TURKISH COLOR TERMS AS A LINGUISTIC CHOICE OF ALBANIAN SPEAKERS

Abstract

: It has been ascertained that Turkish loanwords have an important place and status in the Albanian language. Color terms are an interesting part of this category of the Albanian lexicon, which plays an important role as a carrier of cultural and lingual inheritance. This paper studies color names and their meanings as well as their role as a linguistic choice of different varieties of the Albanian language. Lexicalization patterns of color naming in Albanian are examined with special emphasis on Turkish loanwords. The meaning, function, and role of Turkish loanwords are observed based on relevant dictionaries and the Albanian National Corpus. The attitude of Albanian speakers towards Turkish loanwords was investigated based on a survey conducted with students at the University of Prishtina. This study presents valuable data collected from different sources. Their analysis has shown that Turkish loanwords are used to name different categories of the color spectrum; they fit all lexicalization models of Indo-European languages, they can be the only term used to name the focal color category in different dialects, and the change in the meanings of these words has led to the emergence of new focal colors. Therefore, this paper argues that the existence of Turkish color terms in Albanian cannot be explained only with the universalist approach and that the relativist approach should not be ignored, due to the linguistic choice speakers make in different varieties of Albanian language.