Observing Eurolects : the case of Maltese

Abstract

Although Maltese is genetically a Semitic language, several technical terms, including those used within EU institutions, are integrated or non-integrated loanwords of Italian or English origin. Contact is also evident in the morphology of Maltese, and concatenative structures are productive through analogical processes, often based on Italian affixes. The description of the Maltese language version of EU documentation, as well as corpus-based considerations of the language variety used in EU directives (corpus A) and legal notices (corpus B), provides insights into this variety that relies heavily on Romance words, although others of Arabic origin are registered widely too. Loanwords from English are also present, albeit in limited numbers. Overall, no major differences emerge between the two corpora, and one cannot conclude that Maltese Eurolect constitutes a variety in its own right.