Malta
Language, Literacy and Identity in a Mediterranean Island Society
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12653109 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carmel Cassar (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 257-275 |
| Publication date | 2001-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | National Identities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1460-8944 • E-ISSN: 1469-9907 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14608940120086902 |
| OpenAlex | W1987250498 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 10 |
Available documentation for the early modern period indicates that the Malta harbour towns achieved literacy earlier than the countryside. The Maltese townsmen lived on a trading route, and it was necessary for them to learn the lingua franca, as the language of trade in the Mediterranean. The educated e lite were able to acquire uent speaking knowledge, as well as the ability to write, Tuscan (a dialect then in the process of becoming standard Italian), while continuing to employ their local Maltese 'dialect' on numerous occasions. By and large, the erosion of the position of Maltese as the subordinate language was an inevitable by-product of this development. The Maltese language was able to attain the function of a literary language in the nineteenth century but it had no standard orthography until 1931 and was only adopted as Malta's of cial language in 1964
Art · Geography · Identity (music · Lingua franca · Linguistics · Literacy · Maltese · Orthography · Pedagogy · Reading (process · Sociology · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs
The interface between the written and the oral
The Social history of language
Medieval popular culture
The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society
Literacy in Traditional Societies
The Theory Of Social And Economic Organization
The ethnic origins of nations
Oral Delivery in the Middle Ages
Peasants into Frenchmen
Culture and History in Medieval Iceland
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |