PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/145725 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-09 and may be subject to change. fßi The Emergence of Standard Maltese: The Arabic Factor Mathias Hubertus Prevaes Nijmegen 1993 The Emergence of Standard Maltese: The Arabic Factor een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de Letteren Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, volgens besluit van het College van Decanen in bet openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 13 januari 1994, des namiddags te 3.30 uur precies door Mathias Hubertus Prevaes geboren op 3 november 1956 te Heerlen Promotores: Prof. Dr. C.H.M. Versteegh Prof. Dr. Μ.Α. Woidich (Universiteit van Amsterdam) CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Prevaes, Mathias Hubertus The emergence of standard Maltese: the Arabic factor / Mathias Hubertus Prevaes. - [S.l. : s.n.] Proefschrift Nijmegen. - Met lit. opg., reg. ISBN 90-9006729-9 Trefw.: Maltees ; geschiedenis / Maltees en Arabische taal. β M.H. Previe, 1993 CONTENTS Introduction Chapter One: Maltese and Arabic: A Relationship in Historical Perspective 1 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 The Study of the Origins of the Maltese Language 1 1.2 Maltese and the Arabic Dialects 4 1.3 Arabic Linguistics and Maltese Studies: Mutual Interests 8 Chapter Two: Malta: Its Arabization in Historical Context 9 2.0 Introduction 9 2.0.1 A brief Introduction to Malta's History 9 2.0.2 A Discussion of the Sources 12 2.1 The Arab Period (870-1090) 17 2.1.1 The Historical Backgrounds to Malta's Conquest: the Aghlabids and Sicily 17 2.1.2 The Arab Conquest of Malta 18 2.2 Muslim Malta 20 2.3 The Origin of the Maltese Language 23 2.4 Conclusions 24 Chapter Three: Malta after the Muslim Period: Linguistic Changes 27 3.0 Introduction 27 3.1 Political and Cultural Changes in Malta 27 3.1.1 From the Muslim Era till the Coming of the Knights 27 3.1.2 Malta under the Order of St. John (1530-1798) 29 3.2 Demographic Changes 30 3.3 The Changing Linguistic Situation after the Muslim Period 33 3.4 The Maltese Dialects at the End of the Eighteenth Century 35 3.4.1 The Dialects of the Port Area 36 3.4.2 Gozo 36 3.4.3 The Rural Dialects 37 3.5 Discussion 38 Chapter Four: The Oldest Maltese Texts: A Discussion of the Available Material 41 4.0 Introduction 41 4.1. The Texts from the Period Before the Knights 41 4.1.1 The Judaeo-Arabic Texts from Malta 41 4.1.2 The 'Cantilena' 45 4.2 European Travellers to Malta 49 4.3 Gio. Pietro Francesco Agius De Soldanis 51 4.4 Discussion of the Presented Material 55 Chapter Five: The Earliest Maltese Studies 57 5.0 Introduction 57 5.1 Early Maltese Grammars and Dictionaries 57 5.2 The Position of Arabic in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Malta 61 5.3 Agius De Soldanis and the Punic Theory 62 5.4 Mikiel Anton Vassalli 65 5.5 Conclusions 68 Chapter Six : The Standardization of Maltese 71 6.0 Introduction 71 6.1 The Introduction of Maltese in the Educational System 71 6.2 The Standardization Process 75 6.2.1 The Selection of the Norm for Standard Maltese 75 6.2.2 Codification of the Norm: More than a Question of Spelling 77 (1) Orthography 77 (2) Grammar 79 (3) Lexicon 82 6.2.3 Implementation: Getting People to use Written Maltese 84 6.2.4 Elaboration and Acceptation of the New Norm 86 6.3 The Role of Arabic in the Standardization Process 88 6.3.1 Orthography and Phonology 90 6.3.2 Morphology 91 6.3.3 Syntax 92 6.4 Conclusions 93 Chapter Seven: Conclusions and Perspectives 95 Appendix A: Maltese Judaeo - Arabic Texts 101 Appendix B: Early Maltese Alphabets 105 References 107 Primary Sources: 107 Secondary Sources: 109 Samenvatting 117 Curriculum vitae 122 INTRODUCTION Maltese, one of the many small languages of Europe, is spoken by the about 350,000 inhabitants of Malta and Gozo, and by a great number of Maltese immigrants in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom It is the national language of the Republic of Мака, of which it shares with English the status of official language. Its position is in many ways comparable to that of Irish and Welsh, and also to that of Frisian, Basque and other minority languages in Europe. Like most minority languages, it is considered to be the true expression of the national culture by its nationals, in some cases even by those who do not speak it themselves. There is, however, one feature of Maltese that makes its position among the small languages of Europe quite unique. Where other nations take pride in their linguistic history and heritage, the Maltese have had, and in many cases still have, mixed feelings about the historical roots of their language. These, as will be shown in this book, go back to the Oriental Islamic culture, a culture which most Maltese consider to be totally foreign to their own, which is Christian and European. Although the roots of Maltese date back at least 900 years, it was rarely used as a written language before the nineteenth century. In this book, I want to trace the history of the Maltese language, not from a historical linguistic point of view, but from those sources which concern both Maltese history, and the history of Maltese linguistics. I want to find out how the views on the origin of Maltese have influenced, and in some way even given rise to the origin of, the field of Maltese studies. Maltese linguistic studies formed the start of a process of standardization, which resulted in the form of the language which we know today as Standard Maltese We will see how the Maltese linguists dealt with (he particular problem of a language spoken by a Christian and European people, but with obvious roots in Arabic, the language spoken by the Muslim archenemy. Chapter One deals with the study of Maltese in relation to Arabic and other Semitic languages in a general way, as an introduction to the basic theme of this book. In this chapter, I will also discuss briefly the place of Maltese within the field of modern Arabic dialectology, and its importance for the study of the historical development of the Arabic dialects in general. In Chapter Two, I will deal chronologically with the period of direct Muslim influence in Malta, from the Arab conquest in the late ninth century and its backgrounds, to the expulsion of the Maltese Muslims in the thirteenth century. In this chapter, I will also touch briefly upon the role of the seventeenth and eighteenth century Maltese historians of this period, who played such an important role in the later interpretation of the Muslim Era in Malta. Chapter Three will examine the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors which influenced the development of the Arabic vernacular spoken in Malta, between the end of the Muslim era in the thirteenth century, and the end of the rule of the Order of the Knights of St. John in 1798. In Chapter Four, I will present the earliest available textual material in Maltese, which will be analyzed for possible Classical Arabic influences. Chapter Five deals with the earliest Maltese Studies, with special attention to the influence which the knowledge of Arabic and other Semitic languages had on the development of Maltese studies. It win show how the earliest Maltese grammars and dictionaries were developed for very practical reasons, and how later, the question of the origins of the language became an important point of discussion. π INTRODUCTION Неге I will discuss the famous Punic theory which has influenced Maltese historical linguistics for a very long time. Chapter Six deals entirely with the standardization of Maltese, from die start of the process by Mikiel Anton Vassalli in the late eighteenth century, until the official recognition of the Maltese language by the government of Malta. The last chapter will be a discussion of the material gathered in this book and of the position of Arabic in present-day Malta. Acknowledgements The main research for this dissertation was carried out m the period 1984-1988, under a grant from the Faculty of Letters of the Catholic University of Nijmegen. Most of the material needed for the research was gathered during my many visits to Мака, the tittle archipelago I fell in love with when I first visited it in 1980. Many thanks are due to a great number of people in Malta: to the staff at the National Malta Library, who not only helped me to find the manuscripts, books and articles I needed, but also were able to provide me with photostat copies which were often easier to read than the original manuscripts; to the library staff at the University of Mala; to Dr Godfrey Wettinger and Dr Albert Borg at the Department of Maltese Studies at the University of Мака, who provided me with copies of some of their most recent publications; to Dr Alexander Borg for sending me a copy of his unpublished Ph.D. thesis, and to the Manduca's in Naxxar, who on many occasions introduced me to life in Malta. Last but certainly not least, I am indebted to my beloved wife Imogen and her parents Gottfried and Ingeborg Kilian, for their support and trust throughout this project.