The rise of Maltese in Malta : social and educational perspectives

Abstract

This paper focuses on Maltese, the indigenous language of Malta – a miniscule island in the heart of the Mediterranean and a former colony of Britain until its Independence in 1964. Malta's two official languages are English and Maltese, the indigenous language that has been spoken by the Maltese for centuries, but which for a long time, had been looked down upon and dubbed 'the language of the kitchen' by the educated Maltese who mainly spoke Italian or English. This paper examines the results of a series of large-scale surveys conducted by the author over a period of nearly a decade. During that period, Maltese language use steadily soared to the extent that overwhelmingly; respondents in the 1999 survey considered Maltese as the most important language for a person living in Malta. Moreover, the most recent survey (2001) revealed that the native language of the Maltese people is Maltese (98.6%). Why has Maltese become so important for a small island state that has applied for EU membership and what are the implications for English and other languages in Malta?