Maltese language

Maltese is the national language of Malta, and an official language of the European Union. It is derived from and most closely related to Arabic—in particular, the North African dialect—but in the course of its history it has adopted many loan words and even phonetic and phonological features from (Southern) Italian, Sicilian and English. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet.

Related Topics:
Malta - Official language of the European Union - Arabic - North African - Italian - Sicilian - English - Semitic language - Latin alphabet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maltese became an official language of Malta in 1936, alongside English. Before that year, the official language of Malta was Italian. Today, there are an estimated 330,000 Maltese speakers. There are a significant number of Maltese expatriates in Australia, the United States and Canada who can still speak the language.

Related Topics:
Official language - 1936 - Italian - Australia - United States - Canada

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The oldest known document in Maltese is "Il Cantilena" , a poem from the 15th century written by Pietro Caxaro. For centuries, Maltese was nearly exclusively a spoken language, with writing being done in Arabic or, later, Italian.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~