Albanian speakers in Macedonia celebrate Albanian Alphabet Day on 22 November. This holiday commemorates the Congress of Monastir, held 14-22 November, 1908, in today’s Bitola, Republic of Macedonia. Albanian intellectuals gathered at the congress to choose an official alphabet for the Albanian language.
Three options were presented for debate:
- The Istanbul alphabet, a combination of Greek and Latin letters that was favored by the Istanbul Society for the Printing of Albanian Writings.
- The Bashkimi alphabet, developed by the Bashkimi Albanian Literary Society in Shkoder. It used digraphs instead of diacritical marks, making it easier to typeset for printing.
- The Agimi alphabet, developed by the Agimi Literary Society, which used dicritical marks to denote special Albanian sounds.
In the end the delegates were unable to agree on a definitive choice, so a compromise was struck. The committee voted to support two alphabets, the popular Istanbul alphabet, the most widely used at the time, and the new Latin based Bashkimi alphabet to facilitate printing abroad.
Simplicity and ease of use turned out to be big advantages for the Bashkimi alphabet, and it quickly became the dominant choice. A modified version of this alphabet, incorporating some concepts from the other two, was eventually adopted as the official alphabet and is still in use today.
Commemorative events can be found in Albanian neighborhoods around the country.
The modified Bashkimi Alphabet:
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