Challenging code-switching in Malta

Abstract

This contribution highlights certain phenomena of language contact that are particularly relevant to the fully bilingual context of Malta. It seeks to illustrate how Maltese bilingual speakers utilize each of the two languages either separately or in a mixed code on a daily basis. This is a challenging reality to the general understanding of bilingual speakers, and bilingual communities who are normally not expected to know and use each language for the same purposes. Furthermore, in the Maltese context code-switching cannot always be explained with reference to conversational cues and/or situational and other variables. Thus it provides an interesting live context of language contact. This is elucidated here with examples from different social domains, focusing particularly on language choice and code-switching in both the written and spoken modes of communication.