Morphology and Albanian Language Grammar

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the fundamental concepts of Albanian morphology, word formation, and parts of speech as detailed in the lecture notes.

Morphology (Morfologjia)

The study of the different forms words take during use, their meanings, the classification of words into parts of speech, word structure (morphemes), and main types of word formation.

Metaphony (Metafonia)

A phonetic change in the word stem used to build synthetic grammatical forms, such as the $a/e$ alternation (e.g., dash-desh, dal-del, jap-jep).

Palatalization (Qiellzorëzimi)

A phonetic change involving consonants such as $k/q$, $g/gj$, $ll/j$, and $r/j$ (e.g., bujk/bujq, zog/zogj, bir/bij).

Apophony (Apofonia)

Internal vowel changes occurring alongside endings or formative suffixes to create grammatical forms (e.g., marr/mora, dal/dola, mbjell/mbolla).

Suppletive Forms

Grammatical forms built from different roots (e.g., unë/mua, bie/rashë, shoh/pashë).

Analytical Grammatical Forms

Forms built using auxiliary verbs (kam punuar), formative particles (të punoj), or frontal articles (libri i nxënësit).

Parts of Speech (Pjesët e ligjëratës)

Classes of words grouped by lexical, morphological, and syntactic features; there are 10: noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, particle, and interjection.

Full-meaning Words (Fjalët kuptimplota)

Words with full lexical meaning used as sentence members, including naming words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs), counting words (numerals), and pointing words (pronouns).

Functional Words (Fjalët jo kuptimplota)

Words whose lexical meaning is conditioned by their role in the sentence, including prepositions, conjunctions, and particles.

Morpheme (Morfema)

The smallest meaningful unit of a word that cannot be further decomposed; it can consist of one or several phonemes.

Root Morpheme (Morfema rrënjore)

The core of the word that remains after all affixal morphemes are removed.

Endings (Mbaresat)

Morphemes at the end of a word that express grammatical meanings such as case, gender, number, person, or tense.

Relational Endings (Mbaresat rasore)

Endings specifically attached to nouns to indicate case.

Personal Endings (Mbaresat vetore)

Endings specifically attached to verbs to indicate grammatical person.

Word Stem (Tema e fjalës)

The part of the word remaining after removing the ending and any formative suffixes.

Primary Stem (Tema e parme)

A stem that is morphologically indecomposable and semantically unmotivated (e.g., lis, qiell).

Non-primary Stem (Temat jo të parme)

Stems that are morphologically decomposable and semantically motivated (e.g., qytetar, lumturi).

Formant (Formanti)

The total set of formal changes with word-forming value applied to a stem to create a non-primary word.

Derivation (Prejardhja)

The formation of new words by joining word-forming affixes (prefixes, suffixes, or both) to word-forming stems.

Composition (Përbërja/Kompozimi)

The formation of new words using two or more motivating stems (e.g., hekur+udhë=hekurudhë).

Agglutination (Përngjitja)

The formation of words by fusing elements together (e.g., gjithnjë, bashkëpunim, trembëdhjetë).

Conversion (Konversioni)

A word formation method where a word changes category without adding affixes (e.g., using names as prepositions: rreth, mes, bazë).

Qualitative Adjectives (Mbiemra cilësorë)

Adjectives denoting qualities like color, size, taste, or character; they can form abstract nouns and antonym pairs.

Relational Adjectives (Mbiemra marrëdhëniorë)

Adjectives derived from nouns, adverbs, or verbs that indicate material, time, or location; they do not have degrees of comparison.

Degrees of Adjectives (Shkallët e mbiemrit)

The grammatical category of comparison: Positive (pohore), Comparative (krahasore), and Superlative (sipërore).

Grammatical Mood (Mënyra)

A verbal category expressing the speaker's attitude toward the action; there are 6: dëftore, habitore, lidhore, kushtore, dëshirore, urdhërore.

Transitive Verbs (Foljet kalimtare)

Verbs that name actions which pass from the agent to an object or person.

Intransitive Verbs (Foljet jokalimtare)

Verbs naming actions that remain with the agent, often showing states, movement, or atmospheric phenomena.

Reflexive Voice (Diateza vetvetore)

A verbal voice where the subject performs and simultaneously undergoes the action (e.g., lahem, vishem).

Invariable Parts of Speech

Words that do not undergo declension or conjugation, including adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, and interjections.