Maltese alphabet
The Maltese alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with the addition of a few letters with diacritical marks .
It is used to write the Maltese language . It is based on the Italian spelling. Maltese - the language of Malta - is the only Semitic language that uses Latin letters . Maltese is one of the official languages of the European Union .
The Maltese alphabet contains the following 30 letters:
AB Ċ DEF Ġ G Għ H Ħ I Ie JKLMNOPQRSTUVWX Ż Z
ab ċ def ġ g għ h ħ i ie jklmnopqrstuvwx ż z
This means that in addition to 24 Latin letters , there are four letters with diacritics Ċ / ċ, Ġ / ġ, Ħ / ħ and Ż / ż as well as the two digraphs Għ / għ and Ie / ie , which are also regarded as separate letters , whereby the Latin letter Y is missing.
Mandatory writing rules for Maltese were first published in 1924 ( Tagħrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija ). On January 1, 1934, the Maltese language became an official language on an equal footing with English.
See also
- Maltese Language Academy (Maltese: Akkademja tal-Malti ) (English)
- Maltese Writers' Association (Maltese: Ghaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti ) (French)
literature
- Kontaktlinguistik / Contact Linguistics / Linguistique de contact . 2nd half volume, edited by Hans Goebl. 1997 ( online extract )
- Borg, Albert / Azzlpardi-Alexander, Marie: Maltese . London / New York: Routledge 1997
- Buttigieg-Jaklin, Marianne: Malta: Gozo, Comino and Cominotto. Munich: Artemis 1991