ABSTRACT

The use of some languages in Malta is attested as far back as the early Roman period, by inscriptions in Punic, Greek and Latin, and again during the post-Norman period, when documents were written in Latin and/or chancery Sicilian, while Maltese continued to be spoken. The 400,000 inhabitants of Malta and Gozo, living in an area of just 316 sq km, nowadays use Maltese, English and Italian regularly, and their exposure to the three languages unavoidably determines a degree of intermingling. The immediate result of the strong exposure and widespread use of different languages is the ongoing change of the native language. Living with three languages does produce problems, but on the whole Maltese citizens succeed in communicating to meet their own particular needs, obviously in different degrees according to linguistic competence. Students also tend to reproduce the interferences in their written work, a practice for which the term 'maltaliano' has been coined, suggesting both 'bad Italian' and 'Maltese Italian'.