Documenting the Slavic Dialects of Albania: A photographer's gaze, a linguist's reflection
Our joint field expedition to ethnolinguistic minorities in Albania in 2020 sought to document their actual sociolinguistic situation by recording speech samples and capturing the everyday lives of their speakers. While the linguistic study sheds light on contact-induced changes in these language varieties, the accompanying photographs offer a visual narrative of these communities—portraying their traditions, architecture, and people.
Through this blend of scholarship and photography, the project not only preserves a fading linguistic heritage but also tells a compelling story of cultural resilience in the Balkans. The field trip was organized by Dr. Maxim Makartsev (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg) as part of his linguistic research project. Our preliminary findings have been published here.
These are some of the photographs I took during this trip. They combine a visual narrative with linguistic and ethnographic commentary.
- Aino Väänänen









