A phonetic and phonological analysis of vowels in the dialect of Żebbuġ (Malta)

Abstract

This study aims to describe the vowels of the Maltese dialect of Ħaż-Żebbuġ, otherwise known as Żebbuġi. This chapter starts by providing background information on the town of Ħaż-Żebbuġ, specifically by focusing on its population, history, and the sociolinguistic situation. The discussion of the sociolinguistic context looks into the social divisions in the town and how these affect the locals’ use of language (Section 1.1). A section which outlines the aims of the study (Section 1.2) follows, after which the transcription conventions used in this dissertation are laid out (Section 1.3). The chapter ends with an overview of this dissertation which outlines the main contents of each chapter (Section 1.4).