Albanian the language of Albanian. Albanian is spoken in Albania, parts of Serbia and Montenegro (including almost all of the Serbian province of Kosovo), and isolated pockets in the South of Italy and Greece.
Two major Albanian dialects have been developing in different ways for about 1000 years: Gheg (spoken in Northern Albania); and Tosk (spoken in the South, as well as in the Italian and Greek enclaves). Theses dialects are mutually understandable.
Albanian constitutes a separate branch of the Indo-European language family. Its grammar is most similar to that of Modern Greek and Romanian . The vocabulary includes many borrowings from Latin, Romanian, and Balkan languages.
| Name | Where spoken | Language Family | How many (000s) |
| Albanian | Albania and surrounding countries | Indo-European (Albanian) | 3-4.5m |
Table source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, David Ctystal, Cambridge University Press
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