Albanian dialects

[4][5] According to the view of Demiraj, during the process of dialect split Albanian populations were roughly in their present location,[6] while Eric Hamp notes that "it must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium.

The Northwestern Gheg subdialect encompasses three main Albanian ethnographic regions: Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë.

[8] The early isolated Malsia Albanian has preserved archaic features of Proto-Albanian and Proto-Indo-European in comparison to other Gheg varieties and to Tosk, such as the word-initial voiceless and voiced stops.

Çam is spoken in southern Sarandë (Konispol, Ksamil[citation needed], Markat, Xarrë) and in parts of northern Greece.

Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Apulia.