The Albanian language is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and co-official in North Macedonia and Montenegro.Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia, Italy, Romania and in Serbia.Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece, specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece.

In the meantime, the Romansh movement sought to promote the different regional varieties while promoting a gradual convergence of the five varieties, called the "avischinaziun". In 1982, however, the then secretary of the Lia Rumantscha, a sociolinguist named Bernard Cathomas, launched a project for designing a pan-regional variety.