Oral Histories and the Dialectal Research in Albania

Abstract

The present article discusses the use of oral histories as a key methodological tool in lin-guistic and dialectal research in Albania, and as a crucial part of historical documentation. The article draws mainly on the empirical experience of both authors, who have performed research mainly in the Korça area, an area of complex linguistic contacts (Albanian-Slavic Macedonian-Greek). The two researchers recorded a number of oral histories in two distinct speeches; one belonging to the Tosk dialect of the Albanian language and the other belonging to the Aromanian dialect of the Romanian language. These two speeches are in danger of becoming extinct for two main reasons: the first being due to the linguistic homogenization of the Albanian dialects into the standard variant (Shkurtaj, 1999), the other being due to the cultural and linguistic assimilation of the Aromanians living in Albania (Capidan, 1943).