Mbi parimet e (drejt)shkrimit të shqipes standarde
On the principles of (ortho)-graphy of standard albanian language

Summary/Abstract: It is indisputable that the Congress of the Albanian Orthography represents a culmination in the history of Albanian language. It introduced a set of codified orthographic rules, which turned nationwide, i. e. they were implemented with the authority of the legislation, since the Albanian State had rendered the linguistic question a part of its policy. The education system and the media impacted the application of these rules. The Congress of the Albanian Orthography (1972) put forth the orthographic principles. Due to historical reasons, the theoretical solutions of this question in Albanian have been surpassed by the imperative needs of the practical solutions. The fundamental principle of the Albanian Orthography was formulated as phonetic, according to which words are pronounced “as they are written”. It is a tradition formulation that goes back in the period of the Albanian Renaissance. The resolution of the Congress of the Albanian Orthography (1972) contains those contradictions which derive from the erroneous interpretation of the fundamental principle of the Orthography. In my opinion, the implemented principle is not phonetic, but phonological. The Orthography of each standardized language, which uses the alphabetic writing system, can be established on the grounds of the phonological principle. It makes no sense talking about orthography by excluding the phonological principle. This constitutes the fundamental principle of every alphabetical writing system. In my opinion, the implemented principle is not phonetic, but phonological. The Orthography of each standardized language, which uses the alphabetic writing system, can be established on the grounds of the phonological principle. It makes no sense talking about orthography by excluding the phonological principle. This constitutes the fundamental principle of every alphabetical writing system. The dispute about the orthographic principles of the Albanian continued even after this Congress. The adoption of the morphological principle was in fact a compromise solution. The fundamental principle, which the Albanian logograms are based, can be interpreted as phonological. According to it, each grapheme or grapheme combination (and not each phonetic realization) corresponds to one phoneme. The so-called morphological principle is not but the phonological one. By recognizing the phonological principle as fundamental in the Albanian orthography this will help to define properly and clearly its writing system, it will shed light to the relations between its graphematic and phonological systems.

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