Maltese language: Difference between revisions
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Maltese (Template:Langx, also Template:Lang or Template:Lang) is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata. It is the only Semitic language predominantly written in the Latin script. It is spoken by the Maltese people and is the national language of Malta, and is the only official Semitic and Afroasiatic language of the European Union.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to John L. Hayes, it descended from a North African dialect of Colloquial Arabic which was introduced to Malta when the Aghlabids captured it in 869/870 CE.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is also said to have descended from Siculo-Arabic, which developed as a Maghrebi Arabic dialect in the Emirate of Sicily between 831 and 1091.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> As a result of the Norman invasion of Malta and the subsequent re-Christianization of the islands, Maltese evolved independently of Classical Arabic in a gradual process of Latinisation.<ref name="Borg">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Harvp: "Originally Maltese was an Arabic dialect, but it was immediately exposed to Latinisation because the Normans conquered the islands in 1090, while Christianisation, which was complete by 1250, cut off the dialect from contact with Classical Arabic. Consequently Maltese developed on its own, slowly but steadily absorbing new words from Sicilian and Italian according to the needs of the developing community."</ref> It is therefore exceptional as a variety of historical Arabic that has no diglossic relationship with Classical or Modern Standard Arabic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Maltese is thus classified separately from the 30 varieties constituting the modern Arabic macrolanguage. Maltese is also distinguished from Arabic and other Semitic languages since its morphology has been deeply influenced by Romance languages, namely Italian and Sicilian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The original Arabic base comprises around one-third of the Maltese vocabulary, especially words that denote basic ideas and the function words,<ref>Template:Harvp: "An analysis of the etymology of the 41,000 words in Aquilina's Maltese-English Dictionary shows that 32.41% are of Arabic origin, 52.46% are from Sicilian and Italian, and 6.12% are from English. Although nowadays we know that all languages are mixed to varying degrees, this is quite an unusual formula. However, the words derived from Arabic are more frequent because they denote the basic ideas and include the function words."</ref> but about half of the vocabulary is derived from standard Italian and Sicilian;Template:Sfnp and English words make up between 6% and 20% of the vocabulary.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> A 2016 study shows that, in terms of basic everyday language, speakers of Maltese are able to understand less than a third of what is said to them in Tunisian Arabic and Libyan Arabic,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which are Maghrebi Arabic dialects related to Siculo-Arabic,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> whereas speakers of Tunisian Arabic and Libyan Arabic are able to understand about 40% of what is said to them in Maltese.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This reported level of asymmetric intelligibility is considerably lower than the mutual intelligibility found between mainstream varieties of Arabic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Maltese has always been written in the Latin script, the earliest surviving example dating from the late Middle Ages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is the only standardised Semitic language written exclusively in the Latin script.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
History
[edit]
The origins of the Maltese language are attributed to the arrival, early in the 11th century, of settlers from neighbouring Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic was spoken, reversing the Fatimid Caliphate's conquest of the island at the end of the 9th century.<ref name="harvp|Brincat|2005">Template:Harvp</ref> This claim has been corroborated by genetic studies, which show that contemporary Maltese people share common ancestry with Sicilians and Calabrians, with little genetic input from North Africa and the Levant.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Norman conquest in 1091, followed by the expulsion of the Muslims, complete by 1249, permanently isolated the vernacular from its Arabic source, creating the conditions for its evolution into a distinct language.<ref name="harvp|Brincat|2005"/> In contrast to Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic became extinct and was replaced by Sicilian, the vernacular in Malta continued to develop alongside Italian, eventually replacing it as official language in 1934, alongside English.<ref name="harvp|Brincat|2005"/> The first written reference to the Maltese language is in a will of 1436, where it is called Template:Lang. The oldest known document in Maltese, Template:Lang (Template:Lang) by Pietru Caxaro, dates from the 15th century.<ref name="Academy"/>
The earliest known Maltese dictionary was a 16th-century manuscript entitled "Maltese-Italiano"; it was included in the Template:Lang of Mifsud in 1764, but is now lost.<ref name=agius/> A list of Maltese words was included in both the Template:Lang (1603) and Template:Lang (1606) of Hieronymus Megiser, who had visited Malta in 1588–1589; Domenico Magri gave the etymologies of some Maltese words in his Template:Lang (1677).<ref name="Academy"/>
An early manuscript dictionary, Template:Lang, was discovered in the Template:Lang in Rome in the 1980s, together with a grammar, the Template:Lang, attributed to a French knight named Thezan.<ref name=agius>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The first systematic lexicon is that of Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, who also wrote the first systematic grammar of the language and proposed a standard orthography.<ref name=agius/>
The language declined heavily under the British administration of Malta, declining in use compared to English. Following the independence of Malta, language reforms under the Dom Mintoff government saw the language gain an increase in use, and today is used regularly in Malta.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Demographics
[edit]Template:Self-contradictory Ethnologue reports a total of Template:Sigfig Maltese speakers: Template:Sigfig in Malta and Template:Sigfig in the diaspora. Most speakers also use English,<ref name=e27/> usually the local dialect known as Maltese English.
The largest diaspora community of Maltese speakers is in Australia, with 36,000 speakers reported in 2006 (down from 45,000 in 1996, and expected to decline further).<ref>"As at the 2006 Australian Census, the number of Australians speaking Maltese at home was 36,514, compared to 41,250 in 2001 and 45,243 in 1996. The 2006 figures represent a drop of 19.29% when compared with the 1996 figures. Given that many of those who speak Maltese at home are over the age of 60, the number of Maltese speakers will invariably go for a nosedive by 2016." Joseph Carmel Chetcuti, Why It's time to bury the Maltese language in Australia Template:Webarchive, Malta Independent, 2 March 2010.</ref>
The Maltese linguistic community in Tunisia originated in the 18th century. Numbering several thousand in the 19th century, it was reported to be only 100 to 200 people as of 2017.<ref>Nigel Mifsud, Malta's Ambassador meets Maltese who have lived their whole life in Tunisia Template:Webarchive, TVM, 13 November 2017.</ref>
Classification
[edit]Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family.<ref>Merritt Ruhlen. 1991. A Guide to the World's Languages, Volume 1: Classification. Stanford.
David Dalby. 2000. The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities. Linguasphere Observatory.
Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th ed. Summer Institute of Linguistics.
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, Maltese has been influenced by Sicilian, Italian, to a lesser extent by Norman, and, more recently, English. Today, the core vocabulary (including both the most commonly used vocabulary and function words) is Semitic, with a large number of loanwords.Template:Sfnp 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.Template:Sfnp
Maltese has historically been classified in various ways, with some claiming that it was derived from ancient Punic (another Semitic language) instead of Siculo-Arabic,<ref name="Academy">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfnp<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and others claiming it is one of the Berber languages (another language family within Afroasiatic).<ref name="Academy" /> Less plausibly, Fascist Italy classified it as regional Italian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Dialects
[edit]Template:MainUrban varieties of Maltese are closer to Standard Maltese than rural varieties,<ref name="isser">Isserlin. Studies in Islamic History and Civilization. BRILL 1986, Template:ISBN</ref> which have some characteristics that distinguish them from Standard Maltese. They tend to show some archaic features<ref name="isser" /> such as the realisation of Template:Angle bracket and Template:Angle bracket and the imāla of Arabic ā into ē (or ī especially in Gozo), considered archaic because they are reminiscent of 15th-century transcriptions of this sound.<ref name="isser" /> Another archaic feature is the realisation of Standard Maltese ā as ō in rural dialects.<ref name="isser" /> There is also a tendency to diphthongise simple vowels, e.g., ū becomes eo or eu.<ref name="isser" /> Rural dialects also tend to employ more Semitic roots and broken plurals than Standard Maltese.<ref name="isser" /> In general, rural Maltese is less distant from its Siculo-Arabic ancestor than is Standard Maltese.<ref name="isser" />
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]
Voiceless stops are only lightly aspirated and voiced stops are fully voiced. Voicing is carried over from the last segment in obstruent clusters; thus, two- and three-obstruent clusters are either voiceless or voiced throughout, e.g. Template:IPA is realised Template:IPA "we write" (similar assimilation phenomena occur in languages like French or Czech). Maltese has final-obstruent devoicing of voiced obstruents and word-final voiceless stops have no audible release, making voiceless–voiced pairs phonetically indistinguishable in word-final position.Template:Sfnp
Gemination is distinctive word-medially and word-finally in Maltese. The distinction is most rigid intervocalically after a stressed vowel. Stressed, word-final closed syllables with short vowels end in a long consonant, and those with a long vowel in a single consonant; the only exception is where historic Template:IPA and Template:IPA meant the compensatory lengthening of the succeeding vowel. Some speakers have lost length distinction in clusters.Template:Sfnp
The two nasals Template:IPA and Template:IPA assimilate for place of articulation in clusters.Template:Sfnp Template:IPA and Template:IPA are usually dental, whereas Template:IPA are all alveolar. Template:IPA are found mostly in words of Italian origin, retaining length (if not word-initial).Template:Sfnp Template:IPA and Template:IPA are only found in loanwords, e.g. Template:IPA "newspaper" and Template:IPA "television".Template:Sfnp The pharyngeal fricative Template:IPA is velar (Template:IPAblink), uvular (Template:IPAblink), or glottal (Template:IPAblink) for some speakers.Template:Sfnp
Vowels
[edit]Maltese has five short vowels, Template:IPA, written a e i o u; six long vowels, Template:IPA, written a, e, ie, i, o, u, all of which (with the exception of ie Template:IPA) can be known to represent long vowels in writing only if they are followed by an orthographic għ or h (otherwise, one needs to know the pronunciation; e.g. nar (fire) is pronounced Template:IPA); and seven diphthongs, Template:IPA, written aj or għi, aw or għu, ej or għi, ew, iw, oj, and ow or għu.<ref name="Borg" />
Historical phonology
[edit]The Maltese consonant system has undergone several changes when compared to Classical Arabic:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Classical Arabic | Letter | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanization | t | ṭ | t̮ | d | ḍ | d̮ | ẓ | s | ṣ | ḥ | ḫ | ʻ | ğ | ʼ | q | h | |
| Pronunciation | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Maltese | Letter | T t | D d | S s | Ħ ħ | GĦ għ | Q q | H h | |||||||||
| Pronunciation | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||||||||||
While many of these changes (chiefly the merger of emphatic consonants with their non-pharyngealized counterparts) are the result of European influence, others (such as the merger of Template:Lang Template:IPA into Template:IPA) are found in other varieties of Arabic, and may be either independent developments or features of the Sicilian Arabic dialect which Maltese descends from.
Orthography
[edit]Alphabet
[edit]Template:MOS Template:Main The modern system of Maltese orthography was introduced in 1924.<ref name="aurp">Template:Cite book</ref> Below is the Maltese alphabet, with IPA symbols and approximate English pronunciation:
| Letter | Name | IPA (letter name) | Maltese example | IPA (orthographically representing) | Approximate English pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | similar to 'u' in nut in RP; Template:IPA similar to father in Irish English; Template:IPA similar to cat in American English, in some dialects it may be Template:IPA in some locations as in what in some American English Dialects |
| B b | be | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | bar, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| Ċ ċ | ċe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | church (note: undotted 'c' has been replaced by 'k', so when 'c' does appear, it is to be spoken the same way as 'ċ') |
| D d | de | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | day, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| E e | e | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | Template:IPA somewhat like face in Northern England English Template:IPA end when short, it is often changed to Template:IPA when following and more often when followed by a w, when at the end in an unstressed syllable it is pronounced as schwa Template:IPA comma |
| F f | effe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | far |
| Ġ ġ | ġe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | gem, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| G g | ge | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | game, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| GĦ għ | ajn | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA, Template:IPA | has the effect of lengthening and pharyngealising associated vowels (għi and għu are Template:IPA (may be transcribed as Template:IPA) and Template:IPA). When found at the end of a word or immediately before 'h' it has the sound of a double 'ħ' (see below). |
| H h | akka | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | not pronounced unless it is at the end of a word (such as ktibnih), even after adding the negating suffix (such as ma ktibnihx) or at the end of a verb even after adding pronomial suffixes (such as xebbaht) in which case it has the sound of 'ħ' (except for in hieni) | |
| Ħ ħ | ħe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | no English equivalent; sounds similar to Template:IPA but is articulated with a lowered larynx. |
| I i | i | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | Template:IPA bite (the way commonly realized in Irish English or Template:IPA in other words as beet but more forward) and when short as Template:IPA bit, occasionally 'i' is used to display il-vokali tal-leħen (the vowel of the voice) as in words like l-iskola or l-iMdina, in this case it takes the schwa sound. |
| IE ie | ie | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | sounds similar to yield or RP near, or opened up slightly towards bed or RP square |
| J j | je | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | yard |
| K k | ke | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | kettle |
| L l | elle | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | line |
| M m | emme | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | march |
| N n | enne | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | next |
| O o | o | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | Template:IPA as in somewhere between similar to Scottish English o in no Template:IPA like 'aw' in RP law, but short or Template:IPA as in water in some American dialects. |
| P p | pe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | part |
| Q q | qe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | glottal stop, found in the Cockney English pronunciation of "bottle" or the phrase "uh-oh" Template:IPA. |
| R r | erre | Template:IPA or Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | Template:IPA as in General American English butter, or ɹ road (r realization changes depending on dialect or location in the word.) |
| S s | esse | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | sand |
| T t | te | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | tired |
| U u | u | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | Template:IPA as in General American English boot or in some dialects it may be realized as Template:IPA as in some American English realizations of student, short u is Template:IPA put |
| V v | ve | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | vast, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| W w | ve doppja /u doppja/we | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | west |
| X x | xe | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | shade, sometimes as measure; when doubled the sound is elongated, as in "Cash shin" vs. "Cash in". |
| Ż ż | że/żeta | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | maze, but at the end of a word it is devoiced to Template:IPA. |
| Z z | ze | Template:IPA | Template:Lang Template:Gloss | Template:IPA | pizza |
Final vowels with grave accents (à, è, ì, ò, ù) are also found in some Maltese words of Italian origin, such as Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang (old Italian: Template:Lang Template:Gloss), or Template:Lang (Italian: Template:Lang Template:Gloss).
The official rules governing the structure of the Maltese language are recorded in the official guidebook Template:Lang (English: Knowledge on Writing in Maltese) issued by the Template:Lang (Academy of the Maltese language). The first edition of this book was printed in 1924 by the Maltese government's printing press. The rules were further expanded in the 1984 book, Template:Lang, which focused mainly on the increasing influence of Romance and English words. In 1992 the academy issued the Template:Lang, which updated the previous works.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The National Council for the Maltese Language (KNM) is the main regulator of the Maltese language (see Maltese Language Act, below). However, the academy's orthography rules are still valid and official.
Written Maltese
[edit]Since Maltese evolved after the Italo-Normans ended Arab rule of the islands, a written form of the language was not developed for a long time after the Arabs' expulsion in the middle of the thirteenth century. Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller, both French and Italian were used for official documents and correspondence. During the British colonial period, the use of English was encouraged through education, with Italian being regarded as the next-most important language.
In the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, philologists and academics such as Mikiel Anton Vassalli made a concerted effort to standardise written Maltese. Many examples of written Maltese exist from before this period, always in the Latin alphabet, Il-Kantilena from the 15th century being the earliest example of written Maltese. In 1934, Maltese was recognised as an official language.
Samples
[edit]Maltese has both Semitic vocabulary and words derived from Romance languages, primarily Italian. Words such as Template:Lang (Arabic origin) and Template:Lang (Italian origin) have the same meaning ("answer") but are both used in Maltese, rather like "answer" and "response" in English. Below are two versions of the same translations, one with vocabulary mostly derived from Semitic root words and the other using Romance loanwords (from the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe Template:Webarchive, see p. 17 Template:Webarchive):
| English | Maltese (Semitic vocabulary) | Maltese (Romance vocabulary) |
|---|---|---|
|
The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail. |
Template:Lang |
Below is the Lord's Prayer in Maltese compared to other Semitic languages (Arabic and Syriac) with cognates highlighted:
| English | Maltese<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Standard Arabic (Romanised)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Syriac (Romanised)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen |
Missierna, li inti fis-smewwiet, jitqaddes ismek, tiġi saltnatek, ikun li trid int, kif fis-sema, hekkda fl-art.
Ħobżna ta' kuljum agħtina llum. Aħfrilna dnubietna, bħalma naħfru lil min hu ħati għalina. U la ddaħħalniex fit-tiġrib, iżda eħlisna mid-deni. Ammen |
ʔabāna, allaḏi fī as-samāwāt, li-yataqaddas ismuka, li-yaʔti malakūtuka, li-takun mašīʔatuka, kamā fī as-samāʔi kaḏālika ʕalā al-arḍ. ḵubzana kafāfanā ʔaʕṭinā alyawm, wa aḡfir lanā ḏunūbanā, kamā naḡfiru naḥnu ʔayḍan lil-muḏnibīn ʔilaynā. wa lā tudḵilna fī tajāriba, lākin najjinā min aš-širrīr. ʔāmīn |
Abun, d-bashmayo, nithqadash shmokh, tithe malkuthokh, nehwe sebyonokh aykano d-bashmayo oph bar`o.
hab lan lahmo d-sunqonan yowmono washbuq lan hawbayn wahtohayn aykano doph hnan shbaqan l-hayobayn lo ta`lan l-nesyuno elo paso lan men bisho Amin |
Vocabulary
[edit]Although the original vocabulary of Maltese was Siculo-Arabic, it has incorporated a large number of borrowings from Romance sources (Sicilian, Italian, and French) and, more recently, Germanic ones (from English).Template:Sfnp
The historical source of modern Maltese vocabulary is 52% Italian/Sicilian, 32% Arabic/Siculo-Arabic, and 6% English, with some of the remainder being French.Template:Sfnp<ref>About MaltaTemplate:Dead link; GTS; retrieved on 2008-02-24</ref> Today, most function words are Arabic, so despite only making up about a third of the vocabulary, they are the most used when speaking the language. In this way, Maltese is similar to English, a Germanic language that has been strongly influenced by Norman French and Latin (58% of English vocabulary).
As a result of this, Romance language-speakers (and to a lesser extent English speakers) can often easily understand more technical ideas expressed in Maltese, such as Template:Lang ('Geographically, Europe is part of the supercontinent of Eurasia'), while not understanding a single word of a basic sentence such as Template:Lang ('The man is in the house'), which would be easily understood by any Arabic speaker.
Arabic
[edit]At that time Malta was thoroughly Arabized. The conquerors brought to the island the vulgar (colloquial) variant of Arabic, not the classical one (Classical Arabic); therefore, the Maltese language differs from Classical Arabic in the same way as the Arabic dialects differ from Classical Arabic. The Maltese language also comprises a considerable number of Maghrebi features,<ref>The Maltese And The Arabic Dialects: Introduction An Approach From Linguistic Geography, by Reinhold Kontzi</ref> but in other ways, it can be closer to other Arabic dialects, or closer to Classical Arabic than to the other dialects as in the word Template:Lang ('to see'). Arabic supplies between 32%Template:Sfnp and 40%<ref name="autogenerated2" /> of the language's vocabulary.
Template:Harvtxt found that 40% of a sample of 1,821 Quranic Arabic roots were found in Maltese, considerably lower than that found in the Moroccan (58%) and Lebanese (72%) varieties of Arabic.Template:Sfnp An analysis of the etymology of the 41,000 words in Aquilina's Maltese–English Dictionary shows that 32% of the Maltese vocabulary is of Arabic origin,Template:Sfnp although another source claims 40%.<ref name="autogenerated2" /><ref>Compare with approx. 25–33% of Old English or Germanic words in Modern English.</ref> Usually, words expressing basic concepts and ideas, such as Template:Lang (man), Template:Lang (woman), Template:Lang (boy), Template:Lang (house), Template:Lang (sun), and Template:Lang (summer), are of Arabic origin. Moreover, Template:Lang in Maltese aim to maximise their use of vocabulary belonging to this group.<ref name="isser" />
Notes: * from Arabic Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration) "to investigate", ** from Arabic Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration) "to yearn for ".
The following table compares additional cognates in Maltese and some other varieties of Arabic (all forms are written phonetically, as in the source):<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Siculo-Arabic dialect which was spoken in Sicily and Malta is the ancestor of the Maltese language,Template:Sfnp some Siculo-Arabic words are still used in modern Sicilian (a Romance language spoken in Sicily):
The Maltese language has merged many of the original Arabic consonants (in particular the emphatic consonants) with others common to European languages. Thus, original Arabic Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA all merged into Maltese Template:IPA. The vowels, meanwhile, separated from the three in Classical Arabic (Template:IPA) into five, as is more typical of many European languages (Template:IPA). Some unstressed short vowels have been elided. The common Arabic greeting Template:Transliteration is cognate with Template:Lang in Maltese (lit. "the peace for you", peace be with you), as are similar greetings in other Semitic languages (e.g. Template:Lang in Hebrew).
Romance (Sicilian and Italian)
[edit]An analysis of the etymology of the 41,000 words in Aquilina's Maltese–English Dictionary shows that words of Romance origin make up 52% of the Maltese vocabulary,Template:Sfnp although other sources claim from 40%<ref name="autogenerated2">Template:Cite web</ref> to 55%. Romance vocabulary tends to deal with more complex concepts. Most words come from Sicilian and thus exhibit Sicilian phonetic characteristics, such as Template:IPA rather than Italian Template:IPA, and Template:IPA rather than Italian Template:IPA (e.g. Template:Lang not Template:Lang and Template:Lang not Template:Lang). Also, as with Old Sicilian, Template:IPA (English sh) is written x and this produces spellings such as: Template:Lang Template:IPA ('embassy'), Template:Lang Template:IPA ('scene'; compare Italian Template:Lang, Template:Lang).
A tendency in modern Maltese is to adopt further influences from English and Italian. Complex Latinate English words adopted into Maltese are often given Italian or Sicilian forms,Template:Sfnp even if the resulting words do not appear in either of those languages. For instance, the words evaluation, industrial action, and chemical armaments become Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang in Maltese, while the Italian terms are Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang respectively. (The origin of the terms may be narrowed even further to British English; the phrase industrial action is meaningless in the United States.) This is comparable to the situation with English borrowings into the Italo-Australian dialect. English words of Germanic origin are generally preserved relatively unchanged.
Some influences of African Romance on the Arabic and Berber spoken in the Maghreb are theorised; these may then have passed into Maltese.Template:Sfn For example, in calendar month names, the word Template:Lang 'February' is only found in the Maghreb and in Maltese – proving the word's ancient pedigree. The region also has a form of another Latin month in Template:Lang < Template:Lang.Template:Sfn This word does not appear to be a loan word through Arabic, and may have been taken over directly from Late Latin or African Romance.Template:Sfn Scholars theorise that a Latin-based system provided forms such as Template:Lang and Template:Lang in African Romance, with the system then mediating Latin/Romance names through Arabic for some month names during the Islamic period.Template:Sfn The same situation exists for Maltese which mediated words from Italian, and retains both non-Italian forms such as Template:Lang and Template:Lang, and Italian forms such as Template:Lang.Template:Sfn
Berber
[edit]Like the Maghrebi Arabic dialects, Maltese has a significant vocabulary derived from Berber languages. Whether these words entered Maltese by being inherited from Siculo-Arabic or were directly loaned from Berber languages is not yet known. These include:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Maltese | Berber languages | English |
|---|---|---|
| gremxula | azrem ašal, lit. 'land worm', (Kabyle) | lizard |
| fekruna | tifakrunin (Jerbi), ifekran (Tashelhiyt), ifkran (Kabyle) | turtle |
| geddum | aqadum, lit. 'face, frown' (Kabyle) | chin |
| gendus | gandūz, lit. 'young calf' (Jerbi) | ox, bull |
| gerżuma | ageržum (Mozabite, Tashelhiyt) | throat |
| tfief | tilfaf (Ouargli), tifāf, tilfāf, tiffāf (Tarifit) | sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) |
| tengħud | talaɣūda (Tunisian Arabic), telɣūda (Algerian Arabic) | spurge (Euphorbia) |
| kosksu | kuskesu, kuskus (Kabyle) | couscous, small round pasta |
| fartas | aferḍas (Ouargli, Kabyle) | bald |
| għaffeġ | ‘affež (Algerian Arabic), effeẓ (Ouargli, Mozabite) | to crush, to squash |
| żrinġ | tažrant (Jerbi) | frog |
| żrar | zrar (Mozabite, Ouargli), azrar (Kabyle, Nafusi) | gravel |
| werżieq | wárẓag (Mrazig) | cicada, lit. screamer, shrieker |
| buqexrem | buqišrem (Kabyle) | vervain (Verbena officinalis) |
| fidloqqom | fudalɣem (Kabyle) | borage (Borago officinalis) |
| żorr | uzur (Kabyle), uzzur (Tarifit) | rude, arrogant |
| lellex | lelleš (Mozabite) | to shine, to glitter |
| pespes | bbesbes (Ouargli) | to whisper |
| teptep | ṭṭebṭeb (Ouargli) | to blink, to twinkle |
| webbel | webben (Mozabite) | to induce, to tempt |
English
[edit]English loanwords, which are becoming more commonplace, may constitute up to 20% of Maltese vocabulary,<ref name="autogenerated2" /> though other sources claim as little as 6%.Template:Sfnp This percentage discrepancy is due to the fact that a number of new English loanwords are sometimes not considered part of the official Maltese vocabulary, hence they are not included in certain dictionaries.Template:Sfnp Also, English loanwords of Latinate origin are very often Italianized, as discussed above. English loanwords are generally transliterated, although standard English pronunciation is virtually always retained. Below are a few examples:
| Maltese | English |
|---|---|
| futbol | football |
| baskitbol | basketball |
| klabb | club |
| friġġ | fridge |
"Fridge" is a common shortening of "refrigerator". "Refrigerator" is a Latinate word which could be imported into Maltese as rifriġeratori, whereas the Italian word is frigorifero or refrigeratore.
Calendar
[edit]The days of the week (Maltese: jiem il-ġimgħa) in Maltese, which are derived from Arabic, are referred to by number which is also typical in other Semitic languages, Days of the week are commonly preceded by the word nhar meaning 'day'.
| English | Maltese | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Il-Ħadd | first [day] |
| Monday | It-Tnejn | second [day] |
| Tuesday | It-Tlieta | third [day] |
| Wednesday | L-Erbgħa | fourth [day] |
| Thursday | Il-Ħamis | fifth [day] |
| Friday | Il-Ġimgħa | gathering [day] |
| Saturday | Is-Sibt | Sabbath [day] |
The months of the year (Maltese: Template:Lang) in Maltese are mostly derived from Sicilian, though Template:Lang and Template:Lang may be derived from African Romance via Siculo-Arabic.
| English | Maltese |
|---|---|
| January | Jannar |
| February | Frar |
| March | Marzu |
| April | April |
| May | Mejju |
| June | Ġunju |
| July | Lulju |
| August | Awwissu |
| September | Settembru |
| October | Ottubru |
| November | Novembru |
| December | Diċembru |
Time
[edit]| English | Maltese |
|---|---|
| today | illum |
| yesterday | ilbieraħ |
| tomorrow | għada |
| second | sekonda |
| minute | minuta (archaic: dqiqa) |
| hour | siegħa |
| day | jum or ġurnata |
| week | ġimgħa |
| month | xahar |
| year | sena |
Question words
[edit]| English | Maltese | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| What (standalone) | Xiex | Xiex? | What? |
| What (preceding) | X' | X' għamilt? | What did you do? |
| Who | Min | Min hu dak? | Who is he? |
| How | Kif | Kif inti llum? | How are you today? |
| Where | Fejn | Fejn sejjer? | Where are you going? |
| Where (from) | Mnejn | Mnejn ġie? | Where did he come from? |
| Why | Għala, Għaliex, Għalxiex, Ilgħala | Għala telaq? | Why did he leave? |
| Which | Liem, Liema | Liem wieħed hu tajjeb? | Which one is good? |
| When | Meta | Meta ħa titlaq? | When will you leave? |
| How Much | Kemm | Kemm jiswa dan? | How much does this cost? |
Sample phrases
[edit]| English<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Maltese |
|---|---|
| Hello. | Ħelow. |
| Yes. | Iva. |
| Yes, please. | Iva, jekk jogħġbok. |
| No. | Le. |
| No thanks. | Le grazzi. |
| Please. | Jekk jogħġbok. |
| Thank you. | Grazzi. |
| Thank you very much. | Grazzi ħafna. |
| You're welcome. | M'hemmx imniex. |
| I'd like a coffee please. | Nixtieq kafè, jekk jogħġbok. |
| Two beers please. | Żewġ birer, jekk jogħġbok. |
| Cheers! | Evviva! |
| Excuse me. | Skużani. |
| What time is it? | X'ħin hu? |
| Can you repeat that please? | Tista' tirrepeti jekk jogħġbok? |
| Please speak more slowly. | Jekk jogħġbok tkellem iktar bil-mod. |
| I don't understand. | Mhux qed nifhem/ Ma fhimtx. |
| Sorry. | Skużani. |
| Where are the toilets? | Fejn huma t-toilets? |
| How much does this cost? | Kemm jiswa dan? / Kemm tiswa din? |
| Welcome! | Merħba! |
| Good morning. | Bonġu. |
| Good afternoon. | Il-wara nofsinhar it-tajjeb. |
| Good evening. | Is-serata t-tajba. |
| Goodnight. | Il-lejl it-tajjeb. |
| Goodbye. | Saħħa/ Ċaw. |
Grammar
[edit]Maltese grammar is fundamentally derived from Arabic, although Latin and English noun pluralisation patterns are also used on borrowed words.
Adjectives and adverbs
[edit]Adjectives follow nouns. There are no separately formed native adverbs, and word order is fairly flexible. Both nouns and adjectives of Semitic origin take the definite article (for example, Template:Lang, lit. "The boy the elder"="The elder boy"). This rule does not apply to adjectives of Romance origin.
Nouns
[edit]Nouns are pluralised and also have a dual marker. Semitic plurals are complex; if they are regular, they are marked by -iet/-ijiet, e.g., art, artijiet "lands (territorial possessions or property)" (cf. Arabic -at and Hebrew -ot/-oth) or -in (cf. Arabic -īn and Hebrew -im). If irregular, they fall in the pluralis fractus (broken plural) category, in which a word is pluralised by internal vowel changes: ktieb, kotba " book", "books"; raġel, irġiel "man", "men".
Words of Romance origin are usually pluralised in two manners: addition of -i or -jiet. For example, lingwa, lingwi "languages", from Sicilian lingua, lingui.
Words of English origin are pluralised by adding either an "-s" or "-jiet", for example, friġġ, friġis from the word fridge. Some words can be pluralised with either of the suffixes to denote the plural. A few words borrowed from English can amalgamate both suffixes, like brikksa from the English brick, which can adopt either collective form brikks or the plural form brikksiet.
Derivation
[edit]As in Arabic, nouns are often derived by changing, adding or removing the vowels within a triliteral root. These are some of the patterns used for nouns:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- CaCiC – xadin (monkey), sadid (rust)
- CCiC – żbib (raisin)
- CaCCa – baqra (cow), basla (onion)
- CeCCa – werqa (leaf), xewqa (wish)
- CoCCa – borka (wild duck), forka (gallows)
- CaCC – qalb (heart), sajd (fishing)
- CeCC – kelb (dog), xemx (sun)
- CCuCija – tfulija (childhood), xbubija (maidenhood)
- CCuCa – rtuba (softness), bjuda (whiteness)
- CaCCaC – tallab (beggar), bajjad (whitewasher)
The so-called mimated nouns use the prefix m- in addition to vowel changes. This pattern can be used to indicate place names, tools, abstractions, etc. These are some of the patterns used for mimated nouns:
- ma-CCeC – marden (spindle)
- mi-CCeC – minkeb (elbow), miżwed (pod)
- mu-CCaC – musmar (nail), munqar (beak)
Article
[edit]The proclitic il- is the definite article, equivalent to "the" in English and "al-" in Arabic.
The Maltese article becomes l- before or after a vowel.
- l-omm (the mother)
- rajna l-Papa (we saw the Pope)
- il-missier (the father)
The Maltese article assimilates to a following non-ġ coronal consonant (called konsonanti xemxin "sun consonants"), namely:
- Ċ iċ-ċikkulata (the chocolate)
- D id-dar (the house)
- N in-nar (the fire)
- R ir-razzett (the farm)
- S is-serrieq (the saw)
- T it-tifel (the child)
- X ix-xemx (the sun)
- Ż iż-żarbuna (the shoe)
- Z iz-zalzett (the sausage)
Verbs
[edit]Verbs show the Semitic triliteral pattern, in which a verb is conjugated with prefixes, suffixes, and infixes (for example ktibna, Arabic katabna, Hebrew kathabhnu (Modern Hebrew: katavnu) "we wrote"). An example is the Semitic root X-M-X ('sun'), for example xemx (sun), xmux (suns), xemxi (sunny), xemxata (sunstroke), nixxemmex (I sunbathe), ma xxemmixtx (I didn't sunbathe), tixmix (the act of sunbathing).
Maltese also features the agglutination of verb suffixes indicating direction of action, for example agħmilhomli "make them for me"← agħmel "make" in the imperative + hom from huma "them" + li suffix indicating first person singular and ħasletielu "she washed it for him"←ħaslet "she washed" from the verb ħasel "to wash" + ie the object + lu suffix indicating third person masculine singular.
The two tenses are present and perfect. The Maltese verb system incorporates Romance verbs and adds Maltese suffixes and prefixes to them, for example; iddeċidejna "we decided" ← (i)ddeċieda "decide", a Romance verb + -ejna, a Maltese first person plural perfect marker.
Media
[edit]Template:Main As Malta is a multilingual country, the use of Maltese in the mass media is shared with other European languages, namely English and Italian. The majority of television stations broadcast from Malta in English or Maltese, although broadcasts from Italy in Italian are also received on the islands. Similarly, there are more Maltese-language radio programs than English ones broadcast from Malta, but again, Italian broadcasts are also picked up. Coverage in newspaper periodicals is generally equally split between Maltese and English.
Maltese is little used on the internet and few websites are written in the language. In a survey of Maltese cultural websites conducted in 2004 on behalf of the Maltese government, 12 of 13 were in English only and the remaining one was multilingual but did not include Maltese.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011, only 6.5 per cent of Maltese internet users reported employing Maltese online, which may be a consequence of the lack of online support for the language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Code-switching
[edit]The Maltese population, being fluent in both Maltese and English, displays code-switching (referred to as Maltenglish) in certain localities and between certain social groups.Template:Sfnp
See also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Bugeja, Kaptan Pawlu, Kelmet il-Malti (Maltese—English, English—Maltese Dictionary). Associated News Group, Floriana. 1999.
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
Further reading
[edit]- (it) Giovan Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Della lingua punica presentemente usata da maltesi Template:Webarchive, per Generoso Salomoni alla Piazza di S. Ignazio. Si vendono in Malta, 1750
- (it) Antonio Emanuele Caruana, Sull'origine della Lingua Maltese Template:Webarchive, Malta, Tipografia C. Busuttil, 1896
- (it) Giovanni Battista Falzon, Dizionario Maltese-Italiano-Inglese Template:Webarchive, G. Muscat, 1845 (1 ed.) Template:Webarchive, 1882 (2 ed.)
- (it) Giuseppe Nicola Letard, Nuova guida alla conversazione italiana, inglese e maltese ad uso delle scuole Template:Webarchive, Malta, 1866–75
- (it) Fortunato Panzavecchia, Grammatica della Lingua Maltese, M. Weiss, Malta, 1845
- (it) Michele Antonio Vassalli, Grammatica della lingua Maltese, 2 ed., Malta, 1827
- (it) Michele Antonio Vassalli, Lexicon Melitense-Latino-Italum Template:Webarchive, Roma, Fulgonius, 1796
- (it) Francesco Vella, Osservazioni sull'alfabeto maltese Template:Webarchive, 1840
- (it) Francesca Morando, Il-lingwa Maltija. Origine, storia, comparazione linguistica e aspetti morfologici, Prefazione di Joseph M. Brincat, Palermo, Edizioni La Zisa, 2017, ISBN 978-88-9911-339-1
- (en) S. Mamo, English-Maltese Dictionary Template:Webarchive, Malta, A. Aquilina, 1885
- (en) A Short Grammar of the Maltese Language Template:Webarchive, Malta, 1845
- (en) C. F. Schlienz, Views on the Improvement of the Maltese Language Template:Webarchive, Malta, 1838
- (en) Francesco Vella, Maltese Grammar for the Use of the English Template:Webarchive, Glaucus Masi, Leghorn, 1831
- (en) Francesco Vella, Dizionario portatile delle lingue Maltese Italiana, Inglese. pt. 1 Template:Webarchive, Livorno, 1843
- (en) Joseph Aquilina, Teach Yourself Maltese, English University Press, 1965
- (en) Geoffrey Hull, The Malta Language Question: A Case Study in Cultural Imperialism, Said International, Valletta, 1993
- (mt) Vicenzo Busuttil, Diziunariu mill Inglis ghall Malti, 2 parts, N. C. Cortis & Sons, Malta, 1900
External links
[edit]Template:InterWiki Template:Wiktionary category
- Template:Wikivoyage inline
- Maltese languages and literatures Template:Webarchive collection of L-Università ta' Malta
Template:Varieties of Arabic Template:Semitic languages Template:Maltese dialects Template:Languages of Sicily Template:Authority control