Gjovalin Shkurtaj, linguist, professor, was born in Bajzë of Malësi e Madhe. He attended high school in Shkodër. He completed higher studies and graduated from the Department of Albanian Language and Literature at the University of Tirana (1966). In the years 1967-1989 he worked at the Institute of Linguistics and Literature, where he mainly dealt with dialectology; in the years 1989-1990 , he was a cultural advisor at the Albanian embassy in Rome; from 1991 lecturer in the Albanian language department of the University of Tirana and head of this department (2002-2007); in the years 2000-2002, Albanian language lecturer at the University of Calabria. The main fields of his activity are dialectology, sociolinguistics and language culture. He has drawn up studies on Gheg dialect (in the areas of Lezha, Kastrati, Hoti, Kelmendi, Rranxa, Mbishkodra); He is the co-author of the work “Atlasi dialektologjik i gjuhës shqipe” (“The Dialectological Atlas of the Albanian Language”) and the text “Dialektologjia” (“Dialectology”) (Tirana, 1997 with several reprints). In the field of sociolinguistics, he has published the texts “Sociolinguistika” (“Sociolinguistics”) (Tirana, 1996, 1999), “Etnografia e të folurit” (“Ethnography of speech”) (Tirana, 2004), while in the field of language culture, he has published the books: “Kahe dhe dukuri të kulturës së gjuhës” (“Phenomena and aspects of language culture”) (Tirana, 2003). He is the co-author of the method “Gjuha shqipe për të huajt dhe shqiptarët jashtë Atdheut” (“Albanian language for foreigners and Albanians abroad”) (1996, 1999, 2001). (In the photo: Gjovalin Shkurtaj)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2501.
Photo: © https://www.facebook.com/gjovalin.shkurtaj/?locale=sq_AL
Graphic processing: AHCF
