most important state documents of pre-university education are discussed - for The Kosovo Curriculum Framework of 2011 and for The core curriculum for the pre-university education of the Republic of Kosovo of 2016, as well as for some other cases for which an exception can be made for the use of a foreign word, for which Hugo Schuchardt said that there is no language that is completely unmixed (Schuchardt, 1884:15). Even Antoine Meillet he calls borrowing a natural phenomenon (Meillet, 1936:17) that, according to him, lexical elements are mainly borrowed and there is almost no language without borrowings. Similarly, more or less, Shönfelder also said, that the mixing of languages ​​was done with unilateral or bilateral influence of two or more languages (Schönfelder, 1956:17). Meanwhile, Bloomfield defined linguistic borrowing as taking linguistic elements and distinguished two types of borrowing: the cultural one (when the borrowed elements came from another distant language) and dialectician (transition of words from one dialect to another) (Nuhiu, 2013:18). And, the care for the use of foreign words should be started in two of the main documents of pre-university education, in those we mentioned a little above, which were drafted and allowed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Kosovo, which is very "generous" with the use of unnecessary foreign words instead of the Albanian ones.

In the above two documents, the foreign flows in Albanian are mainly from the English and German languages. Yes, for us they are not new words, since in the curriculum documents in the Albanian language they have had the opportunity to be replaced by the words included in the dictionaries published in 1954, 1980, 2000, 2006 and in other dictionaries of education and expressions rare of the Albanian language. If we look further into antiquity, we list in the above documents also borrowings from old Greek, Latin, Slavic, Turkish, Italian, French. Therefore, the institutions responsible for drafting these documents should take into account some of these issues, such as: the importance of the purity of the Albanian language, get the opinions of linguists, writers, and translators about the Albanianization of loanwords, which would help to stop the introduction of unnecessary borrowings in official documents and in the Albanian language.

Borrow

Borrowing as a linguistic phenomenon in the circle of linguists is well known as a fact. The Albanian language is one of the few languages ​​that have their linguistic terminology from their own dough thanks to the great work of S. Frashër, K. Kristoforidhi, A. Xhuvan, L. Gurakuq, A. Xanoni, J. Rrotë, M. Dom, Sh. Demiraj, etc. So, in its origin, our language terminology is purely Albanian. But, with the increase and expansion of language studies, foreign words and terms have penetrated into Albanian. Only after the 2000s, studies with topics from different sectors and fields of education development came to the fore. In addition to previous dictionaries of psychology and pedagogy by Albanian authors, such as: A. Xhuvani, B. Dedja, P. Nushi, Sh. Osmani, in 2004 had also appeared on the market Glossary of terms for psychology, followed by a dictionary of terms for education by M. Gjokutaj, I. Hoti and D. Kadri published in 2016. Then the drafting and use of online dictionaries began, which are quickly enriching Albanian with new explanations.

Loans in the Glossary of terms in education, examples of loans

The terminology of education presents its own feature in the period of the National Renaissance, with the creation of the first Albanian school in Korça (1887), especially after the opening of the Normal School of Elbasan (1909). Borrowings in Albanian started at the time of the activists of the Renaissance, who put into use foreign words from administrative, legal, linguistic, education, communication technology, education, etc. terminology. Aiming to record these influences, we note: penetration of foreign forms in the morphological, syntactic, lexical plane, of foreign suffixes in word formation. And, what characterizes the terminology before '99 is the fact that the educational vocabulary of the previous half century was under the influence of communist goals, revolutionary educational-educational practice and the socialist construction of the country, which words are noted in some dictionaries , starting with their publication from 1972 until 2015. However, positive elements of the lexical heritage of education are also found in the lexical heritage. As soon as we take a comparative look at the terms in the field of education, the penetration of foreign words is witnessed, especially from the field of psychology, pedagogy, and curriculum. Here is a glossary of curriculum terminology from Curricular framework of Kosovo: adolescence, agoraphobia, accreditation, altruism, deductive, inductive, autism, autonomy, behaviorism, denigrate, adrenaline, accreditation, altruism, cerebral, criterion, open curriculum, speech therapy, CV, dementia, deviance, diffusion, discrimination, Halo effect , egocentrism, evolution, e-mail, Europeanization, ivory, fortification, phobia, futurism, gladiator, glycogen, globalism, herbicide, heuristics, hypothesis, insomnia, camping, career, xenocentrism, etc. We encountered these same words during the observation of the implementation of the Curriculum, during the use and writing by "education experts", by educational officials, journalists and teachers. In order to have a clearer impact of these words in Albanian, we have done a research and made a comparison whether these words are increasing or decreasing over the years. We took the example of three newspapers that are published in Kosovo: The time of day, New era and The voice. During their research, we derive the result that the number of foreign terms used by them is increasing. Among the most frequent words and phrases encountered in them are: formal education, non-formal education, school autonomy, curriculum cycles/levels/scales, curriculum integration, competencies, key competencies, curriculum framework, curriculum, core curriculum, internalized curriculum, formal/planned curriculum, school-based curriculum, curriculum electives, constructivism, differentiated instruction, curriculum policy, agility, cross-curricular topics, diagnostic assessment. These groups of words are used both in direct and indirect speech. The following words and expressions are also taken from the newspaper New Age, Daily Time and voice: Kosovo Curriculum Framework, spiral curriculum, integrated teaching and learning, holistic learning environment, sustainable learning progression, curriculum system, selective assessment, holistic development, implemented curriculum, hidden curriculum, competency-based curriculum, coherence of curriculum, career orientation, interactive learning styles, student portfolio assessment, formal curriculum implementation, curriculum development. These and other words, introduced after the 90s, are from English, German, Italian, Greek, French, etc.

Every speaker has the freedom to select words that are not an integral part of his language and to use them during communication to meet the needs that the Albanian language does not give him, but if parallel words and expressions are placed for the same ones that listed above, it turns out that users are not tired of thinking that for the same foreign words they can replace them with Albanian ones, which have a better sound. That is, the above words are taken without adapting them to the context in which we want to use them (Jorgaqi, 1998:86).

The uncontrolled introduction of foreign words into curriculum documents is also due to the fact that the drafters made very little effort to create a word from the Albanian source itself, that is. dialects, regional dialects, etc. Having knowledge of the extent of the journal documents throughout the territory of Kosovo, which will be in the hands of at least half a million readers per year, then knowing the media report about them and the influence of public opinion from the language of the media, the use of foreign words in curricular frameworks should be very small.

The dictionary of education in the Albanian language in front of languages ​​in daily contact

Investigating the amount of borrowed words in the official pedagogical documents, we can conclude that the Albanian language in the last twenty years has taken many words from the English language, which, since they have made a good place, are difficult to remove without having a linguistic consultation for Albanian language. The presence of UNMIK, KFOR, EULEX, and their staff in Kosovo, thus the political, economic and cultural influence (being powerful politically and economically and having a large and influential culture), has influenced the powerful penetration of many words even in the Albanian educational vocabulary and that, at this stage, speakers of the language, faced with unexpected realities that shake their status quo to the limits of survival, cannot have calm linguistic awareness in defense of the mother tongue. Survival pragmatism increases the need for a utilitarian global communication that extends beyond the confines of the national idiom (Memushaj, 2002:19).

The factors that influenced the introduction of foreign words into the Albanian language

In the last two decades, the Albanian language is facing numerous borrowings due to the influence of historical circumstances, globalization, emigration, education abroad, education and employment policies, bilingual speakers and mixed marriages. In the first case, we must mention that historical events leave their traces in the language of a country, the language of the invading people, as happened with the Albanian language, which, faced with different invaders, has made a certain "war" and a certain "friendship" with the Turkish and Serbian languages, less with Montenegrin, Italian, German. Then, after the liberation and establishment of the democratic governing system in the Albanian language, unknown words and terms were introduced, which penetrated and became synonymous with Albanian words, competing with each other.

Another factor that has influenced the borrowing of foreign words is globalization. Increasing the movement of people from one place to another, increasing communication through the latest technologies, social networks, economic, social, cultural cooperation, etc. between different countries have led us to see loans as a consequence of this globalization. The contacts of people with different languages ​​influence the growth of foreign words in the respective languages. But, apart from the exchange of words between languages, in some countries and languages, for different reasons and at a certain period of time, the formation of another language took place (Rrokaj, 2014:18). This language was born as a communication need between speakers from countries with different languages. This type of language is called lingua franca. Lingua franca historically it becomes either one of the languages ​​that have the most prestige in the region, or one of the languages ​​that are unconsciously created to enable communication. In our lands like lingua franca Turkish and Slavic have served as the language of culture, administration and trade. Today, English serves as the lingua franca for the entire globe (Thomas, 2006:271).

One of the factors of the use of loanwords in Albanian is also a part of the Albanian society that is educated abroad, which, after completing their studies and returning to their country, brings, in addition to knowledge from the field of graduation, foreign words which they mix with Albanian, which, like it or not, become part of their lexicon.

An influencing factor in the vocabulary of education is also the schooling and employment policy. One of the criteria for employment today is the mastery of one or several foreign languages. Therefore, in order to feel fulfilled in the labor market, you must be good at speaking and writing at least one foreign language. Likewise, the number of bilingual or even multilingual speakers has increased the possibility that each speaker uses words from other languages ​​in parallel with Albanian words or to remove the Albanian word in favor of the foreign word.

The Albanian language is classified among those languages ​​that take words from other languages ​​for several reasons, such as: due to the fact that it is the language of a small country in terms of population that is economically and politically dependent on more powerful states; that the geographical space where Albanians live is between countries with great culture, such as: Italy and Greece, Serbia, also due to the presence of foreign citizens who have been employed in Kosovo since the end of the last war. So, the ways of introducing loanwords in Albanian are numerous and each of them has its own importance and specificity.

Another powerful influence on the introduction of foreign words into the language are the conversations and debates carried out on radio and TV by people who do not have sufficient command of the Albanian lexicon. Another way of the penetration of borrowings are the translations of books by translators who are completely unformed from the linguistic point of view.

Borrowing from the sociolinguistic perspective and the reasons for using borrowings in the field of education in the Albanian language

Albanian speakers use foreign words in their society, then they use them in the media, which are observed by different layers of society and when only an elite of people are interested in understanding them and the rest see it as "unreachable" from the intelligence that shows or shows that it is of a "high" cultural level. After 99 in Kosovo, immigrants were the first to introduce foreign words in communication with family members and relatives when they talked about the places where they have been, visited and worked. The people who emigrated, mainly for economic reasons, did not even have a stable and complete knowledge of Albanian, since for reasons, generally economic, they had not finished school, therefore they inserted foreign words into their lexicon without realizing it. There, in the media, loans are noticed to a greater extent. And, if you ask someone who uses them, maybe someone will not hesitate to answer that they use them: To look more contemporary or modern; that he wants to show that he knows some foreign languages; to make others appear superior; so that others do not understand.

The use of foreign words in the KKK for preschool education of the Republic of Kosovo

As a very useful aid in explaining the terms of this field enriched hand by hand and time by time, it came to this plane at the right time. Glossary of terms in education (Pristina, 2016), compiled by M. Gjokutaj, I. Hoti and D. Kadriu. It has wide theoretical and practical scope, reflecting the changes in the content of Albanian education in all Albanian territories. This dictionary has managed to somewhat fill the gap of clarifying the conceptual and implementation aspects of those interested in the field of education.

The terms explained in this dictionary are collected from about 200 sources: 65 dictionaries and encyclopedias, 60 books in the field of education, of which 23 are dictionaries, over 60 sources are from the Internet. From these dictionaries, it is investigated that only the words related to the field of education were collected. It seems that the authors have relied on the main education documents (curriculum) to clarify the concepts of education.

However, the "experts" of education, journalists, moderators, presenters of shows, politicians are among the people who use the most foreign words and not infrequently say them when they themselves do not know their meaning well.

The presence of foreign words in the Curriculum for pre-university education of the Republic of Kosovo

Their use in the Curriculum for preschool education of the Republic of Kosovo and in the debates about this document in the media, I have investigated that they are words and expressions that could be replaced by words of the Albanian language, such as: agencyi-local branch of an enterprise, of an entity: accommodation – adaptation and systematization; accreditation - official recognition that an individual or institution meets/meets the required standards; attributes - essential, necessary and permanent property of a thing or phenomenon; diversity – variability; explore - require; equivalent – that has the same value as another item; fleksibilitet – the ability to produce a variety of ideas; mobility and ease of use of ideas and attitudes regarding certain issues; curricular field – a broad learning category that groups subjects that have common goals and tasks for learning knowledge; hierarchy - the order of titles, ranks or responsibilities in the civil administration; HOLISTIC APPROACH – relating to the whole of something, as a result of its separate parts; general feature of a phenomenon, which is created as a result of the union of its main features; encourage - I give heart and courage to someone, encourage him to develop; innovation – a new thing, a new invention, a new rule, a new system; iNtegratioN – union, inclusion. Process of combining occurrences, phenomena with other things in a single system; competence - the ability to judge a case; curriculum framework – the complete document of all content activities and curricula - studied program and relevant document to attend a qualification school.

The following foreign words are also present in the Curriculum for pre-university education of the Republic of Kosovo: manage – having control over something; module – separate component of a whole; optimal – better, more suitable, bigger, etc.; portfolio – a collection of the teacher's work that provides the information; progres - forward movement, development towards good; routine - continuous pursuit of the same path without any change, daily work; challenges - brave and nonchalant attitude towards an opponent; stereotip – are the negative evaluations that name prejudice; stimulation – encourages to enliven an activity by addressing questions; subject – the subject, the argument about which is spoken or written; tolerance – the property of one who agrees with the existence of a thing that allows and many others like these. Therefore, there is no way not to recall academician Gjovalin Shkurtaj, who orders if we don't want a misguided Albanian to mislead the minds of Albanians, the state and the entire civilized Albanian society must be shaken from lethargy and come out of the fog of this Anglo-Albanianism...!" (Short, 2003:78).

This wide use of foreign words has brought a problem in daily communication, since the message conveyed by the speaker is not completely clear to all listeners, when the speaker combines the Albanian language with foreign words from several other languages ​​that he knows . This dislevel is such that many people express their concern that they cannot understand some others, who speak a kind of Albanian language that is incomprehensible to them.

cONcluSiON

Maintaining the purity of the mother tongue is the duty of everyone who is part of a society, whether large in number or small, with which it is necessary to communicate at every step of his life in order to fulfill the vital needs of daily. In order to communicate, it is necessary to use the same language as the society he belongs to, otherwise communication cannot be achieved. If the speaker during communication uses foreign words, the meaning of which the listeners do not know or get the meaning of these words distorted according to the knowledge they have, we can safely say that communication has not been achieved, because the message has not been fully received and accurate. This is a reason that puts us in front of the responsibility not to use foreign words because misunderstandings can arise. Therefore, the task above the task of academics, language researchers, methodologists, journalists, lecturers, is the task of teachers of all levels, but also of all subjects, to pay attention to the cultivation and preservation of the purity of the Albanian language. /Taken from the fifth issue of the magazine "Akademia"/

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