From Wikipedia:
There are two principal dialects of limited mutual intelligibility: Tosk and Gheg. The geographical border of the two dialects has traditionally been the Shkumbini River in Albania, with Gheg being spoken north of the river, and Tosk south of the river. The two dialects have phonological as well as lexicological differences.
Tosk is spoken in southern and central Albania, by the Arbëreshë of Italy, among the Albanian minority of Greece: the Çam and the Arvanites, and in small communities of Albanian immigrants in Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and United States.
Gheg (or Geg) is spoken in northern Albania and by the Albanians of Serbia and Montenegro (including the province of Kosovo) as well as those of the Republic of Macedonia.
Long ago when I was a little kid, grocery stores would occasionally sell encyclopedias, with one volume offered each week. The "A" volume was all we ever got, because it was always offered for the introductory price of 99 cents, while the rest of the volumes were too pricey at around 4 bucks. As a result, I got to be quite an authority on all subjects beginning with the letter "A" (Albania, Amphibious Warfare, Armadillo, Atomic Bomb, etc). So not to brag or anything, but I've known about this whole Gheg/Tosk thing for 40 years now. So I got that going for me, which is nice . . .




