TIRANA, Aug. 18 – More than 100 Albanologists from all over the world have gathered in Kosovo to participate in the annual international seminar on Albanian language, literature and culture which this year is marking its 34th edition.
“Apart from its educational, scientific and cultural role, the international seminar continues fulfilling the mission of promoting the values of Albanian culture around the world, exchange of research between Albanian and foreign researchers, and creating new exchange opportunities for students, professors and scientific researchers,” says Sedat Kuà§i, the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Prishtina, where the annual event is held.
Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa has described the seminar as one of the most important cultural and scientific events in Kosovo because of the continuation of its tradition, the dimension of scientific research on Albanian language, literature and culture.
“The Albanian language has played a very important role in our historical, political and economic progress and that’s why one thing is for sure, with the Albanian language preserved and cultivated as we have managed to, our nation would not have been able to handle the waves and challenges it has faced,” said Mustafa.
Rrahman Paà§arizi, the director of the seminar describes the event scheduled to be held August 17 to 28 as the most important manifestation of albanological sciences.
“I feel moved by the fact that thousands of students from different countries around the world have come here to study Albanian, hundreds of them are today well-known names in the field of Albanology, and many have contributed to the opening of Albanian language departments around the world,” said Paà§arizi.
The seminar was founded in 1974 by the University of Prishtina. From 1989 to 1999, due to the repressive policies of Serbia, the seminar was forced to cease its activities starting again in 2000. The main purpose of this seminar is familiarity with albanologists worldwide, advancement of the Albanian language in the linguistic world and promotion of the Albanian literature and culture in the world civilization.
Albanian is a language of the extensive Indo-European family and is thus related to a certain degree to almost all other languages of Europe. The Indo-European character of the language was first recognized in 1854 by the German linguist Franz Bopp (1791-1867). At the same time, Albanian shows no particularly close historical affinity to any other language or language group within the Indo-European family, i.e. it forms a language group of its own.
The Albanian language is spoken by over six million people in the southwestern Balkans, primarily in the Republic of Albania and in the neighbouring countries which once formed part of the Yugoslav federation (Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). In Albania itself, the language is spoken by the entire 3 million population, including some bilingual ethnic minorities.
