Block Seminar 2026 | PD Dr. Sergio Neri

We are excited to welcome PD Dr. Sergio Neri to teach our Block Seminar this year. It is titled Albanian: Synchrony and Diachrony. A schedule and bibliography can be found below.

1. External linguistic history of Albanian (05/18): Indo-European prehistory; contacts with the Paleo-Balkan languages; relationship and isoglosses with Thracian, Illyrian, and Messapic; loanwords from Ancient Greek, Latin, the Balkan Romance languages, the Slavic languages, Italian, and Turkish; the Balkan Sprachbund; the chronological stages and dialects of Albanian; the history of Old Albanian literature; and discussion of the relevant bibliography.
2. Albanian phonology (05/19): discussion of the synchronic phonological system, orthography, major dialectal differences, and the diachronic development of the language, including its principal sound changes.
3. Major sound changes (05/20) (continued).
4. Nominal and pronominal morphology (05/21): synchronic description of nominal (nouns and adjectives) and pronominal categories, as well as their origins and historical development.
5. Albanian numerals and verbal morphology (05/22): morphology and etymology of the numerals; the Albanian verbal system, including grammatical categories, stem formation, tenses, voice, and moods.

Short Bibliography

Demiraj, Bardhyl. 1997. Albanische Etymologien. Amsterdam – Atlanta: Rodopi.

de Vaan, Michiel. 2017. “The Phonology of Albanian.” In: Matthias Fritz, Brian Joseph & Jared Klein (Hrsg.): HSK – Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. An International Handbook of Language Comparison and the Reconstruction of Indo-European. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Volume 3, 1732-1749.

Hock, Wolfgang. 2005. “Zur Vorgeschichte des albanischen Lautsystems.” In: Gerhard Meiser & Olav Hackstein (Hrsg.): Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel. Akten der XI. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, 17.-23. September 2000, Halle an der Saale. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 261-274.

Klingenschmitt, Gert. 2005. Aufsätze zur Indogermanistik (hrsg. von Michael Janda, Rosemarie Lühr, Joachim Matzinger & Stefan Schaffner). Hamburg: Kovać.

Matzinger, Joachim. 2006. Der altalbanische Text [E] Mbsuame e Krështerë (Dottrina Cristiana) des Lekë Matrënga von 1592. Eine Einführung in die albanische Sprachwissenschaft. Dettelbach: Röll.

Schumacher, Stefan, & Joachim Matzinger. 2013. Die Verben des Altalbanischen. Belegworterbuch, Vorgeschichte und Etymologie. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.