Arbëreshët_në_Greqi
Statusi i tyre si minoritet dhe ndërveprimet me popullsi të tjera shqipfolës
Arbëreshët janë konsideruar si të dallueshme etnikisht nga grekët në shekullin e 19-të, ndërsa pjesëmarrja e tyre në Luftën greke të Pavarësisë dhe Luftës Civile greke ka çuar në rritjen e asimilimit. Feja krishterë ortodokse që arbëreshët e kishin përbashkët me pjesën tjetër të popullatës vendase ishte një nga arsyet kryesore që çoi në asimilimin e tyre. Megjithëse studimet sociologjike mbi komuniteteve arbëresh vërejtur se një ndjenjë i identifikueshëm i një identitet "etnik" të veçantë ekziston në mesin e arbëreshëve, autorët nuk kanë identifikuar një ndjenjë të "përkatësisë për Shqipërinë ose për kombin shqiptar". Shumë arbëreshë e gjenë emërtimin "shqiptarë" si fyes, se ata identifikojnë në shkallë kombëtare dhe etnike si grekë dhe jo shqiptarë. Peter Trudgill (1977). "Creolization in reverse: reduction and simplification in the Albanian dialects of Greece." Transactions of the Philological Society. 75. (1): 32, 38. “It is not too widely known that a majority of villages in the Athens area of Greece are inhabited by people of Albanian rather than Greek ethnic origin. These people are not recent immigrants, but the descendants of Albanians who entered the country at various times, for the most part between the 11th and 15th centuries. These Greek Albanians long retained a clearly separate ethnic identity, apparently, but gradually this identity has been eroded. Today they refer to themselves not as Albanians but as Arvanites, and call the language they speak not Albanian but Arvanitika. They are also very concerned to explain to outsiders that they are not only Arvanites but Greeks as well (see Trudgill and Tzavaras, forthcoming). The result of this development is that the main, perhaps only identifying characteristic of the Greek Albanians is now their language. Our evidence on the restriction in use of Arvanitika comes from two sources. First, observations we made over several months in the villages showed that there were clear age-group differences in the use of Greek and Arvanitika. Greek-Arvanitika bilingualism is now the norm for all age-groups, but there are many situations where older speakers employ Arvanitika and younger speakers Greek. The pattern appears to be that the oldest Arvanites use Arvanitika for most purposes except the most formal (and for communication with non-Arvanites). Middle-aged speakers and younger adults indulge in a considerable amount of switching according to factors such as formality, location, subject-matter, the presence of outsiders, and the linguistic ability of interlocutors. Many younger adults, though, will often use Arvanitika only if the situation is one that is particularly homely or informal, or if they are talking to elderly people who they know prefer conversing in Arvanitika.” Teori të ndryshme, të tilla si preardhja prej Pelazgët të lashtë, kanë ardhur gjithashtu në ekzistencë për rehabilitimin e arbëreshevet në shoqërinë greke duke pohuar një të kaluar të lashtë dhe duke qenë paraardhësit e grekëve modernë. Këto teori kanë tani edhe janë miratuar nga shqiptarët nga Shqipëria në lidhje me ata mënyrë të parë veten e tyre dhe marrëdhënieve me grekët. Gilles De Rapper (2009). "Pelasgic Encounters in the Greek–Albanian Borderland: Border Dynamics and Reversion to Ancient Past in Southern Albania." Anthropological Journal of European Cultures. 18. (1): 60-61. “In 2002, another important book was translated from Greek: Aristides Kollias’ Arvanites and the Origin of Greeks, first published in Athens in 1983 and re-edited several times since then (Kollias 1983; Kolia 2002). In this book, which is considered a cornerstone of the rehabilitation of Arvanites in post- dictatorial Greece, the author presents the Albanian speaking population of Greece, known as Arvanites, as the most authentic Greeks because their language is closer to ancient Pelasgic, who were the first inhabitants of Greece. According to him, ancient Greek was formed on the basis of Pelasgic, so that many Greek words have an Albanian etymology. In the Greek context, the book initiated a ‘counterdiscourse’ (Gefou-Madianou 1999: 122) aiming at giving Arvanitic communities of southern Greece a positive role in Greek history. This was achieved by using nineteenth-century ideas on Pelasgians and by melting together Greeks and Albanians in one historical genealogy (Baltsiotis and Embirikos 2007: 130—431, 445). In the Albanian context of the 1990s and 2000s, the book is read as proving the anteriority of Albanians not only in Albania but also in Greece; it serves mainly the rehabilitation of Albanians as an antique and autochthonous population in the Balkans. These ideas legitimise the presence of Albanians in Greece and give them a decisive role in the development of ancient Greek civilisation and, later on, the creation of the modern Greek state, in contrast to the general negative image of Albanians in contemporary Greek society. They also reverse the unequal relation between the migrants and the host country, making the former the heirs of an autochthonous and civilised population from whom the latter owes everything that makes their superiority in the present day.”