The broken plural in Maltese : an analysis

Abstract

The number system in Maltese allows for distinctions between singular, dual, plural and collective forms. Plural forms, in Maltese as in Arabic, can be divided into sound and broken forms. Sound plurals are formed by attaching one of a number of suffixes to a stem, and are therefore examples of concatenative morphology. Although no source mentions all of the sound plural suffixes, by combining the information in L Għaqda tal-Kittieba Maltin (1924), Sutcliffe (1924), Zarb (1968), Aquilina (1959), Fenech (1980), Bro. Henry (1980), Cardona (1996) and Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997), it is possible to arrive at the following exhaustive list of sound plural suffixes: -in, -t, -at, -iet, -ijiet, -a, -i. The suffixes -an and -ien are also mentioned in some texts as sound plural suffixes. However, as discussed in section 2.2, this is not uncontroversial. Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997) also mention that "very peripherally, dual suffix -ejn is used with a loan word for the plural". Unlike in Arabic, sound plurals make up the majority of plural forms in Maltese - at least 69% according to Cardona (1996). Broken plural forms are those which are formed through an internal change within the stem, and are therefore examples of nonconcatenative morphology in Maltese. Although broken plurals make up a small minority of plural forms in Maltese - 6.65% according to Cardona - there is a significant amount of variation within this number.