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World Englishes, Vol 17, No. 3, pp. 369379, 1998. 08832919

English in Albania: Contact and convergence

SILVANA DUSHKU*

ABSTRACT: The status of English in Albania has changed as this formerly communist country has
embarked on the road to a free market economy. This paper provides an overview of the current status and
usage of English in Albania. By taking a historical approach, it outlines the Albanian sociolinguistic
context in which such a change has taken place. It also presents evidence of the increasing contact areas of
English and Standard Albanian under the new sociopolitical and economic circumstances after the
downfall of communism. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the need for further research on
English language planning and education in Albania.

1. INTRODUCTION 1

Over the last decade, political and economic changes in Europe have promoted commun-
ication and the exchange of cultural and material values between the East and the West. In
this context, the status of the English language in Central and Eastern European countries
has changed, as English has become a communication bridge between these countries and
the Western world. The expansion of the use of English has been encouraged by the new
economic and sociopolitical circumstances after the collapse of communism at the end of
the eighties.
Until then, little was known in the West about the sociolinguistic profile of Central and
Eastern European countries. Research on the contact of English with Central and Eastern
European languages, (see e.g., Viereck and Bald, 1986), and on the sociolinguistic context
in the Communist Block in the past fifty years (see Harlig and Pleh, 1995)2 has been
conducted mainly in the last decade.
As this research demonstrates, there has been an asymmetrical relationship between
English and Central and Eastern European languages, in which English has been the donor
language (Viereck and Bald, 1986: 1). The accelerated influx of English borrowings in these
languages in the last twenty years can account for both the `dominance hypothesis,'
implying the powerful, political, sociocultural and technological impact of the West on
these countries, as well as the `deficit hypothesis,' underlining an emergency commun-
ication need rather than a linguistic deficit per se of these languages (Higa, 1979: 278;
Kachru, 1994: 138). The different degree of penetration of Anglicisms into Central and
Eastern European languages depends on the different linguistic `affinity' of these
languages with English, as well as on the diverse, long-term historical and cultural
conditions of contact between English and each Eastern European language and culture.
However, in the last fifty years, research has recognized a striking similarity of language-
extrinsic reactions towards Anglicisms in Central and Eastern European countries,
members of the Communist Block. This similarity originates in the language policies of
these communist countries which, in general, aimed towards the consolidation, standard-
ization, and purification of national languages.3 Several political campaigns initiated by

* Division of English as an International Language, University of Illinois, 2024 Foreign Languages Building,
707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. E-mail: s-dushk@students.uiuc.edu

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the communist states sought to `cleanse' national languages from undesired foreign
borrowings, defend their integrity, and promote the further elaboration of these languages.
However, as research has revealed, `such puristic, ``anti-borrowing'' attempts . . . have been
few, short-lived and unsuccessful, in the sense that they have neither eradicated any
significant number of words already borrowed nor brought borrowings to a stop' (Ward,
1986: 307). Hence, despite this officially promoted `hate' relationship of Central and
Eastern European languages with foreign borrowings, their penetration never ceased to
exist. Similarly, the restrictions on the influx of Anglicisms in the registers of science and
technology, politics and journalism in these languages have been unsuccessful.4
In the past decade, after the decline of the socialist system in Central and Eastern
European countries, a new similarity of reactions towards the intensified contact of
English and these languages has been identified. The rush of Western capital in these
countries, in the new sociopolitical and economic conditions, has determined the lowering
of linguistic `defense barriers' and initiated a new, unorthodox `love' relationship of these
languages with English. This accounts for the expanded functional domains of English
usage in these countries such as in business, tourism, technology, computers, science, the
media, advertisement, and publishing (Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas, 1994: 75). The
establishment and consolidation of a free-market economy in the former communist states
of Europe and their communication challenges on the way towards European integration
have motivated new attitudes towards English which is perceived as an `effective code of
communication' (Kachru, 1994: 141). In addition, the marketing of English and its
promotion in foreign language education by Western aid agencies such as the British
Council, the United States Information Agency, the Peace Corps, and Soros Open Society
Foundation, have enhanced the power of English.
The position of English in Albania, one of the former member countries of the
Communist Block, provides a clear illustration of the increasing power of English in
these countries. The end of the Cold War and the embarkment of Albania on the road to a
free market economy has brought about an expansion of English language vehicular usage,
has affected general attitudes and motivations to English, and, consequently, has pro-
moted new ELT needs.
This paper provides a brief overview of the present status and spread of English in
Albania. Albania is a southeastern European country located in the Balkans, with a
population of 3,249,000 inhabitants, of which 97% are ethnic Albanians, the rest consisting
of Greeks, Macedonians, Bulgarians and Montenegrins (see United Nations Development
Program, 1996). The national language is Albanian, which is not genealogically related to
any family of languages and derives directly from the Proto Indo-European language.
Standard Albanian, established by the Congress of Orthography in 1972, bears features of
the two main Albanian geographical dialects, the Gheg and the Tosk (Demiraj, 1988: 229).
This literary variety is the language of the media, education, and state institutions, and it is
widely spoken by college-educated people (Jacques, 1995: 494).5
In this study, we address issues of contact of Standard Albanian with English over the
last decade. First, we describe the sociolinguistic context in which English has been used in
Albania. Then, we examine evidence of the increasing contact areas of English and
Standard Albanian in several functional domains under the new sociopolitical and
economic conditions. We conclude with implications for English language planning and
education in Albania.

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2. SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONTEXT
The intensification of the influence of English on Albanian dates back to the sixties,
although language contact had been established much earlier through diplomacy, mass
media (mainly the BBC), and foreign aid in education. Sponsored by the American Red
Cross, Albanian-American elementary and vocational schools were set up in the main
cities of Albania between the years 1908 and 1939. Such schools also helped promote
English language education and familiarization with American culture and civilization to a
large extent (Kontos, 1981: 186; Gogaj, 1995: 221).
In the sixties, English began to compete with Russian, which was then the first
compulsory foreign language in primary and secondary schools in Albania. The first
twenty-five English language teachers graduated in 1964 and, since then, English has
constantly been taught at upper education levels, acquiring the position once held by the
Russian language (Kadija, 1996). At present, English is studied in school as a required
foreign language by more than 65 per cent of Albanian children (Hyde, 1994: 13). French
and Russian are also offered optionally and/or alternatively. However, at present, Russian
is not generally preferred, to the extent that the teachers of Russian in the country are
being `converted' to teachers of English through intensive English language training. In the
late eighties, Italian and German language education was introduced in some of the main
cities of the country (Jacques, 1995: 636). Ever since, these languages have been gaining
prestige in the framework of a desired integration of Albania in Europe.
In order to provide a more complete picture, it is of interest to identify the status of
English during the communist regime and after its collapse in Albania. During the
communist period (194491), although English was taught at school, it was considered
the language of Western imperialism and, as a result, elements of its culture and civilization
were offered to English learners selectively. Moreover, there were no diplomatic relations
with Great Britain and the USA until the end of the eighties. Consequently, there was a
very powerful censorship of student exposure to contemporary British and American
literature, art and lifestyles (Jacques, 1995: 555).
The choice of English language variety to be taught at school reflected prejudicious
official attitudes and preferences. So, British English, as the most `prestigious' and
`conservative' variety was chosen, whereas the use of American English was considered
an `alien manifestation' by language policy makers. However, people could be equally
persecuted if caught listening to either the BBC or the Voice of America. As it was
observed, ` [they] would arouse suspicion of disloyalty . . . by listening to foreign radio
programs or speaking to a tourist' (Jacques, 1995: 636).
Despite this cultural deprivation, there was a very strong motivation to learn foreign
languages, such as English and Italian. The latter was the language of a few TV channels
the government could not fully censor. Under the conditions of cultural isolation, these TV
channels were considered a `window to the world' which exposed people to a different
reality. For the same motivational reasons, the level of English language proficiency was
fairly high. Nevertheless, listening/speaking skills lagged behind reading and writing skills,
as English was used mainly for academic research purposes (Hyde, 1994: 13).
After the downfall of communism in 1991 English became a vehicle of pragmatic
success. As the country opened up and communication with the Western world intensified,
there was an ever greater need for entrepreneurs, interpreters, translators, secretaries,
tourist guides and the creation of other new jobs requiring good communicative skills in

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English in Albania: Contact and convergence 373

English. The influx of foreign capital and the establishment of investment firms and
companies increased these job market demands, which necessitated an ELT reform with an
ESP orientation (see World Bank, 1996: 89). Meanwhile, non-governmental organ-
izations and foreign aid agencies such as the United States Information Agency, the
United States Agency for International Development, the British Council, the Peace
Corps, and the Soros Open Society Foundation for Albania initiated an intensive activity
to facilitate the process of educational change in Albania and particularly to promote ELT
education (Dushku, 1996: 30).
In addition, attitudes and motivations towards English were affected by accelerated
trade relations with the West and the globalization of culture (Phillipson and Skutnabb-
Kangas, 1996: 445; see also Fishman, 1996: 7; Romaine, 1997). Thus, increased inter-
national mobility, investment and marketing, the introduction of satellite TV even in the
most remote regions of the country, and the popularity of the BBC and the Voice of
America broadcasting increased the significance of English in Albanian society. They also
promoted English variety pluralism, since American English started to be widely used with
particular preference, especially by young people.
Meanwhile, side by side with an increase of the power of English, contacts between
Standard Albanian and English increased as well. For the first time, Albanian society was
exposed to a tremendous influx of Western values, traditions, cultures, knowledge and
information that were introduced through politics, the media, economic and trade
relations, transfer of technology and Western lifestyles. Consequently, the pressure of
English on Standard Albanian increased side by side with its increasing power. In the next
section we try to identify and describe the resulting new contact areas between Standard
Albanian and English language at present.

3. RENEWED CONTACT: STANDARD ALBANIAN AND ENGLISH

The employment of Anglicisms in Standard Albanian is not a new phenomenon. English
borrowings have entered the language of science, politics, culture, sports and the media
directly through English (e.g.: computer science terminology, ball games and track and
field terminology, etc.), or through other languages of contact with Standard Albanian.6
Such are the borrowings from Italian (tramvaj tramvai `tramway'; handikapat
handicappato `handicapped,' as well as `false Anglicisms' such as autostop autostop
`hitch-hiking'; rekordmen record-man `record-holder' ), and French (tunel tunnel-
`tunnel'; komfort/konfort comfort/confort `comfort' ) (see Dardano, 1986: 235). These
borrowings have gone through a process of linguistic and pragmatic adaptation and have
gained acceptance in everyday Albanian language usage.
However, in the late seventies, after the National Congress of Orthography, the
Albanian Government, through the National Academy of Sciences, the most authoritative
language norm-setting institution in Albania, initiated a campaign for the elaboration of
the Albanian language. A permanent governmental committee was set up in 1979 that
would organize and coordinate the activity for the `purification and further enrichment of
Standard Albanian' (Demiraj, 1988: 275).
This campaign conformed to the goals of the political movement initiated by the
communist party in power for the ideological purification of sociopolitical life in Albania.
During this campaign, supported by the media and state institutions, various substitutes
for English borrowings were proposed as well. They were either newly coined words

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(eksperience pervoje `experience'; seleksion perzgjedhje `selection' ) or translations

(aktivitet veprimtari `activity'; koncentrim perqendrim `concentration'; koincidence
rastesi `coincidence'; kooperim bashkepunim `cooperation' ). Some of these substitutes
have been widely employed by the media, whereas their use in everyday Standard
Albanian remains inconsistent. As expected, some of the newly coined words have
never acquired `citizenship' in spoken literary Albanian. Instead, most of them have
continued to coexist with Anglicisms.
Since 1991, as the country opened up and established relations with the Western world,
contacts between English and Standard Albanian have been accelerated. The activities of
the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, and other important aid agencies and foundations were carried out in English.
Meanwhile, a great number of documents and materials needed to be translated urgently in
English, as well as from English to Albanian. The same was true for all the main institutions
and enterprises nation-wide that set up relations with their counterparts abroad. At the
same time, there was a boom of magazines and newspapers that started to appear freely
since there was no state censorship. The need for a free press was so great that there was no
obvious concern for the accuracy of translations of hundreds of pages published daily. The
same was also true for the publications of all censored books of the past, such as those by
Oscar Wilde (18541900), James Joyce (18821941), George Orwell (190350), Albert
Camus (191360), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (182181), and Boris Pasternak (18901960), that
were undertaken by numerous private publishing houses established during that time.
Consequently, this economic and cultural globalization, free trade of ideas and values had
its impact on people's lifestyles, affecting their everyday language and communication.
In sum, the accelerated contacts of English and Standard Albanian brought about the
infiltration into Albanian of a wide range of terminology and other vocabulary in English
from various fields of life. They mainly constitute terms used in official or academic
contexts, terms and words generally employed by the mass media that have come into
general use, and words that were once field-specific terms but which have gained a wide
acceptance in everyday language use.
In order to make a thorough analysis of these linguistic borrowings from English into
Standard Albanian we are aware that an investigation of the typological differences between
the linguistic systems of these two languages is necessary. For the purpose of this paper we
intend to make only a brief empirical description of the new areas of contact in the
orthographic, phonological, morphological, and semantic levels of the language. We believe
that changes at the syntactic level, due to language structure's resistance to change, are less
frequent and therefore more difficult to capture. Their analysis in Standard Albanian
becomes more challenging due to the freer word order of Albanian which allows its high
valency to syntactic borrowings that do not violate the language structure (Demiraj, 1986).
However, since foreign syntactic influence upon the Standard Albanian language has been
evidenced (Demiraj, 1988: 292), we believe that changes at the syntactic level necessitate a
careful investigation of the language which goes beyond the scope of this study.

3.1 Orthographic adaptations

The pressure of Anglicisms on Albanian in the last decades has produced a wide range of
immediate language reactions which are best reflected in its orthographic changes. Certain
changes abide by the orthographic rules of the language. Thus, we observe Albanian
spellings in the following non-exhaustive categories:

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English in Albania: Contact and convergence 375

1. Albanian c English ch: for example, cek `check'; carxhoj `to charge'; cip `chip.'
2. Albanian k English c/ck: for example, transaksion `transaction'; kontaktoj `to contact';
TELEKOM `TELECOM'; produkt `product'; bekgraund `background'; kokteil `cocktail.'
3. Albanian xh English g/j: for example, arranxhim `arrangement'; xhus `juice'; bluxhins `blue
jeans.'
4. Albanian j/i English y: for example, bojkotim `boycott'; hipi `hippy.'
5. Albanian ks English x: for example, teleks `telex'; faks `fax.'

In addition, double consonant letters in Anglicisms are either changed to the same but
single consonant letter (e.g., tenis `tennis'; stres `stress' ), or to a different consonant
letter (e.g., akses `access' ). The same change in Albanian is true for double vowel letters
in English (e.g., wikend `weekend'; miting `meeting' ). There is also considerable
vacillation in the spelling of Anglicisms commonly encountered in the language of the
press and advertisement. These registers abound in inaccurate orthographic word forms
that at times violate the orthographic rules of the language. Thus spellings such as feedback
or fidbek `feedback'; driver or draiver `driver' can be observed, although only the second
spelling form is acceptable since Albanian has mainly a phonemic spelling system (Dodi,
1985: 1525). Such oscillation is especially noticeable in the spelling of English toponyms,
for example, Mancester or Mencester `Manchester'; Conventry or Konventri `Coventry.'
Similarly, the spelling of compound Anglicisms presents variation. Some compound
Anglicisms are spelled as one word whereas others are spelled as two separate words,
for example, hot dog `hot dog', but bluxhins `blue jeans.' These Anglicisms reflect
various degrees of their adaptation process in Standard Spoken Albanian to which the
language of the press and advertisement has become more sensitive than in the past.

3.2 Phonological adaptations

The primary changes English borrowings have undergone in Standard Albanian have
been partially determined by transphonemization, i.e., by the `replacement of phonemes of
the lending language by phonemes of the borrowing language' (Filipovic, 1986: 336).
Examples of borrowings that have undergone partial or free transphonemization are:
konsensus `consensus'; koka-kola `coca cola.' Most commonly, as we mentioned above,
the borrowings preserve their phonological form in English with orthographic modifica-
tions: masmedia `mass media'; strece `stretcher'; disko `disco'; staf `staff.' The degree
of assimilation of English borrowings in Albanian depends on their length of usage and
exposure to the phonological rules of Albanian. This accounts for the existence of nokaut
`knock out' (noun) and senduic `sandwich,' side by side with pamper `pamper', pop star
popstar,' and deadline `deadline'.
The most frequently occurring suprasegmental changes are to be found in word stress.
Albanian is mainly word stress final, therefore all borrowings with initial or penultimate
stress undergo stress change as well: hamburger `hamburger'; servis (makinash)
`service'; kondom `condom'; biznes `business'; referendum `referendum'; partner
`partner'; top model `top model' (my underlining to indicate stress shift).
The phonological adaptations of Anglicisms in Albanian are also related to the speakers'
attitudes towards a correct British or American English pronunciation of loanwords in
Albanian. In general, such a pronunciation would be socially detrimental to the speaker
who will be unfavorably viewed as attempting to boast, especially by lower-class social
groups.

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3.3 Morphological adaptations

Most of the Anglicisms that have recently entered Standard Albanian language are
nouns and verbs. On the morphological level, a commonly occurring change in these noun
and verb borrowings is zero transmorphemization, i.e., the citation form of an Anglicism
in Standard Albanian `does not show any formal difference from the citation form of the
model' (Filipovic, 1986: 338). Such is the case of the following Anglicisms in Standard
Albanian: talk show `talk show'; tender `tender'; internet `INTERNET'; videokasete
`videocassette'; pepsi `Pepsi'; sprait `Sprite.' Cases of compromise transmorphemization
(when the borrowing consists of two elements: the adapted base or stem and the unadapted
formants or suffixes which are not integrated into the morphological system of Standard
Albanian) are rare: park-ing `park-ing'; hard draiv-er `hard driv-er.'
In addition, complete morphological adaptation of Anglicisms in Standard Albanian, in
other words, complete transmorphemization, can be encountered as well: test-im
`testing'; involv-im `involvement'; impliment-im `implementation'; seiv-oj (nje skedar)
`to save (a file)'; impliment-oj `implement' (notice the systematic morphological
adaptation of noun and verb Anglicisms by adding the productive, noun-forming suffix
-im, and the verb-forming suffix -oj respectively).
Another morphological adaptation that English noun borrowings have to undergo is
gender assignment. In Standard Albanian, but not in English, there is an elaborate system
of gender markers that characterize each noun. Consequently, the noun Anglicisms are
assigned gender on the basis of gender formation rules in Standard Albanian: partneri/
partnerja (m./f.) `partner'; asistenca (f.) `assistance'; eksodi (m.) `exodus'; embargoja
(f.) `embargo'; top modeli/modelja (m./f.) `top model.' Similarly, verb Anglicisms
acquire all the tense, number and person formants, typical of Albanian verbs. They tend to
behave as regular verbs in Standard Albanian.
English adjectives have not been frequently transferred into Standard Albanian. They are
mainly encountered in terminological syntagms such as sherbime sociale `social services';
punetor social `social worker' (but never sherbime shoqerore or punetor shoqeror, although
shoqeror/e (m./f.) `social' is commonly used side by side with its Anglicism); kujdes primar
`primary care.' The borrowed adjectives are assigned gender and number markers as they
become `compatible' with the respective category of adjectives in Standard Albanian.
3.4 Semantic shifts
Anglicisms in Standard Albanian have undergone either zero semantic extension or
narrowing of meaning. Examples of the first change are: poster `poster'; bekgraund
`background'; motel `motel'; treinim `training'; kurrikula `curricula'; draft `draft';
monitor `monitor'; xhoging `jogging.' In the case of the narrowing of meaning, as
Filipovic explains, the word is borrowed `to fill a need for naming an object or concept
taken over from the culture associated with English, and this is only one meaning'
(Filipovic, 1986: 341). Such borrowings include tender `tendering' (business); cip
`chip' (computer science); media `the Media' (as in Mass Media); piramidat `pyramid
schemes'; lider `leader' (politics only); killer `killer' (murderer).
Unadapted Anglicisms of zero semantic extension abound in the newly formed
disciplines of science and technology and in social sciences (Dardano, 1986: 244). Such
Anglicisms have been popularized by inaccurate translations due to business or policy-
making emergencies, such as in computer science, business and administration, marketing,
tourism, social work, and education sciences.

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For the same reason, free translated calques have been prevailing over integral
neologisms in these translations. Albanian newspapers and magazines abound in free
translated calques, whereas cases when the English term is replaced by an Albanian word
other than a translated calque are rare: perkujdesje sociale `social welfare.'

4. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The analysis of the new status and spread of English in Albania, of attitudes and
motivations towards this Western language, and of its contact areas and situations with
Standard Albanian provide a vast area of research in language planning, English language
education and sociolinguistics. The limited empirical basis of this study does not support
immediate generalizations in these areas; however, it helps identify some significant
relevant issues.
Thus, questions arise: Is the emerging bilingualism of Albanian and English, as the
language of power and knowledge, a threat or a blessing for a small developing country
like Albania? Will the ideological globalization marginalize Albanian language and culture
and endanger national identity? Will Albanian join the `trail of dead or dying languages, or
languages which are not able to develop to their full potential in terms of gaining a
functional range?' (Kachru, 1986: 134). Consequently, should English remain the domin-
ant foreign language taught in schools?
These questions raise a lot of concerns that cannot be addressed with ease. English will
continue to gain dominance as long as Albania depends on the West to find a way out of
its severe political and economic crisis. The further capitalist development of the country
will accelerate transfer of technology, foreign travel, people's mobility and immigration
that will involve intensive communication with the world and therefore a great need for
English language skills. Furthermore, foreign investment, the activity of charity organ-
izations, and foundations carried out in English will continue to be desired under
conditions of extreme poverty and deprivation. Likewise, the development of science
will increase the functional domains where English will tend to marginalize the Albanian
language. Hence, this powerful impact of English may result in Englishization of the
Albanian language and society which may be difficult to restrain (Kachru, 1994: 137; see
also Truchot, 1990: 3546).
Under such circumstances of threatening language asymmetry there is a need to cultivate
an ecological approach (Muhlhausler, 1994) to the position of English towards Albanian,
and the perspective of their symbiosis during the socioeconomic development of the
Albanian society. The language planning policy should aim towards the cultivation of
positive attitudes to language diversity (Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas, 1994: 84; see
also Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas, 1996: 443; 1997: 39) by promoting the teaching of
other European languages at all levels of education. The integration of Albania in Europe
necessitates an investment in multilingualism that will facilitate the exchange of cultural,
spiritual and material values with other European countries.
At the same time English language education, which is actually under reformation,
should better address the diversity of the needs of English language learners at all levels.
An ESP orientation, in the present conditions of capitalist development of the country,
seems to better localize and meet special job market demands for English-proficient
specialists in various new fields (Thurmer, 1997: 91). In this framework, the English
departments in various universities all over the country should lead the research work to

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378 Silvana Dushku

renovate the ELT curricula at all levels, update their programs and work on increasing the
responsiveness of English language education to the needs of the country.
There are also a wide range of sociolinguistic issues of relevance that need prompt, in-
depth investigation (see Harlig, 1995). Such is the identification of the impact of English on
all levels of Albanian under the new socioeconomic and political circumstances. Another
significant issue is the definition of an appropriate policy towards borrowings from foreign
languages, English in particular. For this purpose, past research traditions for the revival
of the Albanian language thesaurus need to be fostered. Furthermore, an unnecessary use
of Anglicisms `en bloc' by the media should be discouraged. Corpus planning should
promote Albanian terminology, especially in the `endangered' domains mentioned above.
Finally, in order to achieve these goals, the revival of the research work in the National
Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Linguistic and Philological Studies will
necessitate the cooperation of the Albanian state, non-governmental organizations and
counterpart language research centers in Europe.

NOTES
1. This paper is the first attempt to shed light on issues of contact of English with Albanian at present. Previous
research in this area is unfortunately missing. Also, the study of Anglicisms in Albanian is complicated due to
scarcity of points of reference. There is no lexicographic record that tracks down the time and channel of the
penetration of Anglicisms in Albanian, and their domain, mode and register of usage. In addition, there is no
official counting of Anglicisms or other loanwords in Albanian. There are no dictionaries of neologisms or
foreign borrowings in Albanian either.
2. Studies that describe the sociolinguistic profile of several Central and Eastern European countries and discuss
relevant sociolinguistic issues include Petyt, 1975, for Romania; Drozd and Roudny, 1980, for Czechoslovakia;
Radovanovic, 1983; Janicki and Jaworski 1993, for Poland; Haarmann 1992 for the Soviet Union; the special
issues of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language: 1985, 52 on sociolinguistic perspective in
Yugoslavia, and 1995, 111 on Hungarian sociolinguistics.
3. For a discussion of language policies in Central and Eastern European Countries see Fishman, 1993, 3147,
15981, 21933, 293305. See also Viereck and Bald, 1986, 725, 2531, 12959, 20731, 25365, 287307.
4. Further evidence on the penetration of Anglicisms in Central and Eastern European languages despite
attempts for their purification can be found in Lehnert, 1986; 151; Vachek, 1986: 27; Ward, 1986: 307;
Danchev, 1986: 21.
5. For more information on Standard Albanian see Kostallari, 1973, and Byron, 1985, 625.
6. Empirical data used in this paper have been collected from Albanian press of the period 19958.

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(Received 14 February 1998.)

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