Les Maltais en Tunisie

Abstract

The Maltese in Tunisia - The speaker starts with a historical background and gives some tables of statistics. Throughout the 19th century an increasing number of people migrated from Malta to Tunisia, some 240 miles away, for economic reasons, coupled with the high birth-rate in Malta. These Maltese immigrants were offered French nationality by the colonial administration. After Tunisia became independent (1956), the status of the Maltese immigrants changed and the majority of them left. The reasons for their departure included the nationalization of foreign properties, and the abolishing of coach-drivers in Tunis itself, a particularly Maltese occupation.

Turning to the linguistic aspect, the speaker says that there was natural contact between the Maltese and the native Tunisians, the Maltese language being of Arabic origin. Also, the Maltese immigrants were in the same social class. The language spoken by the Maltese kept much of its original character, but at the same time was influenced to some extent in its phonology by Tunisian Arabic, and in its vocabulary also by Italian, Sicilian and, to a less extent, French.