Bilingual Phenomena Occurring in the Speech of Albanian Native Speakers

Abstract

This study aims to determine whether bilingual phenomena occur in the speech of Albanian bilingual students with high exposure to English, in an attempt to detect the influence of English on the Albanian language. Special attention is paid to bilingual aspects like codeswitching, lexical borrowings, calques, and hybrid compounds. Data have been gathered through participant systematic observation: Albanian bilingual students have been observed within informal settings of Pristina international schools. Their conversations have been recorded and transcribed for further analysis. The study shows that code-switching is the most common linguistic behaviour among the students under investigation. However, in addition to code-switching, lexical borrowings and calques also play a roughly equivalent role in their speech. This research provides evidence of bilingual phenomena resulting from direct, everyday language contact between English and Albanian in Pristina international schools, which aids in understanding the sociolinguistic changes brought about by such contact.

Keywords

• language contact
• bilingualism
• code-switching
• lexical borrowing
• calques