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Language Use and Identity Awareness in Malta

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Language Use and Identity Awareness in Malta Language use and identity awareness in Malta A case study Master thesis Intercultural Communication University of Tilburg Faculty of Arts Supervised by: Dr. A.M. Backus Christa Maartense B.A. Goes, 19th of January, 2008 1 | P a g e L-Innu Malti Lil din l-Art ħelwa, l-Omm li tatna isimha, Ħares Mulej, kif dejjem Int ħarist; Ftakar li lilha bl-oħla dawl libbist. Agħti kbir Alla, id-deh'n lil min jaħkimha; Rodd il-ħniena lis-sid, saħħa 'l-ħaddiem; Seddaq il-għaqda fil-Maltin u s-sliem. The Maltese National Anthem (English translation) This sweet land, the very Mother who gave us our identity, Watch over, dear Lord, as you have always done; Remember how You adorned her with the sweetest light. Bestow, dear God, wisdom to those who rule her, Grant compassion to the leader [and] strength to him who toils; Render brotherhood, and peace, amongst the Maltese. (Author: Dun Karm Psaila, 1924. Composer: Robert Sammut, 1924. From: www.my-malta.com, consulted 19th December, 2007) 2 | P a g e Preface At the beginning of writing this thesis, there was not much more than just the idea of doing research in a foreign country on the topic of linguistic diversity and national identity awareness. I decided that, before ending my academic life and taking the fist steps into working life, I wanted to perform more research on this topic, improve my skills in English and get more experienced with the world outside The Netherlands. Because of these reasons and my never ending curiosity for language in relation to human psychology and sociological influences, I initiated this research and travelled to Malta to gather the needed data. These travels have most definitely been of great influence on my personal development; those goals at least have been reached. Besides successfully achieving my personal goals, I also had an unforgettable time in Malta, getting to know new people, new cultural habits and new languages. This thesis, in its current appearance, was made possible by the help of a lot of people. During my time in Malta I have had permission to interview Dr. Falzon and Prof. Sciriha, both researchers at the University of Malta. They have been of great help for this study. Dr. Falzon told me all about the competition between English and Maltese at the island and his views on the relation between the use of language and identity of the Maltese people. Prof. Sciriha informed me extensively about the use of English at the island and the attitudes of Maltese people towards English and Maltese. Therefore I would like to thank both of them for welcoming me at the University of Malta, their time and efforts spend on the interviews and their great help with finding the right literature for this thesis. During my stay at Malta I handed out 165 questionnaires to Maltese inhabitants. All of them have been very kind and helpful in filling in these extensive questionnaires. They made me feel very welcome on the island and some even helped me to find other people who could fill in a questionnaire. I would like to thank all of them, because without these informants this research would not have been possible. Next, this is the right place to thank drs. D.D. Lindenau, academic advisor and international relations officer for the premaster- and masterprogrammes General Culture Sciences and Communication and Information Sciences. She has informed and advised me on the different scholarships available for research in foreign settings and put great effort into making it possible for me to obtain a scholarship. Last, but most definitely not least, I would like to thank Dr. A. M. Backus, researcher at the University of Tilburg, for his support, help, critical notes, interesting conversations and consistently inspiring me to keep on writing this thesis. Christa Maartense, 19th of January, 2008. 3 | P a g e Abstract This study deals with language use and identity awareness in Malta. Most studies on this topic argue for the important role language plays for the identity of speakers. Indisputably, language is connected to identity. However, a clear distinction must be made between the kinds of identity that are distinguished and the sort of linguistic situation one deals with. In this research national identity is discussed. Malta’s linguistic situation is characterised by diglossia, where English is the High variant and Maltese the Low variant. Both Maltese and English are official languages. To find out what kind of role Maltese plays for their national identity, 165 Maltese people have been surveyed about their language use in different domains, their language preferences and attitudes, their proficiency in English, the strength of their national identity and the factors contributing to their national identity. The results show that Maltese is a vital language, spoken by almost all Maltese people, but the Maltese people seem to rate the use of English much higher. They acknowledge the status and power of English and project this status on the users of English. More and more people use English alongside Maltese or even English only. Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the Maltese people will shift from the use of Maltese to the use of English. According to the results, their national identity seems to remain vital. This shows a detachment of language and identity. The three suggested reasons for this language-identity relationship are: the power, international status and influence of English, the geographical position of Malta, and the history of Malta. 4 | P a g e Table of Contents 1. Introduction 7. 1.1 Problem statement 7. 1.2 Frame of research 8. 1.3 Research questions 9. 1.4 Structure of this research 9. 2. Linguistic diversity 11. 2.1 Terminology of linguistic diversity 11. 2.2 Linguistic vitality typologies 13. 2.2.1 The language ecology model by Haugen 13. 2.2.2 The language ecology model’ by Haarmann 14. 2.2.3 The ethnolinguistic vitality model (the three-part model) by Giles, Bourhis and Taylor 15. 2.3 The typology of language endangerment by Edwards 16. 3. Identity 18. 3.1 Defining identity 18. 3.1.1 Social identity 19. 3.1.2 Ethnic identity versus cultural identity 19. 3.1.3 Ethnic identity versus national identity 20. 3.2 Language in relation to national identity 22. 4. Cultural and linguistic history of Malta 25. 4.1 Historical background 25. 4.1.1 The conquerors of Malta 25. 4.1.2 Colonisation of the British 26. 4.2 The Maltese language question 26. 4.3 Origin of the Maltese language 29. 5. Method 31. 5.1 Research method 31. 5.1.1 Background of the data collection 31. 5.1.2 Questionnaire 32. 5.1.3 Interviews 32. 5.1.4 Literature 33. 5 | P a g e 5.2 The informants 33. 5.3 Method of analysis 35. 6. Results 36. 6.1 Results of the questionnaires 36. 6.2 Results of the interviews 47. 6.2.1 Summary interview with Prof. L. Sciriha 47. 6.2.2 Summary interview with Prof. M. Falzon 48. 7. Analysis 50. 7.1 Linguistic vitality 50. 7.1.1 The typology of language endangerment used for measuring the vitality of Maltese and English in the Maltese linguistic context 51. 7.2 Identity awareness 56. 7.2.1 The measured language- identity awareness in Malta 56. 7.3 Conclusion of the linguistic vitality of Maltese and English and vitality of the Maltese national identity 57. 8. Conclusions and discussion 60. 8.1 Maltese language in relation to Maltese national identity 60. 8.1.1 The power, international status and influence of English 60. 8.1.2 The geographical position of Malta 61. 8.1.3 Maltese history 61. 8.2 Discussion points 62. References 66. Appendix 69. 1. The Questionnaire 69. 2. Invitation and reply emails to the professors 72. 3. Draft interview with Prof. M. Falzon 75. 4. Draft interview with Prof. L. Sciriha 76. 5. Statistics of the selected informants 78. 6. Remaining statistics from the results 82. 7. Demographic information Malta 97. 6 | P a g e Introduction This chapter will explain the problem statement and motivation for initiating this study in section 1.1. Than, section 1.2 introduces some general work on the topics of linguistic diversity, identity awareness, and the relationship between language and identity. Section 1.3 reveals the research question to be answered in the rest of this thesis. Finally section 1.4 describes the structure of this study. 1.1 Problem statement The archipelago Malta, consisting of the islands Gozo, Comino and Malta, is a small group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, about a 100 kilometres from the southern tip of Italy and about 250 kilometres form the most northern part of Tunisia. This fortunate geographical position has been in previous times of great interest to many foreign sea sailing merchants, and brought about a series of conquerors and invaders, trying to take over life and society in Malta. The Arabs were one of these groups who left their footprint on Maltese ground, and to them the Maltese people still owe the basics of their language; Maltese. The last one of this series of invaders were the British, from whom Malta was declared independent in 1964. The British colonization has influenced Maltese life intensely. Although Maltese is the national language of the country, English is their second language and an official language of Malta too. Most Maltese inhabitants, including the elderly, are bilingual in Maltese and English. Maltese includes some English words, as well as Italian ones, due to extensive business association with Italy, mainly Sicily.
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