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Maltese is the national language of Malta, and an official language of the European union It is
derived from and most closely related to Arabic - in particular, the
North African dialect - but in the course of its history it has adopted many loans and even phonetic and phonological features
from (Southern) Italian (particularly Sicilian) and English. Maltese is the only Semitic
language written in the Latin alphabet.
There are a significant number of Maltese expatriates in Australia who still
use the language. Maltese became an official language of Malta in
1936, alongside English. Before that year, the official language of Malta was Italian.
Grammar
Although influenced by Romance, Maltese grammar is still strongly semitic. Adjectives follow nouns, there are no separately
formed native adverbs, and word order is fairly flexible. As in Arabic and Hebrew, both nouns and adjectives (those of Semitic
origin) take the definite article (e.g. L-Art l-Imqaddsa, lit. "The Land the Holy = The Holy Land"; cf. Arabic
Al-Ardh al-Muqaddasa). This rule does not apply to nouns and adjectives of Romance origin.
Nouns are pluralized and also have a dual marker
(unique among modern European languages, with the exception of Slovene and Sorbian). Verbs still show a
triliteral Semitic pattern, in which a verb is conjuaged with prefixes, suffixes, and infixes (e.g. ktibna, Arabic
katabna, Hebrew katavnu "we wrote"). There are two tenses: present and perfect.
What is unusual about the Maltese verb system is that it incorporates Romance verbs and adds Arabic suffixes and prefixes to
them (e.g. iddeċidejna "we decided" < (i)ddeċieda 'Romance verb' + -ejna 'Arabic 1st
person plural perfect marker'). Arabic and Hebrew only rarely do this, although several Arabic dialects do.
Maltese grammar generally shows two patterns: a Semitic pattern and a Romance pattern. It is like two grammars in one.
The Romance pattern is generally simpler. Words of Romance origin are usually pluralized in two manners: addition of
-i or -jiet (e.g. lingwa, lingwi "languages"; arti, artijiet "arts").
Semitic plurals, however, are much more complex; if they are regular, they are marked by -iet/-ijiet (cf.
Arabic -at and Hebrew -ot) or -in (cf. Hebrew -im). If irregular, they fall in the
pluralis fractus category, in which a word is pluralized by internal vowel changes: ktieb, kotba
"books", raġel, irġiel "men". This is very well developed in Arabic and also exhibited by Hebrew
(sefer, sfarim "books").
Vocabulary
Maltese vocabulary is a hybrid of Arabic Semitic roots and Sicilian Italian (rather than Tuscan Italian) words. In this
respect it is similar to English (Germanic-Romance mix) and Persian (Arabic/Indo-Iranian mix).
Usually words expressing basic concepts and ideas are of Arabic origin, whereas more 'learned' words, having to do with new
ideas, objects, government, law, education, art, literature, and general learning, are derived from Sicilian. Thus words like
raġel man, mara woman, tifel child, dar house, xemx sun, sajf summer,
are of Arabic origin. While words like skola school, gvern government, repubblika republic,
re king, natura nature, pulizija police, ċentru center, teatru theater,
differenza difference, are derived from Sicilian. It is estimated that 50% of the vocabulary is Semitic, the rest being
Romance.
Romance words usually reflect Sicilian and not Tuscan pronunciation. Thus final 'o' becomes 'u' in Maltese, after Sicilian
(e.g. teatru not teatro as in Tuscan). Also, final Italian 'e' becomes 'i': arti art, fidi
faith, lokali local (cf. Italian arte, fide, locale). /S/ (English 'sh') is written 'x' and this
produces interesting spellings: ambaxxata /ambaSSa:ta/ is 'embassy', xena /Se:na/ is 'scene'.
English loan words are commonplace, including strajk strike, daljali dial, along with union (as in
trade union), leave and bonus, which are not
transliterated.
Phonology
Below is the Maltese alphabet, with the SAMPA equivalents and approximate English pronunciation:
| letter |
SAMPA |
pronunciation |
| A |
a |
are |
| B |
b |
bar, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "P" |
| Ċ |
tS |
church |
| D |
d |
day, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "T" |
| E |
E |
end |
| F |
f |
far |
| Ġ |
dZ |
jump |
| G |
g |
game, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "K" |
| GĦ |
|
has the effect of lengthening and pharyngealizing associated vowels, except when immediately followed by a "H", in which case
it has the sound of a double "Ħ". |
| H |
|
Not pronounced unless it is at the end of a word, in which case it has the sound of "Ħ". |
| Ħ |
h |
hard |
| I |
I |
inside |
| IE |
i |
east |
| J |
j |
yard |
| K |
k |
cave |
| L |
l |
line |
| M |
m |
march |
| N |
n |
next |
| O |
Q |
ore |
| P |
p |
part |
| Q |
? |
glottal stop, a guttural sound, found in the Cockney English pronunciation of "bottle" |
| R |
r |
roar |
| S |
s |
sand |
| T |
t |
tired |
| U |
u |
put |
| V |
v |
vast, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "F" |
| W |
w |
wire |
| X |
S |
shade |
| Z |
ts |
pizza, but in some loan words it is pronounced as 'dz' |
| Ż |
z |
maze, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "S" |
Maltese is also a breed of dog.
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