Shaban Demiraj (1 January 1920 – 30 August 2014) was an Albanian albanologist, linguist, professor at the University of Tirana from 1972–1990,[1] and chairman of the Academy of Sciences of Albania during the period of 1993–1997.

[5] Despite financial difficulties and the lack of academic institutions in Albania, he managed to study and learn Latin, ancient Greek, and the major European languages.

In 1954, he started working as a lector in the same High Pedagogical Institute from where he graduated, and later in the University of Tirana (UT), holding that position until 1990.

From 1962 to 1989, he was in charge of the Albanian language chair, and from 1962 to 1966, he served as deputy dean of the Faculty of History and Philology of the UT.

[7] Apart from his research publications, Demiraj also published many scientific articles inside Albania and abroad on topics as history of the Albanian language, grammar and phonetics, and Balkanology.