Maltese children telling stories

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the language used by a select group of ten-year old Maltese boys telling the fairystory "Jack and the Beanstalk" in two versions, one in English, the other in Maltese.

After briefly introducing the area of study and giving an indication of the possibilities for study which it offers, a description of the method employed in the collection and transcription of data is given. This is followed by an analysis of the structure of the stories in the collection. In an analysis of aspects of the language used by the children in telling their stories, an attempt is made to uncover some of the patterns of interference which operate between the two languages spoken by the children. The final chapter deals with some of the linguistic mechanisms used by the subjects in the process of narrating their stories.