Languages of Malta
Encyclopedia
The current national language of Malta
is Maltese
, which along with English
, is one of the official languages.
Having been governed by many different countries in the past, the Maltese population
carry linguistic imprints from many places. Almost 100% of Maltese people can speak Maltese, 88% of the Maltese people can speak English, 66% can speak Italian
, and nowadays more than 17% of the Maltese speak French
. This shows a recent increase in the fluency of languages, since in 1995, only 98% of the population spoke Maltese, 76% English, 36% Italian, and 10% French. Surprisingly, it also shows an increase in Italian fluency compared to when Italian was an official language of Malta.
French, German and Spanish are the main other languages studied at secondary school.
Maltese is the national language of the Maltese people, and one of the official languages of Malta and the European Union
. It is a Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic
; however a majority of vocabulary comes from Sicilian
and Italian
, as described by Maltese linguist May Butcher
. 52% of Maltese words are of Romance origin, a result of significant influence from Italy
(in particular Sicily
) and, to a lesser extent, France
. Malta holds the distinction of being the only country in Europe with a historically Semitic language. The Maltese language is written with a modified Latin Alphabet which includes the letters ż
, ċ
, ġ
, ħ, and għ.
Various localities have accents and dialects divergent from standard Maltese. There has been a decline in the number of dialectal speakers, mostly because of exposure to standard Maltese in the media and the institutionalisation of education. The standard language also shows a more pronounced Italicization and Anglicization of the language.
possession, and a result of this is that English is still an official language, with government business being carried out in both English and Maltese. Most Maltese learn English in school, this being obligatory in most cases. Secondary and tertiary education are given exclusively in English. Today, 88% of Malta's population speak English. Aside from Maltese
, English
is the only other official language of the country. Although standard English is official, the variety of English commonly spoken in Malta is heavily influenced by Italian, not only in vocabulary (most commonly by pronouncing English words of Franco-Latin origin in an Italian style) but extending to phonology, with the English being heavily accented; however, Received Pronunciation
remains standard amongst Maltese individuals of a certain socioeconomic bracket.
Before the 1930s, Italian was the official language of Malta. Italian irredentists and Italian Maltese
wanted to promote its use throughout Malta for plans to re-unify it to Italy (Malta was part of the Kingdom of Sicily up to 16th century). Although only the rich could speak Italian, with Maltese being generally spoken by those less well off, Italian was regarded as the official language.
Today, 66% of the Maltese population can speak Italian, and 2% of the population "prefers" to use it in day to day conversation. Although Italian has since been exchanged for English as the official language, it is still used and is spoken commonly in certain professional workplaces. The percentage of speakers today, 66%, is in fact much greater than when the language was actually official, in 1931, when only 14% spoke it.
An interesting fact is that a large number of Maltese learn Italian through Italian television, mainly Mediaset
and RAI
, as their broadcasts reach the Maltese Islands. In addition to this, many products, services, and businesses that reach Malta are Italian, with Malta being too small on its own to produce some things, so many people learn Italian like this.
In addition to the Italian language itself being spoken in Malta, 30% of Maltese vocabulary is of Sicilian and Italian origin. This means that many words in Italian and Maltese are almost interchangeable, and a Maltese conversation typically includes much Italian vocabulary. In this way, the Italian language influences everyday speech.
, and quite a few understand or speak Spanish
or German
, although several other languages are studied too.
The Governmental Circular letter for the school year 2011-2012 shows the following language options should be available in schools:
Form I (around the age of 11)
This language is studied for the five years in Secondary School
Form III (around the age of 13)
This language is studied for the last three years in Secondary School
The vast majority of people preferred English as their choice of reading, with English being preferred by 61.13% of the population for books and 70.89% for magazines. Only 35.75% of the Maltese population preferred to read books in Maltese, and 22.65% of them preferred it for magazines.
82.41% of the population regularly listens to Maltese radio, 25.41% listens to Italian, and a smaller 14.69% listened to English radio.
towards English amongst the Maltese
, with lexological and grammatical patterns in the Maltese language increasingly anglicized. However this absorption of linguistic influences saturates the history of the Maltese language, which remains spoken by almost 100% of the population.
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
is Maltese
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, which along with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, is one of the official languages.
Having been governed by many different countries in the past, the Maltese population
Maltese people
The Maltese are an ethnic group indigenous to the Southern European nation of Malta, and identified with the Maltese language. Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea...
carry linguistic imprints from many places. Almost 100% of Maltese people can speak Maltese, 88% of the Maltese people can speak English, 66% can speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and nowadays more than 17% of the Maltese speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. This shows a recent increase in the fluency of languages, since in 1995, only 98% of the population spoke Maltese, 76% English, 36% Italian, and 10% French. Surprisingly, it also shows an increase in Italian fluency compared to when Italian was an official language of Malta.
French, German and Spanish are the main other languages studied at secondary school.
Maltese
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. It is a Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic
Siculo-Arabic
Siculo-Arabic was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries. It is extinct in Sicily, but it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta....
; however a majority of vocabulary comes from Sicilian
Sicilian language
Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, as described by Maltese linguist May Butcher
May Butcher
May Butcher was an English-born Maltese writer who translated several works from the Maltese language into English....
. 52% of Maltese words are of Romance origin, a result of significant influence from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(in particular Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
) and, to a lesser extent, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Malta holds the distinction of being the only country in Europe with a historically Semitic language. The Maltese language is written with a modified Latin Alphabet which includes the letters ż
Z
Z is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Name and pronunciation:In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed , reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English, its name is zee , deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal...
, ċ
C
Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets...
, ġ
G
G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,...
, ħ, and għ.
Various localities have accents and dialects divergent from standard Maltese. There has been a decline in the number of dialectal speakers, mostly because of exposure to standard Maltese in the media and the institutionalisation of education. The standard language also shows a more pronounced Italicization and Anglicization of the language.
English
Before independence in 1964, Malta was a BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
possession, and a result of this is that English is still an official language, with government business being carried out in both English and Maltese. Most Maltese learn English in school, this being obligatory in most cases. Secondary and tertiary education are given exclusively in English. Today, 88% of Malta's population speak English. Aside from Maltese
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
is the only other official language of the country. Although standard English is official, the variety of English commonly spoken in Malta is heavily influenced by Italian, not only in vocabulary (most commonly by pronouncing English words of Franco-Latin origin in an Italian style) but extending to phonology, with the English being heavily accented; however, Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
remains standard amongst Maltese individuals of a certain socioeconomic bracket.
Italian and Sicilian
Italian maltese
Italian maltese are the Maltese people who supported Italian irredentism in Malta and believe the Maltese islands are part of Italy.-Characteristics:During the Middle Ages the Maltese islands were integrated with Sicily...
wanted to promote its use throughout Malta for plans to re-unify it to Italy (Malta was part of the Kingdom of Sicily up to 16th century). Although only the rich could speak Italian, with Maltese being generally spoken by those less well off, Italian was regarded as the official language.
Today, 66% of the Maltese population can speak Italian, and 2% of the population "prefers" to use it in day to day conversation. Although Italian has since been exchanged for English as the official language, it is still used and is spoken commonly in certain professional workplaces. The percentage of speakers today, 66%, is in fact much greater than when the language was actually official, in 1931, when only 14% spoke it.
An interesting fact is that a large number of Maltese learn Italian through Italian television, mainly Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
and RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
, as their broadcasts reach the Maltese Islands. In addition to this, many products, services, and businesses that reach Malta are Italian, with Malta being too small on its own to produce some things, so many people learn Italian like this.
In addition to the Italian language itself being spoken in Malta, 30% of Maltese vocabulary is of Sicilian and Italian origin. This means that many words in Italian and Maltese are almost interchangeable, and a Maltese conversation typically includes much Italian vocabulary. In this way, the Italian language influences everyday speech.
Preferences
Although many people are fluent in Maltese, English, and Italian, 86% of the population prefer to speak in Maltese, 12% English, and 2% Italian.Foreign languages
In addition to Italian, many Maltese generally have some degree of proficiency in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and quite a few understand or speak Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
or German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, although several other languages are studied too.
The Governmental Circular letter for the school year 2011-2012 shows the following language options should be available in schools:
Form I (around the age of 11)
- Arabic
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
This language is studied for the five years in Secondary School
Form III (around the age of 13)
- Arabic
- French
- German
- Italian
- Russian
- Spanish
This language is studied for the last three years in Secondary School
Publications
There are equal numbers of newspapers written in English and Maltese, with none being written in Italian.The vast majority of people preferred English as their choice of reading, with English being preferred by 61.13% of the population for books and 70.89% for magazines. Only 35.75% of the Maltese population preferred to read books in Maltese, and 22.65% of them preferred it for magazines.
Radio
Regarding radio, Italian takes the place of English, with radio stations being predominantly in Maltese and Italian, with a few in English too.82.41% of the population regularly listens to Maltese radio, 25.41% listens to Italian, and a smaller 14.69% listened to English radio.
Television
The local channels in Malta are broadcast mainly in Maltese and sometimes English. Nonetheless, Malta is supplied with digital stations from around the world as the rest of Europe (meaning Sky, TPS, and others can be seen on Maltese television).Online usage of Maltese language
Maltese is not a commonly used language on the internet, with the majority of "Maltese" websites being written in other languages. Out of a survey conducted on 13 Maltese websites, 12 of them were entirely in English, with one being bilingual, but not Maltese.Future
Possible scenarios for the future of the Maltese language are a subject of speculation among scholars. Dialectal variation of Maltese are in decline while towards a more standardized usage is one current trend. Another is a tendency to adopt influence from English and Italian. There is a perceived language shiftLanguage shift
Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...
towards English amongst the Maltese
Maltese people
The Maltese are an ethnic group indigenous to the Southern European nation of Malta, and identified with the Maltese language. Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea...
, with lexological and grammatical patterns in the Maltese language increasingly anglicized. However this absorption of linguistic influences saturates the history of the Maltese language, which remains spoken by almost 100% of the population.