MOSAIC. Maltese as a Witness to Cultural Coexistence

Описание: MOSAIC. Maltese as a Witness to Cultural Coexistence

Editorial coordination: Generation Change
Gwennaelle Viard & Aimee Hughes Mizzi

City: La Valletta
Country: Malta
Hosts: James Cutajar, Nicole Zammit

This episode is part of the MOSAIC project, a transnational youth cooperation initiative dedicated to exploring and strengthening awareness of Arab cultural heritage across the Mediterranean.

In this episode of MOSAIC Malta, recorded in La Valletta, the hosts explore how Arabic heritage remains embedded in the Maltese language. Through a historical and linguistic reflection, they trace the origins of Maltese back to the Arab presence on the island beginning in 870 AD, its development through North African Arabic dialects, and its transformation during the Norman period under Roger I of Sicily.

The episode examines how Maltese grammar and vocabulary preserve deep Arabic roots, particularly in personal pronouns, demonstratives, prepositions, conjunctions and everyday lexical fields such as nature, food, animals, colours and the environment. The discussion highlights how elements such as jiena, inti, dan, dik, bi, fi, ħobż, baħar and aħmar reveal structural and lexical continuity with Arabic.

Beyond vocabulary, the hosts reflect on grammatical structures inherited from Arabic, including broken plurals and diminutive forms, which continue to shape the morphology of Maltese today. At the same time, they acknowledge the layered character of the language, shaped by historical contact with Italian and Sicilian, and more recently by English, illustrating how Maltese evolved through centuries of cultural exchange.

The episode moves beyond a purely linguistic analysis and raises a broader question: how can a language so deeply mixed and historically layered coexist with resistance to cultural diversity in society? Through this reflection, Maltese is presented not only as a means of communication, but as living evidence of coexistence, transformation and shared Mediterranean history.

MOSAIC – Mediterranean Outreach for Strengthening Arab Identity & Culture is a youth cooperation project co-funded by the European Union through the Agenzia Italiana per la Gioventù under the Erasmus+ Programme. The project promotes intercultural dialogue, youth participation and awareness of Arab cultural heritage across the Mediterranean.

The project is coordinated by Amal for Education APS (Italy) and implemented in partnership with Casa Árabe (Spain), Generation Change (Malta), Amal İnsani Yardim Derneği (AİYD) (Türkiye) and ERNA (Türkiye).

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Agenzia Italiana per la Gioventù. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Follow the project:
https://mosaic-stories.eu/

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“Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of [name of the granting authority]. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”