ISO 639-3 als | Glottolog tosk1239 | |
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Region Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey Native speakers 1.8 million (2011 census) Language family Indo-European
Albanian
Tosk Linguasphere 55-AAA-aca to 55-AAA-ace | ||
Tosk is the southern dialect group of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern dialect) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is the basis of the standard Albanian language.
Tosks
Tosk may also refer to the Tosk-speaking Albanian population of southern Albania, subgroups of which include the Myzeqars of Myzeqe, Labs of Labëria and Chams of Çamëria. The Arvanites of Greece and Arbëreshë of Italy are descendants of Tosk-speaking settlers, as are the original inhabitants of Mandritsa in Bulgaria.
Tosk, in its narrowest sense, may be applied to the people of Toskëria, the region to the north of the Vjosë river and south of the Shkumbin river, in the territory of Fier County. However, the name Toskëria itself is often used to name entire Tosk-speaking parts of Albania, in contrast to northern Gegëria.
In the Republic of Macedonia, there were approximately 3000 speakers in the early 1980s.