Politica linguistica vs identita culturale : alcuni aspetti della questione della lingua a Malta nel secondo '800

Abstract

Since their arrival in Malta in 1800, the British tried to spread their own language in the country, but they faced not only considerable practical problems posed by the fact that they had to replace Italian with English as an official language, but also a series of varied ideological and linguistic reactions from part of the Maltese people. The Maltese society was immediately divided in the attitude towards English domination, and above all towards the insertion of the English language and the penetration of the Protestant missionaries. These soon became numerous and soon became aware that in order to give effect to their propaganda they could not use English: they turned to the local idiom, opposing the use of the Maltese, who wanted to benefit even the less cultured inhabitants, to the hegemonic language Italian-Catholicism Malta but was and it is strongly linked to the Catholic Church, and it was precisely in reaction to the aforementioned Protestant policy that the supporting faction of the Italian received new adepts and new vigor. In any case, religion was not the only strength of the Italian: the exiles of the Risorgimento in fact attracted the sympathies of several Maltese; some of them, during their stay in Malta, not only directed newspapers or collaborated, but also worked for the promotion of the study of Italian literature founding private schools, academies and reading cabinets, and moreover it is understood that in the Maltese literature the influences of Italian language, culture and literature were conspicuous, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, but still in the late 19th century