A phonetic and phonological description of the Maltese dialect of Mġarr

Abstract

The Republic of Malta, situated in a strategic position at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, consists of two inhabited islands, Malta and Gozo, with a population of about 350,000 and an area of 320 sq. km. The Maltese language is historically considered to be an Arabic dialect, more precisely of old Tunisian origin, but more recently it has been influenced by Italian and English on all linguistic levels and hence referred to as a "mixed language". The village of Mģarr has a population of about 3000 people and is situated in the North West part of the island of Malta. It is surrounded by a large cultivated area and many of the villagers practice farming either full-time or part-time. The variety of Maltese spoken in Mģarr is a geographically-bound dialect and is known as Imģarri.