Shaban Demiraj, linguist, professor, academic, member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosova, Teacher of the People, was born in Vlora. In the years 1993-1997, he was the president of the Academy of Sciences of Albania. He completed his higher studies in the branch of Albanian language and literature at the 2-year Pedagogical Institute (1946–1948) and then at the Higher Pedagogical Institute (1954–1955). In the years 1948-1954 he worked as a teacher in several secondary schools (Gjirokastër, Tirana). In 1954, he started working as a lecturer at the Higher Pedagogical Institute and then at the University of Tirana, where he served until 1990. He mainly developed the subjects: morphology of the modern Albanian language, historical grammar of Albanian, history of the written language Albanian, drafting the relevant texts for them, as well as a special course for Balkan linguistics. He has published works and a series of scientific articles abroad on various issues of the history of the Albanian language, grammar and historical phonetics, as well as Balkanology. He received the Republic Award of the first degree and the second degree; was decorated with the “Grand Master of Labor” Order. (In the photo: Shaban Demiraj)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 442.
Photo: © National History Museum
Graphic processing: AHCF
