The Maltese language at risk

Abstract

Professor Raymond Mangion’s monograph titled The Legislative and Constitutional Development of the Maltese language in a Historico- Literary Context published last year by Midsea Books is a first of its kind. I am not aware of any book that has ever been hitherto published which introspects the Maltese language from such diverse aspects as the legal, legislative, constitutional, historical, and literary perspectives. In this book, we encounter the chequered history of the Maltese language that has developed progressively, though painfully, over the centuries until it reached its fulfilment when Malta achieved its independence from the UK. The Maltese language has traversed multiple stages since its inceptions centuries ago, not only those of customary law and statutory law, but it was only as recent as 22 September 1964 that it anchored itself for the first time in Malta’s fundamental law – the Constitution of Malta.