Re: Maltese Phonology

Eamon kiteb:

> Would anyone on the list be able to provide me with or point me
> towards a description of Maltese phonology?  Our usually phenomenal
> library has nothing on Maltese
"Teach Yourself Maltese" (in the well-known "Teach Yourself" series of
language textbooks) is still being reprinted and should be fairly easy to
get a hold of. The author's name is Joseph Aquilina. Amazon has it new for
$10.47. It starts off with a detailed chapter on phonology and orthography.
And being the Maltese fanatic that I am, I think the book belongs on
everybody's bookshelf. ;-)

> For a while now I've been collecting resources for a "Creole Arabic"
> conlang inspired by some African Creole Arabic languages, Kormatiki
> Arabic Mixed Language, Maltese and, of course, Arabic influence in
> languages such as Persian.  No conculture or explanation as to why
> my language should exist except that I think it would be cool.
Wow, sounds like a cool project! Hope you'll post some when you've gotten
far enough.

>  All I know about phonology is that I want it to sound like Maltese but
> have no clue where to start?
I have not found any great info online, but I would definitely recommend
getting a hold of a copy of TY Maltese if you can. I also have other
learning materials (three other textbooks, tapes, and a dictionary) here at
home, and I would be happy to look something up for you if you have any
specific further questions.

Personally, I think Maltese is gorgeous. I don't speak any beyond a few
basic words and phrases, but it's a fascinating and absolutely beautiful
language. The Semitic-Romance mixture is immensely cool. Probably the most
striking thing about the phonology is that it's lost all the "harsh" sounds
of Arabic: the emphatic consonants and the pharyngeals have disappeared, as
have the velar (or are they uvular?) fricatives, and the uvular stop (q) has
evolved into a simple glottal stop (as in Egyptian and Levantine Arabic).

There used to be a web site for a Maltese radio stastion (Radju Malta 2)
which had live streaming all day so you could just sit and listen to all the
Maltese you wanted, but alas the site has disappeared and I have found no
replacement as yet. :-(

> (And yes, I am working
> on several projects at once :p - mainly because when I actually get
> free time I'm so excited about it that I can't decide what to work
> on)
Don't we all know that feeling! :-)

Regards,

Thomas

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