Tosk Albanian

Tosk
Tosk
toskërishtja
Region	Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Italy, Greece, Turkey
Native speakers	1.8 million (2011 census)
Language family	Indo-European Albanoid Albanian Tosk; ; ;
Early form	Proto-Albanian
Dialects	Northern Tosk; Southern Tosk; Arbëresh; Cham; Arvanitika; Mandritsa; Lab;
Writing system	Albanian alphabet, formerly Elbasan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	als
Glottolog	alba1268; tosk1239
Linguasphere	55-AAA-aca to 55-AAA-ace
	A map showing Tosk speakers in the two palest shades of brown.

Tosk (Albanian definite form: toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is the basis of the standard Albanian language.

Major Tosk-speaking groups include the Myzeqars of Myzeqe, Labs of Labëria, Chams of Çamëria, Arvanites of Greece and the Arbëreshë of Italy, as well as the original inhabitants of Mandritsa in Bulgaria. In North Macedonia, there were approximately 3000 speakers in the early 1980s.^[2]

^ Tosk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Fraenkel, Eran; Kramer, Christina Elizabeth (1993). Language Contact - Language Conflict. P. Lang. p. 36. ISBN 9780820416526. Thus, for example, even the small numbers of Tosk Albanians of southern North Macedonia (only approximately 3,000 in the early 1980s)

[e18-1] Tosk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Fraenkel, Eran; Kramer, Christina Elizabeth (1993). Language Contact - Language Conflict. P. Lang. p. 36. ISBN 9780820416526. Thus, for example, even the small numbers of Tosk Albanians of southern North Macedonia (only approximately 3,000 in the early 1980s)

[1]

[2]