Maltese language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Maltese |
|
|---|---|
| Malti | |
| Native to | Malta |
| Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1975) |
| Language family |
Afro-Asiatic
|
| Writing system | Latin (Maltese alphabet) Maltese Braille |
| Official status | |
| Official language in |  Malta European Union |
| Regulated by | National Council for the Maltese Language Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti |
| Linguasphere | 12-AAC-c |
Maltese is the language of Malta, and a language of the European Union. Maltese sounds similar to the Phoenician language that was spoken in areas around the ancient Mediterranean. It is written in the Latin alphabet like English. The language has borrowed many words from Sicilian, Italian, and English. Around 393,000 people speak Maltese. Most of them live in Malta.
Contents
History
Many people from Sicily settled in Malta after the Muslims conquered it in 870 AD. They spoke a Sicilian-Arabic language from the Maghreb. In later centuries their language changed into Maltese. The oldest known document in Maltese is "Il Cantilena," a poem from the 15th century written by Pietro Caxaro. For centuries, Maltese was mainly a spoken language.
Maltese became an official language of Malta in 1934, alongside English. Before that year, the only official language of Malta was Italian. Italian, however, is still used a lot in the media.
Today
Italian and English words are being taken in by the language more and more. This sometimes causes words to form that are not found in Maltese, Italian, or English, but instead are a mix of the three. At schools, English is taught as a second language. Maltese is usually used in the standardized jobs and when people talk to each other. Most of the television, radio, and literature in Malta is also in Maltese.
Images for kids
-
Oldest Maltese text: Il-Kantilena by Pietru Caxaro, 15th century
-
Vassalli's Storja tas-Sultân Ċiru (1831), is an example of Maltese orthography in the 19th century, before the later standardisation introduced in 1924. Note the similarities with the various varieties of romanized Arabic.
See also
In Spanish: Idioma maltés para niños
