Trilingualism in Malta : Maltese, English and ‘Italiano Televisivo’

Abstract

Malta has experienced various linguistic influences over the course of time. Maltese and English are presently the official languages of the island. Nevertheless, Italian was never completely erased from the Maltese linguistic scene and over the past years its popularity has increased considerably because of the influence of Italian television programmes. In this study the impact of input from television programmes is investigated, as well as the extent to which the ‘italiano televisivo’ variety is acquired in Malta. Fifty-two subjects, including guided and spontaneous learners of Italian L2, provide an oral narrative account by means of which their degree of competence in Italian verbs is investigated. Results reveal that there are no statistically significant differences in the performance of the two groups of learners and that the influence of the Italian media has been far-reaching. Whilst acknowledging the fact that the degree of spontaneous acquisition via television varies between one learner and another, many Maltese learners develop refined linguistic skills after being regularly exposed to Italian L2 via television. The input from television programmes is also a useful reinforcement tool both for students who are still learning the language and for those who have completed their schooling years.