{{Short description|Language}} '''Purishte''' ({{lang-sq-definite|Purishtja}}) is a sociolect of the Albanian language spoken by the masons of the Opar region in Western Korçë District, Albania.<ref name="Çabej2002">{{cite book|last=Çabej|first=Eqrem|title=Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r69iAAAAMAAJ&q=Purishte|access-date=17 June 2011|year=2002|publisher=Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë|isbn=978-99927-761-3-1|page=433}}</ref>
== Location == The former commune of Lekas in Western Korçë District consists of mainly speakers of Purisht.<ref name=PriftiInKahl247>{{cite book|last=Prifti|first=Elton|chapter=Aromanian Elements of an Albanian argot|pages=245–263|editor1-last=Kahl|editor1-first=Thede|editor1-link=Thede Kahl|editor2-last=Metzeltin|editor2-first=Michael|title=Balkanismen heute – Balkanisms today – Балканизмы сегодня|year=2012|location=Vienna|publisher=Lit Verlag|isbn=9783643503886|url=https://www.academia.edu/19689445}}. Page 247</ref> It is overall spoken in the thirteen villages of the ethnographic region of Opar in southeastern Albania,<ref name=PriftiInKahl247/> which includes parts of the Lekas and Moglica communes.
===Diaspora Purisht=== Purisht is spoken by those who have migrated out of its home region into the Albanian cities of Korçë, Tirana and Durrës, as well as by migrants outside of Albania's borders, primarily in Greece.<ref name=PriftiInKahl247/>
== Vocabulary == In the Purishte sociolect the mason is called ''purja'', while the term for the master mason is ''purja i beshëm''.<ref name="Çabej2002"/>
=== Romance influence === Purishte is notable for incorporating a large share of vocabulary of Romance origin, including most notably elements of Aromanian origin.<ref name=PriftiInKahl245>{{cite book|last=Prifti|first=Elton|chapter=Aromanian Elements of an Albanian argot|pages=245–263|editor1-last=Kahl|editor1-first=Thede|editor2-last=Metzeltin|editor2-first=Michael|title=Balkanismen heute – Balkanisms today – Балканизмы сегодня|year=2012|location=Vienna|publisher=Lit Verlag|isbn=9783643503886|url=https://www.academia.edu/19689445}}. Page 245</ref> Several aspects of the Aromanian influences in Purishte may be considered Balkanisms.<ref name=PriftiInKahl245/> Romance elements compose nearly 16% of the registered lexical items of Purisht, with almost all of them being of Aromanian origin.<ref>Prifti 2012, p. 248.</ref> This is a result of intensive cultural contact between Opar Albanians and Aromanians.<ref>Prifti 2012, p. 255.</ref>
== See also == * Banjački, south Slavic sociolect of bricklayers in Podrinje, western Balkans * Meshterski, sociolect of south Bulgarian builders, bricklayers and masons
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Qemal H. Gegollari: ''E folmja purishte: fjalor purisht-shqip (Purisht-Albanian Dictionary)''. Tirana: Emal, 2011
Category:Albanian sociolects Category:Occupational cryptolects Category:Aromanians in Albania
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