Albanian

Albanian is one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family and occupies an independent position within it, being the only surviving representative of the Albanic branch, itself part of the Paleo-Balkan group. The branch's ancient ancestry is debated: Albanian is often thought to descend from an Illyrian language, though scholars note there is insufficient evidence to connect it firmly to Illyrian, Thracian or Dacian, with Illyrian considered the most probable candidate. The extinct Messapic language is considered the closest relative to Albanian, and the two are sometimes grouped in a common Illyric branch of Paleo-Balkan Indo-European. The branch has about 7.5 million native speakers, official in Albania and Kosovo and co-official in North Macedonia and Montenegro, with two primary dialect groups, Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin River and Tosk spoken south, that remain mutually intelligible in their standard varieties.