Chairwoman of the committee Ina Zhupa said in her reaction that the Academy of Sciences has the obligation to report to the Albanian Parliament because it receives its budget from this Parliament. According to her, the Academy of Sciences has received millions of euros for the three projects: The Great Dictionary of the Albanian Language, the Encyclopedia of Albania and the History of Albanians.

“It is unacceptable that the Albanian Parliament, (the Committee for Culture, Tourism and Diaspora), requests a hearing with a unanimous decision of all its members and the Academy does not attend and it does not bring even any preliminary”, said Zhupa.

The chairwoman of the committee recommended offering a final opportunity to the Academy of Sciences to participate on a new date to address public concerns regarding the content of the dictionary.

“We are seeing an unacceptable, one-way flow of resources—taxpayer money goes in, but accountability does not come out,” said Zhupa, adding that there are 30-40 cases brought by different researchers, regarding the content of the dictionary. /j.p/p.s./

Gjinushi stated that the new generation needs models so that to create the conviction that science is also done here and that in Albania you can also develop your talent.

On this occasion, Academician Gjinushi presented the first copy of the “Big Dictionary of the Albanian Language” and thanked the authors together with those who are completing the compilation of the History of the Albanians and Glossary of the Albanian Encyclopedia.

The big dictionary of the Albanian language carries 125.000 words in three volumes of 3300 pages each.

He also took the opportunity to acquaint the journalists with the results of the work and projects carried out by the Academy of Sciences in the last 6 years.

Gjinushi noted, among other things, that under the leadership of the academics of its units and commissions, there have been implemented and are in progress over 40 scientific projects in various fields of science, as well as 3 major projects in Albanology, in which there have been activated over 200 research-scientific workers and senior specialists. And in the future this number will increase to around 1,500 authors of encyclopedic articles.

At the end of the meeting, academician Vasil Tole, vice president of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, invited journalists to the “Aleks Buda” hall to attend the violin-piano recital with artists Kledis Rexho (violin) and Elvina Gurra (piano), which was organized with the support of the Permanent Commission of the Arts at the Academy of Sciences. /p.s./

Rama said that the dictionary comes out as part of the resistance and efforts the protection of the Albanian language from the many pressures of the time, describing presentation of the dictionary as a historical moment.

“Today, I am very glad that as part of this resistance, we can say that we are at a historical moment, the presentation of the big dictionary of the Albanian language, that finally, after half a century, is being updated thanks to the monumental work done under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences and with the participation of linguists, academics from Albania, from Kosovo and from North Macedonia. And tomorrow, as far as I know, the draft of the big dictionary will also be publicly presented”, said Rama.

Rama stated that, “The dictionary will be submitted to a very wide public consultation. And there will be taken all those opinions, suggestions, remarks, contributions that can probably enrich it, but surely they will consolidate it as a common product of a necessary resistance. It is an effort while we are under the aggression of barbarism and all sorts of ignorant people and others who exploit even the new world of social networks. But, we have an obligation to be on the defense and not to allow the language to degrade up to the point where there can be no restoration”. /j.p/p.s./

At the jubilee conference on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Orthography Congress, the prime minister reminded the great Albanianologist Robert Elsie who used to say that the dictionary of official Albanian is only half of the real language.

“The Academy of Sciences has started work on the New Albanian Language Dictionary, which is one of the by-products of the Orthography Congress. I want to express congratulations, hope and the desire that we succeed in having a new dictionary”, said Rama.

Likewise, the prime minister emphasized that work is underway on a History of Albanians and then on an Encyclopedia.

“There are 3 very basic books that have been missing for many, many years. We have lost those human resources that would be a guarantee for these 3 basic books, but there is still hope and people who can do this”, said Rama.

He emphasized that the biggest burden and challenge for the government is to protect the treasure left to us by all those who signed the resolution of the Orthography Congress. /j.p/p.s./

The Head of the Academy of Science Skënder Gjinushi said in his remarks at the signing ceremony that the accord represents another step towards embarking on a major project launched by the Academy of Science in collaboration with other institutions and Kosovo’s Academy of Science and Arts and the universities to arrange and publish the Large Albanian Dictionary, the History of Albanians and the National Encyclopedia.

Gjinushi said that the project has brought together most distinguished and prominent linguists and lexicographers.

Academic Jani Thomani noted that number of important Albanian language dictionaries has been compiled so far, but it is necessary to compile a large dictionary like this to serve all Albanians.

“The Large Albanian Dictionary will be will be a normative lexicographical work that will reflect and use the great phraseology and semantic richness of the Albanian language.

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Head of the Academy Skënder Gjinushi emphasized that our goal is to make known through dictionaries the expressive power of the Albanian language not only in the current situation, as a unified language, but also in the course of centuries, from the beginning until today.

“This dictionary, on which there has been worked on for more than ten years, is based on a very valuable tradition that the explanatory dictionaries of the Albanian language have and it is a special achievement of our academic publications. It is the first dictionary that has been prepared having as first recipients schools, students and teachers, school programs, fulfilling a primary need of theirs, in the conditions when the Albanian language is developing as an open language and intensive intercommunication with other languages ​​” , said Gjinushi.

Gjinushi said that, “It is the first dictionary designed to serve as a medium that facilitates the mastery of Albanian as a developing language for the younger generations. It is the first dictionary that has accepted in its content hundreds of words that have come into use, mostly with pronunciation as in a foreign language due to the uninterrupted development of technology, including that of information, with which we are all in daily communication”.

“Aleksander Xhuvani’s dictionary was prepared under the care of prof. Memisha and with cooperation of the employees of the Institute of Linguistics and Literature. This dictionary, most of which was preserved in manuscript, has long waited until it became possible to publish it. It is an important work not only to complement the personality of the unforgettable great linguist Aleksandër Xhuvani, but also to enrich Albanian in lexical terms with a subject that only a man who had connected his life with language could notice. Therefore congratulations prof. Memisha and the publisher of the publication Engjëllushe Kara “, stated Gjinushi./p.s./

In the framework of the major project of drafting these three works, which is one of the main directions of the work of the Academy of Sciences for 2021, and on, there was held a meeting with the head of Academy of Sciences Skënder Gjinushi to determine the further steps for the establishment of the main and support structures for the drafting of these major works.

Attending were the members of the council: prof. Emil Lafe, acad. Ilirjan Malollari, acad. Jani Thomai, prof. Valter Memishaj, acad. Pëllumb Xhufi, prof. Neritan Ceka, acad. Dhimitër Haxhimihali and the executive director of the Center of Albanological and Encyclopedia Publications prof. Irakli Koçollari.

While the orientation guidelines and preliminary platforms have been drafted, in this meeting was discussed the listing of all staffs of scholars of the respective works, with the aim of preparing complete lists of those who will work with their drafting.

There were discussed the forms of cooperation with other institutions, the needs for infrastructure and support staff.

The work on compilation of the History of the Albanians was estimated to start very soon and be realized in the foreseen time, emphasizing that there is a lot of data, evidence and new documents that make its writing necessary.

Work on the large Albanian Dictionary will begin soon. In this work there will be over 100,000 lexicographical items (over 90,000 words and over 10,000 phraseological units).

The Albanian encyclopedia, which is the most difficult and voluminous enterprise, is finally estimated to be realized in ten volumes and in the shortest possible time, for five years.

In the meeting, there was also discussed the close cooperation with the Academy in Kosovo and the Albanological Institute in Pristina on the three works./p.s./

The decision to establish a research unit named Albanological and Encyclopedic Publications Center at the Academy was proposed by the Leading Board and received the unanimous consent of the members of the Assembly at its extended meeting on January 29, 2021.

This center is set up to organize, direct and carry out the work in drafting three major projects in Albanology: the Albanian Encyclopedia, the Big Dictionary of Albanian, the History of Albanians and the History of Albanian Literature.

The executive-administrative and scientific direction of the Center for Albanological and Encyclopedic Publications will be carried out respectively by Director of the Center for Projects and Scientific Coordination, Prof. Irakli Koçillari, in the capacity of executive director; Academy librarian in the capacity of technical secretary and the scientific council in the composition of which are the Scientific Secretary of the Academy acad.Shaban Sinani, acad. Pëllumb Xhufi, prof. Neritan Ceka, acad. Jani Thomai, prof. Walter Memisha, prof. Emil Lafe, acad.Marenglen Verli, acad. Ilirjan Malollari.

Head of the Academy of Sciences Skënder Gjinushi stressed that “Strengthening the active role of the Academy of Sciences in research and study through the direction and implementation of major projects in albanology and creating conditions for the absorption and direction of other projects will be another priority not only for this year, but also with an extension in a few years”. /p.s./