After a successful and stimulating 4th International conference of Maltese Linguistics in Lyon, we can now present the most important outcomes of the GĦILM business meeting. Furthermore, we have some visual impressions of the conference.

Minutes of the GĦILM business meeting (PDF) »

Pictures of the conference in Lyon »

gov.mt | May 15, 2013

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stolz, head of the “Malta Centre” and the Linguistics Department at the University of Bremen and a specialist in Maltese linguistics recently gave a lecture entitled ‘Maltese – A European Language between Semitic, Romance and English’, to an audience of over 100 people at the Embassy of Malta in Berlin. The lecture was organised by the Embassy of Malta with the support of the Cultural Diplomacy Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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gov.mt | April 22, 2013

"The Ambassador also paid an official visit to the Malta Centre at the University of Bremen and met with Prof. Dr. Thomas Stolz, the head of the Malta-Centre. During the visit Professor Stolz gave a presentation of the objectives and functions of the Centre and its achievements to date."

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Times of Malta | February 8, 2013 | by Sarah Carabott

Michael Spagnol talks about his project "Kelma Kelma" on Facebook which focuses on the particularities of the Maltese language.

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visit Kelma Kelma on Facebook »

After 3 successful conferences in Bremen and Malta we are happy to announce the 4^th International Conference on Maltese Linguistics in Lyon on June 17-19, 2013 with the main topic The contribution of Maltese to general linguistics. The conference will be jointly organized by Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija and by the University Lyon 2 (Gilbert Puech).

Call for Papers and further information »

To address what is perceived as a threat of digital extinction for many languages, and to create a Europe without communication barriers that supports the free flow of information, ideas, and trade, while preserving cultural and linguistic richness and diversity, META-NET, a European network of excellence consisting of 60 research centres in 34 countries including Malta, has developed a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) that outlines how focused investment in language technologies can generate considerable economic benefits that far outweigh the costs.

read more (English press release) »

read more (Maltese press release) »

Malta Independent | November 8, 2012 | by Duncan Barry

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning launched the first ever Maltese language speech synthesiser engine which is able to convert text into speech during a visit to the headquarters of the government’s IT agency (Mita) in Santa Venera.

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Times of Malta | November 18, 2012

The University’s International and EU Office recently organised an Erasmus Intensive Language Course regarding the Maltese language and culture for 20 overseas students.

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Times of Malta | November 18, 2012 | by Maurice Cauchi

The results of a recent Australian census show us the pattern of change within the Maltese-speaking community in this large continent.

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We are proud to announce the two new publications of our society at the Universitätsverlag Brockmeyer.

The second volume of our journal ILSIENNA and the third volume of the companion series IL-LINGWA TAGĦNA (The Broken Plural in Maltese: A Description by Tamara Schembri).

Ilsienna (Publisher's Homepage) »

Il-Lingwa Tagħna (Publisher's Homepage) »

The Malta Independent Online | October 8, 2012

"The 18 October 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the German Maltese Circle. Fifty years since Chev. Elias Zammit, then Consul General to the Federal Republic of Germany, together with a dedicated group of colleagues, with scarce resources, established this Institution. The primary motivation of this group was the belief that Germany would, in the framework of the Treaty of Rome, play a decisive role in the political and economic development of Europe. Today, one may say without any shadow of a doubt, that the founding group had had good foresight of the events that would occur in Europe over the decades that were to follow, and their consequent influence on our Nation."

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On the European Day of Languages META-NET assesses the "digital support" of the languages of Europe:

"Most European languages face digital extinction, a new study by Europe’s leading Language Technology experts finds. Assessing the level of support through language technology for 30 of the approximately 80 European languages, the experts conclude that digital support for 21 of the 30 languages investigated is “non-existent” or “weak” at best. The study was carried out by META-NET, a European network of excellence that consists of 60 research centres in 34 countries."

"A total of 21 of the 30 languages (70%) were placed in the lowest category, “support is weak or non-existent” for at least one area by the experts. Several languages, for example, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and MALTESE, receive this lowest score in at least three areas."

Read the English press release

Read the Maltese press release

We are very proud to announce the inauguration of the Malta Centre in Bremen. The "soft" opening of the Malta Centre took place on June 29th at the Industrie-Club Bremen with 80 participants including HE Carl Charles Xuereb, ambassador of the Republic Malta to Germany.

The cooperation contract for the Centre was signed by the rector of the University of Bremen, Wilfried Müller, and the rector of the University of Malta, Juanito Camilleri.

In a festive and cheerful atmosphere, the inaugural speeches recounted the development of the Malta Centre from first personal cooperations between Professor Thomas Stolz (Bremen) and Professor Ray Fabri (Malta) to the installment of of a full-blown institute devoted to the Maltese language in Bremen.

The Malta centre will aim to establish Maltese Linguistics as an internationally recognized discipline, serve as a hub for research on Maltese, host collaborative research projects, and integrate Maltese into the curriculum of General Linguistics at the University of Bremen.

Stay tuned for more information!

English press release »

German press release »

Short article in the "Taz" (German) »

We are proud to announce the publication of the second Volume of Il-Lingwa Tagħna, the companion series of ILSIENNA.

The book entitled: La traduction spécialisée: l’exemple de l’Énonciation en linguistique française/It-Traduzzjoni Speċjalizzata: l-Eżempju tat-Tlissina fil-Lingwistika Franciza (volumes 1 and 2) gives ample training both theoretic and practical in translation and translation studies.

Seychell, Laurent (translator). 2011. La Traduction Spécialisée : L’Exemple de L’Énonciation en Linguistique Française / It-Traduzzjoni Speċjalizzata : L’Eżempju tat-Tlissina Fil-Lingwistika Franċiża (= Il-Lingwa Tagħna / Our Language Vol. 2). Bochum : Universitätsverlag Dr. N. Brockmeyer. 2 vols, 800 pp. ISBN : 978-3-8196-0829-2. [Bilingual version French-Maltese of the French original by Dominique Maingueneau 1994, Paris: Hachette Livre]

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gozonews.com | January 8, 2012

Ninu Cremona’s greatest contribution was in the formation of Maltese ortography together with Ganni Vassallo. He devised a system of regulations for the writing of Maltese that were published in the Taghrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija (1924).

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Part I: The Lexicon and Variation

Albert Borg: Lectal variation in Maltese

Joseph M. Brincat: Describing literary Maltese: concordances to Dun Karm and Rużar Briffa

Antoinette Camilleri Grima: Giving compliments in Maltese

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana: il-Malti Mgħaġġel - Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

Ray Fabri: The language of young people and language change in Malta

Laura Mori: Linguistic variation in legal Maltese - EU directives compared to national implementation laws

Part II: Morphology and Syntax

Maris Camilleri: On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

Michael Spagnol: The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

Thomas Stolz: The possessive relative clause in Maltese

Part III: Phonology

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander: The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti: A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

Gilbert Puech: Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

We are proud to announce the publication of the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Maltese Linguistics (Bremen, September 2009).

Publishers' description:

"The twelve contributions to this collection of articles focus on variation and change in the lexicon, morphology, syntax and phonology of Maltese. Various aspects of lectal variation are addressed: the properties of sociolects, technolects, regional varieties, and different registers of present-day Maltese are discussed. On-going changes are looked at in several of the papers. The questions of whether or not there is a typical Maltese EU-variety or a distinct sociolect spoken by the younger generation are raised. Not all of the phenomena which attest variation can be ascribed to the sociolinguistic sphere. Morpho-syntactic issues like the definition of clitics, the causative-inchoative alternation and the employment of the possessive relative clause are linked more closely to structural and functional factors. Suprasegmental issues like the use of pauses in spoken Maltese and the syllable structure of Maltese are scrutinized as well. These topics are complemented by dialectological studies, investigations of the pragmatics of Maltese and the description of literary Maltese. The range of topics covered in this collection proves that it is worth the while studying Maltese from the perspective of general linguistics."

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A whole issue of Transcript Magazine is devoted to the Maltese literature. The issue includes essays on the Maltese literary scene and tradition, as well as prose and poetry translated into German, English and French.

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di-ve.com | November 1, 2011

Eight ERASMUS students successfully completed the course in the Maltese Language which was delivered by the Malta University Language School. The students followed 60 hours in a lecture setting and successfully passed the assessment held at the end of the course. The cultural component of the course was aimed to expose participants to the historical, cultural and lifestyle aspects of the Maltese Islands.

di-ve.com | October 3, 2011

The book, which is both scholarly and entertaining at the same time, offers a unique experience of Maltese culture, exploring the past that determined the present.

Charles Briffa (professor of Maltese) and Angela Briffa (assistant head of school) systematically explain the Maltese Islands’ history, the development of Maltese, and the variety of literary writings that have been created over the years.

di-ve.com | October 4, 2011

On September 26, the Embassy of Malta in Berlin, together with other cultural departments of Embassies and cultural institutes, participated in the 10th European Day of Languages with a special initiative.

In several libraries in Berlin as well as in the Central and State Library of Berlin a “Diving into the languages“ took place: mini language courses for elementary school pupils aimed at arousing interest for foreign languages and countries.

Today the Council of Europe celebrates the European Day of Languages, encouraging people across all 47 member states to celebrate their linguistic diversity. The University of Malta, as part of the META-NET initiative, is marking the occasion by highlighting the publication of a set of whitepapers looking at the social, economic and technological status of 30 European languages, including Malta, in modern Europe.

Whitepaper for Maltese

Link to The META-NET Whitepapers

As part of an EU initiative, University of Malta joined a consortium of 8 partners for the EU project METANET4U, which aims at contributing to the establishment and consolidation of a pan-European digital platform that makes available language resources and services.

The META-NET Language White Paper series “Languages in the European Information Society” reports on the state of each European language with respect to Language Technology and explains the most urgent risks and chances. The series will cover all official European languages.

While there have been a number of valuable and comprehensive scientific studies on certain aspects of languages and technology, there exists no generally understandable compendium that takes a stand by presenting the main findings and challenges for each language. The META-NET white paper series will fill this gap.

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"The Maltese Language Resource Server (MLRS) is a project coordinated by the Institute of Linguistics and the Department of Intelligent Computer Systems at the University of Malta whose primary aim is to create and make available basic language resources for the Maltese language, as well as develop natural language processing tools for Maltese. The project has benefited from funding from the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) and the University of Malta."

The resources available include the MLRS Corpus, which can be browsed and searched online, as well as Claudia Borg's LingLab language guessing game and Albert Gatt's Maltese random sentence generator.

Malta Independent Online | Sunday, July 24, 2011

A short overview about the historic ties between Malta and Italy, including cultural and linguistic influences.

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Times of Malta | Sunday, July 24, 2011 | by Giovanni Bonello

"Unless yours is a torrid and conspiratorial rapport with the Maltese language, you have no business with this article. It intends to explore what colloquial Maltese sounded like 150 years ago through the pages of the very first full-length book ever published in our national language."

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Times of Malta | Wednesday, May 11, 2011 | by Sarah Carabott

A course on Maltese language is being taught at the Institute of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures of the University of Heidelberg, the first such course to be taught at the oldest university in Germany.

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Times of Malta | Monday, May 2, 2011, 11:57 | by Roderick Bovingdon

When the late Prof. Joseph (Ġużè) Aquilina visited Sydney, Australia, in July-August 1968 for the 10th Commonwealth Universities Congress, local interest and belief in the formal study of the Maltese language was practically...

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Author: Jospeh M. Brincat

Throughout the ages, the Maltese language has undergone a series of internal changes as well as modifications and accretions caused by various external forces. Internal changes are not easy to date and explain because they require a painstaking comparative exercise that can be carried out only by experts in Semitic languages. As a result, their systematic description in a historical grammar of Maltese has not been published yet. By contrast, the external history of Maltese is essentially an account of its contact with various languages.

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Universität Bremen, Pressemitteilung Nr. 178 | Mittwoch, 18. März, 2009

Professor Thomas Stolz, Hochschullehrer im Studiengang Linguistik des Fachbereichs Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften der Universität Bremen und Präsident der Vereinigung, präsentierte jetzt die ersten Nummern der neuen Fachzeitschrift „ILSIENNA – OUR LANGUAGE“ und der dazu gehörigen Beihefteserie „IL-LINGWA TAGHNA – OUR LANGUAGE“. Mit diesen Publikationen hat das Maltesische erstmals in seiner Geschichte auch außerhalb Maltas ein Forum gewonnen, das gänzlich dieser neo-arabischen Sprache Europas gewidmet ist.

Malta-online.de | Mittwoch, 18. März, 2009

Der besondere Stellenwert der maltesischen Sprache an der Universität Bremen wird weiter gefestigt. Am 18. März 2009 wird in Anwesenheit von Dr. Thomas Stöcker, dem Generalskonsul Maltas, die "Maltesische Bibliothek" um 15 Uhr feierlich eröffnet.

weiterlesen »

ILSIENNA . Unsere Sprache, ist eine neue Zeitschrift der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Maltesische Linguistik (Għaqda Internazzjonali tal- Lingwistika Maltija - GĦILM), die im Oktober 2007 an der Universitat Bremen gegrundet worden ist. Dieser Neuling auf dem Markt der linguistischen Zeitschriften publiziert wissenschaftliche Artikel und Rezensionen, die sich mit dem Thema maltesische Linguistik beschäftigen. [...]

MALTA Info, Informationsblatt der Botschaft von Malta Ausgabe Nr. 4/2008, S. 7

Der Honorargeneralkonsul Maltas Dr. Thomas Stöcker eröffnete am 18. März 2009 in einer Feierstunde die neue "Maltesische Bibliothek" bei den Bremer Linguisten.

weiterlesen »

Die Universität Bremen hat eine Bibliothek eigens für maltesische Literatur eröffnet. Mit 375 Bänden sei sie eine der größten Sammlungen dieser Art außerhalb Maltas, sagte der Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaftler Thomas Stolz.

(Artikel nicht mehr verfügbar)

Der besondere Stellenwert der maltesischen Sprache an der Universität Bremen wird weiter gefestigt. Am 18. März 2009 eröffnete Dr. Thomas Stöcker, der Honorargeneralkonsul Maltas, feierlich die „Maltesische Bibliothek" in Räumen der Bremer Linguistik. Mit 375 Bänden maltesischer Literatur stellt sie eine der größten Sammlungen dieser Art außerhalb Maltas dar. Hier finden sich nahezu alle Veröffentlichungen auf Maltesisch seit dem Jahr 2000. In der Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen gibt es zudem noch ältere Anschaffungen aus Malta, so dass gegenwärtig in Bremen um 500 maltesische Bücher vorhanden sind – Tendenz steigend..

Pressemitteilung Nr. 82 /  18.03.2009 - Universität Bremen

THE National Council for the Maltese Language, in exercise of the powers vested in it by Article 5(2) of the Maltese Language Act, has established that from this day Friday, 25th July, 2008, the official orthography of the Maltese language be amended with immediate effect in the way stipulated in the document "Deċiżjonijiet 1" (as shown hereunder). This document stipulates the correct spelling of a number of words which up to now could be written in more than one way.

The orthographic forms ruled out in this document will remain valid temporarily for a period of three years from today's date, that is up to the 25th July, 2011. After this date, the chosen forms in the document "Deċiżjonijiet 1" will be the only correct forms in Maltese orthography.

Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta  / The Malta Government Gazette

Il-Ġimgħa, 25 ta' Lulju, 2008 / Friday, 25th July, 2008

See also: http://www.kunsilltalmalti.gov.mt/filebank/documents/decizjonijiet_.pdf

In einer Tischrede von Bundespräsident Horst Köhler bei einem Staatsbankett, gegeben von S. E. dem Präsidenten der Republik Malta, Herrn Dr. Edward Fenech Adami, am 16. November 2007 in Valletta, findet sich folgender Bezug zu GHILM:

Auch auf kulturellem Gebiet gab und gibt es immer wieder enge Verbindungen zwischen unseren Ländern. Der deutsche Gelehrte Hieronymus Magister publizierte im Jahr 1608 ein Werk über seinen Malta-Aufenthalt von 1588. Es enthält die erste gedruckte Liste von Wörtern und Redewendungen der maltesischen Sprache und bildet einen wertvollen Fundus für die maltesische Sprachwissenschaft. Eine aktuelle Fortsetzung dieses frühen wissenschaftlichen Kontakts bildet die vor einem Monat gegründete Internationale Vereinigung für Maltesische Linguistik. Deutschland ist stolz, dass die Gründung dieser Organisation in Bremen stattfand und dass ein Bremer Sprachwissenschaftler zu ihrem Vorsitzenden gewählt wurde. Wir freuen uns auch über die Entscheidung der Maltesischen Regierung, zum ersten Mal einen Lehrstuhl für Deutsch an der Universität von Malta einzurichten.

Bericht über die Gründung der Internationalen Vereinigung für Maltesische Linguistik von Richard Verhoeven im Bremer Uni-Schlüssel

[BUS Nr. 98, Dezember 2007, S. 8]

(Artikel nicht mehr verfügbar)

Funkhaus Europa http://www.radiobremen.de/funkhaus-europa/ brachte am Mittwoch, 14. November 2007 um 16:30 in der Reihe Nova ein Feature über das Maltesische mit Ausschnitten aus einem Interview mit Thomas Stolz, das anlässlich der Gründung der Internationalen Vereinigung für Maltesiche Linguistik am 19.10.2007 aufgezeichnet wurde.

From a Press Release of the Department of Information - Malta: 

Two days later the ambassador travelled to Bremen to deliver the inaugural address marking the foundation of the Association of Maltese Linguistics within the Institute of General and Applied Linguistics of the University of Bremen.

The foundation of the Association took place in the context of an international symposium on aspects of Maltese Linguistics organised by the Institute on the initiative of Professor Thomas Stolz who last March delivered a number of lectures at the University of Malta and who is the Association’s first President.

The Ministry of Tourism and Culture sponsored an evening to celebrate the founding of the Association. Two Maltese chefs cooked a fenkata in Bremen, while Maltese folk singer-songwriter Walter Micallef provided entertainment during the evening.

The event was also attended by the President of the Malta Council on the Maltese Language, Professor Manwel Mifsud, who along with Bernard Comrie (Leipzig), Ray Fabri (Malta) and Martine Vanhove (Villejuif), were elected Vice-Presidents of the Association.

The Association will request the University of Bremen to support future initiatives and seminars, the first being a follow-up seminar planned for Spring 2009. To this end, the Embassy has already made representations with the Rector of the University of Bremen to endorse and support this initiative.

DOI – 07.11.2007

Unter diesem Titel berichtet die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung über die Gründung der Internationalen Vereinigung für Maltesische Linguistik.

FAZ, 9. Nov. 2007 Nr. 261, S. 39

Why would it ever cross anyone’s mind to establish an international society for Maltese linguistics? Would it be worth the time and energy involved to do such a thing? Maltese is now an official language of the EU, but less than half a million people speak it. Well, it happens to be a German linguist called Thomas Stolz, who believes that setting up such a society is actually worthwhile. He was recently in Malta to speak about his venture, on which he is working together with a number of Maltese and foreign linguists and academics. Francesca Vella reports.

The Malta Independent Online

The Europeanisation and internationalisation of Maltese has now been established with the setting up of the International Association of Maltese Linguistics (Ghaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija) at the University of Bremen, during a recently held conference on Maltese linguistics.

The association's first meeting took place during the conference, held at the Maritim Hotel in Bremen, on October 19. Over 50 scholars from Malta, Ireland, Germany, Israel, Japan, France, Italy and the US attended the conference which discussed a wide range of themes dealing with grammar.

Bericht im Weserkurier über die Gründung der Internationalen Vereinigung für Maltesische Linguistik.

Bremer Tageszeitungen AG Ausgabe: Weser-Kurier Seite: 34 Datum: 02.11.2007

Professor Thomas Stolz (University of Bremen) was elected as the first President of the newly founded International Association of Maltese Linguistics  (GHILM) during the first conference on Maltese Linguistics (Maltese Linguistics / Lingwistika Maltija) on October 19, 2007. [Article in German]