Compound Pronouns in English and Albanian

Abstract

This study concentrates on compound pronouns in English and Albanian. Compounding is considered one of the most prolific word-formation techniques in both languages. The study is made up of three basic parts: compounding is analysed theoretically; compound pronouns collected from the Dictionary of Contemporary Albanian Language and Oxford Student’s Dictionary are analysed; conclusions are drawn regarding their similarities and differences. The Albanian language provides interesting results, as it includes a specific category of pronouns under a different heading than compounding, namely agglutinated pronouns. Compound pronouns are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively in both languages. Quantitative analysis deals with their positioning in relation to all compound words in each dictionary. Qualitative analysis deals with the elements constituting the compound pronouns. The study also pinpoints the differences and similarities between compound pronouns when translated from English into Albanian and vice versa. The study is illustrated with abundant examples in both languages. Statistical results of the study show that Albanian compound (agglutinated) pronouns outnumber English compound pronouns (81: 18); also, the constituent structures of Alb. vs Eng. pronouns are 9:2. In the translation of pronouns from one language into the other, one English pronoun corresponds to different Albanian pronouns, and vice versa.