Maltese

Maltese is the national language of Malta, and an official language of the European Union. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet in its standard form.Apart from its phonology, Maltese bears considerable similarity to urban varieties of Tunisian Arabic and other North African Arabic dialects, however in the course of history, the language has adopted numerous loanwords, phonetic and phonological features, and even morphological and syntactic patterns from Sicilian, Italian, and English.

Malta has two official languages, Maltese and English. The English language is a leftover of about 160 years of British colonisation of Malta. Maltese, whose closest languages are Maghrebi Arabic, Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian, is the only Semitic language which is written in Roman alphabet. Italian, too, is widely spoken among the younger generation, particularly due to the television programs which are transmitted from nearby Italy. If you don't speak Maltese and are willing to spend sometime with our Survival Maltese you'll find that the Maltese language is interesting enough to make a little effort very worthwhile.
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BASIC MALTESE
compiled by Grazio Falzon
BASIC ENGLISH-MALTESE DICTIONARY
BASIC MALTESE GRAMMAR
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MALTESE GRAMMAR
MALTESE DICTIONARY AND PHRASEBOOK (Maltese-English / English-Maltese)
SURVIVAL MALTESE

THE LANGUAGE SITUATION IN THE MALTESE ISLANDS
by John Xuereb

MALTESE POETRY ONLINE
compiled by Grazio Falzon
RELATED TOPICS

POETRY

RELATED SECTIONS on aboutmalta.com

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT : THEATRE and DANCE
EDUCATION
FOLKLORE
FOOD and DRINK
GOVERNMENT and POLITICS
GOZO and COMINO
HISTORY
MALTESE OUTSIDE MALTA
NEWS and MEDIA
RELIGION
TRAVEL and TOURISM

This commentary is based on research, however, it should not be taken as the ultimate, authoritative theory on the origins of the Maltese language.

Reference material is provided in the numerated 'Notes' linked via hypertext and it is strongly suggested that you read an entire sentence, if not the paragraph, before clicking to the relevant Note (and back) so as not to lose sight of the context.

? ? ? A note of caution: ? ? ? Many could profess to be more scholarly on the subject and, indeed, some may even argue against certain aspects of this commentary. ? But, in all fairness, this may also be said of all historical theories since the so-called, long-held 'truths' of yesteryear are today being challenged and disproven 1 by findings, at times, even coming from other, independent disciplines.

Such intriguiging findings 2 have, in fact, shed new light where Malta's native tongue is concerned, stirring different hypotheses about its origins, although at this present time most local and international scholars, by and large, appear to agree on a central idea.