Normative studies in Malta

Abstract

Maltese, born and developed during the Arab domination of Malta between AD 870 and AD 1091, is the only national language in Europe which is of Semitic origin. The end of the Arab period and the consequent gradual re-absorption of the island into the Western world - Malta was conq uered by Roger of Normandy in 1091 - marked the beginning of an influx of romance lexes, particularly from Sicily. The linguistic ties with Malta's Mediterranean neighbour, and with the Italian peninsula in general, were further strengthened during the rule of the Hospitaller Knights of St John of Jerusalem (1530- 1798). By the time the British came to Malta in 1800. Maltese already had an identity of its own. However. as time passed, and especially during the latter stages of Britain's 164-year rule, Anglo-Saxon terminology, in particular in the technica l and scientific fields , became part and parcel of the Maltese language, which was thus defined as a mixed language. The evolutionary process of the language is still under way; a process which has been so intense that Maltese words of non-Semitic origin now outnumber those of Semitic origin.