Albania/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates  

4.2.2 Language issues and policies

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, the official language is Albanian, an Indo-European language, a single branch in the Indo-European tree. The Gheg dialect is spoken in Northern Albania by approximately 1 300 000 people, in Kosovo by 1 750 000, and in Macedonia by 600 000. Tosk has been the basis for the official dialect of standard Albanian, recognised officially in 1972, and is spoken by 3 400 000 people. In recent years the Ghegs have also started to use standard Albanian.

Greek is the second major language, spoken by a Greek minority of 60 000 people in the South of Albania and is used in Greek schools. Macedonian is spoken by 30 000, Romanian in the Vlach dialect is spoken by 50 000 people.

There are currently no specific cultural policies or measures to support the use and promotion of minority languages through culture (e.g. publications, radio stations, support for films etc).