Maltese

## Overview

**Maltese** (Maltese: *Malti*) 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, the extinct variety of Arabic that developed in Sicily and was later introduced to Malta, between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century AD. Maltese has evolved independently of Literary Arabic and its varieties into a standardized language over the past 800 years in a gradual process of Latinisation. Maltese is therefore considered an exceptional descendant of Arabic that has no diglossic relationship with Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic, and is classified separately from the Arabic macrolanguage. Maltese is also unique among Semitic languages since its morphology has been deeply influenced by Romance languages, namely Italian and Sicilian.

The original Semitic base (Siculo-Arabic) comprises around one-third of the Maltese vocabulary, especially words that denote basic ideas and the function words, but about half of the vocabulary is derived from standard Italian and Sicilian; and English words make up between 6% and 20% of the vocabulary. A recent 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, which is related to Siculo-Arabic, whereas speakers of Tunisian are able to understand about 40% of what is said to them in Maltese. This reported level of asymmetric intelligibility is considerably lower than the mutual intelligibility found between Arabic dialects.

Maltese has always been written in the Latin script, the earliest surviving example dating from the late Middle Ages. It remains the only standardized Semitic language written in the Latin script.

## History

The origins of the Maltese language are attributed to the arrival, early in the eleventh century, of settlers from neighbouring Sicily, where Siculo-Arabic was spoken, following the Fatimid Caliphate's conquest of the island at the end of the ninth century. 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.

The Norman conquest in 1090, 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. In contrast to Sicily (where Siculo-Arabic became extinct, replaced by Sicilian), the vernacular in Malta continued to develop alongside Italian, eventually replacing it as official language in 1934 (alongside English).

## Maltese excerpt from Wikipedia article "Lingwa Maltija"

Matul bosta żminijiet il-Maltin ħaddnu l-ilsien Taljan bħala l-ilsien uffiċjali tal-pajjiż. : Il-Kavallieri ta' San Ġwann, bejn l-1530 u l-1798 ħaddnu t-Taljan bħala lingwa uffiċjali (ferm qabel l-Italja stess, li ngħaqdet bħala stat wieħed, bid-djalett Toskan, il-Fjorentin, djalett Taljan ta' Firenze, bħala lingwa nazzjonali) fl-1864.

Mal-wasla tal-Ingliżi fis-sena 1800, il-gżejjer Maltin għaddew minn taħt idejn ir-Re taż-Żewġ Sqallijiet, li kien wiret iċ-ċens perpetwu tal-Gżejjer Maltin mingħand l-Sagru Imperu Ruman, għal taħt il-kmand tal-Imperu Brittanniku uffiċjalment fis-sena 1814, u tant kienu importanti għall-Ingliżi li dawn kienu lesti jattakkaw lill-Franċiżi mbasta Malta tibqa' f'idejhom. Lingwistikament dan ma biddel xejn għaliex it-Taljan kompla jgawdi għeruq fondi ġewwa Malta l-aktar fost il-klassijiet kolti, professjonisti, reliġjużi imlaħħqa u kummerċjanti kbar.

Mal-wasla tagħhom f'Malta, l-Ingliżi sabu pajjiż bi klassi ta' nies ta' skola (tobba, avukati, kjeriċi, nutara, periti u riċerkaturi) li kienu jappoġġaw it-Taljan, u meta tħalliet il-libertà tal-istampa naraw kif bdew ifaqqsu rivisti u ġurnali bit-Taljan. Kien fattur li poġġa lil Malta fi klassi oħra ta' territorji maħkuma mill-Ingliżi. Malta kellha l-klassi politika tagħha, il-qrati istitwiti tagħha, reliġjon organizzata, u bażi infrastrutturali ta' portijiet u difiża interessanti għal dak iż-żmien. Żgur li din tal-aħħar flimkien mas-serħan tal-moħħ li Malta ma kenitx ser toffri reżistenza popolari, kienu attrazzjonijiet li żammew lill-Imperu Brittanniku f'Malta dak iż-żmien.

Tajjeb li nosservaw li għalkemm il-klassi kolta tal-pajjiż kienet żgħira fl-għadd u għal daqstant f'minoranza meta mqabbla mal-popolazzjoni kollha, din ma kinitx karatteristika esklussivament lokali. Infatti, din kienet qagħda li wieħed seta' jqabbel ma' żoni oħrajn tal-Ewropa meridjonali (bħal fi Sqallija u fl-Italja t'Isfel) fejn ftit kienu n-nies li kellhom aċċess għat-tagħlim.

L-element ta' konvenjenza politika beda jaqbad art ġmielu hekk kif l-ekonomija u l-kummerċ tjiebu, u dan ġara b'mod speċjali meta faqqgħet il-gwerra tal-Krimea u meta nfetaħ il Kanal ta' Swejtz, li poġġa 'l Malta fir-rotta prinċipali tal-Imperu Britanniku. Il-preżenza militari Ingliża attirat kummerċ u ċaqliq ta' nies, saħħet is-snajjiet tradizzjonali abbinati mal-industriji portali iżda introduċiet snajja' ġodda u tagħlim ġdid fil-mekkanika. F'kelma waħda, żdied il-kuntatt mal-Ingliżi tant li l-lingwa Ingliża (għax konvenjenti ekonomikament u 'l quddiem, anki politikament) bdiet tinbet bħala t-tieni lingwa wara t-Taljan. Din tal-aħħar kienet predominju (ħakma) tal-professjonisti u kjerici li kellhom rispett u importanza mill-popolin. Il-popolin qajla kellu aċċess għat-tagħlim għaldaqstant ftit li xejn kellu rwol f'dan il-kuntest ta' żvilupp lingwistiku dak iż-żmien.