Loading AI tools
Albanian linguist (1920–2014) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[2][3][4]
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Albanian. (December 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Shaban Demiraj | |
|---|---|
Demiraj on a 2021 stamp of Albania | |
| Born | 1 January 1920 |
| Died | 30 August 2014 (aged 94) |
| Citizenship | Albanian |
| Occupation(s) | Linguist, Albanologist |
Demiraj was born on 1 January 1920 in Vlorë.[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.[1] After completing his studies at the Madrasa of Tirana in 1939, he studied Albanian language in the two-year curriculum Pedagogical Institute, branch of Albanian language and literature (1946–1948), and later in the High Pedagogical Institute (1954–1955).
From 1948 to 1954, Demiraj worked as language and literature teacher in various high schools in Gjirokastër and Tirana. 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.[6]
Demiraj's areas of expertise were: the morphology of modern Albanian, Albanian historical grammar, the history of the Albanian writing (18th–19th centuries), and a special course on Balkan linguistics.[6] In 1989, he became member of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, and was its chairman during 1993–97.[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. He transcribed and adapted the work of Gabriele Dara Kënga e sprasme e Balës (The last song of Bala) in 1994. He also worked as a translator, having produced the Albanian edition of Martin Eden, a novel by Jack London, in 1959.[6]
Demiraj was part of the committee that organized the Orthography Congress of 1972, Albanian: Kongresi i Drejtshkrimit, where the orthographic rules of the Albanian language were standardized, and he was also a signatory to the orthography.[8]
He is the father of linguist Bardhyl Demiraj.[5]
Some of his main works include:[6]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
