La minorite maltaise de Tunisie : ethnie arabe ou europeenne?

Abstract

As a result of the Maltese having a Mediterranean culture and a Semitic language, conditions would be thought to have been favourable for their Arabicization in Tunisia. However, although the Maltese spoke a language the vocabulary of which was largely borrowed from Tunisian, and despite the acculturation of food, bodily hygiene; habitat, superstition and folklore, they did not regard themselves as Arabs. The speaker says that it was their religious ideology which prevented them from being Arabicized, since their everyday life was regulated by the parish priest. The Maltese clergy weren't opposed to the colonial policy of settling French people in Tunisia, which resulted in the "francisization" of many Maltese. Succeeding generations were "disarabicized", and on Tunisia becoming independent the majority of them left and settled in Europe