Analysing the prominence of Maltese and English in bilingual Malta’s Northern and Southern linguistic landscape

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the visibility and prominence of Maltese and English within the linguistic landscape in two streets selected from the Northern and Southern region of Malta. The main objective of this qualitative study is to analyse the presence of Maltese, which is Malta’s indigenous language, and its co-official English language in order to explore the relative strengths they possess within the public sphere. The presence of Other Languages (OL) who do not hold official status is also analysed. The three focal points which are kept prevalent throughout the research process are linguistic presence, dominance and autonomy, a technique which follows the three-stage model, by Bagna and Barni (2005). This study presents findings through the use of descriptive statistics from quantitative research and seeks to contribute to the research within the local LL field and extend the exploration and appreciation of Malta’s linguistic character.