Thousands of parents, pupils and students, writers and authors, translators and interpreters, journalists, broadcasters and publishers, must be grateful to the Minister of Education for his wise decision to initiate a public consultation on the future of the Maltese language, particularly in the light of so many twists and turns to which it has been and is being subjected ‘from above’, as well as from below, lately.

For such a small people with a vernacular language which did not have a standard orthography before the 1930s, the preservation of Maltese as a recognised literary genre is of the utmost importance, nationally and internationally. Its descent into a pidgin by equating the spoken with the written should not be allowed, the more so when internalised and accepted Maltese words, expressions and forms of writing already exist. Maltese for shower has long been ‘docca’; it is not ‘xawer’. Last week, a sign at the Marsaxlokk market was advertising ‘sordfixx’ but the Maltese word has long been ‘pixxispad’. 

Any grammatical or orthographical changes to so sensitive a medium as language need a slow, mature and careful elaboration, especially if they are uncalled for. Sadly, as numerous correspondents have noted, we have had  a number of  such impositions or influences, with a presumed and probably misplaced touch of officialdom, mainly by a so-called ‘Council for the Maltese Language’, which was set up in 2005 to offer ‘guidelines’ rather than brandish decrees.

There is no doubt that it is now time to take stock of this degenerating and confusing situation and seek to address it without delay, if only in response to growing public criticism and frustration. Of course no language is static; it responds to change if and as necessary; the late Professor Aquilina, who gave us a priceless six volume dictionary, once compared it to a river. But a people’s language tradition with its etymology and semantics is not the monopoly of a handful of all-knowing ‘linguists’ from the same stable bent on re-inventing it, for purposes best known to themselves. Our language has a valuable corpus of literary expression by some of our greatest writers deserving of every respect.

I recently was with a learned lady from a culturally-driven council in Valletta who has children at school and I said casually that Maltese sometimes risked becoming “an object of ridicule”. No, she corrected me, “an object of mockery”.

All those who truly cherish Maltese certainly would not want that to happen. As a graduate in Maltese, a one-time journalist, and the author of books in the language, I am one of them. I just hope that laziness or indifference will not keep anyone from responding meaningfully to this very timely and very sincere call from the highest quarters for consultation on this vital matter.

Wittgenstein once described language as “a form of life”. It is not a fiddle.

Henry Frendo

University of Malta

Msida