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Source: Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language

Shoqnia e Bashkimit të Gjuhës Shqipe (Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language), usually known as the Shoqnia Bashkimi ( The Union Society) , or simply Bashkimi i Shkodrës (The Union of Shkodra) was a literary society founded in Shkodra, Ottoman Empire (today's Albania) in 1899. The Bashkimi society was the union of three previously independent societies: Shpresa, Drita and Dituria. Drita, a journal was the official publication of the Bashkimi Society.
Its founder and leader was Dom Preng Doçi, Abbot of Mirdita. Other Catholic clerics who joined were Jak Serreqi, Lazër Mjeda, Ndoc Nikaj, Gjergj Fishta, Ndre Mjeda, Pashk Bardhi, Mark Shllaku, Dodë Koleci. The only non-cleric, Albanian politician Luigj Gurakuqi, joined later.
Since Albanian-language groups were forbidden by the Ottoman authorities, it opened as a "religious society". Its starting objectives were:

Creation of an Albanian language dictionary;
Mandatory correspondence of its members with foreign press organs;
Establishment of a weekly or monthly publication of the society; and
Participation in the attempt to create a unified Albanian alphabet.
One of its main contributions was the so-called Bashkimi alphabet, a latin script-based alphabet without diacritic letters.
Due to differences of opinion on the future alphabet, brothers Lazër and Ndre Mjeda left the group to initiate their own society, called Agimi ("The dawn"), in 1901. The Bashkimi alphabet was discussed and approved in a conference of Catholic bishops held in Shkodra in 1902, and was presented as a main candidate during the sessions of the Congress of Monastir, 1908, where the Albanian alphabet was unified. The Bashkimi alphabet was rejected in favor of the Istanbul alphabet (Albanian: Alfabeti i Stambollit) by majority vote. However, due to lack of unanimity, the Congress was unable to choose only one alphabet and opted for a compromise solution of using both the Istanbul and Bashkimi alphabets with some changes to reduce the differences between them. Usage of the alphabet of Istanbul declined rapidly and it became extinct over the following years and Albania declared its independence.
Within a few years from its creation, the society published many works, the most important of which was the New Albanian Dictionary (Albanian: Fjaluer i Ri i Shqypes) of 1908. The dictionary included 13,482 words. It remained the most detailed Albanian dictionary until 1954, when the Albanian Institute of Science (a precursor of the Academy of Sciences of Albania) came out with its first standard dictionary, the "Dictionary of the Science Institute" (Fjalori i Institutit të Shkencave).