Cambridge Encyclopedia :: Cambridge Encyclopedia Vol. 48

Maltese (language)

A language spoken by 300 000 people on the island of Malta, related to the W dialects of Arabic. It has changed substantially from the linguistic structure of its source, through the influence of the Romance languages. It is the only variety of Arabic written in the Roman alphabet.

Portions of the summary below have been contributed by Wikipedia.
Maltese
Malti
Spoken in: Malta, Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom
Total speakers: 371,900
Language family: Afro-Asiatic
 Semitic
  Central Semitic
   South Central Semitic
    Arabic
     Maltese 
Official status
Official language of: Malta, European Union
Regulated by: Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali ta' l-Ilsien Malti ()
Language codes
ISO 639-1: mt
ISO 639-2: mlt
ISO/FDIS 639-3: mlt 
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Alphabet

Below is the Maltese alphabet, with IPA symbols and approximate English pronunciation:

Letter IPA Approximate English pronunciation
A a similar to 'a' in father
B b bar, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [p].
Ċ church (note: dotless C has been replaced by K.)
D d day, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [t].
E ɛ end
F f far
Ġ jump, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [tʃ].
G ɡ game, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [k].
ˤ:, ħ: has the effect of lengthening and pharyngealizing associated vowels.
H  
Ħ ħ no English equivalent;
I i seat
IE iɛ, iː yet, feet
J j yard
K k cave
L l line
M m march
N n next
O o like 'aw' in law, but shorter.
P p part
Q ʔ glottal stop, found in the Cockney English pronunciation of "bottle" or the phrase "(ʔ)uh-(ʔ)oh".
R r road
S s sand
T t tired
U u food
V v vast, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [f].
W w west
X ʃ / ʒ shade, sometimes as measure;
Ż z maze, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as [s].
Z ts / dz pizza; when doubled may change to gods

Final vowels with grave accents (à, è, ì, ò, ù) are also found in Maltese in words of Italian origin, such as libertà freedom, sigurtà security, or soċjetà society.

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