Transcript Manglish
The Maltese Language The Maltese Language ‘materia semitica in bocca romanza’ - Giovanni Mangion a ‘hybrid language which […] stands today as a truly unique linguistic mosaic’ – Hubert-Bonnal and Anne Tronche Since it was first colonised Malta has never been very far from the centre of events and has often played a critical part in the making of history. Malta as ‘l’île sacrée de la Mediterranée’ ’ Hal Tarxien Hal Tarxien Ggantija Ggantija Haġar Qim Hal Tarxien Hal Saflieni History of the Maltese Islands 800 BC The Phoenicians and Carthaginians 218 BC The Romans 870 AD The Arabs 13th century Aragonese/Spanish 1530 The Knights of St John 1798 The French 1800 The British 1964 Maltese independence 1974 Maltese republic St Paul’s Bay St Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina Catacombs of St Paul The Maltese Alphabet Vowels a e i ie o u a, b, ċ, d, e, f, ġ, g, għ, h, ħ, i, ie, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, u, r, s, t, v, w, x, ż, z Pronunciation ċ ~ church ġ ~ jar għ is silent h is silent like h in heir ħ ~ hat ie ~ peer ż ~ buzz Maltese words of Semitic origin ilma - water baħar - sea xita - rain ħadid - iron deheb - gold kelb - dog ħawħa - peach ħalib - milk uġigħ - pain fidda - silver tiġieġa - hen inbid - wine ferħ - happiness Trilitteralism Present Tense Past Tense Verb Stem jien nikteb int tikteb huwa jikteb hija tikteb aħna niktbu intom tiktbu huma jiktbu kiser Roots k–s–r he broke libes l–b–s he put on xorob x–r–b he drank fetaħ f–t–ħ he opened kiteb k–t–b he wrote seraq s–r–q he stole jien ktibt int ktibt huwa kiteb hija kitbet aħna ktibna intom ktibtu huma kitbu I wrote you wrote he wrote I write you write he writes she writes she wrote we write we wrote you write you wrote they write they wrote The trilitteral system has the capability of creating new words from the verb which exhibits such a root, e.g. mitjar (airport) from T – J – R or semmiegha (a listening audience) from S – M – Għ. Many words of non-Arabic origin have also been incorporated into Maltese through the use of this system, e.g. P – T – R from Pittore (Italian for painter) are extracted and used to derive many of the tenses, verbs, and nouns of this same word, e.g. PiTTeR (he painted), PiTTuR (painter), and tPiTTeR (he is painted). From the S – R – P of serpe (Italian for snake) are derived SeRP (snake), SRieP (snakes), SeRReP (he snaked), SSeRReP (he is snaked), etc. Some sentences utilising verbs designed from trilitteralism Jien naqra l-ktieb. I read the book. Int tikser it-tazza. You break the glass. Hu xorob l-ilma. He drank water. Hi fetħet il-bieb. She opened the door. Maltese has extended triliterralism in an autonomous fashion and has continued to generate from native roots inherited in Arabic, new words that do not occur in Classical or vernacular Arabic, e.g. ndaħal (he interfered) and ndħil (interference) from daħal (to enter). The Maltese Numbers 1 wieħe d 2 tnejn 3 tlieta 4 erbgħa 5 ħamsa 6 sitta 7 sebgħa 8 tmienja 9 disgħa 10 għaxra 11 ħdax 12 tnax 13 tlettax 14 erbatax 15 ħmista x 16 sittax 17 sbatax 18 tmintax 19 dsatax 20 għoxrin Unlike French and English, the Maltese numbers after 20, have their tens preceded by the units. E.g. 21 is wieħed u għoxrin Also, unlike French, there is one word for each of the following: 70 sebgħin 80 tmenin 90 disgħin Like French, in Maltese, an adjective follows the noun it qualifies and agrees with it in gender and number. However, the adjective is placed after the noun. Jien naqra sitt kotba kbar. I read six large books. Maria hi mara twila. Maria is a tall lady. 1266-83 The Angevins 1283-1410 The Aragonese 1412-1530 The Castillians The effects of Semitic linguistic isolation on Maltese Lexical fusion of discrete Arabic elements Maltese Literal Translation Meaning madankollu with all of this nevertheless għalfejn whereto why minħabba out of love of because Semantic shifts Maltese Arabic ħafna much ħafna handful wisq too much wasq (Cairo) cargo Old Arabic words attested in Classical Arabic Maltese Old Arabic mindu since munδu/muδ qatt never qattu seta, jista to be able isţa:’, yusţi:’ Italian influence on Maltese familja family sopran soprano pinnola pill musiċista musician pjazza square kwart a fourth villa villa vjolin violin sala hall letteratura literature tornavit screwdriver nota note kaptan captain sunett sonnet Concatenate Morphology The principle part of a free morpheme is created through a morphemic stem that does not change, and with which are added prefixes and/or suffixes. to pretend present tense past tense Prefix Morphemic Stem Suffix Prefix Morphemic Stem Suffix I jien nip pretend i p pretend ejt you inti tip pretend i p pretend ejt he huwa jip pretend i p pretend a she hija tip pretend i p pretend iet we aħna nip pretend u p pretend ejna you intom tip pretend u p pretend ejtu they huma jip pretend u p pretend ew to consult past tense present tense Prefix Morphemic Stem Suffix Prefix Morphemic Stem Suffix I jien nik konsult a k konsult ajt you inti tik konsult a k konsult ajt he huwa jik konsult a k konsult a she hija tik konsult a k konsult at we aħna nik konsult aw k konsult ajna you intom tik konsult aw k konsult ajtu they huma jik konsult aw k konsult aw French influence on Maltese French derivative Meaning ċaċċis chassis the chasings of a door or window sjett assiette a small plate bonġu bonjour good morning; good afternoon bonswa bonsoir good evening; good night surtun surtout a tailcoat Inter-War Malta The Semitic-Romance Polarisation Examples of different lexicons for the same concept iżża ħajr rringrazzja (he thanked) Il-ġellieda qalbiena kisbu rebħa kbira għal Malta. Is-suldati kuraġġjużi akkwistaw vittorja grandjuża lil Malta. (The courageous warriors won a great victory for Malta.) Malta after 1870 The Language Question Italian as language of social distinction English as language of the empire Labour party → preference of English to Italian Nationalist part → the paripassu system Malta after World War II English Influence on Maltese Sports football futbol player plejer Jobs mechanic mekkanik electrician elektrixin Technology computer kompjuter calculator kalkjulejter Furniture deckchair dekċer cupboard kabord Entertainment disco disko party parti Maltese Verbs derived from English to test it test ja ittestja testjatura tester to run ir rann ja irranja rannjatura rannjar to shock ix xokk ja ixxokkja to weld iw weld ja iwweldja weldjatura welder to type it tajp ja ittajpja testers welders the national language of Malta in 1934 ↑ Maltese ↓ an official language of the EU in 2004 Bilingualism in Malta …and the Manglish phenomenon