Written Maltese Language. In a survey of maltese cultural websites conducted in 2004 on behalf of the maltese government 12 of 13 were in english only while the remaining one was multilingual but did not include maltese. Table of contents originally an arabic dialect over the centuries it has picked up words from several other european languages depending on who ruled malta and for how long.
ċ pronounced ch as in cherry ġ pronounced j as in jam għ. Table of contents originally an arabic dialect over the centuries it has picked up words from several other european languages depending on who ruled malta and for how long. There has been a decline in the number of dialectal speakers mostly because of exposure to standard maltese in the media and the institutionalisation of education.
There is also a theory that maltese developed from carthaginian or punic the language of carthage which was a form of phoenician.
Maltese is a latinised variety of spoken historical arabic through its descent from siculo arabic which developed as a maghrebi arabic dialect during the emirate of sicily. There has been a decline in the number of dialectal speakers mostly because of exposure to standard maltese in the media and the institutionalisation of education. ċ pronounced ch as in cherry ġ pronounced j as in jam għ. It is only at the end of the 18th century that some intellectuals wanted to make maltese a written and literary language and not just a spoken one.
