The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into two major groups: Gheg and Tosk. The Shkumbin river is roughly the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.
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Albanian dialect in the context of Arvanites
Arvanites (/ˈɑːrvənaɪts/; Arvanitika: Αρbε̱ρεσ̈ε̰, romanized: Arbëreshë or Αρbε̰ρορε̱, romanized: Arbërorë; Greek: Αρβανίτες, romanized: Arvanítes) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. The Arvanites were regarded as ethnically distinct from the Greeks up until the 19th century, but due to their important role in the Greek War of Independence and the common Christian Orthodox religion they shared with the rest of the local population, they were soon regarded as an integral part of the Greek nation and were exposed to increasing assimilation by the modern Greek state.
During the 20th century, Arvanites in Greece began to dissociate themselves much more strongly from the Albanians, stressing instead their national self-identification as Greeks. The Greek government pursued policies that actively discouraged the use of Arvanitika, and today, almost all Arvanites self-identify as Greeks and do not consider themselves Albanian. Nowadays, they are bilingual, traditionally speaking Arvanitika – an Albanian variety – along with Greek. Arvanitika is currently in a state of attrition due to a language shift towards Greek, the large-scale internal migration to the cities, and the subsequent intermingling of the Arvanite community with the wider Greek population during the 20th century onwards.