Editing Maltese language (section)

==Classification==
Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic, a Semitic language within the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic family]].<ref>[[Merritt Ruhlen]]. 1991. ''A Guide to the World's Languages, Volume 1: Classification.'' Stanford.<br />David Dalby. 2000. ''The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities.'' Linguasphere Observatory.<br/>Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed. 2005. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World''. 15th ed. Summer Institute of Linguistics.<br/>Alan S. Kaye & Judith Rosenhouse. 1997. "Arabic Dialects and Maltese", ''The Semitic Languages''. Ed. Robert Hetzron. [[Routledge]]. Pages 263–311.</ref> In the course of its [[History of Malta|history]], Maltese has been influenced by Sicilian, Italian, to a lesser extent by [[Norman language|Norman]], and, more recently, English. Today, the core vocabulary (including both the most commonly used vocabulary and [[function word]]s) is Semitic, with a large number of [[loanword]]s.{{sfnp|Brincat|2005}} Due to the Sicilian influence on Siculo-Arabic, Maltese has many language contact features and is most commonly described as a language with a large number of loanwords.{{sfnp|Borg|1997}}

Maltese has historically been classified in various ways, with some claiming that it was derived from ancient [[Punic language|Punic]] (another Semitic language) instead of Siculo-Arabic,<ref name="Academy">{{cite web |title=The Maltese Language Academy |url=https://akkademjatalmalti.org/ilsien-malti/l-istorja-tieghu/ |author=L-Akkademja tal-Malti |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923054701/http://www.akkademjatalmalti.com/page.asp?p=9023 |archive-date=2015-09-23}}</ref>{{sfnp|Vella|2004|p=263}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Punic-language |title=Punic language |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |year=2013 |access-date=25 June 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615054045/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/483501/Punic-language |archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref> and others claiming it is one of the [[Berber languages]] (another language family within Afroasiatic).<ref name="Academy" /> Less plausibly, [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] classified it as [[regional Italian]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRGrRy7S750C&pg=PA80 |title=Malta |first=Sean |last=Sheehan |date=12 January 2017 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |access-date=12 January 2017 |via=Google Books |isbn=9780761409939}}</ref>