Variation and change : the dynamics of Maltese in space, time and society

Abstract

In this volume we present the second collection of articles documenting the contributions to the 2nd International Conference on Maltese Linguistics held in Bremen, Germany from the 19th to the 21st September 2009. This conference was organised by the Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (International Association of Maltese Linguistics) and scholars from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta and the USA shared ideas and research initiatives on topics related to various aspects of Maltese Linguistics. The theme of the conference was ―Variation and Change: The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society‖. The program included 19 talks which covered a broad range of issues pertaining to this topic. As in the case of the first conference organised by the Għaqda, the papers presented in this second conference are innovative for the study of Maltese and represent a valid contribution to General Linguistics. In this volume we collect 12 articles which once again reflect the thematic richness of Maltese Linguistics. Furthermore these papers also clearly indicate that Maltese Linguistics, on which research up to the recent past was somewhat disaggregated, is finding not too small a niche of its own and that, as augured during the Għaqda‘s first conference, it is going far beyond studies devoted mainly to language contact and to Arabic dialectology. This volume is therefore yet another step towards rendering more widespread research pertaining to the Maltese Language and Linguistics. The various areas of study included in these 12 papers are also an indication of the growing interest in Maltese as well as of the expansion of the field under study. The volume is divided into three broad sections: The Lexicon and Variation, Morphology and Syntax, Phonology. Part I of the volume is dedicated to the central theme of the conference that is variation and change. Albert Borg‘s contribution focuses on the features of dialectal varieties, speech-styles (including motherese) and other sociolinguistic varieties of Maltese with a sideways glance on the impact of English. Joseph M. Brincat tackles the works of two major Maltese literary figures (Dun Karm Psaila and Rużar Briffa) from a linguistic perspective by taking into consideration the frequency of use of various lexical items in their poetry written both in Italian and in Maltese. Antoinette Camilleri Grima‘s contribution is mainly sociolinguistic in nature as it draws on a number of variables which influence the ways used to express compliments in Maltese. The article by Lara Brincat and Sandro Caruana and the one by Ray Fabri deal with fields in language which are highly dynamic, also because they are associated with the younger generation of users. Brincat and Caruana investigate the nature and pedagogical implications of Maltese in Internet chatting, and Fabri explores the speech of young people as an indicator of language change. This section is concluded by Laura Mori who deals specifically with the use of Maltese in the context of European Union institutions. Part II deals with morpho-syntax, starting with an article by Maris Camilleri which presents an in-depth analysis of verbal enclitics and their morpho-syntactic status as incorporated pronouns and/or agreement markers. Michael Spagnol‘s paper deals with the causative-inchoative contrast in Maltese by considering the temporal dimension of the morphosyntactic organization of alternating verb pairs. Spagnol also tackles the question of the derivational relationship between causative and inchoative forms. Thomas Stolz identifies the hitherto neglected morphosyntactic strategy which is employed to encode certain (non-prototypical) possessive relations such as temporary and/or physical possession of mental states, etc. The various construction types used for this purposes can be subsumed under the category of the possessive relative clause. In the Part III, Marie Azzopardi-Alexander presents a paper on phonological variation within two Maltese dialects. Despite the size of the Maltese islands, variation is a common feature, with phonological differences between varieties being very salient. Azzopardi-Alexander reports her findings on the use of Xlukkajr, a dialect spoken in the South of the Maltese islands and Naduri, a variety used in a Gozitan village. Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech and Flavia Chetcuti turn their attention to a prosodic feature, namely filled pauses in Maltese. Their contribution gives further insight into a field which merits more attention and investigation since studies in this area have not been carried out frequently with regards to Maltese. Gilbert Puech presents a very detailed analysis of syllable structure and stress assignment in Maltese, while discussing and critically appraising previous research on the subject. We hope that this volume provides insight into important current work being carried out on various aspects of the Maltese language and that it will serve to inspire and further strengthen research in Maltese Linguistics. We are grateful to the University of Bremen for hosting the 2nd International Conference of Maltese Linguistics and for supporting the conference financially. Our thanks go also to the Akademie Verlag for accepting this edited volume on its programme of scholarly publications. Cornelia Stroh deserves a special word of thanks for the much needed editorial assistance she gave us.