Re-evaluating Albanian’s place in Indo-European studies

Abstract

While Albanian has traditionally been marginalized in Indo-European (IE) studies, this has been due to the extensive borrowing in the Tosk Albanian dialect used by previous literature. However, the Malsia Madhe dialect of Albanian better preserves the phonotactics and lexicon of Proto-Albanian, Proto Illyrian, and Proto-Indo-European. Therefore, Malsia Madhe Albanian should be utilized when discussing the history of Albanian and its place in IE studies.