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The linguistic description of Maltese has experienced an invigorating renaissance in the last ten years. As an Arabic language with a heavily mixed lexicon, Maltese serves as a laboratory for questions of linguistic variation on all linguistics levels, bilingualism, and language contact. This present volume showcases the variety of up-to-date linguistic research on Maltese. Starting with a tribute to the late David Cohen, influential French Semiticist, the remainder of the book is divided into three parts: Phonology, Morphology & Syntax, and Contact, Bilingualism & Technology. The papers in the phonology section comprise a minimalist representation of Maltese sounds from Gilbert Puech, a detailed account of phonological changes in Maltese based on onomastic data by Andrei Avram, and the description of lengthening as a discourse strategy by Alexandra Vella et. al. The section on morphology and syntax includes both synchronic and diachronic approaches to variation in Maltese. Maris Camilleri provides a detailed formal account of the paradigm in Maltese verbal inflection using a multidimensional model which accounts for subcategorization frame variation. Döhla's contribution traces the development of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Maltese and draws parallels between similar phenomena in other varieties of Arabic. Wilmsen provides a detailed history of the polar interrogative marker –š in Maltese. The article by Stolz & Saade investigates the variation between long and short independent pronouns in Maltese taking into account phonological factors, text-type, and grammatical person. Lucas & Spagnol tackle the variation of Maltese numerals with respect to phonological and morphological criteria in their study of the connecting /t/. The section on Contact, Bilingualism & Technology starts with Farrugia's description of variation in the assignment of gender for loanwords in Maltese. Comrie & Spagnol place the make-up of the borrowed part of the Maltese lexicon in a wider typology of loanwords in the world's languages. The study by Azzopardi-Alexander gives detailed insights into bilingual practices in Malta, placing usage patterns on a continuum between single language use and different code-switching and code-mixing practices. In the final paper, John Camilleri shows how the computational modelling of Maltese grammar has both theoretical and practical repercussions for the study and teaching of Maltese. As can be gathered from the wide variety of topics presented in this volume, Maltese Linguistics has developed from a subdiscipline of Arabic linguistics to a full academic subject in its own right. This volume presents an ideal introduction to the wide range of linguistic topics Maltese has to offer.

Maltese language --- Arabic language --- Maltese dialect --- Variation. --- Morphology. --- Phonology. --- Dialects --- Malta --- Languages. --- Arabic. --- Language Contact. --- Maltese. --- Romance Languages.

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Linguistics

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The contributions included in this collection present different perspectives on various aspects of Maltese Linguistics, thereby enriching a field which has been attracting considerably greater interest in recent years than was the case in the past. The papers focus on the Maltese language itself as well as on Maltese in relation to other languages. They provide a picture of Maltese mainly from a synchronic perspective, descriptions ranging from in depth analyses of morphological and syntactic features to contributions on the lexicon, corpus linguistics and sociolinguistics. A number of papers dealing with diachronic considerations are also included. The topics dealt with in this volume show not only that Maltese is the object of research from a variety of perspectives but also that scholars with diverse backgrounds and of different nationalities are studying this language, thus providing an enriching body of knowledge, including findings of interest to general linguistics and various other fields in the humanities. Der vorliegende Band enthält Beiträge mit vielfältigen Herangehensweisen zu unterschiedlichen Aspekten der maltesischen Sprachwissenschaft und erweitert dadurch den Blick auf eine Disziplin, die in den letzten Jahren deutlich mehr Interesse findet als das in der Vergangenheit der Fall war. Der Fokus wird in den einzelnen Beiträgen sowohl auf die maltesische Sprache an sich als auch auf den Sprachkontakt von Maltesisch mit anderen Sprachen gerichtet. Neben synchronen Untersuchungen, die morphologische und syntaktische Eigenschaften sowie lexikalische, korpus- und soziolinguistische Aspekte von Maltesisch eingehend beleuchten, finden sich Analysen mit vorwiegend diachroner Blickrichtung. Die thematische Vielfalt des vorliegenden Bandes, die aus den unterschiedlichen He-rangehensweisen der beteiligten Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Nationalität und mit unterschiedlichem Forschungshintergrund resultiert, erweitert nicht nur den Wissensbestand der maltesischen Linguistik, sondern kann auch bereichernde Erkenntnisse für die Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft sowie für andere Zweige der Geisteswissenschaften liefern.

Maltese language --- Arabic language --- Maltese dialect --- Dialects