Kif il-Maltin jindirizzaw lill-genituri u 'l-kunjati taghhom

Abstract

In this sociolinguistic study, fieldwork was carried out to examine the inevitable influence which extralinguistic variables have on spoken language in the life of a Maltese speech community. The area chosen consists of the way in which the Maltese address their parents social and in-laws. Non-linguistic variables, class, sex, age and locality, were correlated namely with linguistic variables collected from the research carried out in certain places in Malta. Thus, one could examine whether these extralinguistic factors influence the linguistic variable used. Social class was further examined to see whether it is as effective as or more than the other variables.