Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta. It is derived from and most closely related to Arabic - in particular, the North African dialect - but in the course of its history it has adopted many loans and even phonetic and phonological features from (Southern) Italian (particularly Sicilian) and English. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. There are a significant number of Maltese expatriates in Australia who still use the language. Maltese became an official language of Malta in 1936, alongside English. Before that year the official language of Malta was Italian.
Below is the Maltese alphabet, with the SAMPA equivalents and approximate English pronunciation:
| letter | SAMPA | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | are |
| B | b | bar, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "P" |
| Ċ | tS | church |
| D | d | day, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "T" |
| E | E | end |
| F | f | far |
| Ġ | dZ | jump |
| G | g | game, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "K" |
| GĦ | has the effect of lengthening associated vowels, except when immediately followed by a "H", in which case it has the sound of a double "Ħ". | |
| H | Not pronounced unless it is at the end of a word, in which case it has the sound of "Ħ". | |
| Ħ | h | hard |
| I | I | inside |
| IE | i | eerie |
| J | j | yard |
| K | k | cave |
| L | l | line |
| M | m | march |
| N | n | next |
| O | Q | ore |
| P | p | part |
| Q | ? | glottal stop, a guttural sound, found in the Cockney English pronunciation of "bottle" |
| R | r | roar |
| S | s | sand |
| T | t | tired |
| U | u | put |
| V | v | vast, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "F" |
| W | w | wire |
| X | S | shade |
| Z | ts | pizza, but in some loan words it is pronounced as 'dz' |
| Ż | z | maze, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "S" |