Variation and Change: The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society 9783050057200, 9783050056487

Citation preview

Variation and Change

Studia typologica EDITED BY THOMAS STOLZ, FRANÇOIS JACQUESSON AND PIETER C. MUYSKEN

Beihefte / Supplements Volume 9 STUF – Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung Language Typology and Universals

Editorial Board Michael Cysouw (München) Ray Fabri (Malta) Steven Roger Fischer (Auckland) Bernhard Hurch (Graz) Bernd Kortmann (Freiburg) Nicole Nau (Poznán) Ignazio Putzu (Cagliari) † Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) Stavros Skopeteas (Bielefeld) Johan van der Auwera (Antwerpen) Elisabeth Verhoeven (Berlin) Ljuba Veselinova (Stockholm)

Variation and Change The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society Sandro Caruana, Ray Fabri, Thomas Stolz (Eds.)

Akademie Verlag

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. © 2011 Akademie Verlag GmbH, Berlin Ein Wissenschaftsverlag der Oldenbourg Gruppe www.akademie-verlag.de Das Werk einschließlich aller Abbildungen ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Bearbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Redaktion: Cornelia Stroh Einbandgestaltung: hauser lacour Druck: MB Medienhaus Berlin Dieses Papier ist alterungsbeständig nach DIN/ISO 9706.

ISBN 978-3-05-005648-7

Table of Contents

SANDRO CARUANA, RAY FABRI & THOMAS STOLZ Preface............................................................................................................

7

PART I: THE LEXICON AND VARIATION ALBERT BORG Lectal variation in Maltese................................................................................

11

JOSEPH M. BRINCAT Describing literary Maltese: concordances to Dun Karm and Rużar Briffa......

33

ANTOINETTE CAMILLERI GRIMA Giving compliments in Maltese.........................................................................

45

LARA BRINCAT & SANDRO CARUANA Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations............

65

RAY FABRI The language of young people and language change in Maltese......................

89

LAURA MORI Linguistic variation in legal Maltese: EU directives compared to national implementation laws ........................................................................................

109

6

Table of Contents

PART II: MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX MARIS CAMILLERI On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese........................................................

131

MICHAEL SPAGNOL The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese...............................................

157

THOMAS STOLZ The possessive relative clause in Maltese............................................................

183

PART III: PHONOLOGY MARIE AZZOPARDI-ALEXANDER The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri........................................................

235

ALEXANDRA VELLA, MICHAEL SPAGNOL, SARAH GRECH & FLAVIA CHETCUTI A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese.............................................

255

GILBERT PUECH Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese.............................................................

277

List of contributors..........................................................................................

317

Index of authors...............................................................................................

319

Index of languages...........................................................................................

323

Index of subjects..............................................................................................

325

SANDRO CARUANA (MALTA), RAY FABRI (MALTA) & THOMAS STOLZ (BREMEN/GERMANY)

Preface

In this volume we present the second collection of articles documenting the contributions to the 2nd International Conference on Maltese Linguistics held in Bremen, Germany from the 19th to the 21st September 2009. This conference was organised by the Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (International Association of Maltese Linguistics) and scholars from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta and the USA shared ideas and research initiatives on topics related to various aspects of Maltese Linguistics. The theme of the conference was ―Variation and Change: The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society‖. The program included 19 talks which covered a broad range of issues pertaining to this topic. As in the case of the first conference organised by the Għaqda, the papers presented in this second conference are innovative for the study of Maltese and represent a valid contribution to General Linguistics. In this volume we collect 12 articles which once again reflect the thematic richness of Maltese Linguistics. Furthermore these papers also clearly indicate that Maltese Linguistics, on which research up to the recent past was somewhat disaggregated, is finding not too small a niche of its own and that, as augured during the Għaqda‘s first conference, it is going far beyond studies devoted mainly to language contact and to Arabic dialectology. This volume is therefore yet another step towards rendering more widespread research pertaining to the Maltese Language and Linguistics. The various areas of study included in these 12 papers are also an indication of the growing interest in Maltese as well as of the expansion of the field under study. The volume is divided into three broad sections: The Lexicon and Variation, Morphology and Syntax, Phonology. Part I of the volume is dedicated to the central theme of the conference that is variation and change. Albert Borg‘s contribution focuses on the features of dialectal varieties, speech-styles (including motherese) and other sociolinguistic varieties of Maltese with a sideways glance on the impact of English. Joseph M. Brincat tackles the works of two major Maltese literary figures (Dun Karm Psaila and Rużar Briffa) from a linguistic perspective by taking into consideration the frequency of use of various lexical items in their poetry written both in Italian and in Maltese. Antoinette Camilleri

8

Sandro Caruana, Ray Fabri & Thomas Stolz

Grima‘s contribution is mainly sociolinguistic in nature as it draws on a number of variables which influence the ways used to express compliments in Maltese. The article by Lara Brincat and Sandro Caruana and the one by Ray Fabri deal with fields in language which are highly dynamic, also because they are associated with the younger generation of users. Brincat and Caruana investigate the nature and pedagogical implications of Maltese in Internet chatting, and Fabri explores the speech of young people as an indicator of language change. This section is concluded by Laura Mori who deals specifically with the use of Maltese in the context of European Union institutions. Part II deals with morpho-syntax, starting with an article by Maris Camilleri which presents an in-depth analysis of verbal enclitics and their morpho-syntactic status as incorporated pronouns and/or agreement markers. Michael Spagnol‘s paper deals with the causative-inchoative contrast in Maltese by considering the temporal dimension of the morphosyntactic organization of alternating verb pairs. Spagnol also tackles the question of the derivational relationship between causative and inchoative forms. Thomas Stolz identifies the hitherto neglected morphosyntactic strategy which is employed to encode certain (non-prototypical) possessive relations such as temporary and/or physical possession of mental states, etc. The various construction types used for this purposes can be subsumed under the category of the possessive relative clause. In the Part III, Marie Azzopardi-Alexander presents a paper on phonological variation within two Maltese dialects. Despite the size of the Maltese islands, variation is a common feature, with phonological differences between varieties being very salient. Azzopardi-Alexander reports her findings on the use of Xlukkajr, a dialect spoken in the South of the Maltese islands and Naduri, a variety used in a Gozitan village. Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech and Flavia Chetcuti turn their attention to a prosodic feature, namely filled pauses in Maltese. Their contribution gives further insight into a field which merits more attention and investigation since studies in this area have not been carried out frequently with regards to Maltese. Gilbert Puech presents a very detailed analysis of syllable structure and stress assignment in Maltese, while discussing and critically appraising previous research on the subject. We hope that this volume provides insight into important current work being carried out on various aspects of the Maltese language and that it will serve to inspire and further strengthen research in Maltese Linguistics. We are grateful to the University of Bremen for hosting the 2nd International Conference of Maltese Linguistics and for supporting the conference financially. Our thanks go also to the Akademie Verlag for accepting this edited volume on its programme of scholarly publications. Cornelia Stroh deserves a special word of thanks for the much needed editorial assistance she gave us. Malta/Bremen

The editors, April 2011

Part I The Lexicon and Variation

ALBERT BORG (MALTA)

Lectal variation in Maltese

Abstract Maltese varieties are not merely different ‗accents‘ but they constitute different ‗dialects‘ since they differ systematically on all levels of linguistic analysis, as demonstrated in this work (although admittedly phonological differences are most prominent). There are geographical differences in that different localities are associated with particular varieties, and there are even examples of intra-village variation. There is also much interference between dialectal and Standard Maltese. Furthermore one can speak of variation within Standard Maltese, some of which is geographically based, but there are also generation differences.

1. Popular terms for variation The Maltese have popular terms to refer to linguistic variation in their native language: Standard Maltese is called Pulit ‗polite‘, but non-standard varieties are referred to in a small range of quite uncomplimentary terms: imfarrak ‗broken‘, mgħawweġ ‗twisted‘, ikreh ‗ugly‘. To say that someone is speaking Standard, people say jitkellem bil-pulit ‗he speaks politely‘ or jitkellem bis-sew ‗he speaks rightly‘. And to say that someone speaks in a non-standard variety some people say: ifarrak ‗he breaks‘, jgħawweġ ‗he twists‘, jitkellem ikreh/bl-ikreh ‗he speaks in an ugly way‘ or jitkellem bir-raħli ‗he speaks in village speech‘. A parent can even be heard admonishing a child: tfarrakx! ‗Don‘t break!‘ or tgħawwiġx! ‗Don‘t twist!‘. In Ħal Qormi people use the expression jitkellem bit-tuf ‗he speaks using tuf (‗you know‘)‘ referring to a characteristic nonstandard realisation of the verb taf ‗you know‘.1



1

I would like to thank my friends and colleagues Olvin Vella and Marie Azzopardi-Alexander for their help in the preparation of this paper. Data not accompanied by a reference, is derived from personal observation.

Albert Borg

12

2. Survival of dialects Writing in 1977, hardly anyone would have disagreed with Alexander Borg when he says: The current neglect of non-urban speech forms is particularly regrettable in that the process of social modernization that was relatively gradual in the period leading up to World War II appears to have undergone intense accelaration over the past decade with the result that the dialect boundaries of rural Maltese are fast receding and will probably disappear within the next generation. (Borg Alexander 1977) And yet thankfully, more than three decades later, Maltese dialects are far from extinct! Undoubtedly the creation of Local Councils and the consolidation of their role within Maltese society, has helped to foster appreciation of identity on a local level. Moreover through participation in EU sponsored cultural exchanges and twinning arrangements, the Maltese have realised in the nick of time that diversity and identity even on a local level constitute a richness appreciated by foreigners from much larger countries who jealously guard their own heritage in linguistic diversity. One Local Council in particular, that of Żejtun, has for some time been dedicating an annual event to the celebration of the local dialect, involving especially the reading in public of creative pieces written in dialect (Żejtun Local Council: Council Minutes, 10 December 2009). The example is catching on and the Gozitan village of Għarb is holding similar festivals (Sunday Times, Gozo Dialects Festival, 6 September 2009).

3. Dialect vs. accent Although in general variation is much more conspicuous on the phonetic and phonological level (including intonation), a case will be made for according variation within Maltese full dialect status (as opposed to ‗accent‘) since systematic variation occurs on all levels of linguistic analysis.

4. Geographical variation? In general speakers tend to think of dialects as being geograpically based (Chambers & Trudgill 1998). Objectively speaking however, this is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain when one considers the intense level of interaction and interrelationships within such a minute landmass, as well as the factor of resettlement, mostly through marriage, not to mention that in many cases villages have expanded into one another. In addition, the provision of Government housing in the form of housing estates next to

Lectal variation in Maltese

13

long established villages has had a levelling effect on such differences, since there is a tendency to use Standard almost as a form of koinè on these estates, where residents normally have different geographical origins. However many such individuals retain limited use of their native variety, especially with the members of their original family and the circle of friends belonging to the phase before they moved. All in all it will be convenient to maintain, what to a certain extent is the fiction of geographically based (and labelled) varieties. This device is not devoid of an objective grounding since in general, traditionally established villages still have a core of speakers from all age groups who are native in a local variety, in addition to their acquired competence in a form of Standard Maltese.

5. Varieties of Maltese 5.1. The study of Maltese dialects Fenech (1981) and Vanhove (1999) have documented the history of the study of Maltese dialects starting from the late eighteenth century with the work of Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1796) through to Annibale Preca (1904), Hans Stumme (1904), Peter Schabert (1976), Alexander Borg (1977), Gilbert Puech (1979), the volume on Gozo from the Leeds Malta Dialect Survey (Aquilina and Isserlin 1981), the work on Mġarri (Camilleri & Vanhove 1994) and a small number of other works which are referred to below. In addition there have been a number of unpublished dissertations by students of the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta to some of which reference will be made in the course of this presentation. There is also an ongoing Maltese Dialects Project by the Institute of Linguistics in collaboration with the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta, in which so far the original data from the Leeds Malta Dialect Survey has been digitised (Vella 2006). Finally there is the study by Marie Azzopardi-Alexander (this volume) on the vocalic systems of Xlukkajr and Naduri.

5.2. Phonetics and phonology 5.2.1. Intonation Native speakers show an awareness of variation in intonation across dialects, some referring to the perceived characteristic of other dialects by applying the expression jitkellmu bil-lajma ‗they speak very slowly‘ or jaħtfu ‗they snatch up‘. Unfortunately to date there are only studies available for the intonation of Standard Maltese (cf. Vella 1994, 2003a, 2003b and 2007 and Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1991, 2009) with the exception of a small-scale and preliminary comparison of the dialect of Żebbuġ (Gozo) with Standard Maltese (Vella 1997).

Albert Borg

14

5.2.2. Different approaches When it comes to the phonology of Maltese dialects, it is interesting to note the different principles used for the organisation of the material. Some scholars tend to take a diachronic approach, taking putative original phonemes (based on some form of Arabic) as a reference point and noting their realizations in different varieties (cf. for instance, Alexander Borg 1977, Aquilina & Isserlin 1981, Vanhove 1991/92 and Camilleri & Vanhove 1994). Puech (1978, 1979, this volume) on the other hand uses a completely synchronic approach but relates different realizations to a very abstract level, such that he can divide Maltese and Gozitan dialects into two groups, for instance, on the basis of the mechanism for certain processes involving vowel harmony. The approach adopted here is somewhat different, focusing on lectal variation in Maltese in the sense of systematic native speaker competence, whereby a particular speaker learns to operate with a particular, more or less well-defined system of oppositions and can recognise that other speakers have different systems. At the same time these systems are in general mutually intelligible.2 The phonological differences (apart from intonation) usually involve vowel quality or quantity so that interpretation is possible in context not only because of the mostly common consonantal material, but also because not every vowel in every word is necessarily different from one variety to the other. On the other hand when two different varieties have different words for roughly the same concept (cf. below, section 10) intelligibility for that particular instance often breaks down. So whether two different varieties can be seen to have taken different routes to their present stage of development starting from a common hypothetical origin, or whether they can be understood as merely two different realisations of the same underlying abstract system, the fact remains that from the point of view of the native speaker, one finds oneself in a sea of different systems, and the difference may be greater or smaller, but it still marks the boundary between one variety and another. Note furthermore that in this review we will not be exploring register variation, except for the case of lexical material characterising the speech of young adults (section 12.5.3) and child-directed speech (section 12.6). 5.2.3. Vowels Alexander Borg (1977) speaking of Gozo dialects says that their vocalic inventory does not appear to vary radically from the overall pattern typical of the Maltese dialect area, comprising a system of eleven monophthongs. He further states that apart from the diphthong /uy/ which does not exist in Standard Maltese, the main differences obtaining between the standard vowel system and that proper to rural dialects are: (i) the historic 2

Although some speakers of Standard Maltese claim they do not understand native dialect speakers interacting in dialect. However I suspect there may be a social-psychological barrier involved here, since such individuals tend to look down on dialect speakers and in general, think of them as backward (Wardhaugh 1998).

Lectal variation in Maltese

15

derivation and synchronic distribution of these vowel segments, and (ii) certain synchronic rules of morphophonemic alternation governing their occurrence in rural speech. However Schabert (1976) posits a system of four short vowels, three long vowels and two diphthongised vowels (nine in all) for Xlukkajr. But recent work on Xlukkajr points to a different scenario: indeed a system of no less than fourteen vocalic contrasts has been found in this dialect (Incorvaja 2007 and Azzopardi-Alexander: this volume). And this does not seem to be an isolated case: a system of fourteen vocalic contrasts has also been put forward for the Gozitan dialect of Nadur (Said 2007, Azzopardi-Alexander: this volume) while Camilleri & Vanhove (1994) propose a vocalic system for Mġarri in Malta with eight oppositions. Different vowel systems in Maltese varieties3 Standard Maltese Xlukkajr Naduri Mġarri

Short ɪɛɐɔʊ ɪɛӕɐɔʊɯ yɪɛӕɐɔʊ ieao

Long i: ɪ: ɛ: ɐ: ɔ: ʊ: (Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997) i: ɪ: ɛ: ɐ: ɔ: ʊ: u: (Incorvaja 2007) i: ɪ: ɛ: ɐ: ɔ: ʊ: u: (Said 2007) i: ie o: u: (Camilleri & Vanhove 1994)

All this indicates that as regards vowels, lectal variation is certainly not simply a question of differing patterns of morphophonemic alternation, but actually involves different vocalic systems. 5.2.3.1. Diphthongs Furthermore, the point Alexander Borg (1977) makes about the diphthong /uy/ being the only diphthong in rural Maltese which is not found in Standard Maltese should be understood in the light of what he says about the synchronic distribution of these vowel segments. In other words even if the vowel systems may not be so different, the fact that the distribution of a particular vowel phoneme or diphthong differs from variety to variety, presents the native speaker with a bewildering mass of differences, even if most of them would be interpretable. Here are some of his examples: Rural Maltese ummuy truubuy aaley suurow riidew

3

Standard Maltese ommi traabi ooli saaru riidu

‗my mother‘ ‗babies‘ ‗high‘ ‗they became‘ ‗they wanted‘

As much as possible, the notation of each different author is reproduced to avoid making claims not supported by first hand observation.

Albert Borg

16

Coming to the question of pausal forms, one of the examples Borg (1977) gives, involving the contrast missiiri/missiirey ‗my father‘ is the following: Non-pausal:

missiiri yeydli mur ġiyba

‗my father tells me to go and get it‘4

Pausal:

yaamlu ‗utun missiirey

‗my father makes cotton out of it‘

Borg notes however that while these fragments recorded at Għarb display what appear to be instances of pausally conditioned diphthongization, the monophthong also seems to occur randomly in pausal context, yielding the general impression that the alternation is subject to free variation. Whatever the case may be however, while this feature is said by Borg to occur also in Malta, for example in Mosta, it is certainly not a feature of Standard Maltese. 5.2.3.2. Vowel harmony Puech (1978) studies roundness harmonization (VH) which accounts for alternations between /i-u/ and /e-o/ and divides Maltese dialects into two groups: (a) those in which only a vowel which is adjacent to a round vowel may be harmonized; and (b) those in which harmonization of affixal vowels depends solely on the [+/– back] quality of stem vowels. Yet the realization of these principles within each group differs from one another, so much so that the author illustrates the different workings of the same principle in group (a) with examples from Standard Maltese, Mellieħi and Qormi and the different workings of the principle in group (b) with examples from Siġġiewi and Gozo. 5.2.4. Syllable structure Camilleri & Vanhove (1994) also provide examples where Mġarri has a tendency in certain contexts, for a different syllabic structure to that found in Standard Maltese, e.g. [ˈnismaw] vs. St. M. [nisiˈmaw] nisimgħu ‗we hear‘, [ˈtho:rsli] vs. St. M. [thaˈrisli] tħarisli ‗she looks at me‘, [ˈnoʔdu] vs. St.M. [noˈʔo:du] noqogħdu ‗we stay‘ and [yæʔˈlɛwwa] vs. St. M. [yæʔilˈ°u°a] jaqilgħuha ‗they extract it‘. 5.2.5. Consonants 5.2.5.1. The pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ The survival of the Arabic pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ in some dialects is one of the most discussed items in the relevant literature. Summarising their findings for Gozo, Aquilina & Isserlin (1981) state plainly that this survives nowhere in Maltese, but that Stumme, and more recently Schabert, had observed pharyngalisation of adjacent 4

Examples are not glossed in detail as the interest here is not grammatical.

Lectal variation in Maltese

17

vowels. In this context, the claim by Vanhove (1991) to have found an idiolect in Mtaħleb, Malta, with the voiced pharyngeal fricative, appears startling. Her subject was a 74 year old farmer living in an isolated farm about a kilometre away from the hamlet itself and she notes that /ʕ/ occurred sporadically in his speech. These are some examples: [flʕa:ˈʃiyya] fl-għaxija ‗in the evening‘, [ʕa:ˈġi:n] għaġin ‗pasta‘, [ʕalˈlieʔ] għallieq ‗hangman‘, [ˈyirʕa] jirgħa ‗he grazes‘. 5.2.5.2. The velar fricative /ɣ/ The survival of the voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ on the other hand is documented by Aquilina & Isserlin (1981) especially for Għarb, e.g. [ˈʃoɣol] xogħol ‗work‘, but they also found occurrences in Sannat: [ˈbaɣal] bagħal ‗mule‘ (Għarb and Sannat), [ˈɣada] għada ‗tomorrow‘. In addition they say that other observers noticed it in Żebbuġ, Għasri, San Lawrenz and Kerċem. On the other hand Aquilina & Isserlin (1981) occasionally found /ɣ/ realised as a voiceless velar fricative where in Standard Maltese one would expect merely vowel length. Thus for St. M. /ˈmɐ:zɛl/ magħżel ‗spindle‘ they found [ˈmaxzel] (Xewkija), [ˈmaxzil] (Għasri), and [ˈmexzel] (Munxar); for St. M. /ˈɔ:rfɐ/ għorfa ‗upper room‘ they found [ˈxurfa] (Xewkija); for St. M. /ʃɔ:l/ xogħol ‗work‘ and /ˈɐ:wdɛʃ/ Għawdex ‗Gozo‘ they found /ˈʃoxol/ and /ˈxawdiʃ/ (Munxar). 5.2.5.3. The realization of an original glottal fricative Aquilina & Isserlin (1981) also reported the occassional realization of a velar/glottal/ pharyngeal voiceless fricative (in places where Arabic had a glottal fricative) but where in St. M. one finds only vowel length. Thus [ˈdehip] (Xagħra) for St. M. /dɛ:p/ deheb ‗gold‘; [ˈʃahar] (Qala) for St. M. /ʃɐ:r/ xahar ‗month‘ and [ˈdehra] (Fontana) for St. M. /ˈdɛ:rɐ/ dehra ‗appearance‘. 5.2.5.4. The velar plosive /k/ and the glottal stop /ʔ/ Another celebrated difference is the occurrence in Xewkija of the voiceless velar plosive /k/ where St. M. would have a glottal stop, e.g. /kɐlp/ for St. M. /ʔɐlp/ qalb ‗heart‘ and /trɪ:k/ for St. M. /tri:ʔ/ triq ‗road‘. Aquilina & Isserlin (1981) note correctly that this difference is found also in a small area of the capital, Rabat, known as Pjazza San Franġisk. What is not so well known however is that within the same latter area, some individuals have the opposite phenomenon, namely the glottal stop where St. M. would have a voiceless (or voiced) velar plosive: /ˈʔɪnɪ/ for St. M. /ˈkɪnɪ/ Kinnie (the name of a popular beverage), /ʤʔɐnˈti:jɐ/ for St. M. /ʤgɐnˈti:jɐ/ Ġgantija (the name of a Neolithic Temple complex outside Xagħra).

Albert Borg

18

6. Intra-village variation The variation in Victoria just mentioned brings us to yet another source of variation, that within one village as opposed to differences from village to village. A case in point is the variation in Ħaż-Żebbuġ (Malta) studied by Attard & Caruana (1982). They found no less than five areas within the village which somehow could be distinguished on the basis of the speech of their inhabitants through marked or more subtle linguistic differences. It has to be noted that Malta, like many parts of Europe has had its fair share of lost villages and hamlets, documented by Wettinger (1975). While some villages were lost through depopulation, others were incorporated into larger conurbations and their memory is usually preserved through street names within the larger, modern village. Thus in Ħaż-Żebbuġ there is the area known as Ħal Muxi. Here one finds forms such as /ˈru:ʤɐl/, /ˈtu:ʤɐn/ and /ˈʦʊk:ɐr/ for St. M. /ˈrɐ:ʤɛl/ raġel ‗man‘ /ˈtɐ:ʤɛn/ taġen ‗(frying) pan‘ and /ˈʦɔk:ɔr/ zokkor ‗sugar‘. In the area known as Ħal Dwil on the other hand, the corresponding forms are /ˈru:ʤɔl/, /ˈtu:ʤɔn/ and /ˈʦʊk:ɔr/. Żebbuġ speakers who now reside in the Government housing estate tend to suppress their dialect and use only Standard Maltese. There is a fourth, linguistically-marked area around the parish church: residents here tend to code-switch between their dialect and Standard Maltese, e.g. Mur ġibli /ˈʃku:rɐ/ (xkora ‗sack‘ – said in dialect) /ˈʦɔk:ɔr/ (zokkor ‗sugar‘ – said in St.M.) ‗Go and get me a sack of sugar‘. Finally there are speakers who reside in apartments built after the Second World War, and considered ―modern‖ at the time. Such speakers also suppress their dialect but they can be distinguished from the residents in the more recent housing estate because they tend to avoid characteristics which in the context of the village are more strongly associated with Standard Maltese. Thus for orthographic tiegħi ‗mine‘ they would use the form /ˈtɪjɛɪ/ and avoid /ˈtɪjɐɪ/, since the latter is regarded as more blatantly Standard (cf. section 12.1.1). It is known that other villages have more or less well defined areas with their own special identities, and more research needs to be carried out to establish whether these are correlated to linguistic differences as well.

7. Interference between varieties 7.1. The case of tawwata Before we go on to consider lectal variation on other linguistic levels, it has to be noted that what happens most often when speakers native in a non-standard variety switch to Standard, is that they attempt to adjust to the perceived phonetics and phonology of

Lectal variation in Maltese

19

Standard Maltese, while retaining most of the linguistic and grammatical characteristics of their native dialect. A particularly cogent example of this is the case of the putative Standard nominal form /tɐwˈwɐːtɐ/ tawwata ‗car horn‘ and the related verb /ˈtɐwwɐt/ tawwat ‗to sound a car horn, to toot‘. The word occurs in many dialects with the phonetic characteristics proper to each dialect, e.g. /tɐwˈwɔːtɐ/, /tɐwˈwuːtɐ/, etc. When certain dialect speakers switch to Standard they dutifully reproduce what they think would be the phonetic form of the word, except that in Standard this word is unknown, and speakers use /hɔrn/ ħorn and /ˈpɐʔpɐʔɪlhɔrn/ paqpaq il-ħorn ‗to sound the car horn‘.

7.2. Cases of hypercorrection There are other instances of hypercorrection where the speaker ―oversteps‖ as it were, the boundaries of Standard Maltese because of his shaky knowledge. Thus one common perception of the difference between Standard Maltese and dialect is the long vowel /ɐː/ where dialect could have, for instance, long /ɔː/. Here are some examples: Standard Maltese /ˈrɔːtɐ/ /ˈʃkɔːrɐ/ /ˈskɔːlɐ/ /sɐntɐnˈtɔːn/

Hypercorrected Form /ˈrɐːtɐ/ /ˈʃkɐːrɐ/ /ˈskɐːlɐ/ /sɐntɐnˈtɐːn/

‗bicycle‘ ‗sack‘ ‗school‘ ‗Sant‘Anton‘ (place name)

7.3. Intermediate realizations There are other occasions however when it would not be appropriate to switch completely to Standard phonology and the speaker makes a conscious decision not to go all the way. Consider the following example by a native speaker of Xlukkajr (Incorvaja: in progress): Standard Maltese /ˈbɛnɐ/ /ˈmɛtɐ/

Xlukkajr /ˈbɪnæ/ /ˈmɪtæ/

Intermediate Realization /ˈbɪnɐ/ bena ‗he built‘ /ˈmɪtɐ/ meta ‗when‘

7.4. Retention of dialect features in Standard On the other hand many non-Standard speakers, whether by choice or because they are not fully aware of the difference, simply do not adjust completely to Standard and retain phonetic/phonological features of their dialect. Thus we have non-Standard short /ɪ/ as opposed to Standard long /i:/ in certain contexts, e.g.

Albert Borg

20

/tɐrˈbɪɐ/

vs.

/tɐrˈbi:ɐ/

tarbija ‗baby‘

non-Standard long /ɪ:/ as opposed to Standard long /i:/, e.g. /ˈknɪ:sja/ vs. /ˈkni:sja/ knisja ‗church‘ and non-Standard short /ɔ/ for Standard long /ɔ:/, e.g. /vɪˈtɔrja/ vs. /vɪˈtɔ:rja/ Vitorja ‗name of a feast‘

7.5. Dialect underlying Standard Maltese utterances From the foregoing it should be clear that hearing utterances in what seems to be Standard Maltese is no guarantee that what is being produced are actually instances of Standard, and in what follows this is taken up further by considering morphological and syntactic examples which are actually produced in Standard Maltese phonology but are in fact non-Standard phenomena. For convenience, these examples will be given in their (Standard) orthographic form.

8. Morphological variation 8.1. Plural formations We turn first to some examples of variation on the morphological level involving the formation of the plural: Singular torta ‗pie‘ karozza ‗car‘ purtiera ‗curtain‘ seftura ‗maid‘ kutra ‗blanket‘ farm ‗(chicken) farm‘

Standard Plural torti karozzi purtieri sefturi kutri farms

Non-Standard Plural torot (Nadur) kroroz (common in Gozo, cf. Agius 1992) prieter (Nadur, cf. Borg 1988) sfieter (St Julians, cf. Borg 1988) kwieter (Birkirkara, cf. Borg 1988) friem (Magħtab)

8.2. The negative particle An interesting case is that of the negative mhux, invariable in the case of many speakers, but inflecting for gender in the singular (/mu:ʃ/ mhux M and /mɪ:ʃ/ mhiex F, with a variant /mɪˈjɪ:ʃ/ mhijiex) and number (/mʊˈmɪ:ʃ/ mhumiex PL) in the (Standard) speech of many others. Non-Standard forms (occurring in the Standard speech of nonnative speakers) are /mɪˈju:ʃ/ (SG.F) and /mɪˈjɔmʃ/ (PL).

Lectal variation in Maltese

21

9. Syntactic variation 9.1. A negative construction Negating a verb in St. M. involves the circumfix ma ... x, e.g. imur ‗he goes‘, vs. ma jmurx, ‗he does not go‘. But to negate a verb phrase with the progressive auxiliary particle qed for instance, the negative mhux (cf. above) is preposed before the whole sequence, e.g. mhux qed imur ‗he is not going‘. In Mġarri however the negative circumfix is used in both cases: ma jmurx, ma qedx imur (Camilleri 1987).

9.2. Construction with għodd-/kważi To say that something almost happened in the past a construction involving the pseudoverb għodd- or the adverb kważi is used in Standard Maltese, thus: Kont għoddni/kważi żlaqt Kien għoddu/kważi għereq

‗I had almost slipped‘ ‗He had almost drowned‘.

But in some dialects only the Perfect verb preceded by the Perfect kien ‗he was‘ is used: Kont żlaqt, Kien għereq. Now in Standard Maltese this only means that the event happened, not that it almost did. On the other hand in the dialects which have this usage, the construction is ambiguous and the meaning has to be resolved contextually.

9.3. Semi-perfectiveless stative verbs Spagnol (2009) unravels many of the intricacies of lexical and grammatical aspect in Standard Maltese. In the light of this framework many dialect differences are emerging (Spagnol, p.c.). Spagnol identifies a class of semi-perfectiveless stative verbs: these have both a Perfect and an Imperfect form when the verb is used transitively, but the Perfect is not available when it is used statively. Thus we have Wiżen/jiżen il-patata but *Wiżen/jiżen tmenin kilo

‗He weighed/weighs the potatoes‘ ‗He weighs eighty kilos‘.

To express the state in the past, the Perfect verb kien ‗he was‘ is preposed to the Imperfect verb: Kien jiżen tmenin kilo

‗He weighed eighty kilos‘.

Albert Borg

22

However in certain dialects (Mosti, Naxxari, Mellieħi, Qormi, Żebbuġi [Malta] and Rabat [Gozo] have been identified so far) the Perfect form of the stative verb is perfectly acceptable even when it is used statively, thus: Wiżen tmenin kilo

‗He weighed eighty kilos‘.

Other semi-perfectiveless stative verbs which in fact have a stative Perfect in the dialects mentioned are: *żelaq/jiżloq *qata‘/jaqta‘ *waħħal/iwaħħal *qagħad/joqgħod

‗to be slippery‘ ‗to be sharp‘ ‗to be sticky‘ ‗to reside‘

9.4. Ikun + stative verb Spagnol (p.c.) identifies two further syntactic differences involving dialects. In an adverbial subordinate sentence with the stative verb jaf ‗he knows‘, Standard Maltese requires the presence of a ―stativity marker‖ (the Imperfect form of the verb kien – that is ikun) before the verb: Meta nkun naf fejn sejrin, inħallas għall-biljett ‗When I know where we‘re going, I‘ll pay for the ticket‘ But some dialects don‘t require the presence of this marker: Meta naf fejn sejrin, inħallas għall-biljett.

9.5. Kien + għadYet another difference concerns the pseudo-verb għad- ‗to be still (doing something)‘ e.g. għadni d-dar għadha d-dar

‗I am still at home‘ ‗she is still at home‘

To put the situation in the past in Standard Maltese an appropriate form of the Perfect of the verb kien ‗he was‘ is preposed to the verb, agreeing with it in number and gender: kont għadni d-dar ‗I was still at home‘ kienet għadha d-dar ‗she was still at home‘ In some dialects however, kien in this context is invariable: kien għadni d-dar kien għadha d-dar

‗I was still at home‘ ‗she was still at home‘

Lectal variation in Maltese

23

10. Lexical variation Speakers are generally vaguely aware that there are some lexical differences between dialects, and some items are often quoted in this regard, for instance St. M. tajra literally ‗bird‘, but used also for ‗kite‘, whereas the dialectal form (e.g. Żejtun) is manuċċa; St. M. farka ‗a crumb‘ but used in some Gozitan dialects with the meaning ‗a little‘, St. M. boxxla ‗compass‘, but used in many dialects also for the meaning ‗secondary (glass) door behind the main entrance of the house‘. However when lexical fields are explored systematically, more striking differences emerge. And such differences are often not conditioned only geographically, but also involve variables such as sex and age. For present purposes I will give some examples from three unpublished works in this area, mainly limiting myself to geographical differences.

10.1. Butterfly terms Busuttil (1989) studies the names of the nineteen endemic species of butterflies to be found in the Maltese islands, concentrating roughly on the south west part of Malta. The example I choose involves different names for the species Papilio Machaon, popularly known as the ‗Swallow Tail‘. Two different names were most frequent in Ħal Safi, Mqabba and Qrendi: kavallier ‗knight‘ and tal-lira ‗of the pound‘.The commonest name in Gudja, Dingli and Żurrieq was ir-re ‗the king‘. But other names occurred throughout the area less frequently: tal-bużbież ‗of the fennel‘, gallina ‗hen‘, tar-reġina ‗of the queen‘, tal-fjuri ‗of the flowers‘, tal-fejġel ‗of the radish‘, taż-żebbuġ ‗of the olive tree‘, tal-għalqa ‗of the field‘, gardell ‗goldfinch‘, l-ikkulurit ‗the coloured one‘, tal-kaboċċi ‗of the cabbages‘.

10.2. Terms for sweets Rapa (1995) chose a culinary domain, having to do with the names for different kinds of sweets and desserts. The example chosen here involves the different names for a kind of traditional very crispy biscuit which people often dunk in their coffee or tea. The study was conducted in Gozo: Rabat and Qala had biskuttell (also the St. M. term), whereas some speakers from Għarb had fettul while others from the same locality had bezzun.(It is interesting to note that fettul is related to fittet ‗to dunk‘, while in St. M. bezzun is the name of a kind of bread in the shape of a longish bun). Speakers from Xewkija had felli ‗segment‘. Other less frequent terms were kristina, fingers and crunchie.

24

Albert Borg

10.3. Terms for agricultural tools Curmi & Debono (1997) explore the different names for a set of agricultural (handheld) tools, also in Gozo. Our example this time involves the tool often called a ‗rake‘ (a largish metal comb fixed to the end of a stick, typically used for clearing dried leaves). The most common terms were rixkatur and rixketta, but younger speakers from Rabat had rixkettun. Older speakers from Rabat on the other hand had barraxa. Older speakers from Xagħra used rixkla and an old man from Nadur had fekrun. Gerriefa was also recorded from Nadur and Munxar. Very surprisingly older speakers from Munxar had rejk.

11. Idiomatic usage Apart from variation in the form of lexical items (for the same concept), or the different meanings across dialects associated with the same form, there is also variation in what can be termed idiomatic usage. Thus Gozitan speakers in general would say mort naqta‘ x-xagħar for St. M. mort naqta‘ xagħri ‗I had a haircut‘. Note that in Gozitan, the noun for ‗hair‘ is preceded by the definite article while in Standard it is suffixed with an enclitic pronoun. Another example is Gozitan oqgħod baxx for St. M. oqgħod bilqiegħda ‗sit down‘. Note that baxx is known and used in St. M, but only in the sense of ‗low‘.

12. Variation within Standard Maltese Standard Maltese is the native variety of a substantial portion of the population and most of the other Maltese with a non-standard native variety acquire it usually rather early on in life. Acquisition of Standard Maltese used to happen at the transition from the village primary school to an area secondary school, roughly around the age of 10 or 11 years. However there are still speakers native in a non-standard variety around who missed their secondary schooling: in their case acquisition could have happened later, for instance, when they found work outside their village. More recently, through such factors as the widespread penetration of the mass media and the fact that parents (especially mothers) are more socially conscious, acquisition happens much earlier, even by as early as 4 or 5 years of age. Unfortunately this tendency is also leading to a situation whereby young children hear their village dialect spoken around them but are strictly forbidden to use it, at least at home, and have to speak Standard Maltese. One such instance is Marsaxlokk (Incorvaja, in preparation). Although this is a traditional fishing village many youngsters do not interact in Xlukkajr anymore. There are also a number of individuals who were brought up speaking Maltese English and who

Lectal variation in Maltese

25

acquired Standard Maltese later on in life through interaction with people outside the home. It is important to bear these different categories of speakers in mind in considering that the variety called Standard Maltese is itself not a completely homogeneous reality, but is realised through a number of variants.

12.1. Cottonera speech 12.1.1. Monophthongisation vs. diphthongisation One variant quite prominent in the local consciousness is the so-called Cottonera variety, the speech of the three cities around Grand Harbour: Bormla/Cospicua, Isla/ Senglea and Birgu/Vittoriosa, characterised by monophthongisation in certain contexts where ‗canonical‘ Standard has diphthongs, for example: Orthographic Form tiegħi ‗mine‘ setgħu ‗they could‘

Standard Maltese /ˈtɪjɛɪ/ or /ˈtɪjɐɪ/ /ˈsɛtɔʊ/ or /ˈsɛtɐʊ/

Cottonera /ˈtɪjɪ/ /ˈsɛtʊ/

Note first of all that the alternation /ɛɪ/ – /ɐɪ/ and /ɔʊ/ – /ɐʊ/ in Standard Maltese is said to be in free variation by speakers. This may well be the case for some, but for others there is a tendency to regard forms like /ˈtɪjɛɪ/ and /ˈsɛtɔʊ/ as more canonical. This is because although the speech of people from the Sliema area is perceived by many to exemplify Standard par excellence, there is on the other hand an awareness that their speech could be heavily anglicised, not least because of code-switching with English, and so forms typical of Sliema speech such as /ˈtɪjɐɪ/ and /ˈsɛtɐʊ/ are regarded ambivalently. On the other hand there is a case of a speaker from Rabat (Malta) for whom forms like /ˈtɪjɛɪ/ and /ˈsɛtɔʊ/ belong to Rabti, while he uses forms like /ˈtɪjɐɪ/ and /ˈsɛtɐʊ/ when speaking Standard. Although the diphthong /ɛɪ/ or /ɐɪ/ can occur initially, medially or finally, the Cottonera monophthongisation is associated mostly with final position (Sciriha 1986, Sciriha & Vassallo 1998), and Bormla speakers are the most conspicuous. The diphthong /ɔʊ/ or /ɐʊ/ can also occur initially, medially or finally and this time monophthongisation occurs in all positions, again with Bormla speakers being the most conspicuous. Before the Second World War Cottonera was a prestigious place to live in (after Valletta), but the upper levels of society took refuge in safer places around Malta and Gozo during the War and because of the availability of cheap housing, poorer people moved in so that after the war, the area was considered a depressed one. Because of this, up to relatively recently, speakers tended to try to suppress, at least in the presence of outsiders, this linguistic characteristic which proclaimed the speaker‘s provenance to one and all. However now that an ambitious programme of regeneration and

26

Albert Borg

rehabilitation has been under way for a number of years, people in general take pride in distinguishing themselves through this linguistic trait. It has to be noted also that, mostly because of resettlement, some other areas relatively close to Grand Harbour have speakers with this trait, notably Ħal Tarxien and Raħal Ġdid (Paola). Although it is true that Cottonera speech could today be considered a (regional) dialect (cf. for instance, Sciriha & Vassallo 1998), at the same time, it was traditionally the speech of the upper classes of society, concentrated around the Grand Harbour area. Indeed, there are several indications that the defining characteristics of Cottonera speech were in fact formerly present in the most prestigious form of spoken (and written) Maltese (Olvin Vella, p.c.; Panzavecchia 1845). Thus Cottonera speech represents a geographically ―shrunken‖ remnant of what was regarded as the most prestigious form of Maltese. For this reason I prefer to consider Cottonera speech as a variant of Standard Maltese rather than as simply a dialect on the same level as other dialects. 12.1.2. The uvular stop /q/ and the glottal stop /ʔ/ Yet another difference is more closely, although not exclusively within Cottonera, associated with speakers from Birgu, involving a uvular stop /q/ where ‗canonical‘ Standard has a glottal stop /ʔ/, e.g. /ˈqɐlbɪ/ for St. M. /ˈʔɐlbɪ/ ‗dear‘ (literally, ‗my heart‘), /ˈbɐqɐ/ for St. M. /ˈbɐʔɐ/ ‗he remained‘. Note that this is a different phenomenon to the one described for the dialect of Xewkija where the velar stop/k/ occurs for the St. M. glottal stop /ʔ/.

12.2. Different realisations of orthographic ħ, l, r Yet other variants, not, as far as I can make out, determined geographically, have different realizations for what could be termed canonical phonemes in Standard Maltese. Thus different speakers realise orthographic ħ in different ways ranging from a post-palatal through to a velar, glottal or pharyngeal voiceless fricative. For the alveolar lateral approximant (orthographic l) some speakers have a right-sided or left-sided airflow, while in some others the flow is bilateral. Orthographic r is realised as a voiced, labialized (in some speakers) slightly retroflexed apico post-alveolar (or retracted alveolar) approximant or tap. In speakers who use the approximant when it is a single consonant orthographically, this consonant segment is realised as an approximant of longer duration or as a tap when it is the realization of an orthographically double consonant. For those speakers who use a tap for single orthographic r, the double orthographic consonant is realized as a tap or as a two-tap trill. For some speakers the onus of phonemic contrast lies with the vowel rather than with the consonant (Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997).

Lectal variation in Maltese

27

12.3. Variation between the glottal stop and the velar plosive In the case of a small number of words, the majority of Standard Maltese speakers have a glottal stop where the orthography has the symbol for the velar plosive, e.g. /sɛrˈduːʔ/ serduk ‗cock‘, /ˈtʃɐ:ʔɐ/ ċagħka ‗pebble‘ and /ˈdɐhɐʔ/ daħak ‗he laughed‘. However some speakers have a velar plosive: /sɛrˈduːk/, /ˈtʃ ɐ:k ɐ/ and /ˈdɐhɐk/. Note however that this is not perceived as a dialectal phenomenon, as would be the case of the Xewkija speakers who systematically have a velar plosive where Standard Maltese has a glottal stop.

12.4. Standard Maltese variation in forms of the plural Mention has already been made of dialect differences involving the plural (section 8.1). Within Standard Maltese there are a number of words (mostly Romance loanwords) which characteristically have the possibility of two plural forms, a ‗broken‘ and a ‗sound‘ plural, e.g. bolla ‗(postal) stamp‘ bozza ‗(electric) bulb‘ kaxxa ‗box‘ tapit ‗carpet‘

Broken plural bolol bozoz kaxex twapet

Sound plural bolli bozzi kaxxi tapiti

Some speakers use either of the plural forms interchangeably while others characteristically use one and not the other.

12.5. Generation differences 12.5.1. Reinterpretation of the form of loanwords Variation within Standard Maltese however, is not only geographically based. One can speak also of systematic distinctions correlated with generation differences. Younger speakers tend to reinterpret what had till relatively recently been considered well established Romance loanwords, on the basis of their English form, e.g. patoloġista for patologu ‗pathologist‘, xjentist for xjenzat ‗scientist‘, numbru for numru ‗number‘, monstru for mostru ‗monster‘. 12.5.2. Reinterpretation of the silent graphemes h, għ Another very noticeable trend is the reinterpretation of the silent graphemes (in most contexts) h and għ in certain words, mostly of Semitic origin, as the velar/glottal/

Albert Borg

28

pharyngeal voiceless fricative /h/ e.g. /tɐˈrɐhːɐ/ for/ tɐˈrɐː/, orthographically taraha ‗you see her‘, /tɐˈhːɔm/ for /tɔːm/, orthographically tahom ‗he gave them‘ (leading to a homonymous relation with tagħhom ‗belonging to them‘), /bɪˈhːɛjtʊ/ for /ˈbɛːtʊ/, orthographically bigħtu ‗I sold it (M)‘. There are even similar examples with nonSemitic loanwords, e.g. /nʊˈzɐhːɐ/ for /nʊˈzɐː/, orthographically nużaha ‗I use it (F)‘. Indeed this trend seems to be catching on even among older speakers, but some instances are definitely marked as characterising the speech of younger individuals. One such example is /ʔɐˈlɐhːɐ/ for /ˈʔɐːlɐ/, orthographically qalha ‗he said it (F)‘, again leading to a homonymous relation with /ʔɐˈlɐhːɐ/, orthographically qalagħha ‗he extracted it (F)‘. 12.5.3. Lexical differences Young people also have characteristic lexical items and expressions which mark them off from older, adult or ―establishment‖ speakers, and these differences are recognised as identifying them as such by the latter. The following examples are chosen from the wealth of material collected and analysed by Barbara & Scicluna (2002) and they reflect experiences such as being short on funds, being the proud owner of a car, being drunk or under the influence of drugs and of attraction to the opposite sex and sexual relations: budget baxx x‘depression! duda

Literal meaning ‗low budget‘ ‗what a depression‘ ‗worm (F)‘

ħamiem zokkor, trab ċikkulata meqrud, ċċarġjat

‗pigeons‘ ‗sugar‘, ‗dust‘ ‗chocolate‘ ‗destroyed‘, ‗charged‘

patata, demel, maħta tfixkilli/tħawwadli lwires nagħti service

‗potato‘, ‗manure‘, ‗snot‘ ‗she confuses/mixes my wires‘ ‗I give a service‘ (possibly in the sense of a mechanic servicing a car) ‗I use a pickaxe on her‘ ‗I use a hammer on her‘ ‗of true/of the ‗ostra‘ (euphemism for the [Eucharistic] host)

inbaqqanha insammarha ta‘ veru/tal-ostra

Intended meaning ‗short on funds‘ ‗great sadness‘ term of endearment for one‘s car or girlfriend one of many terms for ecstasy (drug) some of the many terms for cocaine one of many terms for marijuana some of the many terms for being under the effect of drugs some of the many terms for being drunk for the sense of confusion caused by meeting an attractive girl some of the many terms for having sex

some of the many terms for having sex some of the many terms for having sex expressions to indicate very good quality

Lectal variation in Maltese

29

12.6. Child-directed speech by adults A review of lectal variation in Maltese would not be complete without including also some comments about child-directed speech by adults. Although this is properly speaking a register rather than a variety, it is used widely and it has a strong linguistic identity, making it instantly recognizable for what it is by native speakers. For the purposes of illustration I have chosen some examples from the careful study by Sammut (1987) limiting myself here to utterances involving a form of code-switching between Maltese and English. The child is a three-year old girl (at the time of the study) and the adults involved are her parents and grandparents. Fejn hu x-shoesie? Fejn hi d-dress? Int il-girlie tiegħi, hux? X‘inhu jagħmel id-doggie? Dik bone tal-kelb? Kemm hu naughty Anthony hux? Imsaħ għax għandek dirty face.

‗Where are your shoes?‘ ‗Where is your dress?‘ ‗You are my little girl, aren‘t you?‘ ‗What‘s the dog doing?‘ ‗That‘s the dog‘s bone?‘ ‗Anthony is mischievous, isn‘t he?‘ ‗Wipe your face because it‘s dirty.‘

As one can see these utterances present the child with a mimimal amount of nonMaltese material. In the following examples the adult simplifies the English material by making a noun out of an English verb, using the Maltese verb għamel ‗to do‘ with very general meaning: Kif tagħmel sleep Mariana? Agħmillha kiss lill-auntie. Agħmillha wavie il-flaggie.

‗How does Mariana sleep?‘ ‗Kiss auntie.‘ ‗Wave the flag.‘ (Example from Borg 1988)

I interpret this tendency as an attempt by adults to expose the child to some English in view of its importance for social advancement (Borg 1988). In the process we have unfortunately lost a relatively rich repertoire of native baby-terms which are universally frowned upon, not only because they are regarded as an indication of ―backwardness‖ but also because parents think it is uneconomical to teach children lexical items which they will have to unlearn anyway to eventually adopt adult speech. Note also that this ―pedagogical intent‖ in code-switching has been explored by Camilleri (1995) in connection with another widespread register, that of teacher-talk in class. With these remarks we can bring our survey of lectal variation in Maltese to a close, not without observing however (after Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997) that there are a number of published and unpublished works, together with some works in preparation, on different registers and semantic fields in Maltese. Note that often there is variation in these registers not only correlated to geography but also to age, socioeconomic background and sex. These works include kinship and cooking terminology, colour terms, body parts, journalistic Maltese (the printed as well as the oral media), building and masonry

30

Albert Borg

terminology, traditional boat types and boat making, bread making, fishing, traditional cheese making, popular terms for illnesses and afflictions, the register of sermons, firework types and their making, the traditional stone windmill and its parts, terms covering the harnessing of a horse, donkey or mule to a cart and to a plough (together with their different parts), and geographical, mathematical, accountancy and philosophical terms. Not to mention the wealth of specialised and technical registers and lexical fields which one expects to find in a highly complex society and which are still to be recorded.

References Agius, Dionisius (1992): Morphological alternatives in the Gozitan dialects of Maltese, in: Materiaux Arabes et Sudarabiques (Nouvelle Serie) 4, 111–161. Aquilina, Joseph & Isserlin, Benedikt S. J. (1981): A survey of contemporary dialectal Maltese. Volume 1: Gozo.Leeds, Publisher B.S.J.Isserlin. Attard, Maria & Caruana, Philip (1982): Il-varjetajiet lingwistiċi f‘Ħaż-Żebbuġ. Research Project, University of Malta. Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (this volume): The vowel systems of Xlukkajr and Naduri. Barbara, Marica & Scicluna, Karl (2002): Il-lingwaġġ taż-żgħażagħ bħala wieħed mill-lingwaġġi settorjali ta‘ Malta. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Borg, Albert (1988): Ilsienna. Studju Grammatikali. Malta: Publikazzjoni tal-Awtur. Borg, Albert & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997): Maltese. Lingua descriptive grammars. London: Routledge. Borg, Albert & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (2009): Topicalisation in Maltese, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 71–81. Borg, Alexander (1977): Reflexes of pausal forms in Maltese rural dialects, in: Israel Oriental Studies 7, 211–225. Busuttil, Carmen (1989): L-ismijiet popolari tal-friefet u d-distribuzzjoni ġeografika u soċjali tagħhom. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Camilleri, Antoinette (1987): Language, socialisation and education in Mġarr. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Camilleri, Antoinette (1995): Bilingualism in education. The Maltese experience. Heidelberg: Julius Groos. Camilleri, Antoinette & Vanhove, Martine (1994): A phonetic and phonological description of the Maltese dialect of Mġarr, in: Journal of Arabic Linguistics 28, 87–110. Chambers, Jack K. & Trudgill, Peter (1998): Dialectology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Curmi, Edel & Debono, Marthese (1997): Il-lessiku: differenzi djalettali f‘qasam magħżul. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Fenech, Edward (1981): The study of Maltese dialects in the past, in: Aquilina, Joseph & Isserlin, Benedikt S. J. (eds.), A survey of contemporary dialectal Maltese. Volume 1: Gozo. Leeds: Publisher B.S.J.Isserlin, 1–32. Incorvaja, William (2007): Ix-Xlukkajr: is-sistema vokalika u differenzi lessikali. B.A.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Incorvaja, William (in progress): Studju soċjolingwistiku f‘Marsaxlokk. M.A. dissertation, University of Malta. Panzavecchia, Fortunato (1845): Grammatica della Lingua Maltese. Malta: Published by the author. Preca, Annibale (1904): Malta Cananea ossia investigazioni filologico-etimologiche nel linguaggio maltese. Malta: Tipografia del Malta.

Lectal variation in Maltese

31

Puech, Gilbert (1978): A cross-dialectal study of vowel harmony in Maltese, in: Papers from the fourteenth regional meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago, 377–390. Puech, Gilbert (1979): Les parlers maltais. Essai de phonologie polylectale. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Lyon II. Puech, Gilbert (this volume): Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese. Rapa, Josette (1995): Il-lessiku: differenzi djalettali f‘qasam magħżul. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Said, Mary Joyce (2007): In-Naduri: is-sistema vokalika u differenzi lessikali. Malta: University of Malta: B.A.(Hons.) dissertation. Sammut, Yvonne (1987): Aspects of adults‘ speech addressed to children. B.Ed.(Hons.) dissertation, University of Malta. Schabert, Peter (1976): Laut- und Formenlehre des Maltesischen anhand zweier Mundarten. (Erlangen Studien 16). Erlangen: Palm Enke. Sciriha, Lydia (1986): A sociolinguistic study of monophthongisation in Maltese. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Victoria, B.C. Sciriha, Lydia & Vassallo, Mario (1998): Images of social class through language in Malta, in: Revue de Centre d‘Etudes et des recherches en Planification Linguistique 15, 171–191. Spagnol, Michael (2009): Lexical and grammatical aspect in Maltese, in: Working Papers of the International Association of Maltese Linguistics (GĦILM) 1, 51–86. Stumme, Hans (1904): Maltesische Studien. Eine Sammlung prosaischer und poetischer Texte in maltesis cher Sprache nebst Erlaueterungen. (Leipziger semitische Studien I, 4). Leipzig: Hinrichs‘sche Buchhandlung. Vanhove, Martine (1991/92): On the survival of [ʕ] in a Maltese idiolect at Mtaħleb in Malta, in: Journal of Afroasiatic Languages (JAAL) 3, 22–34. Vanhove, Martine (1999): La dialectologie maltais et son histoire, in: Revue d‘Ethnolinguistique (Cahiers du LACITO) 8, 171–191. Vassalli, M. A. (1796): Ktŷb yl Klŷm Malti ‘mfysser byl-latin u byt-talyân. Rome: A. Fulgoni. Vella, Alexandra (1994): The intonation of Maltese: a preliminary investigation of statements and yesno questions, in: Brincat, Joseph M. (ed.), Languages of the Mediterranean. Malta: Institute of Linguistics, University of Malta, 293–304. Vella, Alexandra (1997): Intonational variation across dialects: an intonational phonology approach, in: Botinis, Antonis; Kouroupetroglou, Georgios & Carayiannis, George (eds.), Intonation: theory, models and applications. Greece, Athens: European Speech Communication Association, 325–328. Vella, Alexandra (2003a): Language contact and Maltese intonation: some parallels with other language varieties, in: Braunmüller, Kurt & Ferraresi, Gisella (eds.), Aspects of multilingualism in European language history (Hamburg Studies in Multilingualism). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 261–283. Vella, Alexandra (2003b): Phrase accents in Maltese: distribution and realisation, in: Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Spain, Barcelona, 1775–1778. Vella, Alexandra (2006): D Map – 50 sena ilu. Talk delivered to the Linguistics Circle, Malta: University of Malta, Institute of linguistics. Vella, Alexandra (2007): The phonetics and phonology of WH-question intonation in Maltese, in: Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Germany, Saarbrücken, 1285–1288. Wardhaugh, Ronald (1998): An introduction to sociolinguistics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. Wettinger, Godfrey (1975): The lost villages and hamlets of Malta, in: Luttrell, Anthony T. (ed.), Medieval Malta. Studies on Malta before the Knights. London: The British School at Rome, 181–216.

JOSEPH M. BRINCAT (MALTA)

Describing literary Maltese: concordances to Dun Karm and Rużar Briffa

Abstract In 2007 Oliver Friggieri published in one volume all the poems written by Dun Karm Psaila, which were previously scattered in various newspapers and rare periodicals. This provided a long-awaited opportunity to study the local variety of Italian belonging to the literary genre and I decided to start with a concordance to Dun Karm‘s poems. I then thought it worthwhile to compare his lexicon with that of his Maltese poems. Another step was a comparison between Dun Karm‘s lexical choices and those of another highly-rated Maltese poet, Rużar Briffa. In this paper I present and compare the results obtained by three students, Catherine Aquilina, Olivia De Brincat and Christian Sciberras who wrote dissertations under my guidance. Taqsira L-edizzjoni tal-poeżiji li Dun Karm Psaila kiteb bit-Taljan offriet, fl-2007, opportunità wisq mistennija biex jigi studjat it-Taljan ta‘ Malta fil-varjetà letterarja tiegħu u bdejt bi proġett biex jinbnew ilkonkordanzi, lista tal-kliem kollu użat f‘dawn il-poeżiji. Ġietni wkoll il-kurżità biex inqabbel il-kliem użat mill-istess awtur fil-poeżija bit-Taljan mal-kliem użat fil-poeżija bil-Malti. Deherli utli wkoll inqabbel it-tendenzi fl-għażla tal-vokabolarju bejn Dun Karm u Rużar Briffa. Bix-xogħol ta‘ tliet studenti, Catherine Aquilina, Olivia De Brincat, u Christian Sciberras, inkisbu dawn ir-riżultati.

0. Introduction The status of the Maltese language reached new heights in 2003 when it was recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. Of course, this would not have been possible had it not achieved official status in Malta itself in 1934. A lot has been written about the efforts of scholars and politicians who fought out the intense battle known as the Language Question between the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first three decades of the twentieth, but most of the contributions represented the political and patriotic viewpoints. Gramsci wrote: Every time the question of the language surfaces, in one way or another, it means that a series of other problems are coming to the fore: the formation and enlargement of the governing class, the need to establish more intimate and secure relationships between the governing groups and the national-popular mass, in

Joseph M. Brincat

34

other words to reorganize the cultural hegemony (Romaine 1998: 51; the original is in Gramsci 1975: 2346). These words could have been written with the Maltese Language Question in mind, and show how important it is, now that the dust has settled, to sift the essentially linguistic aspects from the politically charged controversy (see Hull 1993 and Brincat 2001). This does not mean that the emblematic significance of language has in any way diminished; however, it must not overshadow the lengthy, multi-faceted process of standardization. The action of politicians, although decisive, would not have been possible without the previous, steady build-up undertaken by scholars, poets and novelists much before the flare-up of the Language Question (Brincat 2000: 125–153; 2010: chapters 7, 8).

1. The standardization of the Maltese language In Malta the process of standardization actually started in the eighteenth century. At first it was limited to the scholarly, ―antiquarian‖ field, an approach that documented and attempted the reconstruction of ancient languages, until Michel Anton Vassalli applied the Enlightenment‘s principle of education for the people in their own tongue. According to Garvin & Mathiot (1956), standardization is created by codification, intellectualization, a unifying function, a distinguishing function, prestige and a frame-ofreference function. Other scholars deduct or add other criteria or functions (Ammon 1986), but most linguists agree that the standardization of a language depends on the convergence of various factors. Without any doubt, the national languages of Europe were standardized through literary works, grammatical description, use in administration, law and religion, and their teaching in the schools. All these factors and functions together raised one of the dialects of a country to official status. Unfortunately, nonspecialists still believe that dialects are corrupt forms of ―the‖ language, but this notion was disproved around 1860. Standard languages arose mainly in the capital cities, simply because that was the place where the above-mentioned criteria converged. In Malta, as elsewhere, the first steps in standardization were taken by writers and grammarians. After sporadic attempts by other scholars, Ignazio Saverio Mifsud and Francesco Agius De Soldanis produced the first religious and theatrical writings with literary flair, and the same De Soldanis, Padre Pelagio and Vassalli compiled dictionaries and grammars (Cassar Pullicino 2001). In the nineteenth century the Romantic influence of Italian writers who found refuge in Malta inspired nationalistic poems and novels and, with admirable foresight, Francesco Vella produced grammars and readers for the schools (which were then few and badly organized) and Gian Anton Vassallo wrote poems and history books with the average reader in mind. These pioneers‘ example was followed throughout the nineteenth century, and so Maltese literature grew steadily in quantity and quality (Friggieri 1979), despite British scepticism as represented by Badger in 1841. Literary production in Maltese was a conscious effort to confer prestige on the standar-

Describing literary Maltese

35

dized harbour/city variety and raise it above the rural varieties (dialects) to the status of a language. This was the safest and surest way to counteract the Anglicization of Malta which, according to Victorian principles, the government believed was essential for the island‘s progress. These efforts had become indispensable because the British were set on replacing Italian by English, especially when Italy became a unified nation in 1861–70, and even more so when the Fascists took power in the 1920s (Brincat 2000: 142–153, 171–176; 2010: chapters 8, 9) . Comparison with what happened in Ireland, where Gaelic had no literary prestige, suggests that a similar fate would have befallen Maltese (achieved by the same Patrick Keenan, who is said to have vowed to ―make a perfect English gentleman out of every Irish boy‖), were it not for the defence of the local use of Italian language and literature which acted as a cultural shield that gave Maltese time to develop a literature of its own. Nowadays, standardization is more dependent on the media than on literature (Ammon 2004), and one must not underestimate the role of the Rediffusion set which brought Standard Maltese into every home in Malta and Gozo from 1935 onwards, thus establishing a norm of reference to all dialect-speakers, a decade before compulsory elementary education was introduced in 1946. In those days the prestige of the language relied on its literature, and although one may wonder how many people were actually familiar with Dun Karm‘s poems (feuilletons reached a much wider audience), the high quality of Dun Karm‘s verse did earn respect for Maltese, even among its former detractors between 1912 and 1934. On the more practical level, the codification of Maltese was mainly based on its literature, which was considered the highest expression of the language, and therefore provided a homogeneous model for written Maltese. This approach in teaching continued up to the 1960s, perhaps even till the 1970s, when a more functional approach was introduced. Considering that artistic expression inherently distances itself from the practical plane, today one may ask whether, or up to what extent, classical Maltese poetry is still communicative to the average Maltese reader or listener. Oliver Friggieri (1976) has shown that Dun Karm‘s style was heavily influenced by Leopardi, Carducci and D‘Annunzio, the authors he studied, loved and taught. One of the main characteristics of their style was the quest for the ―parola peregrina‖ (the beautiful word) by retrieving obsolete words or coining new ones from old roots. The puristic trend, so typical of the early Romantics, dominated Maltese writers for two reasons: they all wrote Italian, and so they automatically shunned the use of Italian words because they considered Maltese as a different medium; and they conceived their art as a mission for recovering a lost language and assert its autonomy. This was in line with the belief that ancient languages were more noble than modern ones and therefore conferred prestige on their speakers. Poetry was generally considered as the pinnacle of linguistic expression. Matthew Arnold defined poetry as ―nothing less than the most perfect speech of man‖ and the schema devised by Gaetano Berruto (1987) to illustrate Coseriu‘s description of varieties places the literary variety at the top left hand corner, at the higher end of the three axes of formal-

36

Joseph M. Brincat

ity, upper social level and written register. Oliver Friggieri describes Dun Karm‘s choice of vocabulary in his Italian poems as ―markedly classical‖, and states that the poet introduced similar choices in his Maltese poems, achieving the high-flown style by creating neologisms from existing roots. Friggieri adds that Dun Karm slowly abandoned the very formal register and adopted a vocabulary that was closer to contemporary speech.

2. The need for a concordance of the major Maltese poets Literary critics substantiate their statements by citing a few significant examples, but linguists need to be more precise, which is why this paper shall henceforth produce tables full of numbers. The only way to do this is by analyzing the concordance to literary works. The first concordance to the Bible was produced as early as 1736, followed by concordances to Shakespeare and other classical writers in the eighteenth century. During the twentieth century electronic methods made it easier to draw up concordances and some became available on the web, like the University of Dundee‘s Web Concordances to the English Romantic poets. The aims and uses of concordances are many: first of all they provide a quick reference to the text; they give the exact size of an author‘s vocabulary and allow the analysis of his particular choices. They make it easy to calculate the relative percentages of native and foreign words, the number and character of coinages, the vocabulary‘s relation to the author‘s regional dialect. They also help to draw a picture of the stage reached by the language in a given period. When Oliver Friggieri published the collection of Dun Karm‘s Italian poems in 2007, I realized that its concordance would be extremely useful to a description of the variety of Italian used in Malta. I therefore assigned the task of drawing it up to a diligent and reliable student reading for an Italian Honours degree, Olivia De Brincat (2009), who had asked me to be her tutor for the B.A. Hons. dissertation. Comparison of her results with a concordance of Dun Karm‘s Maltese poems was the next step, and the daunting venture was boldly undertaken by another Honours student, Christian Sciberras (2009). The year before, I had asked Catherine Aquilina (2008), who had proposed a study of Rużar Briffa‘s poetic vocabulary, to draw up a concordance too, and this allowed us to compare the choice of words of two major Maltese poets and thus find out more about different attitudes to the adoption of Italian words in Maltese poetry. The criteria I set were that two lists would be drawn up, one with headwords in alphabetical order and one with headwords in a descending order of frequency. Each headword would carry a tag describing its grammatical category. In this way a distinction was made between function words (pronouns, conjunctions, invariable participles, the article, prepositions and interjections) and content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs). Besides this, usage tags were added, modelled on Tullio De Mauro‘s Grande Dizionario Italiano dell‘Uso (2000), known as GDU or GRADIT, which contains 250,000 entries. De Mauro identifies as FO (fondamentale) the core vocabulary of

Describing literary Maltese

37

about 2,000 words which constitute 92% of any text (e.g. cat, dog, chicken). The tag AU (alto uso) marks the next 2,500 highly used words which form 6% of any text (e.g. goat) while AD (alta disponibilità) indicates about 2,000 words which are well-known but not often used (e.g. shark). According to De Mauro‘s calculations, these 6,500 words form between 97 and 99 per cent of any text. Other tags are CO (comune) describing about 50,000 commonly used words, BU (basso uso, low use), RAR (rare), OB (obsolete), FOR (of foreign origin), TS (technical/specialized terms), LE (literary terms), TOP (place-names), COGN (surnames), STOR (historical terms), RE (regional words), ETN (ethnic terms). The application of these tags was done as perceived by the students themselves (what terms they felt as common, rare or obsolete) but they consulted Mifsud & Borg‘s Threshold Level list (1997) to define the fundamental terms.

3. A concordance to the poems of Dun Karm and Rużar Briffa Christian Sciberras discovered that in Dun Karm. Il-poeżiji miġbura, edited by O. Friggieri (1980), the poet used 65,569 words, of which 3,190 are different lexemes. Their etymological analysis of the total number of words used shows 63,083 words of Arabic origin (96.2%) and 2,204 words of Italian or Sicilian origin (03.4%). However, the 3,190 different lexemes (headwords) show a different ratio: 2,587 lexemes are of Arabic origin (81.1%) and 464 lexemes are of Italian or Sicilian origin (14.5%). The use of other languages is very limited: there are 19 different Latin lexemes, 34 English words, 7 French, 3 German and 1 Spanish word. The count of usage tags shows 1,153 common words (adding up FO, AU and AD), 1,333 words that are not used often in ordinary language (BU), 189 rare, 110 obsolete and 40 technical and specialized terms. We decided to designate as CO De Mauro‘s three categories, fundamental, highly-used and well-known but not frequently-used (FO, AU and AD), grouped together, because it was not easy to distinguish between them. A few typical examples taken from the list are shown in the Appendix. The comparison between the concordances of the three texts that were analyzed is presented in the following tables, showing the number of occurrences in descending order (1–20 in rank) for High-frequency words divided into nouns (Table 1), adjectives (Table 2) and verbs (Table 3): Dun Karm, Italian cielo sole amore cuore/core/cor Dio mondo mare fiore vita

131 131 130 114 105 89 62 61 61

Dun Karm, Maltese ilma 584 qalb 557 sema 305 ħsieb 238 mħabba 237 ħajja 232 Alla 229 warda 194 xemx 186

Rużar Briffa, Maltese qalb 160 ħajja 80 qedem 62 triq 61 dar 60 mħabba 59 għanja 56 warda 54 art 52

Joseph M. Brincat

38 Dun Karm, Italian mano luce signore terra occhio giorno pace petto seno uomo gioia/gloria

60 59 54 53 52 50 49 49 49 47 46

Dun Karm, Maltese dar 184 fomm 184 għajn 180 żmien 179 kelma 171 art 165 dawl 152 omm 140 hena 139 għanja 132 baħar 130

Rużar Briffa, Maltese Alla/alla 50 dawl 47 ferħ 42 żmien 42 xemx 41 dinja 40 riħ 40 demm 39 għajn 36 ħsieb 36 lejl 36

Table 1: High-frequency words: nouns The lexemes in this table show that the main topics treated by Dun Karm and Rużar Briffa are religion, nature and feeling, consequently the words used most frequently belong to the core lexicon. No less than ten terms out of 20 are found in all three columns: sole/xemx/xemx, amore/mħabba/mħabba, cuore/core/cor/qalb/qalb, Dio/Alla/ Alla/alla, fiore/warda/warda, vita/ħajja/ħajja, luce/dawl/dawl, terra/art/art, occhio/ għajn/għajn, gioia/hena/ferħ. Moreover, two more concepts are used in both languages by Dun Karm, namely cielo/sema, mare/baħar, bringing the total of corresponding terms to 12 out of 20. The accent on affection is shown in the Italian poems of Dun Karm by the words petto and seno, apart from amore and cuore/core/cor. Four more lexemes are common to both Dun Karm and Briffa: ħsieb, dar, żmien and għanja (‗thought, home or house, time‘ and ‗song‘). The words that stand out are ilma (‗water‘), ranked number 1 in Dun Karm, and qalb (‗heart‘) which is number 2 in Dun Karm and number 1 in Briffa, where its occurrence is double that of the next word, ħajja (‗life‘). Dun Karm, Italian grande 92 bello 71 eterno* 63 divino* 58 alto 46 dolce 43 bianco 38 santo* 33 lieto 31 sereno 28 gentile 27 novello 27 caro 26 solo 25 sacro* 23 soave 23 lento 22 nero 22

Dun Karm, Maltese sabiħ 177 ħelu 157 kbir 157 ċkejken 109 ħanin 98 safi 92 qawwi 81 tajjeb 65 moħbi 57 aħħar 53 ħieni 50 sħiħ 48 aħrax 45 ġdid 45 ħafif 44 qalbieni 39 mqaddes* 36 sieket 36

Rużar Briffa kbir għajjien sabiħ ftit mistrieħ fqir wisq ħiemed bosta Malti żagħżugħ sħiħ mbiegħed għani għażiż hieni mdejjaq minsi

54 47 45 32 32 24 22 21 18 18 17 16 16 15 15 15 15 15

Describing literary Maltese Dun Karm, Italian pio* 22 superbo 22 (* religious terms)

39 Dun Karm, Maltese iswed 35 maħbub 35 miskin 35

Rużar Briffa żgħir ferħan/ġdid iswed/mitluf/xiħ

15 14 14

Table 2: High-frequency words: adjectives Identical adjectives common to all three columns are only five, but significantly the two most frequently used words occupy the first two places in the Italian poems of Dun Karm and two of the three top places in Dun Karm‘s and Rużar Briffa‘s Maltese poems: grande/kbir/kbir, and bello/sabiħ/sabiħ. The others are lieto/hieni/hieni, novello/ġdid/ ġdid, and nero/iswed/iswed. Only one term is common to Dun Karm and Briffa‘s Maltese poems, sħiħ. The predominantly religious character of Dun Karm‘s Italian poems is shown by eterno, divino, santo, sacro, and pio, while their positive character is shown by the adjectives grande, bello, alto, dolce, bianco, lieto, sereno, gentile, caro, soave, to which one may add superbo. In his Maltese poems the religious aspect is less evident (mqaddes ‗sacred‘) but his positive attitude is clearly shown by sabiħ, ħelu, kbir, ħanin, safi, qawwi, tajjeb, hieni, sħiħ, ħafif, qalbieni, mqaddes,and maħbub (respectively ‗beautiful, sweet, great, kind, pure, strong, good, happy, whole, light/fast, bold, sacred‘, and ‗loved‘). On the contrary, the negative outlook of Briffa is shown by għajjien, fqir, mbiegħed, mdejjaq, minsi, mitluf and xiħ (‗tired, poor, far, sad, forgotten, lost‘ and ‗old‘). Dun Karm, Italian essere 422 vedere 81 fare 80 morire 77 avere 73 dire 55 sentire 52 venire 51 andare 50 correre 46 passare 45 tornare 44 fuggire 39 cadere 34 scendere 34 crescere 33 guardare 31 volare 31 amare 30 vivere 30

Dun Karm, Maltese ta 824 kien 651 ra 318 af 217 qal 179 baqa‘ 135 niżel 121 ġie 120 beda 119 ried 119 miet 118 sama‘ 116 ħabb 109 għadda 107 għamel 103 ħaseb 101 ħass 98 xtaq 97 sata‘ 82 ħareġ 78

Rużar Briffa kien 142 ra 89 sab 71 ried 66 ħa 61 af 53 ħalla 51 qal 46 ġie 43 għad 42 reġa‘ 42 ħass 39 mar 35 fittex 35 ħabb 32 nesa 32 għanna 29 ħolom 29 qiegħed 29 sejjer 29

Table 3: High-frequency words: verbs In Dun Karm‘s Italian poems, apart from the obvious verbs that concern the senses vedere and guardare (‗to see‘, ‗to look‘) and sentire (‗to hear‘ and ‗to feel‘), the fundamental

40

Joseph M. Brincat

fare, avere, dire, amare (‗to do, to have, to say, to love‘), and the intransitives essere, morire, crescere, vivere (‗to be, to die, to grow, to live‘), one notes an abundance of verbs of motion: venire, andare, correre, passare, tornare, fuggire, cadere, scendere, volare (‗to come, to go, to run, to pass, to return, to escape/avoid, to fall, to fly‘). On the contrary, in his Maltese poems Dun Karm has only four verbs of motion in the top twenty (niżel, ġie, għadda, ħareġ ‗to go down, to come, to pass, to go out‘). On the other hand, Rużar Briffa has only three verbs of motion (ġie, mar, sejjer, ‗to come, to go, to be about to go‘) of which, one must point out that ġie and sejjer frequently have an auxiliary function. Six verbs are found in all three columns, and another two in the Maltese poems of both Dun Karm and Briffa, but they all belong to the core vocabulary.

4. The literary lexicon In the above tables we have analyzed only the 20 most frequent words in each of three categories – nouns, adjectives and verbs, for a total of 60 words taken from each collection of poems but, as we have seen, the exercise produced some interesting results. Valuable considerations arise also from the analysis of the total vocabulary of each collection. Dun Karm wrote 146 poems in Italian and 334 poems in Maltese, using 4,785 and 3,189 different lexemes respectively. It is rather odd to observe that Dun Karm‘s Italian vocabulary is richer than that used in Maltese, the difference being 1,596 lexemes more although the Italian poems are 188 less. This may be due to the fact that in Maltese Dun Karm tended to treat the same topics, but this impression needs verification. The trend could also be due to his effort at Semitization, since the core Maltese vocabulary contains basic words, many of which are hypernyms (umbrella terms) that, in literature, especially in poetry, can replace the more precise terms. Rużar Briffa, too, kept a very low lexical count: in 201 poems he used only 1,890 different lexemes, less than half the words used by Dun Karm in his 146 Italian poems. However, the ratio between function words and content words does not differ much in Dun Karm‘s Italian and Maltese poems – 41.6% and 38.2% function words and 58.4 and 61.4% content words respectively. Headwords of Semitic origin in Dun Karm are 2,587 (81.1%) and in Briffa 1,545 (81.7%). Headwords of Sicilian and Italian origin in Dun Karm are 464 and in Briffa 308, which work out at 14.55% and 16.3% respectively. Their occurrences, too, are slightly higher in Briffa than in Dun Karm, 4.1% against 3.36%, and they are almost all content words. It is important to note that in the Maltese poetry of both authors the lexicon is very basic because Dun Karm uses just over 3,000 words and Rużar Briffa just under 2,000 different headwords. This figure is comparable to De Mauro‘s 2,000 fundamental words (FO) and one half of the highly-used words (AU). One may keep in mind that the vocabulary in the Maltese edition of the Threshold Level consists of 1,585 different words, of which 748 are of Arabic origin (46%), 641 are of Sicilian and Italian origin (40%) and 196 are English words (12%). The comparison gives an idea of how different the register

Describing literary Maltese

41

of classical poetry is from today‘s informal variety of Standard Maltese. Threshold words that correspond to Dun Karm‘s poetic lexicon are only 601 out of 1,585. A couple of excerpts from Dun Karm‘s poems may help to evaluate the distance between the poetic register and everyday speech. Il-Jien u lil hinn Minnu (1938)

Ħarist madwari; rajt il-ward ilellex bl-eluf u jilgħab mal-fewġiet għaddejja; smajt lill-agħsafar moħbijin fix-xuxa tal-fraxxnu u tal-ħarrub igħannu l-għanja ferrieħa ta‘ l-imħabba u x-xemx mill-għoli tiddi fuq kollox u bis-sħana wtieqa tfittex l-egħruq tal-ħajja. Dehra ħelwa!

Lill-Pjaċir (1938)

Qarrieq mill-bidu, rsaqt bil-kelma rżina fuq l-ewwel mara u bdejt il-ħajr għad-dnub; hi, fiergħa, m‘għarfitekx; fil-ħolma bnina li sawwartilha ħasset qalbha ddub u rtifset tal-Mulej ċ-ċaħda ħanina u safa l-bniedem minnufih midrub fl-isbaħ setgħet tal-qalb, u bdiet għalina ħajja qalila taħt sultan magħdub.

We may not agree with Eliot that this is ―the intolerable wrestle/With words and meanings‖, but words like fewġiet, xuxa, wtieqa, rżina, fiergħa, safa, midrub, minnufih, setgħet and magħdub may not be readily comprehensible to the under 40s because they are less frequently-used nowadays. Moreover, the oblique meanings of ward, għaddejja (adjective), and qarrieq in these contexts, as well as expressions like il-ħajr għad-dnub (for ‗temptation‘), ħolma bnina, ċaħda ħanina, and ħajja qalila need reflection and explanation. Of course, this is poetry, and many well-written poems are a challenge to the reader; an aspect of their beauty lies in their interpretation, but my aim here is simply to illustrate the distance between the two registers, not to make laudatory or derogatory comments for the one or the other. The fact that Dun Karm‘s style is consciously high-flown is shown by the following statistics. Categories of words Literary Rare Obsolete Self-coined (hapax) Technical, Specialized Total of above Headwords % of all headwords

Dun Karm, Italian 476 19 24 9 6 534 4,785 11.2%

Dun Karm, Maltese 159 47 6 0 28 240 3,189 7.5%

Table 4: Elegant and difficult words in classical poetry

Rużar Briffa 35 129

164 1,890 8.7%

Joseph M. Brincat

42

The high percentage of, above all, literary terms, but also of rare, obsolete, technical and specialized terms in Dun Karm‘s Italian poems (11.2%) proves that his view of literary Italian was highly rhetorical, especially considering that they were written between 1889 and 1946. Recourse to Salvatore Battaglia‘s Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana, which lists abundant literary quotations under all the headwords, showed that, in fact, most of Dun Karm‘s ―elegant‖ terms were taken from Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, and especially from Monti, Leopardi, Foscolo, Manzoni, Frugoni and Zanella. However, Dun Karm used considerably less literary terms in his Maltese poetry than in his Italian verse. Rather unexpectedly, one notes that Rużar Briffa‘s poems contain fewer literary and more numerous rare terms, and when combined their 8.7% surpasses Dun Karm‘s 7.5% in his Maltese verse. At this point I wish to state that the definition of the various categories was carried out by the students, and that uniformity of judgment may not be impeccable. However, this being a first presentation of a work that is in progress, I am confident that their views on the lexicon of classical Maltese poetry are significant, also because they reflect the perception of the younger generation.

Appendix Word (inflectional forms) Gr. Categ. Tag Ruma (Ruma 41, Roma 1) n. TOP stenna (tistenna 11, jistenna 9, stennew 9, niv. CO stenna 3, jistenniek 2, stenniet 2, jistennewh 1, jistennieni 1, nistennik 1, stennik 1, tistennieh 1, tistennieni 1) wild (wild 3, ulied 7, uliedek 6, uliedu 5, uliedhom n. LU 2, uliedkom 1, uliedna 1, wlied 6, wliedek 6, wliedi 2, wliedha 1, wliedna 1, wliedu 1) bħalma (bħalma 40, bħalm' 1) prep. GR bosta adj., n., adv. LU għalhekk adv. GR poeta (poeta 38, poeti 3) n. LU riġel (riġel 1,riġlejk 16, riġlejħ 7, riġlejn 7, n. LU riġlejja 5, riġlejha 3, riġlejhom 1, riġlejna 1) bnin (bnin 19, bnina 21) adj. LU ħaġa (ħaġa 32, ħwejjeġ 5, ħwejġu 2, ħaġ'oħra 1) n. CO ħtija (ħtija 39, ħtijiethom 1) n. LU ħu (ħuna 3, ħuħ 2, ħuk 1, ħuta 2, ħuti 11, ħutna n. CO 8, ħut 4, ħutek 4, ħutu 4, ħija 1) TOP = toponym; CO = commonly used; LU = low usage; GR = function word

Etym. It. Ar.

Frequency 42 42

Ar.

42

Ar. Ar. Ar. It. Ar.

41 41 41 41 41

It. Ar. Ar. Ar.

40 40 40 40

Describing literary Maltese

43

References Ammon, Ulrich (1986): Explikation der Begriffe ‗Standardvarietät‘ und ‗Standard-sprache‘ auf normtheoretischer Grundlage, in: Holtus, Günter & Radtke, Edgar (eds.), Sprachlicher Substandard. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1–63. Ammon, Ulrich (2004): Standard variety, in: Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier, Klaus J. & Trudgill, Peter (eds.), Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language and society, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, vol.1, 273–283. Aquilina, Catherine (2008): Le parole italiane di Rużar Briffa. Unpublished B.A. Hons. dissertation, University of Malta. Battaglia, Salvatore (1961–2002): Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana. Torino: UTET. Berruto, Gaetano (1987): Sociolinguistica dell‘italiano contemporaneo. Roma: NIS. Brincat Joseph M. (2000): Il-Malti. Elf Sena ta‘ Storja, Malta: PIN. Brincat Joseph M. (2010): Maltese and other languages. A linguistic history of Malta, Malta: Midsea Books. Brincat Joseph M. (2001): The language question and education: a political controversy on a linguistic topic, in: Sultana, Ronald (ed.), Yesterday‘s schools. Readings in Maltese educational history. Malta: PEG, 137–158. Cassar Pullicino, Joseph (2001): Il-Kitba bil-Malti sal-1870. Malta: PIN. De Brincat, Olivia (2009): Mappa lessicale della poetica italiana di Dun Karm. Unpublished B.A. Hons. dissertation, University of Malta. De Mauro, Tullio (2000): Grande Dizionario Italiano dell‘Uso. Torino: UTET. Friggieri, Oliver (1976): Il-Kultura Taljana f‘Dun Karm. Malta: KKM. Friggieri, Oliver (1979): Storja tal-Letteratura Maltija. Vol. 1, Il-Poeżija mill-bidu sa Dun Karm. Malta: KKM. Friggieri Oliver (ed.) (1980): Dun Karm. Il-Poeżiji Miġbura. Malta: KKM. Friggieri, Oliver (ed.) (2007): Dun Karm. Le poesie italiane. Malta: Malta University Press. Garvin, Paul & Mathiot, Madeleine (1956): The urbanization of the Guaranì language: a problem in language and culture, in: Wallace, Anthony F. C. (ed.), Men and cultures. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 783–790. Gramsci, Antonio (1975): Quaderni del carcere, edited by V. Gerratana, Turin: Einaudi. Hull, Geoffrey (1993): The Malta language question. A case study in cultural imperialism. Malta: Said International. Mifsud, Manuel & Borg, Albert (1997): Fuq l-Għatba tal-Malti: deskrizzjoni komunikattiva ta‘ l-ilsien Malti fuq il-mudell tat-Threshold Level 1990, Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Romaine, Suzanne (1998): The Cambridge history of the English language, vol. IV, 1776–1997, in Hogg, Richard M. (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language, 6 vols., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992–2001. Sciberras, Christian (2009): Le parole italiane nella poesia di Dun Karm. Unpublished B.A. Hons. dissertation, University of Malta.

ANTOINETTE CAMILLERI GRIMA (MALTA)

Giving compliments in Maltese

Abstract A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some good possession, characteristic, skill etc, which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer (Holmes 1988). Compliments are almost always accompanied by a response, often verbal, and hence the speech act is normally considered as consisting of a compliment and a response (CR). An initial analysis of CR types in Maltese was carried out in 1996 (Camilleri 1996) as part of a wider European survey and some interesting comparisons already emerged. Zammit (2006) carried out a full-blown ethnographic project on CR types in Maltese which can be said to have confirmed the results of Camilleri (1996), and also to have added further dimensions. This chapter puts together a selection of the findings to date on CR types in Maltese, and introduces some novel analyses largely based on my new database (Camilleri Grima 2009). Taqsira Il-kumpliment huwa att tat-taħdit li jattribwixxi kreditu b'mod espliċitu jew impliċitu lill-interlokutur rigward xi oġġett li jippossedi, xi karatteristika jew ħila li tidher pożittiva f'għajnejn il-kelliem (Holmes 1988). L-għoti tal-kumpliment ikun kważi dejjem akkumpanjat minn reazzjoni li spiss tkun verbalizzata u għalhekk l-att tal-kumpliment huwa meqjus li jikkonsisti minn kumpliment u reazzjoni (CR). L-ewwel analiżi tat-tipi tal-kumplimenti bil-Malti saret minn Camilleri (1996) bħala parti minn stħarriġ usa' fuq livell Ewropew. Minn hemmhekk bdew jixirfu xi paraguni interessanti bejn l-att talkumpliment f'Malta meta mqabbel ma' pajjiżi oħra. Zammit (2006) wettqet studju etnografiku ddettaljat dwar l-att tal-kumpliment bil-Malti li kkonferma x-xejriet indikati mill-istħarriġ ta' Camilleri (1996), filwaqt li wera dimensjonijiet ġodda. Din il-kitba tippreżenta għażla mir-riżultati ta' dawn listudji flimkien ma' analiżi ġdida ta' xi kumplimenti bbażata fuq id-data li ġbart jien fl-2009.

1. Introducing compliment research The study of giving and receiving compliments touches directly upon the study of language and its interrelationship with issues involving culture (e.g. Spencer-Oatey et al. 2000; Cedar 2006; Yu 2007), and gender (e.g. Holmes 1995; Wu 2006; Zammit 2006). As several major studies have shown (e.g. Holmes 1995; Spencer-Oatey et al. 2000), compliment-response events (CRs) constitute social interactional exchanges, and overlap

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

46

with psychosocial questions like the construction of personhood, and the concept of face i.e. showing respect and consideration for others (e.g. Yu 2007). The structure of a compliment is dyadic, as compliments normally take place between two interlocutors, whereby the complimenter initiates the exchange by paying a compliment to their interlocutor, and the complimentee responds by agreeing, disagreeing or ignoring the compliment. Furthermore, as illustrated by some of the CR types discussed below, such as (CR7) and (CR8), other interlocutors may participate in the exchange thus transforming the CR phenomenon into a more complex conversational act.

2. Giving compliments Jucker (2009) distinguishes between two main sets of compliments: personal and ceremonious. The first set, called personal compliments, are further subdivided into explicit, implicit and indirect compliments. Explicit compliments are prototypical compliments that say something positive about the addressee, and address them directly, as in the following example: (CR1)

Kemm int liebsa sabiħ ‗How nicely you‘re dressed‘

[Camilleri Grima 2009]

Compliments referring to dress are very common in the Maltese data, and as Zammit (2006) reports, the responses to this particular compliment vary greatly, ranging from a modest acceptance with a thank you, to an angry dismissal with a response like mela trid tgħaddini biż-żmien? (‗are you pulling my leg?‘) as in example (CR9) below. Implicit compliments are those compliments in which the participants can infer an intended compliment. As such, they are not direct compliments. As shown in the following example (CR2), the complimenter speaks in the first person singular, as opposed to the previous explicit compliment (CR1) where the second person singular was used to address the interlocutor: (CR2)

Kieku nirbaħ il-lotterija nikriha din id-dar ‗If I won the lottery I would rent this house‘

[Camilleri Grima 2009]

This implicit compliment was paid in admiration of a house by a relative to someone who was showing them around their house. I will come back to this particular compliment later when explaining (CR5). In the case of indirect compliments the speaker does not make the compliment himself or herself, but quotes somebody else as saying something complimentary about the addressee, as in (CR3): (CR3)

L-eżaminatur faħħrek ħafna ‗The examiner praised you a lo‘

[Camilleri Grima 2009]

Giving compliments in Maltese

47

In example (CR3) the complimenter was passing on rather restricted information to the interlocutor. By actually giving this bit of information she showed that she was somewhat pleased about the compliment uttered by the third person, but at the same time she refrained from paying a direct compliment herself, and limited her praise to merely quoting what someone else had said, thus distancing herself from the action of praise and the product that was being praised. The second set of compliments is referred to by Jucker (2009) as ceremonious compliments. These are not generally analysed as part of CR research because they are predictable and ritualised. Unlike personal compliments they normally do not require a response, and they take place in a public rather than in a private context. A typical ritualised compliment in Maltese is: (CR4) Prosit tal-programm ‗Congratulations for your programme‘ [Camilleri 1996] This compliment is paid in a public context and is used extensively in Malta by contributors to radio and television programmes during phone-ins. It has become almost expected of the listener or viewer to initiate their comments on air in this way. This compliment does not require any spontaneous or creative response from the presenter, except maybe a simple thank you, or a non-verbal acknowledgement. Written compliments have also been considered in the literature. For instance, giving compliments to soften criticism has been recorded in academic contexts where the complimenter is giving feedback to the complimentee (Holmes 1995). Johnson (1992) studied the written compliments of academic article reviewers and found that they complimented their addressees not only on the qualities and characteristics of the paper, but also on their skill as writers and aspects of the writing process. Furthermore, academic article reviewers used compliments as strategies for pairing positive aspects with specific criticisms to soften the impact or mitigate the force of bad news. Compliments were also used as a persuasive rationale for a suggestion, and at the beginning and/or end of the communication to establish and maintain rapport with the author of the work (Johnson 1992). The rest of this chapter will focus only on personal compliments that are given in face to face interactions. Having become aware of the social and linguistic complexities involved in complimenting behaviour, I kept my interest in the subject alive since my first research study on CRs in 1996. Between March and August 2009 I once again collected data systematically using a diary whereby I kept detailed notes about each CR exchange I heard or was involved in. I always carried the diary with me and instantly recorded the exchange and the relevant details. The 2009 data which consists of fifty CR types was collected in two contexts: (i) a Maltese-speaking work environment in Brussels where about forty Maltese translators and assistants occupy a determined physical space in a large multilingual set-up, and (ii) in Malta, with family and friends, at the University of Malta with colleagues and students, and on a building-site with

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

48

workers. The age of the interlocutors ranges from twenty to fifty-five. Both men and women are involved almost equally, and they come from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. The relevant background information about the interlocutors and the context is given for each CR type discussed in the rest of this paper.

3. Personal compliments Personal compliments are considered to be a form of cooperative social behaviour, and as such are accompanied by a verbal, and sometimes, especially in some cultures, by a non-verbal response. For instance, Cedar (2006) discusses Thai examples where smiling was used 14% of the time as a response strategy. In Tran (2007) laughter was more commonly used in Vietnamese than in Australian English. Personal compliments are described as ―social lubricants which ‗create or maintain rapport‘‖ (Wolfson 1983: 86). The reasons for paying a compliment may be varied. Holmes (1995) summarizes the different functions of compliments in different contexts and identifies the following: expressing solidarity, giving positive evaluation, showing admiration, appreciation or praise, and/or to express envy or desire for the hearer‘s possessions. Compliments are used to express a desire for the object praised in some cultures more than in others, as discovered by Holmes (1995) with reference to Samoan culture. Zammit (1999) also noted this in her Maltese data. In my own 2009 collection, for instance, (CR2) was repeated after a few weeks (CR5), at a time when the house complimented on was unoccupied. The interlocutors involved are relatives and the complimenter had been complimenting the house in very similar ways over a period of several months. In the end the owner of the house understood that the complimenter wished to spend a few days in the said house: (CR5)

A: B: A:

Kieku nirbaħ il-lotterija nikriha din id-dar ‗If I won the lottery I would rent this house‘ Meta trid ejja għamel weekend hawn ‗When you like you can spend a weekend here‘ Fil-birthday aħħ dak il-kwiet ‗On my birthday it‘s so quiet here‘ [Camilleri Grima 2009]

When, following the implicit compliment, the owner (B) made an offer to the relative to stay in the house for a while, the offer was immediately taken up with Fil-birthday aħħ dak il-kwiet (‗On my birthday it's so quiet here‘). The complimenter immediately accepted the offer and additionally passed a positive comment about the area where the house is situated. Having been personally involved in the interaction, and being the owner of the house, I would say that most probably when the compliment was paid initially it was an honest expression of admiration and a vague desire, but the second time round its function was more of a request, as became obvious by the immediate

Giving compliments in Maltese

49

acceptance of the offer, and eventually by the fact that the complimenter and his family did spend a few days in this house. Irrespective of the intentions of the complimenter, the interlocutor to whom the compliment is addressed may react in considerably varied ways. The literature focusses mainly on the dilemma for the addressee between showing modesty by disagreeing with the compliment, and the pressure to agree with the speaker, thus fulfilling the agreement maxim (Spencer-Oatey et al. 2000). If one accepts a compliment one may sound conceited, while on the other hand, rejecting a compliment means failing the agreement maxim. As Brown & Levinson (1987) argue, disagreements are typically associated with threats to another person‘s face, or sounding impolite. From this perspective, when people respond to a compliment they have to save the interlocutor‘s face by agreeing with them, while on the other hand, they have to find a way of avoiding the risk of giving the impression of being excessively proud (e.g. Spencer-Oatey et al. 2000; Jucker 2009). The complimentee unconsciously resolves the dilemma as to which of the two politeness maxims to uphold on the basis of a number of relevant factors such as culture, i.e. the trend in their particular speech community (e.g. Tran 2007; 2008); the relationship between the interlocutors, i.e. how intimate they are (e.g. Holmes 1995); gender issues, i.e. the different ways that men and women use language (e.g. Cedar 2006); and the particular social context in which the CR exchange is taking place. I will come back to this later as in the following paragraphs I will present a range of CR types.

4. Types of compliment-responses CR research has largely focussed on the classification of types of CRs. A frequently quoted classification or taxonomy is that of Herbert (1989), which overlaps substantially with other taxonomies such as that of Chick (1992). Table 1 presents my review of some of the more important and relevant taxonomies I encountered in the literature, representing databases from all the five continents. CR taxonomies are useful for discovering the range of responses given to personal compliments. They make it possible for researchers to compare CR types across cultures, and they also provide us with a sketch of what seems to be happening in complimenting behavour in general. The references included in Table 1 and used elsewhere in this chapter are taken from the following sources: Camilleri Grima (2009) refers to data published here for the first time; Pomerantz (1978) on American English and Herbert (1989) on American and South African data which are two seminal studies in the area of CR exchanges; Chick‘s (1992) work on South African English; Holmes (1995) who worked on CRs in New Zealand; Camilleri‘s (1996) work which included data from Malta and a number of other European countries; Cedar (2006) who looked at compliment data collected from American and Thai speakers of English in the U.S.; Wu (2006) who analysed Taiwanese-Chinese student CRs; Zammit‘s (2006) data which was collected

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

50

exclusively from one Maltese school setting; Tran (2007) who worked on Australian English speakers, Vietnamese speakers of English and native speakers of Vietnamese; and Yu‘s (2007) data which was collected from speakers of British English. Table 1 presents a comprehensive taxonomy of CR types. The CR examples given to illustrate each category are all drawn from the Maltese data, except for the last category for which no example in Maltese was found. Several references to the literature are mentioned for almost each type of CR, except for request interpretation, joking and non-verbal reactions, which are the three least common categories recorded globally. Verbal Agreement Appreciation token

Comment acceptance

Praise upgrade

Comment history

C

Prosit Samwel ‗Congratualtions Samwel‘ (with reference to some woodwork)

R

Thank you (Camilleri Grima 2009)

C

Il-kulur ċar vera sabiħ prosit ‗The light colour is really nice congratulations‘

R

Għamilt mill-aħjar, maż-żmien jiskura ‗I did the best I could, it‘ll get darker over the years‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

C

Tajjeb ‗Well done‘ (with reference to climbing onto a wobbly boat)

R

Għal naqra ma ġejtx baħri ‗I was nearly born a sailor‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

C

Prosit tan-nuċċali ‗What nice glasses you have‘

R

Dak taf kemm qamli hu? Xi 250 ewro ‗They were quite expensive, you know. About 250 euro‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007)

Giving compliments in Maltese Return

51

Nixtieq ngħidlek prosit u grazzi li ħallejtna nagħmlu l-preżentazzjoni bilMalti ‗I‘d like to congratulate you and to thank you for letting us present in Maltese‘ (with reference to a student seminar at the University of Malta) R Tiegħek kienet l-aħjar ‗Yours was the best presentation‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009) Request interpretation C Kieku nirbaħ il-lotterija nikriha din id-dar ‗If I won the lottery I would rent this house‘ R Meta trid ejja għamel weekend hawnhekk ‗When you like you can spend a weekend here‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009) Joking C Kemm għandek libsa sabiħa ‗What a nice dress you have‘ R Ħa ħa ħa, ixtrili t-tapit l-aħmar mela (laughing), ‗buy me the red carpet then‘ (Zammit 2006) Non-verbal Reaction (opting out) Smiles/laughs/looks C X‘aħna sbieħ illum surprised ‗How nice you look today‘ (addressing a couple and gesticulating to indicate they look nice from top to bottom) R (Silence, a look of surprise on their faces) (Camilleri Grima 2009) Verbal Disagreement Disagreement C Prosit kemm ġiek sabiħ xagħrek bil-frenza ‗Congratualtions, your hair looks really nice with a fringe‘ R L-ikbar żball ta‘ ħajti ‗The biggest mistake in my life‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

Praise downgrade

C

C R

Kemm għandek libsa sabiħa ‗What a nice dress you have‘ Insomma stajt ilbist aħjar ‗Well, I could have dressed better‘ (Zammit 2006)

Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Camilleri (1996)

Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Yu (2007)

Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Tran (2007)

Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007)

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

52 Qualification

Question/Challenge

Deflating

No acknowledgement

C

Kemm għandek libsa sabiħa ‗What a nice dress you have‘

R

Libsa bħal din toqgħod sewwa fuq kulħadd minħabba t-tip ta‘ drapp li għandha ‗This kind of dress would suit anyone because of the type of material it's made of‘ (Zammit 2006)

C

Dawn it-tfal? Alla jbierek. Prosit ‗Are these your children? God bless them. Congratulations‘

R

Inti qatt ma rajthom? ‗Have‘nt you ever seen them?‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

C

Ara min hawn, ma tixjieħ qatt int ‗Look who‘s here, you never seem to grow old‘

R

Ijwa tgħidli xejn ‗Well. Not quite‘ (Camilleri Grima 2009)

C

You‘re the nicest person

R

Have you finished that essay yet? (Chick 1992)

Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007) Pomerantz (1978) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Camilleri (1996) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Zammit (2006) Yu (2006) Herbert (1989) Chick (1992) Holmes (1995) Cedar (2006) Wu (2006) Tran (2007) Yu (2007)

Table 1: A taxonomy of CR types Tran (2007) proposes that CR types such as those in Table 1 do not represent discrete categories but constitute two continua, one ranging from acceptance to denial, and the other one from acceptance to opting out. I agree with Tran (2007) that categories of CRs in taxonomies should be seen as continua, but I would like to add that it is probably also more appropriate to discuss CRs in terms of overlap between them, and of very complex sociolinguistic representations that need to be uncovered by studying the context in which they occur. In fact, socio-psychological factors like power relations, gender and cultural identities are shaped in speech, and are not simply the result, or symbolic representations of established and static realities. To a large extent, it is the interlocutors themselves that create their gender and cultural identities through

Giving compliments in Maltese

53

talk, and therefore the analysis of CRs within this framework would only be possible with reference to the context, and not through classification of CR events in isolation. I illustrate this in examples (CR9) to (CR13) below. Naturally, the intentions of the researcher when collecting data and their research questions, the methodology used and the way the data is analysed are closely linked to each other. Whether CRs are collected in an experimental setting or by ethnographic means impinges directly on the way CRs are analysed, as I explain in the next section.

5. Methods of CR research One of the issues that is hotly debated in the literature on CRs is the research methodology. A number of researchers limit themselves to structured and pre-organised procedures involving a questionnaire, a discourse completion test (DCTs), or an interview as in Cedar (2006). In Cedar (2006), for instance, the interviewers offered a number of compliments in the course of an interview that concerned the respondents‘ biographical background and topics of interest to them. DCTs present the informants with specific situations to which they have to react, either by paying a compliment or by responding to one. The data collected in this way is therefore dependent on, and limited to (i) the range of situations presented by the researcher and/or the interviewer, (ii) the interpretation of the invented situation by the respondents, and (iii) their mood and degree of cooperation in a laboratory setting, which may be different from what it would normally be in a real life context. DCTs were used by Tran (2007, 2008), Wu (2006) and Yu (2007). It is not surprising that, for instance, silence or smiling as a response strategy is under-represented in CR research (Table 1) because through elicitation techniques like DCTs a verbal response is somewhat forced, even if unnatural, because the respondent is put under pressure to give a verbal reply. Such methods of data collection are rather artificial and they have been criticised by sociolinguists who prefer the ethnographic approach or field method. The ethnographic approach is based on the observation of real life speech events occurring in a natural setting. It crucially depends on data that has not been elicited by the researcher for the purpose of his or her research project, but that occurs for communicative reasons outside of the research project for which it is used. The field ethnographer uses a diary or notebook to transcribe a CR exchange that has just been heard, and possibly a taperecorder to keep a record of naturally occurring examples of the data they are looking for. The researcher may also enlist the help of other compliment collectors (e.g. Camilleri 1996). Large data bases may then be created for further analyses and future reference, such as the British National Corpus cited in Jucker (2009). The ethnographic or field method is considered by Manes & Wolfson (1981: 115) as ―the only reliable method for collecting data about the way compliments, or indeed, any

54

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

other speech act function in everyday interactions‖. In his extensive review on complimenting research, Jucker (2009) disagrees with Manes & Wolfson (1981) and concludes that there is no ideal research method for the investigation of speech acts. On the one hand, I agree with Jucker (2009) because the choice of method depends on the purpose of the research, and can be valid if it permits the required analysis to be carried out reliably, as in the case of Yu (2007) and Tran (2007; 2008). On the other hand, I would support Manes & Wolfson‘s (1981) claim about the superiority of the ethnographic approach because as I show through the following three examples (CR6 to CR8) it is only through the recording, on paper or on tape, of naturally occurring exchanges that are unlimited and unhampered by pre-established methods, that one can really capture the totality of possibilities and obtain a more true and insightful account of CRs and their interrelationship with language, culture and identity. Examples (CR6), (CR7) and (CR8) are instances of CR types that I came across personally while using the ethnographic method, and which add a new dimension to the examples presented in the international literature. To my mind, it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to capture such examples when using elicitation techniques. For instance, with reference to examples (CR2) and (CR5) above, it was only through the observation and collection of examples over a period of time that I was able to note the occurrance of a compliment that was repeated for a second time by the same complimenter to the same complimentee in similar circumstances, but uttered with a different intention, each time eliciting a different response and effect. Let‘s also consider the following:

5.1. Giving compliments non-verbally, attracting a verbal reply (CR6)

Singer: (makes a gesture indicating a slim figure). Maestro: That is why I love you, because you always notice something new about me. [Camilleri 1996]

Here, a non-verbal complimenting incident occurs between a young singer complimenting her maestro on his loss of weight. The young female singer makes a gesture implying this, which the maestro understands and to which he replies: That is why I love you, because you always notice something new about me! It is the only compliment that is paid nonverbally that I have come across in all the literature dealing with complimenting behaviour. In my 2009 data I have a very similar compliment regarding appearance and involving a gesture, but it was accompanied by a verbal compliment, and it attracted a non-verbal response of surprise rather than a verbal one (see Table 1).

Giving compliments in Maltese

55

5.2. A third party steals the compliment for themselves In the following complimenting incident, Mauro who is Tania‘s husband turns in his favour a compliment that refers to his wife‘s cooking. Marian is Tania‘s sister and Jeffrey is Marian‘s boyfriend. Marian and Jeffrey appreciate the gateau that Tania prepared for them: (CR7)

Jeffrey:

Għamlitilna xi ħaġa tajba fl-aħħar ‗She has cooked something good for us, finally!‘ Marian: Kemm ġiet tajba l-fresh cream, aħħ ‗The fresh cream turned out really well, ah!‘ Tania: Mm, itik li tikolha kollha f‘salt ‗Mm, you feel like eating it all in one go.‘ Mauro: Ara għażilt mara m‘hawnx bħalha jien ‗Look, I‘ve chosen a really exceptional wife.‘ [Camilleri 1996]

Here it is important to note that in giving the compliment Jeffrey does not speak to Tania directly. He does not compliment her by employing the second person singular to address her e.g. għamiltilna (‗you made for us‘), but instead says għamlitilna (‗she made for us‘), thus making it easier for Mauro to intervene. The use of the third person plural with the enclitic pronoun -na in għamlitilna implicates the whole group in the verbal exchange. However, Tania‘s utterance implies that even if the compliment was implicit, and it was not addressed to her directly (għamlitilna ‗she made for us‘), she understood it was a compliment addressed to her. Tania agreed with the compliment and accepted it by using a praise upgrade strategy: Mm, itik li tikolha kollha f‘salt (‗Mm, you feel like eating it all in one go‘). On the other hand, Mauro‘s contribution is somewhat overlapping between paying a compliment to his wife, praising her, and expressing pride at his own success in choosing a wife! Mauro seems to be stealing the compliment by highlighting his own good choice of a wife, while at the same time acknowledging and agreeing with the compliment about his wife‘s cooking: Ara għażilt mara m‘hawnx bħalha jien (‗Look, I‘ve chosen a really exceptional wife‘). The above example, in fact, could be considered as a borderline case between praising Tania as a third party, given that Jeffrey does not address her directly, and complimenting Tania, given that she participates in the interaction by accepting the compliment. Furthermore, in (CR7) we note that although Jeffrey compliments Tania‘s cooking, at the same time he remarks in a teasing way, evident through the use of the adverbial fl-aħħar (‗finally‘), that this was the first time such a thing happened: Għamlitilna xi ħaġa tajba fl-aħħar (‗she has cooked something good for us, finally!‘). Fl-aħħar (‗finally‘) here could imply that either the previous food had not been good, or that this was the first time that they were offered something to eat. In any case, the compliment makes it clear that the gateau is extremely welcome not only because it is good, but also

56

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

because it had been expected for a while. This example to me represents the complexities underpinning talk in real life.

5.3. A third party intervenes to change the emphasis of a compliment Peter and Jane are married and are working on their new house. Louis is the tile layer and they have been having problems with him because he was extremely slow. After Louis committed himself to an unusually hard day at work, in (CR8) Jane compliments him for the job, but Peter decides to repeat the compliment by emphasising the use of ġie sabiħ (‗has come out nicely‘) as opposed to ġej sabiħ (‗is coming out nicely‘), thus stressing the point that it is now finished, and that this was crucial: (CR8)

Jane: Illum ħakmitek ix-xemx. ‗Today you‘ve suffered in the sun‘ Louis: Illum l-aktar ġurnata. ‗Today was the worst day‘ Jane: Imma sabiħ ġej (with reference to tile laying). ‗But (the tile laying) is coming on nicely‘ Louis: hm (with rising intonation) ‗Hm‘ Jane: Ta‘ barra sabiħ ġie. ‗The outside (tiles) have come out nicely‘ Louis: hm (with rising intonation) ‗Hm‘ Peter: Ġie sabiħ issa għax lest. ‗It has come out nicely now that it is finished.

[Camilleri 2009]

Jane changes the time reference from the progressive ġej to the perfective ġie after Louis‘s subdued reaction to her first compliment. Peter jumps on the opportunity to subtly emphasize the perfective, given that this work was overdue and deserves a compliment only because it has now been finished. Probably, Louis‘s subdued reaction to both of Jane‘s compliments is also due to the fact that up to that moment he had only heard complaints and was rather surprised that finally he had been complimented. His ‗hm‘ with a rising questioning intonation is a way of solving the dilemma between the modesty and the agreement maxims because he neither accepts nor refuses the compliments, but acknowledges them, and the rising intonation indicates that he wants to know more about the intention of the complimenter. Peter makes their intention very clear at the end: the compliment is valid because the work has finally been finished. The three CR types above, (CR6), (CR7) and (CR8), illustrate the advantages of a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. They show the relevance of the ethnographic method especially when reporting CRs used by the same interlocutor over

Giving compliments in Maltese

57

a period of time, as well as to unravel the complexities of the grammatical structures employed vis-à-vis their communicative effect. The next section presents another two studies and the data is now investigated from both a quantitative and a qualitative perspective.

6. Maltese results and analyses Thanks to a number of collaborators, Camilleri (1996) collected 93 CR types, of which 39 were recorded in Malta and 54 in different parts of Europe as follows: Finland (10), Slovenia (9), France (8), Greece (7), Austria (6), Norway (4), Spain (4), Turkey (3), Croatia (3). All the examples took place in natural settings, and were noted down in writing soon after they were heard. When comparing this set of Maltese data with the rest of the European examples, the following are worthy of note (Tables 3 and 4): (i) As shown in Tables 3 and 4, the most frequently occurring CR exchanges are between female interlocutors (F-F), totalling 54 (32 European, 22 Maltese). Commenthistory is the most common category (14 examples: 7 European, 7 Maltese) in F-F CRs, followed by comment acceptance (4 European, 3 Maltese) and praise downgrade (6 European, 1 Maltese). There are also a few examples of disagreement (4 European, 2 Maltese). Unfortunately, the data is not large enough for us to claim representativity, and can only be treated as vaguely indicative. However, the fact that F-F interaction is more common in CRs is very much in line with the results of Holmes (1995), Gray (1997) and Zammit (2006). F-F compliments Comment history Comment acceptance Praise downgrade Disagreement

Maltese (22) 7 3 1 2

European (32) 7 4 6 4

Total (54) 14 7 7 6

Table 3: Summarised selection of results of Camilleri (1996) Female to Female (F-F) Female to Male (F-M) Male to Female (M-F) Male to Male (M-M)

Malta 22 8 6 2

Europe 32 7 7 5

Total (89) 54 15 13 7

Table 4: Who compliments who (Camilleri 1996) (ii) As shown in Table 4, fifteen CRs in Camilleri (1996) refer to compliments by females addressed to males (7 European, 8 Maltese). Male compliments addressed to females amount to 13 examples (7 European, 6 Maltese). The more striking difference between the Maltese and European data lies in the M-M CRs in that they amount to 7 in total with 5 of these taking place among non-Maltese males. In 1996 I conjectured that

58

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

Maltese males are not fond of complimenting each other, especially given that in the only two examples I had collected, one compliment passed by unacknowledged, and the other one was altered by the complimentee. My conjecture was confirmed by Zammit (2006). Below I give and explain two examples of M-M CRs. (CR9)

An exchange between two male teachers in the staff room. A: Kemm liebes pulit illum. ‗How nicely you‘re dressed today‘. B: (b‘ton irrabjat) Xbin mela trid tgħaddini biż-żmien? Dejjem moħħok biex tiġbidli saqajja hux int! Mela m‘għandekx x‘tagħmel? (angrily) ‗Do you intend to pull my leg? You‘re always thinking about how to pull my leg! Haven‘t you got anything better to do?‘ A: Iva għid thank you u daqshekk. ‗Just say thank you and that‘s all‘. B: Ngħid thank you? Din mhux vojta! Mhux dejjem nilbes pulit jien? ‗I say thank you? That is an empty comment! Don‘t I always dress nicely?‘ A: Orrajt. Ikkalma! Sorry! Darb‘oħra ma ngħidlek xejn. ‗Alright. Calm down. I‘m sorry. Next time I won‘t say anything to you.‘ B: U mhux veru! Din bla sens kienet. ‗Of course. That was an empty comment‘. A: (b‘ton irrassenjat): Orrajt. (giving up) ‗Alright‘. [Zammit 2006: 283]

In this case, B continued to adamantly refuse the compliment. He clearly did not want to admit that on that day he was better dressed than usual: Mhux dejjem nilbes pulit jien? (‗Don‘t I always dress nicely?‘). A‘s intentions seemed to be genuine and he explains to B that he should have just responded with a ‗thank you‘. But B does not agree with A at all. In the end, it is A who submits himself to the agreement maxim and gives B the credit of being right. B‘s reaction is strange because he fails both the modesty and the agreement maxims. B seems to find this compliment as face threatening and therefore reacts aggressively as he tries to safeguard his personal pride. (CR10) starts off in a similar way to (CR9) but ends on a different note. (CR10)

Between two male teachers in the staff room. A: Yeah! Kemm tidher tal-ġenn illum. ‗Yeah! You really look great today‘. B: Mhux il-każ. ‗It‘s not the case‘. A: Le, irrid infisser għall-ilbies. ‗No, I meant your clothes‘. B: Eh, mela darb‘oħra għidli li qed tirreferi għall-ilbies. ‗Then next time tell me you‘re referring to the clothes‘. [Zammit 2006: 287]

Giving compliments in Maltese

59

In (CR10) the initial reaction of B is a clear disagreement. Once A clarifies that it‘s an external and not an internal compliment, referring to B‘s clothes and not to his personal appearance, the reaction changes slightly. B, without accepting the compliment, at least accepts A‘s clarification that the reference was to the clothing, and was not a more personal comment. In this case, B finally fulfils the agreement maxim by toning down his negative reaction to the compliment: Eh, mela darb‘oħra għidli li qed tirreferi għall-ilbies (‗Then next time tell me you‘re referring to the clothes‘), but only after he forced a clarification from the complimenter. In this case B seemed to want to fulfil the modesty maxim: Mhux il-każ (‗It‘s not the case‘) by rejecting the compliment. However, A understood that more than a question of modesty the problem lay in the issue of what was being complimented. Indeed, B then accepted the clarification. In her pilot study on CRs in Maltese, Zammit (1999) noticed that there are persons who compliment very often while others never do. Some participants in her study admitted that they do not like to receive compliments, especially from persons whom they do not trust. Following these initial results, Zammit (2006) conducted a very rigorous empirical study of CRs in Maltese, occurring in one professional domain: a school. Her sample of 500 CR exchanges was collected between October 2000 and December 2004, in one school setting, among male (42) and female (44) teachers of roughly equal professional status, with a few examples where students, head teachers and cleaners were involved. She used note-taking as a tool and thus all her CR examples occurred naturally and are authentic. First of all, Zammit (2006) subdivided her data into two: compliments that refer to external features such as appearance, clothes and possessions, of which she had 209 examples; and compliments that refer to internal characteristics such as skills, personality and intelligence, of which she had 291 examples. When looking at gender differences, Zammit (2006) further classifies her data according to whether the compliments were direct (explicit, addressing the complimentee in the second person), or indirect (implicit, referring to an object rather than its owner) (see Table 5 and Table 6). F-F F-M M-F M-M

Direct compliments 91 10 65 5

Indirect compliments 18 36 31 12

Table 5: Acceptance of direct and indirect compliments by males and females (adapted from Zammit 2006: 165) Based on an actual count of CRs where the compliment is accepted, it is clear from Table 5 that: (i) F-F CRs by far outnumber M-M contributions; (ii) Female compliments are much more frequently accepted by females when paid directly, whether by other females or by males;

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

60

(iii) males accept mostly indirect compliments offered by females; (iv) females accept direct compliments offered by males twice as often as they accept indirect compliments offered by other females. (v) in spite of the little data on M-M CRs, it seems that males prefer to accept indirect compliments more than direct ones, whether offered by males or females. F-F F-M M-F M-M

Direct compliments 17 49 30 45

Indirect compliments 41 11 28 19

Table 6: Rejection of direct and indirect compliments by males and females (adapted from Zammit 2006: 166) Table 6 shows that: (i) males are more likely to refuse direct compliments, whether offered by males or females; (ii) females are more likely to reject indirect compliments, whether offered by males or females. When comparing Table 6 to Table 5 it transpires that M-M CRs are more frequent in the rejection categories, with a high preponderance of rejections to direct compliments. On the other hand, in F-F CRs rejections are rather low when it comes to direct compliments, and higher in the area of indirect compliments, thus illustrating that females generally prefer to be complimented in a direct way. This concurs very well with Gray‘s (1997: 204–205) advice that it is best to give direct compliments to women addressing them using the second person pronoun, along the lines of, for instance, ‗You are so wonderful‘, ‗You are a fantastic cook‘, and ‗You are so brilliant‘. On the other hand, it is best to give indirect compliments to men using the first person pronoun, such as ‗I am having a wonderful time‘, ‗That really makes sense‘, and ‗I really enjoy talking to you‘ (Gray 1997: 204–205). As mentioned by Wolfson (1983), Holmes (1995) and Zammit (2006), sometimes compliments cater for social functions that are not always viewed as positive by the complimentee. See the following example: (CR11)

Between two male teachers in the staff room after A had met B‘s wife for the first time outside school premises. A: Il-vera għandek mara sabiħa. Bjonda u rqiqa, kif inħobbhom jien! ‗You really have a beautiful wife. Fair and slim, just as I like them!‘ B: Ej, x‘qed nisma‘ hawn! ‗Hey, what am I hearing now!‘ A: Ħeqq mhux il-verità? Tibżax. Tiħux ħsieb. ‗Well, isn‘t it the truth? Don‘t worry‘.

Giving compliments in Maltese

B:

A: B:

61

Insomma. Li kieku marti tnaqqas ftit mill-paroli żejjed tagħha, kieku nkun aktar kuntent. ‗Anyway, if my wife chattered less, I would be happier‘. Imma sieħbi, ma jistax ikollok kollox fil-ħajja, hux? ‗But my friend, you can‘t have everything in life, can you?‘ Hekk hu. ‗That‘s right‘. [Zammit 2006: 326]

In this CR exchange the compliment concerns B‘s wife. B‘s initial reaction is verbalised as a surprise: Ej, x‘qed nisma‘ hawn! (‗Hey, what am I hearing now‘!). A, in turn, interprets B‘s comment as a rejection and emphasizes his honesty: Ħeqq, mhux ilverità? (‗Isn‘t it the truth‘?), while adding that his intention is not mischievous: Tibżax. Tiħux ħsieb (‗Don‘t worry‘). However, B seems to be more upset upon A‘s clarification and offers a negative point about his wife, her paroli żejjed (‗empty words‘) which he would like her to cut down so that he would feel happier, supposedly also with the intention of stopping B from desiring her. A‘s response is that one should be happy with what one has and no one can have everything in life. B agrees to A‘s comment about how things are in life, thus following the agreement maxim, but the compliment itself about the beautiful wife is ignored. As in (CR9) and (CR10) above, it is the complimenter who in the end submits himself to the complimentee's point of view. According to Spencer-Oatey et al. (2000) a compliment may produce a negative reaction when a compliment is clearly untrue, for instance because it implies envy or desire, or because it assumes an unwarranted degree of intimacy. As shown by the above examples, when the complimenter realizes how badly his compliment has been taken, he mitigates its force by succumbing to the complimentee‘s interpretation of the situation. In this way, he saves his face and that of his interlocutor. (CR12) and (CR13) further illustrate the importance of interpreting responses to compliments in context. (CR12)

Between a qualified male teacher (A) and a casual male teacher (B), i.e. a teacher who is not qualified and is on a temporary contract. They are in the staff room after a period during which many students kept coming to talk to teacher B about their work. A: Għal xi ħadd bl-edukazzjoni tiegħek, qed tagħmel xogħol tajjeb. ‗Given your level of education you're doing a good job‘. B: Għaliex? Dan kollu għax ma mortx l-università u ma ġibtx id-degree? Mela biex tgħallem kors bilfors trid ikollok degree? ‗Why? You‘re saying all this because I did not go to university and I did not obtain a degree? Do you have to have a degree to teach?‘ A: U le ma ridtx infisser hekk. ‗No, that‘s not what I meant‘.

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

62

B:

Ara ħi, tridx tagħlaq ħalqek u tħallini fil-paċi. M‘għandix bżonn ilparoli żejjed tiegħek illum. ‗Listen, just shut up and leave me in peace. I do not need your empty words today‘. [Zammit 2006: 380]

In this case teacher B is clearly offended by A‘s comment which might have been intended as praise, but given that A made reference to B‘s lower qualifications it sounded offensive. Even after A tried to hint that B had misinterpreted the compliment, B responded angrily by asking A to shut up and keep his comments to himself. In this case, a potential compliment is interpreted negatively. It could have been uttered in a moment of jealousy by teacher A who was less sought after by the students, but this was not picked up by the complimentee, who instead focussed on the first part of the compliment because he was probably very sensitive about the fact that he was not as qualified as teacher A. Through his replies B showed that he was very defensive about his level of education. He was, therefore, not prepared to accept this compliment about his abilities because he thought it underlined his lack of qualifications. My final example (CR13) shows how much depends on who is giving the compliment and what he/she represents for the complimentee, where the exchange is taking place, and to whom it is addressed, and also as to whether there is an audience and who constitutes that audience (see Bell 1984 on audience design). (CR13)

In the classroom during a lesson, a male teacher whose face is spotted with blackheads compliments a student in an all boys‘ school, as he marks his work. A: Kemm għandek wiċċek fin, bla ponot. ‗What a smooth face you have, without blackheads‘. B: Mela mhux bħal tiegħek! ‗Not like yours then!‘ A: Ara tkellem sew miegħi minn fuq li qed nikkumplimentak. ‗Speak properly to me, I‘m only paying you a compliment‘. [Zammit 2006: 328]

This exchange takes place between two males of unequal status, a teacher and a student. A seems to give B a genuine compliment, praising his spotless skin, but B reacts very strongly and even offends the teacher. The exchange is closed by a reprimand by the teacher. This exchange is symptomatic of the social milieu in this particularly difficult area secondary school for boys, where the students aged 11 to 16 have all failed the Junior Lyceum examinations and are therefore categorised by the system as lower ability. They do not feel motivated to learn either, and take out their frustration on the teachers who, for them, represent the institution that has doomed them to failure. The teachers try their best to establish a rapport with these students in the hope of breaking the ice, as this teacher tried to do, but as is clear from this CR, students adamantly refuse to play ball. The student being complimented here was aware that his classmates were following the conversation, and even if he felt good about the

Giving compliments in Maltese

63

teacher‘s compliment, which is probably the case because in his response he emphasized that his face was not like the teacher‘s (i.e. better), he was under pressure by both the audience and the system to reply in a way that was befitting his social reality, i.e. to be rude to the teacher. The teacher, as a result, also went back to his role as a superior and told the student off.

7. Conclusion In this paper I have provided an overview of CR taxonomies in the way they are normally presented in positivistic research, showing that by and large the same categories of CRs have been recorded world-wide, but with some important cultural and gender differences in type and quantity. The most frequently reported CR types as far as agreement by the complimentee is concerned are: appreciation token, comment acceptance, praise upgrade, comment history and return. When a compliment is rejected the strategies used are: disagreement, praise downgrade, qualification, question/challenge, deflating and no acknowledgement. The quantitative analysis shows that females seem to compliment each other most of all, and males compliment each other least, especially in Malta. Furthermore, females seem to prefer to give and receive direct compliments, while males prefer indirect ones, and in fact they reject indirect compliments less fequently. Using a qualitative approach I have illustrated the sociolinguistic complexities that can be unravelled by analysing a CR event in context. For instance, social distance between interlocutors impacts on: the interpretation of a compliment by the complimentee, as in (CR5), (CR9) and (CR12); the participation by a third party in the CR exchange, as in (CR7) and (CR8); and the transformation of a CR move into a strained interchange, as in (CR11), (CR12) and (CR13). An important contribution to knowledge is provided by the examples that show that by using the ethnographic method for data collection it is possible to obtain a wider variety of CR types. Of particular relevance here is the compliment recorded for a second time after a few weeks by the same complimenter to the same complimentee, where in the second instance the function of request was added to that of compliment. Furthermore, in CR research non-verbal compliments and non-verbal replies seem to be under-represented. This is possibly due to the fact that there are more studies that use elicited data which bypasses non-verbal, spontaneous and naturally-occuring CRs, than studies using the ethnographic method. When comparing the Maltese data to that discussed in the international literature one clear conclusion emerges: Maltese M-M CRs seem to evolve in discourse differently from M-M CRs recorded elsewhere. However, a fundamental question remains: under which sociolinguistic conditions does this happen and why? More research is definitely needed to shed light on this and other very interesting sociolinguistic realities in Malta.

64

Antoinette Camilleri Grima

References Brown, Penelope & Levinson, Stephen C. (1987): Politeness: some universals in language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Camilleri, Antoinette (1996): How to compliment a European, in: Workshop 13b: Language and culture awareness in language learning/teaching (L2 and L1) for the development of learner autonomy (age 11-18), Malta: Council of Europe. Camilleri Grima, Antoinette (2009): A 2009 collection of compliment-response types. Unpublished database. University of Malta. Cedar, Payung (2006): Thai and American responses to compliments in English, in: The Linguistics Journal 1(2), 6–28. Chick, J. Keith (1992): Addressing contextual issues relevant to language teaching in South Africa: Implications for policy and practice, in: Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 8(2), 1–16. Gray, John (1997): Mars and Venus on a date. London: Ebury Press. Herbert, Robert K. (1989): The ethnography of English compliments and compliment responses: a contrastive sketch, in: Oleksy, Wiesław (ed.), Contrastive pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 3–35. Holmes, Janet (1988): Paying compliments: a sex-referential politeness strategy, in: Journal of Pragmatics 12, 445–465. Holmes, Janet (1995): Women, men and politeness. London: Longman. Johnson, Donna M. (1992): Compliments and politeness in peer-review texts, in: Applied Linguistics 13(1), 51–71. Jucker, Andreas H. (2009): Speech act research between armchair, field and laboratory. The case of compliments, in: Journal of Pragmatics 41(8), 1611–1635. Manes, Joan & Wolfson, Nessa (1981): The compliment formula, in: Coulmas, Florian (ed.), Conversational routine: explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech. The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 115–132. Pomerantz, Anita (1978): Compliment responses: notes on the cooperation of multiple constraints, in: Schenkein, Jim (ed.), Studies in the organization of conversational interaction. New York: Academic Press, 79–112. Spencer-Oatey, Helen; Ng, Patrick & Dong, Li (2000): Responding to compliments: British and Chinese evaluative judgements, in: Spencer-Oatey, Helen (ed.), Culturally speaking. London: Continuum, 98–120. Tran, Giao Quynh (2007): Compliment response continuum hypothesis, in: The International Journal of Language, Society and Culture 21, 1–22. Tran, Giao Quynh (2008): Pragmatic and discourse transfer of combination of compliment response strategies in second language learning and usage, in: The Asian EFL Journal 10(2), 7–30. Wolfson, Nessa (1983): An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English, in: Wolfson, Nessa & Judd, Elliot (eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition. Rowley: Newbury House, 82– 95. Wu, Si-Yuan (2006): A study of compliment responses uttered by senior High School students in Taiwan. Unpublished Graduate Program dissertation, Providence University. Yu, Wan-juan (2007): Pedagogical description of compliment-response exchanges in a British context for Chinese EFL learners. Unpublished MSc in Language Teaching dissertation, The University of Edinburgh. Zammit, Jacqueline (1999): L-Att tal-Kumplimenti. MA Qualifying Paper presented at the University of Malta. Zammit, Jacqueline (2006): Il-Ġeneru tal-Kumpliment. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Malta.

LARA BRINCAT & SANDRO CARUANA (MALTA)

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

Abstract The necessity to communicate rapidly and efficiently when using computer chat on the Internet often takes precedence over grammatical correctness and over the use of syntactic structures normally employed in written Standard Maltese. The language variety used on this medium is predominantly a written one, although in style and structure it resembles a spoken form. In this contribution we call this il-Malti Mgħaġġel (literally, ‘the hurried Maltese’). After providing a description of this variety of Maltese, based on criteria already used for other languages, we discuss results that emerged through research carried out among university students following courses in the Faculty of Education. In this part of our research we investigate future language teachers’ view on the way Maltese is being used on computer chat and we provide some insight as to whether, according to our subjects, the use of computer chat influences students’ writing in Standard Maltese. Taqsira Il-ħtieġa ta’ komunikazzjoni immedjata u effikaċi meta jintuża ċ-chat fuq l-Internet hija spiss ferm akbar mill-attenzjoni għall-korrettezza grammatikali jew mill-użu ta’ strutturi sintattiċi tal-Malti standard. Ta’ sikwit tintuża varjetà lingwistika ta’ kitba li tixbaħ lil Malti mitkellem, varjetà li f’dan ix-xogħol tissejjaħ Malti Mgħaġġel. Wara li nagħtu spjegazzjoni tal-karatteristiċi ta’ din il-varjetà talMalti, ibbażata fuq kunsiderazzjonijiet minn studji mix-xena internazzjonali, niddiskutu xi riżultati li ħarġu permezz ta’ riċerka li saret fost studenti tal-Fakultà tal-Edukazzjoni tal-Università ta’ Malta. F’din il-parti tax-xogħol ninvestigaw kif jaħsbuha dawn l-għalliema tal-ġejjieni dwar il-mod kif ilMalti jiġi miktub fiċ-chat tal-kompjuter u jekk, fil-fehma tagħhom, din il-varjetà tintużax wkoll meta l-istudenti tal-iskola jagħmlu xogħolijiet ta’ kitba formali bħal komponimenti.

1. Introduction One of the language varieties which has undoubtedly taken on a major role in many domains in recent times is the type of language produced via modern means of communication, such as chat conversations, blogs and e-mails. The use of this language variety has led to a number of noteworthy developments from a sociolinguistic point of view: whereas up to some years ago the distinction between spoken and written varieties often ran parallel to the distinction between informal and formal registers, over the last few years this has

66

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

changed considerably, as many modern means of communication are characterised by a written code which normally is also highly informal. Needless to say, informal writing has been in existence for much longer than certain communication technologies, such as computers and mobile phones. However, in recent times the quantity of informal writing that is being produced has increased considerably, as the digital revolution has led to a situation wherein there probably is more written language in the world today than there ever has been (Gnanadesikan 2009: 271). In fact, the use of modern means of communication has led to the formation of a written variety which is highly iconic, syntactically concise and often very similar to colloquial speech (Crystal 2001). Although Maltese is historically mainly associated with the spoken variety, as English has always had a significant role in reading and writing, its use as a written form has recently become more widespread in all means of communication, including the more modern ones. This paper aims to identify some of the main characteristics of the language as it is used in chat conversations and to provide a description of il-Malti Mgħaġġel (literally, ‘hurried Maltese’). Most of the considerations that will be presented are based on orthographic variation, though some other linguistic features will also be discussed. Results of a small-scale quantitative survey carried out among future language teachers in Malta will also be presented. We will therefore commence by presenting features of ElectronicallyMediated Communication (henceforward EMC) as described in international research. These will serve as a basis in order to describe the Malti Mgħaġġel variety, five utterances of which were put forward to the sample of future teachers in order to be evaluated in terms of acceptability within a classroom context.

2. Features of Electronically-Mediated Communication The study of EMC, as described by Herring (2001: 612), is a specialisation within the broader interdisciplinary study of computer-mediated communication, distinguished by its focus on language and language use in computer networked environments, and by its use of methods of discourse analysis.1 For example, language produced in internet chatting, in emails and in blogs is considered to be a type of EMC. By drawing on findings of previous studies, the main arguments that will be discussed are the speech-like or written-like properties of EMC and the idiosyncratic features this form of language exhibits. The relationship and the differences between spoken and writ1

Herring (2001) uses the term Computer Mediated Discourse (CMD) to describe the language produced in online environments. Research on text messaging (for example Hård af Segerstad 2002, Ling 2005, Crystal 2008) has shown how language used for mobile-phone texting shares a number of linguistic features with CMD, even though does not pertain directly to the varieties outlined by Herring (2001). Moreover, language used in text messaging is not really produced by a computer, in its strictest sense. As a result, the term EMC is adopted here to encompass a wider view of language that is produced via technology.

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

67

ten language have been analysed extensively in the literature, and this suggests that the two modalities often differ in relatively predictable ways (for example Halliday 1978; Biber 1991, 2006, 2009). Therefore, a persistent question regarding EMC has been whether its stylistic features resemble those of speech or those of writing (for example Ferrara et al. 1991; Collot & Belmore 1996; Crystal 2001; Herring 2005, among others).2 Much of the early research dealing with the characteristics of speech and writing has dealt with the relationship between the two modes. However, dichotomous models do not offer explanations to instances where writing has a number of qualities associated with speech, such as note-taking3 or writing memos. Tannen (1982: 14) had already suggested that an oral/literate continuum should be applied to the classification of different registers, rather than a dichotomous opposition, with academic writing and casual conversations representing the two extreme poles. This continuum model is pertinent when dealing with language produced by communication technologies, including EMC. Most forms of EMC require the use of the written variety. However, this is used in an informal, colloquial manner as some forms, especially synchronous ones such as Instant Messaging, are used mainly to maintain relationships (Ramirez & Broneck 2009: 291). Furthermore, although EMC is a written variety, it is often considered transient speech. When we receive emails and SMS messages we tend to discard them as soon as they are read. This trend towards informality is not solely limited to language that is technologically mediated, neither is it happening within a social vacuum, as “the technological facility coincides with social, cultural, economic and political changes, all of which together are producing and pushing that change” (Kress 2003: 38). In fact, Baron (2008: 171) argues that contemporary writing is becoming increasingly informal due to the growing trend to communicate electronically in writing.

2.1. EMC and writing Technological developments have made writing become an important medium for immediate communication. For instance, cell phones which have greatly expanded the range of the spoken word are often used for text messaging, rather than conversation. Teenagers, who up to some years ago would have spent hours chatting over the telephone, now use instant messaging to socialise with their peers (Baron 2008: 45). 2

3

Similar arguments are also applied to the classification of SMS messages as either speech or writing. Ling (2005: 347–348) argues that most SMS messages are often informal, thus akin to speech. At the same time, SMS messaging is also similar to writing, in that it does not assume that the interlocutors are physically proximate. Ferrara et al. (1991: 12–13) examined the syntactic and stylistic features of Interactive Written Discourse (IWD) in the initial phases of its creation. The authors conclude that the concept of register helps account for the syntactic reductions and omissions that characterise this text format. They also compare this with note-taking and conclude that there are comparisons in the strategies being adopted in both forms of writing.

68

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

One of the most important findings of Internet research over the past years has been that EMC varies according to the technologies that are being used by interlocutors (Herring 2005: 111). EMC is produced by a vast range of media. The types of media can be differentiated on two parameters: the number of recipients (one-to-one or one-to-many) and the synchronicity of the communication (synchronous forms and asynchronous forms). The language that is produced will inadvertently be influenced by the medium in question. Hence, synchronous forms (for example, chatting) are different from asynchronous forms (for example, email) in their message complexity, in the length of utterances, formality and interactivity. Thus, stating that all forms of online writing are informal would not be doing justice to its diverse nature. There are several examples of online writing that is formal, for example the type of writing present in online academic journals and newspapers. Hård af Segerstad (2002) analysed how users adapt written language according to the medium that they use and concluded that the language produced via different media highlighted the innate human characteristic of adaptation. As already stated, most EMC is produced in the written form, even though there are many similarities between EMC and speech, primarily due to its informal nature. However, even in synchronous forms like chatting, there can be lack of simultaneous feedback due to lag and the fact that the “rhythm lacks the pace and predictability of that found in telephonic or face-to-face communication” (Crystal 2001: 31). Participants may refer to exchanges that have been contributed earlier in a way that challenges the transient nature of speech. Users can still go back to some messages and reflect on and react to them. Still, in most cases of synchronous forms of EMC, writing lacks the editing and the grammatical coherence of the standard variety and it is also less complex syntactically. The use of EMC by teenagers has raised an alarm from both teachers and parents. For example Thurlow (2006) analysed a corpus of 101 print-media accounts (collected between 2001 and 2005) which discuss language use in technologies such as instant messaging and text messaging. He argues that although scholarly discourse has focussed on the positive opportunities that these technologies can offer, public discourse is not so optimistic. Language that is produced in texting and in chatting is described as “a written slang” (Thurlow 2006: 682) which can get “out of hand” (Thurlow 2006: 681). In a similar fashion, Crystal (2008: 151) provides examples of “doom-laden prophecies” which proclaim that the use of texting will lead to a breakdown of the English language, that texting habits will inevitably be transferred to their school-work and that this will erode children’s ability to spell and to use punctuation. Although, “there was never clear evidence supporting these assertions, (...) that did not stop them being made” (Crystal 2008: 151). These considerations are based on the presupposition that EMC will have an adverse effect on the quality of offline writing by students. Thus, this indicates that EMC is frequently judged and evaluated on the basis of criteria used for the written rather than the spoken variety. Often those responsible for language policy as well as the general public manifest the fear that features present in EMC texts will leak into other, more formal forms of writing. Many studies held to date in this respect also deal specifically

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

69

with mobile phone texting, rather than with Internet chatting. Considering that the two varieties do hold a number of similarities some findings are worth reporting.4 Plester et al. (2008) carried out a study among 65 eleven to twelve year-olds in order to investigate the effects of mobile phone texting on literacy attainment. They conclude that there is “no compelling evidence that texting damages standard English in preteens” (Plester et al. 2008: 143). In most cases texting is conditioned by the subjects’ phonological awareness and the use of abbreviated or non-standard spelling form is largely due to the fact that they are aware that such forms are appropriate within the context. The results obtained by Drouin & Davies (2009) on a sample of eighty college students (mean age = 21.8) lead to two significant conclusions: firstly, as in Plester et al. (2008) study, they found that English literacy does not seem to be affected significantly by texting. They add, however that, “... text speak users cannot cut corners on the longer, more elaborate words but only on the shorter, common ones. As such, declines in standardized literacy performance would not be expected” (Drouin & Davies 2009: 64). Secondly, the authors report that despite the above considerations, more than half of their subjects report that using texting regularly makes it hard to remember Standard English. In a more recent study, Plester et al. (2009) elaborated on their previous study and their conclusions indicate that “facility with text literacy is positively associated with standard English literacy” (Plester et al. 2009: 158). In their study on the relationship between the language used in text messaging and the production of formal and informal writing, Rosen et al. (2010) investigated whether the reported use of textisms in daily electronic communication is related to the quality of writing. It was noted that very few participants used textisms in their formal and informal examples of writing. The researchers argue that in view of these studies, additional work should be carried out to relate the daily use of textisms to a variety of actual classroom writing assignments to better assess the effect of these textisms on students’ writing. Moreover, as Drouin & Davis (2009: 62) also state, decline in spelling performance could take place across time and statistically significant differences may not be evident for a few years. This calls for further exploration within longitudinal contexts. With specific reference to the relationship between chatting and literacy, Tagliamonte & Denis (2008: 6) argue that chatting, rather than impoverishing language “may actually be a bellwether in the evolution of the English language in general.” However, further research on the effect of chatting on literacy is needed in order to prove the validity of this claim. 4

There seem to be affinities between language produced in chatting and language produced in texting, even though different media are involved in linguistic production. For example, Crystal (2008: 37–62) describes how texters also make use of strategies found in chatting, such as the use of abbreviations, misspellings and omission of apostrophes. However, there are also differences between the two varieties as outlined by Baron & Ling (2007). One of the main differences between texting and Instant Messaging is that text messages contain more contractions and that there is a higher tendency to use abbreviated forms. Therefore, conclusions pertaining to the effect of texting on literacy cannot be wholly applied to the possible effects of internet chatting on literacy.

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

70

Baron (2008) views EMC very much as a product of today’s modern lifestyle and its effects on literacy cannot be studied in isolation: Is the Internet destroying language? If you look at the effects – direct or otherwise – on traditional language, the case is highly tenuous. True, electronicallymediated language and the likes of spell-check and Google make it easy to drift into sloppy writing habits. The culprit, however, is not technology. Depending upon how you view the situation, fault lies either in ourselves or in the more global “whatever” attitude regarding regularity in language. (Baron 2008: 180)

2.2. EMC and oral communication Notwithstanding the fact that most EMC is produced in writing, Crystal (2001: 29) argues that the language produced in synchronous situations, “though expressed through the medium of writing, display(s) several of the core properties of speech”. Chatting is often listed as the prime force in radical linguistic innovations: “it is the synchronous interactions which cause most radical linguistic innovation … affecting several basic conventions of traditional spoken and written communication” (Crystal 2001: 130). It is the nearest we are likely to get to seeing “a written dialogue in its spontaneous, unedited, naked state” (Crystal 2001: 176). Since language produced in synchronous media is time governed, and there is a demand for immediate response, it limits the amount of time spent reflecting on language. Unless a history is kept, the permanent characteristic of writing is also defied in chatting, as there is routine textual deletion and other synchronous media. Since EMC lacks the physical proximity and paraverbal cues that mark spoken conversation, various strategies are employed to make up for these missing features, such as unconventional use of spelling and punctuation, as well as the use of capitals, spacing and special symbols for emphasis. Playing with punctuation and typography are not the only tools available for expressing emotion in Internet chatting and other forms of EMC. Users can also use emoticons which were explicitly created with the goal of clarifying emotions in order to avoid misinterpretation. The main aim of the research on emoticons has been to explore the assumption that emoticons are a valuable tool to compensate for the lack of affective cues that characterise face-to-face communication. Therefore the basic assumption in the study of emoticons is that users in online communication are attempting to represent speech (Baron 2009: 116). In the same vein, Werry (1996: 58) argued that EMC used in Internet Relay Chat (henceforth IRC) is speech-like because “one can identify a common impulse: an almost manic tendency to produce auditory and visual effects in writing, a straining to make written words simulate speech.” Language that is technologically mediated is often syntactically fragmented due to time pressures, especially in synchronous situations. Baron (1984) predicted that users will use fewer subordinate clauses and a narrower range of vocabulary, and as a result,

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

71

this would have a negative effect on the richness of language produced. However, more recent research has revealed that language produced in synchronous chatting, particularly in Instant Messaging shares a number of features with standard writing, even with regard to its syntactic complexity (Baron 2008). Synchronous systems like chatting also disrupt patterns of turn taking, due to overlapping and responses are often separated by irrelevant messages. However, the very chaotic nature of chat makes it a fertile ground for neography (Anis 2007) and playfulness. Danet et al. (1997) state that the four features of EMC that foster playfulness are ephemerality, speed, interactivity, and freedom from the restriction of rules. Moreover, its grammar is chiefly characterised by highly colloquial constructions and marked features including the omission of copulas and auxiliaries as well as non-standard agreement between subject and verb (Crystal 2001; Hård af Segerstad 2002).

2.3. EMC as a language variety with features of both written and oral communication In contrast with early EMC research that has focused on the limitations of the medium to accomplish traditional communicative ends, a more recent body of work, among which Herring (2005) and Baron (2008), tends to focus on new forms of communication enabled by the Internet. Herring (2001) emphasised the ability of human beings to adapt language to suit a range of linguistic purposes, as these strategies, “rather than reflecting impoverished or simplified communication, demonstrate the ability of users to adapt the computer medium to their expressive needs” (Herring 2001: 617). Based on the evidence found in studies dealing with EMC and mode, the conclusion is that this form of language shows us the ability of human beings to be flexible and adapt their rational behaviour according to the variables that condition communication. As mentioned in the previous section, when discussing EMC, the medium used for its language production should be taken into consideration. Consequently, language that is produced in emails and blogs will be different from language that is produced in internet chatting (for example, Hård af Segerstad 2002, Baron & Ling 2007; Baron 2008). In addition, language use will vary according to the context in which it is being used. Therefore, the use of linguistic strategies in EMC might not hold universal value. Research is being directed to replace listing of prototypical features that have been popular in mode-centred Internet linguistics, by a user and community-centred approach, which is promising for a more complex theorising of the social and contextual diversity of language use on the Internet (for example Paolillo 2001; Agius 2005; Androutsopoulos 2006; Siebenhaar 2006; Palfreman & Al Khali 2007; Su 2007; Warschauer et al. 2007). In conclusion EMC can be viewed as a series of different language varieties which include a mixture of features of both writing and speech: “Netspeak is identical to nei-

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

72

ther speech nor writing, but selectively and adaptively displays properties of both” (Crystal 2001: 47). Tagliamonte & Denis (2008) conclude that “Instant Messaging language is characterised by a robust mix of features from both informal spoken registers and more formal written registers – in essence it is a hybrid register.” (Tagliamonte & Denis 2008: 5) The main features associated with EMC are summarised below (Danet 2010: 148): Feature Multiple punctuation Eccentric, non-standard spelling All capital letters Acronyms, abbreviations Descriptions of actions Emoticons Rebus writing Asterisks for emphasis Written-out laughter

Example Type back soon!!!!!! Warez (wares) I’M REALLY ANGRY AT YOU! TTYL (talk to you later); *grins* :-) (smile) CUl8tr (see you later) I’m *really* angry at you! Hahahaha

Table 1: Features of EMC (Danet 2010: 148) These features show that EMC makes use of characteristics that belong both to speech and to writing. The reasons for such use of language vary from those related to ludic language, to those arising due to constraints placed on users, as well as reasons pertaining to the amount of effort that users would like to invest in the task at hand. Having examined a number of studies which dealt with EMC and texting and having outlined the main features of the variety, we will now proceed to use some of the above reflections in order to produce a description of the most common features found in ilMalti mgħaġġel on the basis of a corpus collected from University of Malta students.

3. The corpus A number of the features outlined above as listed by Danet (2010: 148) are regularly present in il-Malti mgħaġġel. In order to study this variety a corpus was collected from 19–22 year-old students reading for a degree in Education at the University of Malta. Overall 20 episodes of IRC were collected through print-outs provided by the students themselves. These print-outs were all from the students’ IRC history and therefore constitute examples of EMC in its authentic form as while the subjects were chatting they were not aware that their exchanges would be used for research purposes. In fact, once the subjects gave consent to participate in the study, they were asked to provide copies of the print-outs of past IRC exchanges. The researchers did not log actively into the subjects’ chat conversations and did not participate in these exchanges. The corpus consisted of 650 units, a ‘unit’ being a word, a symbol or any form of abbreviation between two spaces. The following utterance is therefore composed of 14 units:

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

(1)

73

isma hammur nikol xi haga ta ax ed immut bilguh .... imbad nidhol wara ... XP5 SM6, isma, ħa mmur niekol xi ħaġa ta, għax qed immut bil-ġuħ. Imbagħad nidħol wara. ‘Listen, I’m going to eat something as I am dying of hunger. Then I’ll log in later’

4. Features of il-Malti Mgħaġġel The first feature that is immediately evident when examining these EMC utterances is that characteristic Maltese graphemes7 are totally disregarded. The reason for this may be that these graphemes are not necessarily present on one’s computer keyboard and, even if this were the case (the newer generation of computer keyboards do, in fact, include Maltese special characters) IRC programmes may not necessarily be configured for their inclusion. Another aspect which features regularly in IRC is the graphical representation of phonetic material which is not normally represented in writing (including interjections, ideophones and other paraverbal features). Examples include: (2)

uijwaaaaaaaaaaa SM, u iva (literally, ‘oh yes’), interjection normally used to express the fact that what occurred can be dismissed or taken lightly.

(3)

uhhhhhhhhhhh interjection used to convey sense of great amazement, excitement etc.

(4)

uffaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa SM, uff/uffa interjection used to convey sense of annoyance, frustration etc.

(5)

awwwwwwwwww mela nhar il hadd il knisja taf lil min rajtttttttttttt SM, Aw, mela nhar il-Ħadd il knisja taf lil min rajt? ‘Hi, so last Sunday at church do you know who I saw?’

(6)

ajmmmaa ghidt hekk ghax hawn 2 neils ;p;p SM, Ajma, għidt hekk għax hawn 2 Neils! ‘How silly, I said that because there are 2 Neils!’

5 6

7

An emoticon used to indicate humour or laughter. SM = Standard Maltese. In all the examples the SM spelling of the utterances from the IRC corpus will be provided. This will be useful in order to have an immediate reference point as to how EMC spelling deviates from SM spelling. ‘ċ’ (voiceless postalveolar affricate); ‘ġ’ (voiced postalveolar affricate); ‘ħ’ (voiceless pharyngeal fricative); ‘ż’ (voiced alveolar fricative); digraph ‘għ’ (muted in most contexts).

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

74

The utterances represented in 2, 3 and 4 are extremely common in spoken Maltese and feature in IRC with a series of repeated characters in order to represent more accurately the level of expressiveness that one may wish to convey. The same can be said for the two discourse markers (awwwwwwwwww and ajmmmaa) in 5 and 6 above. The repeated characters used in ajmmmaa also mirror a rising intonation in spoken Maltese which gives an ironic connotation to the whole utterance. This is then attenuated by the use of the emoticons (;p;p) which are used to express humour. Another feature of il-Malti Mgħaġġel is that often words which standard orthography keeps apart are integrated into one unit, as shown in the examples below: (7)

mela xandek?/u qalli xdizappunt SM, mela x’għandek?/u qalli x’diżappunt! ‘So, what’s up?; (literally, ‘So, what do you have?’)/‘and he told me, how disappointing!’

(8)

x maweggajtx hafna/mandekx lessons? SM, għax ma weġġajtx ħafna/m’għandekx lessons? ‘because I did not hurt much’/‘Don’t you have lessons?’

(9)

mhemx xtamel SM, m’hemmx x’tagħmel ‘there’s nothing that can be done’

(10)

fajjatalla swty SM/E8, f’ħajjet Alla, sweety ‘Thank God, sweety’

(11)

hammur/senamel SM, ħa mmur/se nagħmel ‘I’m going’/‘I will do’

(12)

lewwel u lahhar/talostra9 SM, l-ewwel u l-aħħar/tal-ostra! ‘the first and the last’/‘Great!’

Occurrences 7, 8 and 9 above are examples of how the interrogative and exclamative xi and of how the negation particles ma … x are orthographically integrated into following words, forming an orthographic unit. The following occurrences are instances of frequently used idiomatic expressions (example 10), the orthographic integration of future particles ħa and se with verbs (example 11) and that of the article l- with nouns (example 12). 8 9

SM/E = Standard Maltese and Standard English. A variant of a more vulgar, taboo expression, normally used in order to express agreement or to show approval.

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

75

A characteristic of il-Malti mgħaġġel is the representation of orthographic forms according to their phonetic interpretation. Often features present in SM orthography which do have a corresponding phone are disregarded. In the following examples the underlined words are examples of how spelling on IRC mirrors the pronunciation of the word, rather than SM spelling: (13)

u jien adtlu issa min amila x jamel? SM, u jien għidtlu, issa min għamilha, x’jagħmel? ‘and I told him, now who did it, what should he do?’

(14)

edtlek li se jibdel it time table uxx?? SM, għidtek li se jibdel it-time-table, hux? ‘I had told you that he was going to change his time table, had I?’

(15)

dik tejr ta SM, dik tgħir, ta! ‘she’s jealous, you know’

(16)

ax dawk kont se nippruva nivvinta ricetta aliom SM, għax dawk kont se nipprova nivvinta riċetta għalihom ‘because I was going to invent a recipe for them’

(17)

nah don’t think so. gejjin andkom sippost SM/E, No, I don’t think so. Ġejjin għandkom suppost ‘We’re supposed to be coming over to you’

(18)

ili ma nithol andom SM, ili ma nidħol għandhom ‘I haven’t been over to them for some time’

In the case of (13) and (14) above one notes the influence of the spoken variety of the form represented in il-Malti mgħaġġel. In Maltese both [ˈɐtlʊ] and [ˈɛtlʊ] are acceptable phonetic representations of (‘I told him’), though the choice of one variant rather than another may also be determined by diatopic features. The same can be said for example 15 in which both [ˈtɐɪr] and [ˈtɛɪr] correspond to (‘she is jealous’). One may note other examples of vocalic variation in 16 and 17, nippruva for SM (‘I try’) and sippost for SM (‘supposedly’). In 18 the devoicing of the alveolar plosive, caused by regressive assimilation, is represented graphically. Therefore [ˈnɪthɔl] is represented as nithol rather than (‘I enter’). More often than not punctuation marks are totally omitted. However, as occurs in IRC in other languages, one also finds an unconventional use of punctuation, often characterized by the repeated use of the same punctuation mark (as also included in the table of features by Danet (2010: 148) mentioned earlier):

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

76

(19)

min jin, leeeeeee!!!!!!!!! SM, Min jien? Le! ‘Who me? No!’

As one might expect, the use of abbreviated forms (both in Maltese and in English), as well as the use of acronyms and emoticons, which are standard features in IRC, feature copiously in il-Malti mgħaġġel: (20)

fix xitwa qas tara ruh SM, fix-Xitwa lanqas tara ruħ ‘In Winter you wouldn’t meet a single person’

(21)

jn ma jinteressanix SM, jien ma jinteressanix ‘To me it is of no interest’

(22)

ghadni kemm bat msg lil kulhadd SM, għadni kemm bgħatt messaġġ lil kulħadd ‘I just sent a message to everyone’

(23)

aw hi ber ghadni ma rajtu ta duda SM , Aw, ħi Ber, għadni ma rajtux ta, duda ‘Hi, Ber, I haven’t seen him yet, you know duda’10

(24)

brb ta malajr SM/E, be right back, ta, malajr ‘I’ll be back soon, you know’

(25)

illallu11 llol SM/E il-lallu (laugh out loud)

(26)

y? E12, ‘Why?’

(27)

ooo ic :P E, ‘Oh, I see!’

(28)

mhh ok ;/ E, ‘Mhm, ok’

In occurrences 20 and 21 one finds abbreviated forms of (qas) ‘not even’ and of the first person singular personal pronoun (jn). Both are used frequently in il-Malti mgħaġġel. Whereas the latter is a representation of a contracted form which is used collo10

11 12

SM, duda (literally, ‘worm’) is an appellative which is used in this context to convey a sense of affection. il-lallu is a variant of a taboo expression, normally used in order to express great surprise. E = Standard English.

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

77

quially, the second representation mirrors other forms which are often present in other languages wherein synthesis is achieved by omitting vowels.13 Example 22 represents an example of how despite the fact that some features of SM are retained by the writer (note the standard spelling in a number of the words used in this utterance, as well as the use of the għ in ghadni), in the case of ‘bat’ and ‘msg’ contracted forms are used. The form ‘bat’ features frequently in il-Malti mgħaġġel (both for the first, second and third masculine singular form of the perfect tense of the verb bagħat ‘send’), whereas msg is used commonly as an abbreviation of the word ‘message’. Example 23 starts with two greeting forms, aw and hi. Though the latter form is probably the typical Maltese greeting ‘ħi’ a contracted form of ħija ‘brother’, it could also be the English informal popular greeting form ‘hi’. Another typically colloquial feature present in utterance 23 is the use of the endearing locution ‘duda’ in order to close the sequence. In the same example the omission of the negative suffix ‘x’ in the unit ‘ma rajtu’ is probably due to a typing error. In occurrences 24–28, one notices how ‘international’ IRC abbreviations and emoticons (brb, lol, y, ic, :P, ;/) also feature regularly in il-Malti mgħaġġel. The vocabulary used in Maltese IRC is often characterised by code-switching (see examples 10, 14 and 17 above). Discourse markers and appellatives also feature regularly (e.g. ‘uxx’ in example 14, a request for feedback from the interlocutor; ‘ta’ in examples 15, 23 and 24, used in order to convey a sense of reassurance; ‘aw’ in example 23 used as a form of greeting). In other instances one may note the use of terms which are not used in SM (see utterance 27 below, where jiddiskoncentrak is coined by the user in order to represent synthetically a more complex SM form ‘qed itelliflek ilkonċentrazzjoni’, ‘he’s making you lose your concentration’) and of colloquial terms of frequent use (including obscenities, see utterance 29 below): (29)

qed jinsinwa li tlift mohhok fdal guvni jew. li qed jiddiskoncentrak lol SM, qed jinsinwa li tlift moħħok f’dal ġuvni? Li qed *jiddiskonċentrak? (laugh out loud) ‘Is he implying that you’ve lost your head for this guy? That he’s making you lose your concentration?’

(30)

jin dal odu lanqas ilhaqta is sok haq al madoff SM, jien dalgħodu lanqas ilħaqtha is-SOK, ħaqq għall-madoff! ‘This morning I did not even make it to the Systems of Knowledge (SOK) lesson, damn it!’

The term jiddiskoncentrak is an analogical formation, mirroring terms of English or Italian origin (e.g. SM, immissja ‘miss’ > jimmissjak ‘he misses you’; SM, salva ‘save’, 13

Some corresponding examples are documented for other languages: in Italian ‘dp’ is used for dopo ‘cmq’ for comunque (Crystal 2008: 215); in French ‘bjr’ is used for bonjour (Crystal 2008: 207), ‘vs’ for vous, ‘ac’ for avec (Anis 2007: 102); in Swedish ‘cs’ is used for ses (‘see you’) (Hård af Segerstad 2005: 326).

78

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

Italian, ‘salvare’ > isalvak ‘he saves you’). In example 30, besides the frequently used mildly vulgar form ħaqq għall-madoff, one may also note how the SM article ‘is-’ is assimilated to the initial segment of the English acronym SOK, which refers to Systems of Knowledge, a subject taught in Maltese Sixth Form classes. The features described above represent some of the main characteristics that one finds regularly in il-Malti mgħaġġel. Similarly to observations reported in studies cited in section 2.1, one may ask whether these features are confined to this variety or whether, in some way or another, they also affect the way Maltese is written in other contexts. In this respect it is also necessary to keep in mind that, historically, Maltese was more a spoken than a written language and that modern means of communication may have a key role in rendering written Maltese more widespread. However, as seen above, orthographic and grammatical rules pertaining to SM are often disregarded when using IRC. Is this affecting the way we write in Maltese today and is this variety also being utilised in more formal contexts? In order to obtain some indications in this regard we asked some future teachers whether, according to them, features of il-Malti mgħaġġel are encountered in Maltese students’ writing at school.

5. The study 5.1. Introduction In the light of the above considerations, and on the basis of the fact that il-Malti mgħaġġel features consistently in the repertoire of youths, we conducted a small-scale investigation on teachers’ perception of this variety. For this purpose 53 future language teachers, whose age ranged from 19 to 22 years old, were asked to participate in a study in which they were asked to evaluate whether five utterances of il-Malti mgħaġġel would be acceptable were they to be used in a writing task in class. These subjects were chosen because they also use IRC regularly and were also the providers of the documentation on which we based the taxonomy of some features of il-Malti mgħaġġel in section 4. Furthermore, as future teachers, they will eventually be in a position in which they will be required to evaluate their students’ writing and therefore decide whether certain utterances which may present traces of il-Malti mgħaġġel will be acceptable or not in the classroom context.

5.2. Subjects and settings As stated above this study involved 53 future language teachers, whose age ranged between 19–22 years, all frequenting Faculty of Education courses at the University of Malta. The L1 of 48 of these subjects is Maltese, 3 of them stated to have both English

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

79

and Maltese as their mother tongue, and only 2 subjects said that English was their L1. Among these subjects, 14 were specialising in teaching Maltese whereas the remaining 39 subjects were specialising in the teaching of other languages taught in Maltese schools, namely Italian, English and/or French. All the subjects had already had teaching experience in local schools (from a minimum of six to a maximum of twelve weeks) during Teaching Practice sessions, a core component of Faculty of Education courses.

5.3. Objectives The main objective of this small-scale study is to verify whether to-be language teachers in Malta consider utterances with features of il-Malti mgħaġġel as acceptable, partially acceptable or unacceptable if used in a Maltese writing task at school. Subjects were also required to give a brief explanation whenever they rated the utterances as partially acceptable or unacceptable.

5.4. The task Using a 3-point scale (acceptable/partially acceptable/unacceptable), subjects were asked to evaluate the five utterances below, all of which were taken from IRC exchanges by university students. Subjects were asked to rate their degree of acceptability in a written essay in Maltese at school: 1. ISSA VERU MORNA L-BAHAR, MAN 2. Qeghdin sew!!!! kemm qisu l karnival tan nadur ha jitlef is sabih tieghu! 3. jiena mux hazin hi adni kif waslt id dar ara qeda relax nara t tv 4. ax qed namel frame bil-seashells 5. Hekk baqa jonqos, isiru dawn l-affarijiet fuq il-post tax-xoghol! These utterances do not display all the characteristics of il-Malti mgħaġġel although they do include a number of features of the variety. One feature is present in all the utterances, namely, the total disregard of Maltese special characters (see footnote 7). Further information on the five utterances is provided below, together with their representation in Standard Maltese writing: Utterance 1: ISSA VERU MOR-NA L-BAHAR, now really gone-PF.1.PL the-sea SM, Issa veru morna l-baħar, man! (lit. Now we have really gone to the sea, man) ‘Now, we’ve really gone to the dogs, man!’

MAN man

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

80

This utterance, written entirely in capital letters (in IRC this is an indication of loud volume or of a highly emphatic utterance), is marked colloquially and ends with a discourse marker (‘man’) which is fairly common in informal Maltese speech.14 Utterance 2: Qeghd-in sew!!!! kemm qis-u l karnival stay-COP.1PL well how seem-3.SG.M the Carnival ta-n nadur ha j-itlef is sabih tiegh-u! of-the Nadur FUT 3.IMP.SG.M-lose the beauty of-3.SG.M SM, Qegħdin sew! Kemm qisu l-Karnival tan-Nadur ħa jitlef is-sabiħ tiegħu! ‘What a state we’re in! It seems that the Carnival of Nadur is going to lose its beauty!’ This utterance is mainly characterised by the omission of the hyphen between article and noun (l karnival; tan nadur; is sabih). This is a feature of Standard Maltese writing, as is also the case of capital letters for proper nouns Karnival and Nadur (placename). Omitting the hyphen would therefore be considered an error as far as standard writing is concerned. Utterance 3: jiena mux hazin hi ad-ni kif wasl-t I not bad ħi15 just-1.SG how arrive-PF.1SG id dar ara qed-a relax the home look-IMPV.2SG PROG-1SG.F relax n-ara t tv 1IMP.SG-watch the tv SM, Jiena mhux ħażin, ħi. Għadni kif wasalt id-dar, ara qiegħda relax, nara t-TV. ‘I’m not feeling bad, ħi. Look, I just got home, I am relaxing watching TV’ This utterance, characterised by the omission of the għ digraph, features the total omission of punctuation and the presence of discourse forms such as the appellative ħi and the verb ara ‘look’ (in this context this form is semantically a discourse marker), which create a sense of familiarity and immediacy. The intrasentential code-switch ‘relax’ is another feature worth observing. Utterance 4: ax qed n-amel frame because PROG 1IMP.SG-make frame SM/E, Għax qed nagħmel frame bis-seashells ‘Because I am making a frame with seashells’

14 15

b-il-seashells with-the-seashells

E.g. ‘Aw, man!’ or ‘Ċaw, man!’ (Hi, man!; Goodbye, man!) The Maltese appellative ħi is retained in the interlinear gloss and in the English translation of this utterance. This term (originally an abbreviation of ħija ‘brother’) is normally used to address friends or relatives and is considered highly informal.

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

81

This utterance features the alternate use of two codes, Maltese and English. Furthermore, there is the omission of the Maltese għ as well as the rather unusual lack of phonetic assimilation between article and noun (bil-seashells, rather than bis-seashells). Utterance 5: Hekk baqa j-onqos, i-sir-u dawn that leave-PF.3SG.M IMP.3SG.M-lack IMP.3-lack-PL these l-affarijiet fuq il-post ta-x-xoghol! the-things on the-place of-the-work SM, Hekk baqa’ jonqos,[li] isiru dawn l-affarijiet fuq il-post tax-xogħol! ‘That’s all we need, that these things happen at the work-place!’ Utterance 5 is undoubtedly the one with more features of Standard Maltese when compared to the other utterances illustrated above. One may note, however, that this utterance presents a colloquial syntactic structure, marked by the initial phrase (Hekk baqa’ jonqos) and the omission of the Standard Maltese complementizer li ‘that’ between the two verb phrases. The apostrophe (in baqa’) and the special features of the Maltese alphabet are omitted (although the għ is used, albeit without the barred h).

6. Results The subjects were first asked to indicate which language or languages they used in their EMC. Results are represented in Figure 1: 80

71,7

66

64,2

70

Maltese

60 50

Maltese and English

40

24,5

30 20

22,6

24,5

11,3 3,8

10

English

9,4

0 blog

chat

email

Figure 1: Languages used in EMC in Malta Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the subjects involved are Maltese L1 speakers (48 subjects out of 53), a large number of them use both Maltese and English in EMC. Another interesting consideration arises from the fact that, whereas English is used more frequently than Maltese when one writes in blogs or when one writes emails, the tendency is reversed in computer chat. This indicates that the chat variety is per-

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

82

ceived to be more conducive to the use of one’s L1, probably because of its high degree of informality, whereas English is considered to be more appropriate than Maltese in emails and in blogs since these two media are slightly less informal than chat. The subjects of this study were required to evaluate the five utterances with features of il-Malti mgħaġġel in order to rate their acceptability in a written task carried out at school. In Figure 2 we provide descriptive data regarding the response given for each utterance: 90

84,9 77

80 70 60 49,1

50 40

49,1

47,2

39,6

37,7

34

30 20

17

18,9 11,3

10

5,7

9,4 5,7

Utterance 3

Utteran ce 4

13,2

0 Utterance 1

Utteran ce 2

acceptable

partially acceptable

Utterance 5

unacceptable

Figure 2: The evaluation of the 5 utterances Results clearly indicate that the two utterances which are deemed to be as clearly unacceptable are utterance 3 and 4, namely the two utterances which include instances of intra-sentential code-switching between Maltese and English. As expected, Utterance 5, in which there are a number of features which are included in SM, was considered to be acceptable by almost half of the subjects and partially acceptable by 37.7% of them. Utterance 1 and 2 are rated as partially acceptable by a fair share of the subjects, although Utterance 1 is deemed to be less acceptable than Utterance 2. This response was also cross-tabulated in order to verify whether differences were registered between subjects who are studying in order to become teachers of Maltese and subjects who are studying to become teachers of other languages. This variable was deemed worth investigating as normally teachers of the mother tongue are less likely to consider utterances that distance themselves from the standard form to be acceptable. However, results proved not to be statistically significant for four utterances out of five, the only exception being utterance 2 as illustrated in Figure 3:

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations 70

83

64.3

60 51.3 50 40

future teachers of Maltese

35.7

30

25.6

23.1

20 10

0

future teachers of other languages

0 Acceptable

Partially acceptable

Unacceptable

χ²= 9.27; df = 2; p = 0.01

Figure 3: Evaluation of teachers of Maltese vs. teachers of other languages for Utterance 2: Qeghdin sew!!!! kemm qisu l karnival tan nadur ha jitlef is sabih tieghu! A significantly higher number of to-be teachers of Maltese deemed Utterance 2 to be partially acceptable or totally unacceptable when compared to to-be teachers of other languages, who thought it was acceptable. Subjects were also asked whether they think that the way Maltese is written in IRC influences writing skills. A very large number of prospective teachers, namely 51 out of the 53 subjects, stated that this is indeed the case. When asked to give a brief explanation for their answer almost all these subjects stated that they have very often encountered cases, during their Teaching Practice sessions, of students who use informal varieties even within formal contexts. Two of these comments, reproduced below, are representative of the views of a number of subjects: …. their writing skills are going to be affected adversely thereafter and they will end up reproducing unconsciously what they are seeing all the time. Thus they take the habit16 of writing with a lot of spelling mistakes causing them to write similarly when writing formally. Other to-be teachers commented on the fact that in il-Malti mgħaġġel there is total disregard for special features of Maltese characters, that the għ is frequently omitted, that words are spelt on the basis of their pronunciation, that syntax is highly fragmented and that punctuation is frequently conspicuous by its absence. Two of these comments are represented below: 16

A syntactic calque of the Maltese form ‘jieħdu l-vizzju’ lit. ‘they take the habit’.

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

84

I think that the level of written Maltese is very low compared to when I was at school. Students are not even bothered to make dots on the ‘ġ’ and ‘ċ’ and leave the ‘ħ’ like ‘h’. The way they’re writing Maltese is atrocious. Not only do they spell it incorrectly but they also use English words and translate it phonetically to Maltese, ex: kjuwt! Even their English is being influenced as I’m sick of correcting ‘coz’ instead of ‘because’ and ‘dat’ instead of ‘that’! In some cases these future teachers referred to the importance of making students aware of the differences between formal and informal writing and highlighted the importance of making students aware of the appropriateness of the variety used according to the context in which it is inserted: On the other hand, I find that when typing you automatically switch to self made grammar rules, while when writing for formal purposes, it is not that difficult to put such habits aside. However if one pays more attention to what he is writing or checking it before handing it in, will help a lot. Overall, most of these future teachers viewed EMC, and its effects on the Maltese language, as a challenge to face rather than a problem to solve. One to-be teacher of Maltese even commented that lessons should be dedicated specifically to illustrating the differences between this variety and SM in order to explain explicitly which variety is adequate within formal and informal contexts.

7. Discussion and conclusion Without a shadow of doubt, il-Malti mgħaġġel represents an extremely versatile and innovative variety which merits further investigation especially from a longitudinal point of view, as already suggested by Drouin & Davis (2009) with reference to other languages. In this sense we agree with Tagliamonte & Denis (2008: 6) that chatting, rather than impoverishing language may be a “bellwether” in the evolution of a language. It is also a clear sign of the vitality and significance of a language at a communicative level. The features of the variety outlined in this paper show that one way in which il-Malti mgħaġġel distinguishes itself from SM is the fact that often words are spelt according to their pronunciation, thereby ignoring characters of SM spelling which are the result of diachronic processes related to the etymology of the language. Furthermore, articles as well as future and negation markers, which are kept apart from nouns and verbs in SM, are often integrated with them forming one unit. Other features include emoticons, unconventional punctuation and the use of colloquially marked syntactic structures. As

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

85

shown repeatedly in this paper, EMC in Maltese is heavily characterised by a form of neography, which in some respects may be compared to Anis’s (2007) considerations regarding French. Colloquial forms are an integral part of il-Malti mgħaġġel and, among other features; special Maltese orthographic characters are disregarded. Furthermore, whereas in English words that seem to be modified most frequently in texting are short, common words (as stated by Drouin & Davies 2009: 64), this may be different for a language like Maltese where standard orthography also relies on spelling patterns generated by the language’s typically Arabic introflexive morphology. It therefore cannot be excluded that, as expressed by the future teachers interviewed in this study, features of Maltese EMC are transferred to classroom tasks, even when students are expected to adhere to SM in formal writing. In this respect one may also note certain similarities between ‘low’ Maltese written varieties (e.g. Maltese written by the elderly who received no formal instruction in the language or by individuals who did not complete higher levels of education) and il-Malti mgħaġġel. Certainly, at this stage it is not possible to conclude that individuals who spell ‘deviantly’ or who use unconventional forms in IRC or while texting are actually aware of the way such terms are represented in SM. Neither can one state that il-Malti mgħaġġel may not be affecting SM spelling, as Plester et al. (2008) found when they concluded that English literacy does not seem to be affected significantly by texting. As stated in section 2.1, literature in the field quoted in this study does refer to the fact that there is a ‘worry’ that the way we write formally is suffering as a consequence of EMC and texting. This alarm is clearly reflected in the views of subjects who participated in this study, despite the fact that further investigation is required in order to provide empirical evidence which will indicate whether these concerns are justified. As Baron (2008) and Crystal (2001) state, the way we write when we chat or when we send text messages is a reflection of the society we live in and it is thereby a consequence of the fact that when we write for immediate communicative purposes there is rarely time to reflect on whether standardised forms are being used, whether grammatical conventions are being observed or indeed if we are deviating from what is considered to be ‘correct’ orthographically. The future teachers involved in this study are quite aware of the challenges that EMC poses to language teachers. In some of their comments, they showed awareness of the fact that language varieties, including EMC, are to be considered appropriate or inappropriate according to the circumstances and the context in which they are used. Furthermore, even in language teaching, the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching and of a Task-Based Approach to Second and Foreign language teaching has given more prominence to oral and aural communication in the classroom. Whereas previous methodology placed heavy emphasis on form and on accuracy, these approaches to the teaching of language place emphasis on the communicative purpose of language, leading to a redefinition of linguistic competence, which, in this day and age must also take into consideration language varieties used via modern technology.

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

86

Abbreviations COP F FUT IMPV M PF

copula feminine future imperative masculine perfect

PL PROG IMP SG

SM SM/E

plural progressive imperfect singular Standard Maltese Standard Maltese and English

References Agius, Alexia (2005): What goes on inside chatrooms: a language analysis. Unpublished B.Ed (Hons) dissertation, University of Malta. Androutsopoulos, Jannis (2006): Introduction: sociolinguistics and computer-mediated communication, in: Journal of Sociolinguistics 10(4), 419–438. Anis, Jacques (2007): Neography: unconventional spelling in French SMS text messages, in: Danet, Brenda & Herring, Susan C. (eds.), The multilingual Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 87–115. Baron, Naomi. S. (1984): Computer-mediated communication as a force in language change, in: Language, 18(2), 118–141. Baron, Naomi S. (2004): See you online: gender issues in College student use of instant messaging, in: Journal of Language and Social Psychology 23, 397–423 Baron, Naomi S. (2008): Always on. Language in an online and mobile world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baron, Naomi S. (2009): The myth of impoverished signal: dispelling the spoken language fallacy for emoticons in online communication, in: Vincent, Jane & Fortunati, Leopoldina (eds.), Electronic emotion: the mediation of emotion via information and communication technologies. London: Peter Lang, 107–136. Baron, Naomi S. & Ling, Rich (2007): Text messaging and IM: linguistic comparison of American College, in: Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26, 291–298. Biber, Douglas (1991): Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Biber, Douglas (2006): University language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Biber, Douglas (2009): Are there linguistic consequences of literacy? Comparing the potentials of language use in speech and writing, in: Olson, David R. & Torrance, Nancy (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 75–91. Collot, Milena & Belmore, Nancy (1996): Electronic language: a new variety of English, in: Herring, Susan C. (ed.), Computer-mediated communication. Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 14–28. Crystal, David (2001): Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Danet, Brenda; Ruedenberg-Wright, Lucia & Rosenbaum-Tamari, Yehudit (1997): “Hmmm...where’s that smoke coming from?” Writing, play and performance on Internet relay chat, in: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 2(4), Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/ danet.html. Accessed 19/04/2010.

Il-Malti Mgħaġġel: Maltese in computer-mediated chat conversations

87

Danet, Brenda (2010): Computer-mediated English, in: Maybin, Janet & Swann, Joan (eds.), The Routledge companion to English language studies. London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 146–156. Drouin, Michelle & Davies, Claire (2009): R U txting? Is the use of text speak hurting your literacy? , in: Journal of Literacy Research 41, 46–67. Ferrara, Kathleen; Brunner, Hans & Whittemore, Greg (1991): Interactive written discourse as an emergent register, in: Written Communication 8, 8–34. Gnanadesikan, Amalia. E. (2009): The writing revolution: cuneiform to the Internet. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell Publications. Halliday, Michael. A.K. (1978): Language as social semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. Baltimore: University Park Press. Herring, Susan C. (2001): Computer mediated discourse, in: Schiffrin, Deborah; Tannen, Deborah & Hamilton, Heidi E. (eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis. Oxford: Blackwell Publications 612–634. Herring, Susan C. (2005): Computer-mediated communication on the Internet, in: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 36(1), 109–168. Hård af Segerstad, Ylva (2002): Use and adaptation of written language to the conditions of computermediated communication. Ph.D dissertation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Hård af Segerstad, Ylva (2005): Language use in Swedish mobile text messaging, in: Ling, Rich & Pedersen Per E. (eds.), Mobile communications re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer-Verlag, 313–333. Kress, Gunther (2003): Literacy in the new media age. New York: Columbia University. Press. Ling, Rich (2005): The sociolinguistics of SMS: an analysis of SMS use by a random sample of Norwegians, in: Ling, Rich & Pedersen Per E. (eds.), Mobile communications re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer-Verlag, 335–349. Palfreyman, David & Al Khalil, Muhamed (2007): “A funky language for teenz touse”: Representing Gulf Arabic in instant messaging, in: Danet, Brenda & Herring, Susan C. (eds.), The multilingual Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 43–63. Paolillo, John C. (2001): Language variation on Internet relay chat: a social network approach, in: Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(2), 180–213. Plester, Beverly; Wood, Clare & Bell, Victoria (2008): Txt msg n school literacy: Does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children’s literacy attainment?, in: Literacy 42, 137–144. Plester, Beverly; Wood, Clare & Joshi, Puja (2009): Exploring the relationship between children’s knowledge of text message abbreviations and school literacy outcomes, in: British Journal of Developmental Psychology 27(1), 145–161. Ramirez, Artemio & Broneck, Kathy (2009): ‘Im me’: Instant messaging as relational maintenance and everyday communication, in: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 26(2/3), 291–314. Rosen, Larry D.; Chang, Jennifer; Erwin, Lynne; Carrier, L. Mark & Cheever, Nancy A. (2010): The relationship between “textisms” and formal and informal writing among young adults, in: Communication Research 37(3), 420–440. Siebenhaar, Beat (2006): Code choice and code-switching in Swiss-German Internet relay chat rooms, in: Journal of Sociolinguistics , 10(4), 481–506. Su, His-Yao (2007): The multilingual and multiorthographic Taiwan-based Internet: creative uses of writing systems on college-affiliated BBSs, in: Danet, Brenda & Herring, Susan C. (eds), The multilingual Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 64–86. Tagliamonte, Sali A. & Denis, Derek (2008): Linguistic ruin? LOL! Instant messaging and teen language, in: American Speech, 83(1), 3–34.

88

Lara Brincat & Sandro Caruana

Tannen, Deborah (ed.) (1982): Spoken and written language: exploring orality and literacy. Norowood, N.J: Ablex Publishers. Thurlow, Crispin (2002): Generation Txt? The sociolinguistics of young people’s text-messaging, in: Discourse analysis online, 1.1. Retrieved from http://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/v1/n1/a3/thurlow2002003-01.html. Accessed 19/04/2010. Warschauer Mark; El Said, Ghada R. & Ayman, Zohry (2007): Language choice online: globalization and identity in Egypt, in: Danet, Brenda & Herring, Susan C. (eds.), The multilingual Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 303–318. Werry, Christopher (1996): Linguistic and interactional features of Internet relay chat, in: Herring, Susan C. (ed.), Computer-mediated communication: linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 47–63.

RAY FABRI (MALTA)

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

Abstract This article is based on the idea that the language variety of young speakers can be taken as an indicator of potential change and developments in the language. After a discussion of the phenomenon of language change and of the role of young people in language development, I briefly examine specific features of the language variety of young Maltese speakers and speculate about them as potential trends in the development of the Maltese language. The changes involve and have repercussions on various levels of grammar, namely, phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Finally, it is suggested that there should be an on-going programme that regularly monitors developments in the language. Taqsira Dan l-artiklu huwa bbażat fuq l-idea li l-varjetà tal-lingwa taż-żgħażagħ tista‘ titqies bħala indikatur ta‘ bidliet u żviluppi fil-lingwa. Wara diskussjoni dwar il-fenomenu tat-tibdil fil-lingwa, u r-rwol tażżgħażagħ fl-iżvilupp tal-lingwa, neżamina fil-qosor karatteritiċi spezifiċi tal-lingwaġġ taż-żgħażagħ u neżaminhom bħala xejriet ta‘ żviluppi li huma possibbli fil-Malti. It-tibdiliet jinvolvu u għandhom riperkussjonijiet fuq livelli differenti tal-grammatika, jiġifieri fuq il-fonetika u l-fonoloġija, is-sintassi, is-semantika u l-pragmatika. Fl-aħħar nissuġġerixxi li għandu jkun hemm programm ta‘ moniteraġġ regolari ta‘ żviluppi ġodda fil-lingwa.

1. Introduction This paper explores a relatively new area of research in the study of the Maltese language: synchronic language change. It sets the theoretical and methodological basis for a study of language change in the making. Specifically, it involves the analysis of the language of ‗young people‘ (to be qualified below) in order to identify potential or actual indicators of changes occurring in Maltese. The idea is to find traces of the future in the present, that is, to identify specific features in the language of young people and explore their potential as innovations. Methodologically, it can be seen as ‗diachrony in reverse‘, i.e., looking at language development over time forwards instead of backwards. This approach, therefore, will allow us to peek into the future. As such, as well

Ray Fabri

90

as being theoretically relevant to the study of language change, this work also has implications for language policy, which will be discussed in more detail below. There are a significant number of local ‗language purists‘ who are very keen on either ‗preserving‘ the language in its current state (more precisely, what they think should be its current state), or take it back to its ‗purer‘ form. I, therefore, feel obliged to add a warning since the contents of this paper are not at all suitable for ‗purism fanatics‘. ‗Purists‘ tend to become queasy about language change, and they, especially when they detect it in the language of the young, they see it as a process of degeneration. Indeed, the focus of this paper is on what some often consider to be ‗degenerate‘ forms of the language because they represent innovations often based on non-Semitic loans and processes.

2. Language change According to Aitchison (1991: 6–7), there are three possible ways of looking at language development over time, namely, (1) as decay, implying change to a ‗degenerate‘, less efficient state (2) as progress, or evolution to a more ‗efficient‘ state, or (3) as static, i.e., ―a language remains in a substantially similar state from the point of view of progress or decay‖, i.e. change leads neither to progress nor decay. The approach adopted here is the third, namely, that change is neither progress nor regress. No such thing as a degenerate linguistic form exists: what we are dealing with is not degeneration but variation resulting from linguistic change. Language degeneration is often associated with concepts that are expressed by terms such as language drift or shift, language replacement or displacement, and, more dramatically, language death or demise. (See Grinevald Craig 1998, and Brenziger 1998, among others.) Other terms are language loss, language maintenance and language loyalty (Crystal 2000: 17, fn. 31). Language death can encompass a range of possibilities and states: it can refer to the straightforward fact that the last speaker of a language dies, so that the language is buried with the last speaker and lost forever; it is also used to refer to languages like Latin and Sanskrit, i.e., a language that still exists in a written form or for ritualistic reasons but is not used anymore by any community as a communicative spoken language. According to Pollock (2001), for example, creativity in Sanskrit is very restricted since it is found only in religious hymns and verses. Moreover, he claims that: Sanskrit as a communicative medium in contemporary India is completely denaturalized. Its cultivation constitutes largely an exercise in nostalgia for those directly involved, and, for outsiders, a source of bemusement (…) Government feeding tubes and oxygen tanks may try to preserve the language in a state of quasi-animation, but most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead. (Pollock 2001: 393)

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

91

In a certain sense, a ‗dead‘ language can, of course, still live on, albeit in modified form, in ‗daughter‘ languages. Thus, for example, Latin can be said to ‗live on‘ in languages like Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, among others. Crystal (2000: 1) defines language death simply as follows: ―a language dies when nobody speaks it anymore.‖ In this sense, Maltese is certainly not dead; the question is whether it is sick or endangered. How safe is Maltese in terms of survival? Following Kincade (1991), Crystal (2000) distinguishes between five states in which languages can exist, namely, viable, viable but small, endangered and nearly extinct. To take two of these: ―small languages (…) have more than c. 1,000 speakers, and are spoken in communities that are isolated or with a strong internal organization, and aware of the way their language is a marker of identity‖ (Crystal 2000: 20); in contrast, ―endangered languages (…) are spoken by enough people to make survival a possibility, but only in favourable circumstances and with a growth in community support‖ (Crystal 2000: 20). It is clear that Maltese tends more towards the viable type than towards the endangered type. In considering language change and death, one needs to distinguish between different possible scenarios. Thus, for example, one scenario is that a culturally dominant language takes over and completely replaces another language. Another scenario is that, for various reasons, including pressure through contact from outside and systematic changes from inside, a language goes through changes that might radically alter its character, even to the point of making it unrecognisable as the same language to future generations. Within the Maltese context, one hypothetical situation is that Maltese dies an ‗unnatural death‘ by being replaced completely, say, by Maltese English. This seems highly unlikely at present. According to 2005 National Census, in answer to the questions ‗Which language do you speak most at home?‘ asked to people over 10 years of age, 90.5% (326,703) say they speak Maltese, while only 5.97% (21,636) claim they speak English. Moreover, according to Sciriha & Vassallo (2003: 11), ―the rise of Maltese has led to a concomitant decline of English language use. The overwhelming majority (...) transmit Maltese to their offspring‖. In Sciriha & Vassallo (2001: 59), the authors claim that ―Malta can boast of being an island nation-state that has a unique language, spoken by practically everybody as a ‗native language‘, and understood as such‖. These facts can be taken as an indication that Maltese is not currently in danger of being replaced by Maltese English in the near future. It is a fact, however, that great pressure is exerted on Maltese because of the extent speakers tend to code-switch (see, e.g., Camilleri 1995) between Maltese and MalteseEnglish. Moreover, literate Maltese people are more intensively exposed to written English than to written Maltese, especially in schools. The number of books in particular in Maltese, also for children, has been growing, but the market for Maltese books remains much smaller than that for English books, and Maltese can never compete with English in terms of quantity. Rather than leading to replacement and extinction, these two factors, namely, code-switching and intense exposure to written English, provide a source of change through borrowing.

92

Ray Fabri

What is, therefore, more likely to happen, indeed is already happening, is that Maltese will transform itself in two main ways: by borrowing and incorporating new lexical items (together with their grammatical properties), mainly from English, and also using its current stock to build new forms. This is ‗natural‘ language change. In the case of borrowing, the worry for some people seems to be that extensive borrowing will lead to a situation in which the language is not ‗recognisable‘ anymore as being the same language. This is, of course, a pseudo-problem and reflects a very narrow, unrealistic and rigid view of language. It is a fact that languages change over time. Thus, the Maltese used by the lawyer-poet Pietru Caxaru in his short medieval poem is very different, in many ways, from present-day Maltese (see Wettinger & Fsadni 1983, among others), just as the English of Chaucer is different from contemporary English. Language change cannot be stopped; but should, and indeed can it, be ‗kept under control‘? And who decides what is allowed and what is not allowed? The obvious answer is that it is the speakers themselves who decide. Bodies like the National Council for the Maltese Language (Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti) can help by studying, suggesting and encouraging the use of terminology in Maltese, e.g. computer terminology, basing its judgements/conclusions on research showing what speakers and users actually use. No authority, however, can legislate language change. To conclude, statistics indicate that Maltese is still very much the language of the large majority of people living in Malta, as well, one must add, as a few communities abroad. Moreover, Maltese has a flourishing literary, cultural and media scene, as well as an authority that is responsible for language policy, the National Council for the Maltese Language. Moreover, the passion with which such language matters are discussed in public is proof of the fact that the Maltese people do indeed care a great deal about their language. All of this strongly suggests that Maltese is indeed a robust language that is not, in any way, to be classified as a threatened language. This is also the conclusion that Camilleri & Borg (1992) came to after examining the state of the language at that point, and it is still a valid point. One can conclude that Maltese is by no means a dying or endangered language, and, that, therefore, there is no fear of language shift leading to immediate replacement and death. Indeed, if, at this stage, we encourage the use of the language in all its richness and also accept innovation, Maltese will grow and develop like any other healthy language. A healthy language policy based on encouraging and diffusing existing forms while, at the same time, allowing the natural integration of loan forms, which is the attitude adopted by the National Council for the Maltese Language, should guarantee the continuation of the Maltese language as the native language of the Maltese people. I would like to end this preamble on language change with an important aside. The most important dilemma that the linguist cum involved native speaker (especially of a ‗small‘ language) has to face is that of achieving a balance between a descriptive and a prescriptive approach to language change and variation in the context of language policy setting. For the theoretical linguist who also plays the role of the practical policy maker, it

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

93

is indeed not easy in everyday life to find a balance between a descriptive, objective approach, on the one hand, and a normative, guiding attitude, on the other hand. To take an example from my own personal experience, I, too, am irritated when I hear a football commentator who, during a football match on TV, keeps saying qed jiċċejsja l-ballun ‗he is chasing the ball‘, using the English verb chase instead of a corresponding form qed jiġri wara l-ballun, with the Maltese expression for chase jiġri wara (lit. ‗run after‘). Objectively, the verb form jiċċejsja follows the morpho-syntax of Maltese, and a number of words have been introduced in the language in this way. However, one also questions the speaker‘s reasons for using adapting a ‗new‘ expression in this context instead of using already existing ones. Some reasons may be:      

the speaker speaks Maltese regularly but watches, listens to or reads sports commentaries in English, and, in the context of football, accesses the first lexical item that comes to mind; and the English word happens to be more accessible; the speaker comes from an Maltese-English speaking background that strongly influences his/her Maltese usage; the speaker wants to ‗show off‘, possibly unconsciously, that s/he, in fact, is familiar with English terminology; the speaker feels that using one word jiċċejsja instead of two jiġri wara is more economical and faster in a context in which fast talk is necessary; the speaker could not care less about her/his use of Maltese or English and utters whatever happens to come to mind first; no term exists in Maltese and the speaker must resort to borrowing terms from another source; this is, of course, not the case in the example cited.

I will not pass judgment on any of these reasons; however, it should be clear that, depending on the interpretation chosen by a listener, this kind of utterance will produce different reactions, ranging from derision and disgust to indifference and acceptance. This, itself, i.e. the listener‘s attitude and reaction, certainly plays a role as one factor determining to what extent a ‗new‘ form is accepted by the speech community, and absorbed into the language system, or rejected and, therefore, has no long term effect.

3. Background 3.1. Empirical background In order to be as exhaustive as possible, a study of current change should include incursions into a number of areas of study, in particular, diachronic linguistics, sociolinguistics, language policy, as well as have both an empirical and a theoretical base. The empirical data that serves as a basis for this paper was gathered from a number of sources. The main source is a B.A. thesis specifically studying the language of young

Ray Fabri

94

Maltese people submitted to the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta (Barbara & Scicluna 2002). Other sources are the Internet, recorded interviews, and native speaker informants, both friends and colleagues.1 Although the variation is based on empirical observation, any predictions of potential changes remain essentially speculative, in particular since we are dealing with states and processes that involve a complex interaction of factors.

3.2. Theoretical background Theoretically, several works served as inspiration, including, in particular, Labov (1994, 2001), Blevins (2004), Cheshire (2005), and Holmes (2008). Language change affects all the ‗main‘ areas of language, namely, phonology/phonetics, morphology, lexis, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. According to Aitchison (1991: 32) ―Until relatively recently, the majority of linguists were convinced that language change was unobservable‖. She quotes Bloomfield (1933: 347) as an example: ―the process of linguistic change has never been directly observed (…) such observation, with our present facilities, is inconceivable.‖ In contrast, Aitchison (1991: 37) claims that in ―the past 20 years, linguists have realised that language change is observable, provided one knows where to look.‖ Pioneering work in this field of research was carried out by William Labov, from the University of Pennsylvania, who carried out in-depth studies of fuzziness and variation in language. Citing Labov (1994, 2001), Blevins (2004: 30–31) states that: every living language that has been studied involves variation within and across speakers. This variation may be random or predictable; it may be related to rate of speech or not; and it may be related to any number of social variables, including age, gender, socio-economic status, adolescent peer groups, or a multitude of other quantifiable factors. Labov‘s insight was that fuzziness and variation in language often indicate change in progress or, at least, potential change in progress. Moreover, fuzziness and variation can be observed, quantified and, therefore, objectively investigated. Labov‘s work set the groundwork for the objective study of language change, so that ―we are now in a position to observe changes happening with far greater accuracy than before. We can see how they spread and (...) trace them to their point of origin‖ (Aitchison 1991: 49).

1

I particularly wish to thank Maris Camilleri, Adrian Grima, Manwel Mifsud, Michael Spagnol and Olvin Vella for their suggestions.

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

95

4. The nature of language variation and change Since change appears to be a ‗natural‘ process, obvious basic questions are: What are the reasons for change? Why do languages change so much over time that they are almost unrecognisable? Can language change be controlled? Can it be stopped or even accelerated through policy? The source of change can be of two kinds: internal (evolutionary) and external (borrowing through contact). According to Labov (2007: 347), ―the normal type of internal language change, termed ‗change from below‘ or change from within the system‘ happens ‗when (...) replication is imperfect‖. In contrast, ‗change from above‘ is ‗the importation of elements from other systems‘ (see also Labov 1966). Moreover: internal changes are generated by the process of incrementation, in which successive cohorts and generations of children advance the change beyond the level of their caretakers and role models, and in the same direction over many generations. (Labov 2007: 347) It appears that change often starts off as a misinterpretation or misanalysis of the input by first language learners. According to Blevins (2004: 31): No two children will experience the exact same linguistic input in their early years of life, and no two children (…) acquire language in precisely the same way. The world is a very noisy place, and it is in the context of this noise that language is transmitted. Given all these factors, language change appears to be the rule, not the exception. These ‗mistakes‘ can then be passed on within the speech community and spread out, eventually affecting the speech system as a whole: There is good reason to believe (...) that, at the level of the individual, sound changes (...) can slip into a child‘s grammar almost unnoticed, providing the seeds for one source of phonetically based sound change within the wider speech community. (Blevins 2004: 35) For example, if ‗the signal is inherently ambiguous‘ reanalyses might take place, involving processes such as ‗regular metathesis and regular dissimilations‘ (Blevins 2004: 35, 31). Given the potential for misinterpretation in acquisition, in principle, every individual‘s grammar is essentially unique and different from any other‘s. Blevins (2004: 41) again: Given that the set of utterances which any child hears in the course of language acquisition will be different from that of the next child (...), every individual‘s grammar will be different at the level of phonetic implementation.

Ray Fabri

96

As an example of misanalysis in acquisition leading to phonological variation and change, Blevins (2004: 32, 35) discusses the following hypothetical example. Imagine that a speaker utters [a] instead of /a/ (a laryngealisation effect). Since glottal stops are ―often redundant properties of laryngealized vowels‖, the listener might assume phonetic redundancy, therefore, hearing [a] but assuming, say, /a/. Indeed, for various reasons, the listener could assume any one of /a/, /a/, /a/, /a/ as plausible interpretations. If either /a/, /a/, or /a/ is chosen, a potential sound change has occurred. Blevins (2004) terms this kind of change CHANCE, in which case ―pre-existing sound patterns within the ambient language being acquired may produce priming effects which increase the probability of sound change‖. Two other types of sound change, apart from CHANCE, are CHANGE and CHOICE (see Blevins 2004: 32ff. for a detailed discussion).

5. Factors affecting language change Another factor contributing to language change is language expressivity, especially in young people. Expressivity is the need for young people to find striking, and, therefore, stylistically marked ways of expressing their emotions, desires, and so on. This gives rise to creativity in language use: new expressions and new combinations are created, some of which might eventually become grammaticalised or lexicalised and then diffuse into the speech community. This is a case of change through innovation and grammaticalisation.2 The following sketches in simple terms the processes and sources of language change. expressivity

children

young people

acquisition

contact

grammaticalisation & diffusion

Young people tend to create and make use of innovative expressions and combinations in their desire to express themselves as intensely as possible. One could also speculate that they tend to be more adventurous with the use of loan expressions and forms. Some of these expressions fall prey to fashion and just become a passing fad, but others survive and spread. For thi reason, ‗young people‘ can be considered one potential source of language change. 2

See Lehmann (1991), Stolz (1990) and Wurzel (1994) on grammaticalisation and language change; Keller (1990) for a theory of change through the ‗invisible hand‘ (die unsichtbare Hand), and Zimmermann (2003) on youth and language change, among others.

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

97

6. The concept of age But what does ‗young people‘ mean? More generally, what role does age play in language change? What is ‗age‘? What age/s is/are relevant to the study? Different notions of age can be distinguished. Cheshire (2005: 1) distinguishes between different types of age, namely, chronological age, biological age, and social age. Also, ―age may be a more meaningful social category in some cultures than in others‖ (Cheshire 2005: 1) since cultural factors might determine evaluations and attitudes towards age. There are at least two approaches to age in language use (Cheshire 2005:1). One can look at age-specific language use, i.e., focus on ―the changing language used during the lifespan of an individual‖; or one can focus on generation-specific language use, i.e., look at the language of different cohorts of individuals living within a speech community. An example of the latter kind of research is the study by Cheshire & Fox (2007), which the authors claim was the first large-scale sociolinguistic study of London English. The study investigates ―earlier claims that many widespread current changes in British English originate in London, and that an adolescent multicultural vernacular English in London has an effect on language change‖ (Cheshire & Fox 2007). Typically, when comparing people from different age groups, ―a steady increase or steady decline in the frequency of a form by age group suggests (...) that change may be in progress in the speech community whereas a bell-shaped pattern is more typical of stable variation‖ (Holmes 2008: 216). Moreover, one must keep in mind that not every variant is necessarily a potential change. According to (Holmes 2008: 216), ―A great deal of linguistic variation is stable but some is an indication of linguistic change in progress.‖ Certain forms, such as sectorial language or jargon, are stable in the sense that they are used typically by a group to define the group, but are abandoned when young people turn to an adult life, and, for example, have a stable job and a family of their own. One also needs to take into consideration age-grading, i.e., a ―change of behaviour with age that repeats itself in each generation (...) characterising the language considered appropriate to and typical of different stages in the life span‖ (Cheshire 2005: 3). According to Romaine (1994: 143): While some patterns of ―age-grading‖ (i.e. variation in relation to age) may reflect a passing fad (...) or simply be repeated anew every generation, other cases may represent change in progress. This can (...) be determined by comparing the usage of speech communities at two points in time. Not all variants and new creations in a speech community are necessarily candidates for grammaticalisation and lexicalisation leading to future change. All in all, however, ―empirical evidence (...) suggests that young people‘s language is a promising field of research on grammaticalization in progress‖ (Androutsopoulos 2000).

Ray Fabri

98

The following sections examine specific observed ‗non-standard‘ uses in Maltese at different levels, focussing on the language used by young Maltese speakers, and treating them as potential indicators of the ways in which Maltese might change.

7. The data For the purposes of this study, the age range is +/–10years of age to +/–20 years, and therefore includes both ‗children‘ and ‗youths‘. The choice is based on the hypotheses formed on the basis of the discussions in the previous sections that (a) any variations and innovations acquired in the acquisition process will manifest themselves in this age group, and, moreover, (b) that it is an age in which expressivity is very pronounced. The data for this short study come from various sources, namely, spoken, written, controlled, spontaneous, reported and interviews. In the following, I discuss a number of examples of potential and hypothetical features of change in Maltese.

7.1. Phonetics/phonology The glottal stop // ( in writing) in Maltese has phoneme status, unlike, e.g., the glottal in German which often functions as a filler before a word-initial vowel in the spoken variety. The following are minimal pairs in Maltese in which // contrasts with /s, r/ and /f /, respectively: (1a) (1b) (1c)

[  l: i:] ‗he told me‘ [w   ] ‗he fell‘ [s u: ] ‗drive/market

– – –

[s  l: i:] ‗pray‘ [w  r ] ‗behind‘ [s u: f] ‗wool/hair‘

One interesting feature that has often been observed with regard to the glottal stop in Maltese is its omission in places in which it is expected to occur, as well as its insertion in positions in which it is not usually found. The following are typical examples of the absence of the glottal stop: (2a)

dak alli

instead of

(2b)

taf x‘alli

instead of

dak qal-li that(M.SG) told(3M.SG)-1SG.IO ‗he told me‘ t-af x‘qal-li 2SG-know what said(3M.SG)-1SG.IO ‗do you know what he told me‘

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

(2c)

aħba

instead of

(2d)

il-aħba

instead of

99

qaħba ‗whore‘ il-qaħba ‗the whore‘

Note that (2d) is anomalous also because normally the article with a vowel-initial noun is ‗l‘ not ‗il‘ (e.g. l-ikla ‗the meal‘). In contrast to the above, the following examples show the ‗insertion‘ of an ‗extra‘ glottal stop: (3)

qaħbarijiet

instead of

aħbarijiet ‗news‘

A question that needs to be investigated is whether the glottal is deleted only in some specific phonological context, such as word initially before the vowel // only, for example, or whether it can be deleted in any context. The same applies to glottal stop insertion. My impression is that the glottal is only inserted word initially; this, of course, needs to be tested. Can these facts be explained? Is there any reason why the glottal should be affected in this way? Recall that, according to Blevins (2004: 35), ―Vowel laryngealization is a phonetic feature associated with glottal stops, and glottal stops are often redundant properties of laryngealized vowels‖. Assuming phonetic redundancy, a listener may come up with a different analysis from the speaker (Blevins 2004: 35). It appears that the glottal, by its very nature, is susceptible to misanalyses that could trigger language change in the long run, and possibly affect the phonemic system. Bringing in the acquisition perspective once again, another observation is relevant in this context. A diary of language development of my own son, Noah, shows clearly that he often omitted the glottal stop for quite a long time during his acquisition phase. Moreover, even when he learnt how to write at school, he would systematically omit the letter ‗q‘, which represents the glottal, thus implying that he was not even aware of its occurrence. It is, therefore, perhaps not implausible to speculate that one way in which Maltese could change is in the occurrence of the glottal stop, a change that also affects its phonemic status within the phonological system.

7.2. Morpho-phonology – inflection Innovations in inflection are more difficult to come by than derivational ones. One very common case which appears to be used more frequently by younger people, at least according to many speakers, is the effect of spelling-out a presumed silent underlying consonant, encoded orthographically by the letter ‗h‘ (akka), as [ħ]. An example is the form ra-ha ‗he saw her‘, which many pronounce [rħħ] instead of standard [r:] with a long final vowel. The model for this change comes from different but related form, a verb with a final, generally silent presumably underlying consonant represented orthographically by

Ray Fabri

100

‗għ‘ (see, e.g., Brame 1972). A final ‗għ‘ form, such as semagħ-ha ‗he heard her‘, in which the final stem vowel sound is followed by clitic such as -ha ‗her‘ or -hom ‗them‘ is always pronounced [sεmħħ], as opposed, for example, to seraq-ha ‗he stole her‘, which has a stem ending in a consonant, and is pronounced [sεr], not [sεrħ]. One might speculate that, in the ‗għ‘ case, it is the final underlying consonant represented by ‗għ‘ that is spelled-out, while in the case of the akka, it must be the underlying akka position that is spelled out. The result is that the ‗new‘ system contains an allomorph of the 3rd person feminine singular direct object clitic -[] (orthographic ha) that did not exist before. The question that must be researched more here is whether the [ħħ] form is really more common and widespread among young speakers than among the general population. My impression is that this spell-out is not an innovation as such and that it is not limited to the young, but that it is becoming more widespread among the young and possibly entering the standard system. Another area of potential change in morpho-syntax is gender assignment. I will not go into details here but there is evidence that a number of changes are taking place in this area, which may actually radically affect the gender system. For a very detailed study of gender assignment see Farrugia (2010).

7.3. Morphology – derivation Morphological innovations are arguably more salient and of a different quality from phonological ones, in particular because they result from a potentially very productive generative component of the grammar. Many such innovations in Maltese come from the application of historically non-Semitic (originally English or Italian) affixes to either Semitic or non-Semitic stems. Note that it is not the affixes that are new but their combination with existing stems. An example of such an affix is the nominalising suffix –(a)ġni, found in established derivations such as tustaġni ‗cheekiness‘ from tost ‗cheeky‘. Here are other examples: (4a)

inkazza get/make angry



(4b)

bla sens without sense



(4c)

vojt empty/insipid



(4d)

kiesaħ/kiesħ-a arrogant(M.SG)-F.SG



inkazza-ġni anger-NOM ‗anger‘ blasens-aġni without.sense-NOM ‗senslessness‘ vojt-aġni empty-NOM ‗stupidity‘ ksuħ-aġni arrogant-NOM ‗arrogance‘

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

101

Example (4b) is particularly interesting because the affix is being apparently applied to a phrase (bla sens ‗without sense/senseless‘) and not a word-stem. One can, of course, presume that bla sens for such speakers has actually been lexicalised, and is, therefore, treated as a word. Also, note that, in some cases, a nominalised form already exists with the same meaning, as in ksuħ-at (‗arrogance‘ from kiesaħ, cmp. (4d)), so that the two forms are, at least potentially, in competition. Generally, it is possibly the case that -aġni is changing from a semi-productive suffix to a fully productive one. This, however, also needs to be studied further. Another affix that is being used productively, especially, it seems, by young people, is the suffix -(a)ta, found in established formations such as fenek – fenkata (‗rabbit‘ – ‗rabbit meal‘), papra – paprata (‗duck‘ – ‗mess up‘). The following are observed innovations very common among the young: (5a)

żibel thrash



(5b)

miġnun mad



żibl-ata thrash-ness ‗booze up‘ miġnun-ata mad-ness ‗madness‘

Yet another suffix is -izza, found in formations such as piena – ippenalizza (‗punishment‘ – ‗penalise‘) but also analiżi – analizza (‗analysis‘ – ‗analyse‘). Note that it might be the case in such examples that the two related forms were imported independently of each other. This fact is, of course, irrelevant to the first language learner, who is not aware of the historical origins of words. The following are innovations: (6a)

brikkun rascal



(6b)

mqareb naughty



brikkun-izza rascal-ness ‗rascalness‘ mqarb-izza naughty-ness ‗naughtiness‘

-(ja)t seems to be another productive suffix with younger people, creating participles on the pattern of żbalja – żbaljat ‗mistake/n‘. The following are reported examples: (7a) (7b)

Eng. stoned Eng. spaced out

 

stownjat/a/i spejsjat/a/i [Barbara & Scicluna 2002: 43]

Note that the forms illustrated in (7) lack verbal bases in Maltese since they have been imported as participles/adjectives and given a corresponding local form, thus being integrated into the Maltese morphological system. It is, therefore, in principle possible,

Ray Fabri

102

and indeed to be expected, that the verbal gaps can be filled with putative verbal forms such as stownja ‗to stone‘ and spejsja ‗to space out‘ as potential backformations. Finally, a well-known very productive form in Maltese is that of the -ja verbs (see especially Mifsud 1995) with existing forms such as Eng. save nissejvja ‗save on computer‘ and Eng. shoot nixxuttja ‗kick/shoot a ball‘. -ja can be used to create new verbs out of a number of possible loan sources. Observed innovations specifically among the young are: 

(8a)

Eng. freak out

(8b)

Eng. nerd

(8c)

Eng. flirt

(8d)

Eng. French kiss 



tiffrijkja ‗freak out‘ tinnerdja ‗behave like a nerd‘ tifflertja ‗flirt‘ tiffrenċja ‗(to) French-kiss‘ [Barabara & Scicluna 2002: 42]

One needs to examine in more detail the productive potential of such forms. In some cases, it appears that certain affixes are becoming more productive, while, in other cases, an already highly productive form is used to generate new formations.

7.4. Meaning/collocations/idioms The use of the word vera ‗true‘ as an adverb of degree/intensity modifying adjectives is also on the increase. The following illustrate its use. (9)

vera true

sabiħ nice

instead of

sabiħ nice

ħafna much

‗very nice indeed‘

A similar example is sew ‗well/good‘, used in the same way as vera in the previous example. (10)

faqa‘ sew cool well

instead of

faqa‘ cool

ħafna much

‗very cool indeed‘

7.5. Straight loans The following are examples of formations based on noun and adjective loans that are incorporated into Maltese and used regularly, sometimes with some degree of semantic shift or difference in use. The following are examples taken from Barbara & Scicluna (2002: 43):

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

 

103

towtalloss from Eng. ‗total loss‘, describing somebody who is not nice or somebody who feels very tired (―xi ħadd mhux ħelu jew meta xi ħadd iħossu għajjien‖; BARBARA & SCICLUNA 2002) fulekstras from Eng. ‗full extras‘, describing an attractive young woman with a good figure (―tfajla ħelwa li jkollha figure pulit‖; Barbara & Scicluna 2002)

The question is what the grammatical status of these loans is in Maltese. For example, is towtalloss an adjective, or is it a noun as in English? It is clear that it is gender and number neutral, and that it occurs only in predicative position, and never attributively: (11a) Mario huwa Mario is(3M.SG) (11b) Maria hija Maria is(3F.SG) (11c) Mario u Maria Mario and Mary (11d) ??Il-ġuvni DEF-young.man

towtalloss total loss towtalloss total loss huma towtalloss are(PL) total loss towtalloss mar total loss went

id-dar DEF-home

This could indicate that it is a noun rather than an adjective, although there are, of course, adjectives that can only be used predicatively and not attributively (such as ‗alleged‘ in English). The problem is that, in Maltese, as in Arabic, it is not easy to distinguish clearly between nouns and adjectives, at least formally, anyway. One possible test is gradability with ħafna ‗a lot‘. Nouns are not gradable with ħafna, many adjectives, albeit not all, are. One should need to check whether towtalloss is gradable for speakers who use it. (12)

Mario huwa towtalloss Mario is(3M.SG) ‗total loss‘ ‗Mario is very much of a total loss‘

ħafna very

7.6. Idioms Barbara & Scicluna (2002) have a large collection of innovative idiom forms used by the young of all kinds. I will just quote a few examples from their work here as illustration. (13a) qabbiż-hie-li make-jump(3M.SG)-3F.SG.DO-1SG.IO ‗made me angry‘ (lit. ‗he made it jump for me‘) (13b) qabż-it-li ċ-ċinga jump-3F.SG.DO-1SG.IO DEF-belt ‗I got angry‘ (lit. ‗it jumped for me‘)

Ray Fabri

104

(13c) t-aħraq-ni-x 2SG-burn-1SG.DO-NEG ‗don‘t irritate me‘ (lit. ‗don‘t burn me‘) These forms are very common among the young and have been spreading considerably and gaining acceptability. Some other idiomatic forms that are very common among the young but not yet among the community as a whole are: (14a) sar patata became(3M.SG) potato ‗he got sloshed‘ (lit. ‗he became a potato‘) (14b) sar daħna became(3M.SG) cloud of smoke ‗he got sloshed‘ (lit. ‗he became a cloud of smoke‘) (14c) ħa bażż took(3M.SG) buzz ‗he had a buzz/a very good time‘ (14d) dak ta-l-ġenn/j-ifqa‘/j-aqsam that of-DEF-crazy/3M.SG-break/3M.SG-split ‗that‘s awesome‘ (lit. ‗that‘s of the crazy/breaks/splits‘) New acronyms are also constantly being created and used by the young. Examples, taken again from Barbara & Scicluna (2002: 43), are ĠPS, standing for ġenn, panik u stress ‗madness, panic and stress‘, and BSB, standing for browksa-l-bajd (lit. ‗broke up to the balls‘), meaning ‗totally broke‘. Finally, Barbara & Scicluna (2002: 37) also list examples of expressions that display a shift in connotation, mostly through a weakening of their vulgarity index, making them more acceptable than they used to be, and, therefore, they are used in registers in which they would have tended to be excluded before. Examples are:   

ta-n-nejk ‗of-DEF-screw‘; N.B. ‗screw‘ in English in a vulgar sexual sense, meaning ‗ridiculous/stupid‘ (lit. ‗of the screw‘), ikkuljuna from Ital. ‗coglione‘ vulgar for ‗testicle/idiot‘, meaning ‗talk sarcastically about someone, mock, ridicule‘ (not necessarily with sexual connotations), and fotta ‗cheat‘; note that fotta is designated ‗vulg. in Malta but not in Gozo‘ in Aquilina (1987: 359). Its non-vulgarity seems to be spreading in Malta, too.

7.7. Conflicting forms In this section, I would like to mention innovative forms that conflict with existing forms. Often, the new forms used by young people have an English source, while existing forms have their origin in Italian. This gives rise to pairs such as viżiv from It. visivo and viżwali from Eng. visual, modernizzar from It. modernizzzare and modernizzazzjoni

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

105

from Eng. modernisation, and xjenzjat from It. scienziato and xjentist from Eng. scientist. Again, some of these forms are not used exclusively by the young, but I would hypothesise that there is a tendency for the young to use the version of English origin more frequently than that of Italian origin, mainly because of stronger exposure to the English forms. If this is the case, then one would expect the forms based on English to oust the Italian forms. What other factors might determine which of a pair of conflicting forms survives? Formal factors might include economy in terms of length or weight. Thus, all else being equal, one would expect shorter, lighter forms to be preferred. Another is frequency of usage, with forms that tend to be used more frequently and, perhaps, more significantly, in more sectors or registers than others, gaining the upper hand over less frequent ones. Finally, socio-linguistic factors, such the ‗prestige‘ value associated with the use of certain forms, also play a role. It is also conceivable that factors such as orthography might play a role. If a written form is considered ‗unaesthetic‘ or too difficult for some reason, it might eventually lose out against a ‗more pleasing‘ form. This is especially relevant in the Maltese context, in which the debate about the spelling of loan words is often very passionate (see e.g. Fabri 2008). This is surely not an exhaustive list of factors determining the survival and death of individual forms; however, it should serve as illustration.

8. Final comments Many in Malta, including experts on language, authorities and ‗common‘ people, have been very concerned with preserving the Maltese language, mainly because Maltese is a ‗small‘ language which has had a ‗rough‘ history. Because of this, there is a tendency to miss out on taking seriously and studying objectively the way the language is changing, a ‗natural‘ process that is happening before our eyes and ears. The reason is that change and variation are often associated with language contamination, degeneration and death. However, from diachrony we know that Maltese has survived precisely because it has been able to adopt through absorption and adapt through integration. Variation and fuzziness, in particular in the speech of young people, needs to be taken more seriously and given the importance it deserves because it carries the seed of what Maltese might be like in the future. Studying change should be part of an ongoing programme that regularly monitors young people‘s speech, not in order to censor them but to see in them trends in the healthy development of the Maltese language. However, it is perhaps apt to end with a caveat: it is not necessarily the case that every observed change in progress will take root and spread. Indeed, one should be very aware of the fact that, in the words of Bauer (1994: 21), ―Dealing with on-going changes is a very hazardous undertaking.‖ One must, therefore, proceed with caution. In the end, only long-term studies can realistically trace developments in language change and show what effects they have on the language system as a whole.

Ray Fabri

106

Abbreviations DEF DO F IO M

definite direct object feminine indirect object masculine

NEG NOM PL SG

negation nominaliser plural singular

References Aitchison, Jean (1991): Language change progress or decay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Androutsopoulos, Jannis (2000): Grammaticalization in young people‘s language: the case of German, in: Belemans, Rob & Vandekerckhove, Reinhild (eds.), Variation in (sub)standard language. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 155–176. Aquilina, Joseph (1987): Maltese-English dictionary Vol. Two M-Z and Addenda. Malta: Midsea. Barbara, Marica & Scicluna Karl (2002): Il-Lingwaġġ taż-Żgħażagħ Bħala Wieħed mil-Lingwaġġi Settorali ta‘ Malta. B.A. Thesis, submitted May 2002, University of Malta. Bauer, Laurie (1994): Watching English change. London & New York: Longman. Blevins, Juliette (2004): Evolutionary phonology: the emergence of sound patterns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bloomfield, Leonard (1933): Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Brame, Michael (1972): On the abstractness of phonology: Maltese, in: Brame, Michael (ed.), Contributions to generative phonology. Austin: University of Texas Press, 22–61. Brenziger, Matthias (1998): Language contact and language displacement, in: Coulmas, Florian (ed.), The handbook of sociolingusitics. Oxford: Blackwell, 273–284. Camilleri, Antoinette (1995): Bilingualism in education: the Maltese experience. New York: Brill. Camilleri, Antoinette & Borg, Albert (1992): Is Maltese an endangered language? Paper presented at the XVth International Conference of Linguists Quebec, Université Laval, August 1992. Cheshire, Jenny (2005): Age and generation-specific use of language, in: Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier Klaus & Trudgill, Peter (eds.), Sociolinguistics: an introductory handbook of the science of language and society. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1552–1563. Cheshire, Jenny & Fox, Susan (2007): This is me, this is him: qualitative use among adolescents in London. Paper presented at ICLCE2, Université de Toulouse II – Le Mirail, June 2007. Crystal, David (2000): Language death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fabri, Ray (2008):Kummenti fuq il-kitba tal-kliem ta‘ nisel Ingliż fil-Malti. In: Innaqqsu l-inċertezzi 2. Seminar fuq il-varjanti ortografiċi, 20 ta‘ Jannar 2007. Dokument għad-diskussjoni. Malta: IlKunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti, 118–123. Farrugia, George (2010): Il-ġens grammatikali fil-Malti. Ph.D. dissertation submitted May 2010, University of Malta. Grinevald Craig, Colette (1998): Language contact and language degeneration, in: Coulmas, Florian (ed.), The handbook of sociolingusitics. Oxford: Blackwell, 257–270. Holmes, Janet (2008): An introduction to sociolinguistics. London, New York: Longmans. Keller, Rudi (1990): Sprachwandel: Von der unsichtbaren Hand in der Sprache. Tübingen: Francke. Labov, William (1994): Principles of linguistics change, vol. 1: Internal factors. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell.

The language of young people and language change in Maltese

107

Labov, William (1966): The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics. [Second edition 2006, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]. Labov, William (2001): Principles of linguistics change, vol. 2: Internal factors. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell. Labov, William (2007): Transmission and diffusion, in: Language 83, 344–387. Lehmann, Christian (1991): Grammaticalization and related changes in contemporary German, in: Traugott, Elizabeth C. & Heine, Bernd (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization. Vol. II: Focus on types of grammatical markers. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins, 493–535. Mifsud, Manwel (1995): Loan verbs in Maltese: a descriptive and comparative study. New York: Brill. Pollock, Sheldon (2001): The death of Sanskrit, in: Comparative Studies in Society and History 43(2), 392–426. Romaine, Suzannne (1994): Language in society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sciriha, Lydia & Vassallo, Mario (2001): Malta – a linguistic landscape. Malta: Socrates. Sciriha, Lydia & Vassallo, Mario (2003): Malta – a linguistic landscape. Malta: Socrates. Stolz, Thomas (1990): Naturalness in diachronic morphology as a determining factor of language change, in: Koch, Walter A. (ed.), Geneses of language. Bochum: Brockmeyer, 257–270. Wettinger, Godfrey & Fsadni, Michael (1983): L-Għanja ta‘ Pietru Caxaru: Poeżija bil-Malti Medjevali. Malta: Printwell. Wurzel, Wolfgang (1994): Grammatisch initiierter Wandel, in: Jessing, Benedikt (ed.), Sprachdynamik: Auf demWeg zu einer Typologie sprachlichen Wandels. Vol. 1. Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1–114. Zimmermann, Klaus (2003): Jugendsprache, Generationenidentität und Sprachwandel, in: Neuland, Eva (ed.), Jugendsprachen – Spiegel der Zeit: Internationale Fachkonferenz 2001 an der Bergischen Universität Wuppertal. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 27–41.

LAURA MORI (ROME/ITALY)

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese: EU directives compared to national implementation laws

Abstract This research focuses on legal Maltese in European Directives and in national implementation laws in order to highlight linguistic variation within the process of intra-linguistic translation. The analysis on EU legal Maltese revealed that English plays a fundamental role for verb creation while Italian is the main source for legal terms and technicalities together with Semitic origin-terms and bilingual (Italian + Arabic) compound noun phrases. Interestingly from the comparison with national legal Maltese it was found out that many Semitic influences are blurred and Italian or English terms are preferred in Maltese implementation laws.

0. Introduction The status of official and working languages of the European Union has proved to affect the dynamics of linguistic variation as regards the contextual and situational dimension of variability. Their use in an international context effects a linguistic harmonization, which is parallel to a continuous process of inter-linguistic translation in which EU languages are all involved, either as source or target languages. Most of EU Regulations and Directives are written either in English or French and then translated into twenty-two different linguistic versions, except for a reduced amount of EU legislation (originally drafted in one of the current twenty three official and working languages). This peculiar situation of language contact leads to the development of common linguistic features that characterizes the EU legal varieties1 and differentiates them from the corresponding national legal ones. After the EU enlargement in 2004, Maltese was recognized as an official and working language of the European Union, undergoing a rapid process of ‗Europeanization‘ attested in EU websites and in Maltese media concerning Europe-related matters (see Caruana 2006). 

1

Many thanks to Prof. Sandro Caruana (Università ta' Malta) and Dr. Angelo Chetcuti (European Commission‘s Representation in Malta). Goffin (1997) refers to it as a ‗Eurolect‘.

110

Laura Mori

Given these interesting results on the media language, our research study aims at investigating another domain of variation in contemporary Maltese: the legal field. Therefore a preliminary study has been carried out on EU legal Maltese by leading a contrastive analysis of the Maltese version of the Treaty of Lisbon and the parallel-text Italian and English versions, in order to highlight Eurolect features and the modeling role of English and Italian on this variety (see Mori, in press). Having defined some peculiarities of EU legal Maltese, the main topic to be presented here concerns the comparison between EU legal variety and the national one. The linguistic investigation was carried out on a sample of EU Directives in the area of ‗Freedom of Movement of Workers and Social Policy‘ to be compared to the national Maltese laws that implement these Directives. Our research objective was to find out how, and to what extent, linguistic features characterizing the EU legal Maltese are transposed into national laws along with a process of intra-linguistic translation.

1. Maltese language policy: from national to supranational dimension In 1964 the Constitution of the Republic of Malta recognised Maltese as the national language and conferred on it the status of official language together with English (Chapter 1, article 5).2 Nonetheless the political interest towards the safeguarding, enhancement and proliferation of Maltese in all sectors of public life started from 2003 with the Protection of the Maltese Language Act and the Law to Regulate, Protect and Develop the Native Language. Consequently in 2005, on the initiative of the Ministry of Education, a national Council for the Maltese Language (NCML) was set up, responsible for producing strategic positions on the protection, enhancement and development of the national language, including the promotion of Maltese literature. As a means of achieving the NCML aims, on April 14th 2005 the Maltese Language Act was approved (Chapter 470 in the Maltese legislation) stating some ‗Principles and duties‘ (3.1) in the field of language policy:

2

(1) The National language of Malta is the Maltese language. (2) The Maltese and the English languages and such other language as may be prescribed by Parliament (by a law passed by not less than two-thirds of all the members of the House of Representatives) shall be the official languages of Malta and the Administration may for all official purposes use any of such languages: Provided that any person may address the Administration in any of the official languages and the reply of the Administration thereto shall be in such language. (3) The language of the Courts shall be the Maltese language: Provided that Parliament may make such provision for the use of the English language in such cases and under such conditions as it may prescribe. (4) The House of Representatives may, in regulating its own procedure, determine the language or languages that shall be used in Parliamentary proceedings and records.

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

111

(3.1) (a) Maltese is the language of Malta and a fundamental element of the national identity of the Maltese people. (b) The Maltese Language is an essential component of the national heritage, being constantly developed in the speech of the Maltese people, distinguishing the Maltese people from all other nations and giving the same people their best means of expression. (c) The Maltese State recognises the Maltese Language as a strong expression of the nationality of the Maltese, and for that purpose acknowledges its unique importance, and protects it from deterioration and perdition. (d) The Maltese State shall make provision in such manner that the study of the Maltese Language in its linguistic, literary and cultural manifestations shall always be given primary importance in both state and other schools from the very first years of education of all Maltese citizens. (e) The Maltese State shall promote through all possible means the widest use of the Maltese Language in education, broadcasting and the media, at the law courts, and in political, administrative, economic, social and cultural life. (f) The Maltese State shall lead in the creation of all possible opportunities for the development of the national Language and to assert its merited dignity. (g) The Maltese State recognises, within the wider context of the Maltese diaspora, that the Maltese Language should remain known by and considered as a binding element of the Maltese people. In this article fundamental socio-political guidelines are set: the ethnic value of the national language to express the Maltese cultural identity, the importance of safeguarding its vitality to preserve the sense of ingroupness within the Maltese community (‗Malteseness‘) as well as the need for its promotion through language planning activities in different domains. Since Maltese was recognized as a EU official and working language and the development of the national language was perceived as a priority, there was a strict need for a clear language policy, both on the side of language planning (i.e. standardization of orthography and development of sectoral terminology) and on the educational side (university programmes for translators and interpreters at the University of Malta).

2. The EU multilingual policy and the development of Eurolects The EU legislation is multilingual in order to give real substance to the democratic right of all citizens of Europe to be able to communicate, as addresser and addressee, with European institutions in their own national language. Such a legislative multilingualism can rely only on translation, as a pivotal process for interchange among EU official languages. Such a practice pervades institutional and inter-institutional procedures at every stage, and is therefore not a by-product of European policy-making: terms, con-

112

Laura Mori

cepts, and models of thought borrowed from the 23 official languages of the Union do not just influence the Commission‘s legislative texts but represent a key to mobilise expertise, and disseminate and gather consensus on novel approaches to new realities. Interference phenomena take place when legislative texts are translated from one or two source languages complying with the need for parallel versions in different languages to be aligned and compared easily, avoiding any possible ambiguity. Language contact determined the development of common linguistic features that characterize the so-called Eurolect: Europeisms on a lexical level, common morphsyntactical preferences and standardization of the informative structure. Therefore, within the sociolinguistic continua of EU languages – along with the situational dimension of variation – it is markedly possible to single out a specific EU legal variety originated at a supranational level. In translation process, Eurolect features are established by translators and then spread in other languages mainly through loanwords, semantic calques and newly-coined words. It is noticeable that these peculiarities differentiate EU legal varieties from national legal ones in use in the Member States (see the case of EU legal Italian compared to national legal Italian, in Mori 2003 and 2005). Before presenting the results of this intra-linguistic comparison, it is worth noting to consider the sociolinguistics of Maltese, at least as far as technical and scientific varieties are concerned. At the level of contextual variation, for centuries Maltese has been primarily used for oral communication in informal situations: foreign dominant languages serving in formal domains (Administration and Government, Education, Justice, Literature, etc.) within a socio-linguistic context of diglossia. During the XIX century Maltese legal acts were still drawn up in a bilingual version (Italian and English): in 1934 the Italian section was replaced by Maltese. By that time Italian was no longer recognized as an official language in Malta, although legal Maltese continued to be modelled on Italian, especially in the field of technical terminology. Maltese for Special Purposes has not yet developed thoroughly and terminological gaps have turned out to be an urgent problem when Maltese – as an EU official language – had to expand functionally to be used for translating the whole of EU legislation. Nowadays the legal field is characterized by the presence of three different varieties, any of which is influenced by a foreign model (either Italian or English) depending on the topics dealt with and on the lawyers‘ linguistic attitude (pro-Italian or pro-English). In Courts the variety in use is referred to as ‗lawyer legalese Maltese‘, different from the variety used by lawmakers writing the national legislation (‗national legal Maltese‘) or by translators (the so-called ‗Brussels Maltese‘ that we refer to as ‗Maltese Eurolect‘). The variability of Maltese in correlation with the legal sector has never been investigated systematically: a few studies have been carried out (see Fiorini & Zabbara 2006) and, as far as the linguistic aspects are concerned, only Chircop has dealt with a lexical

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

113

analysis aimed at highlighting the interference of Italian in Maltese legal terminology (studies on the Code de Rohan3 by Chircop 1997, 2000 and 2003).

3. Maltese in the European legislation: EU legal Maltese Due to the linguistic regime adopted by the European Union, multilingualism has been set as a founding principle of democracy (Regulation No. 1, 1958) since official languages enjoy equal status and, consequently, the requirement was laid down that all EU legislation shall be translated into all official languages. According to Article 4 of the above-mentioned Regulation, ―Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the official languages‖.4 After Maltese became an official language of the European Union to be used within a supranational context the development of a Maltese Eurolect (EU-oriented legal variety) began, similarly to what other EU languages have experienced. A preliminary study was previously carried out on EU legal Maltese by leading a contrastive analysis of the Maltese version of the Treaty of Lisbon in parallel with the Italian and English versions (Mori, in press). The peculiar features of this legal variety of Maltese observed in the abovementioned study allowed us to sketch an initial description of this variety, considering both the external pressure of Eurolect features and the interference from English and Italian, as traditional sources for technical terminology. This previous investigation allowed a series of linguistic traits to be singled out at different linguistic levels: terminology (section 3.1), EU-oriented lexicon (section 3.2) and morpho-syntactical features (section 3.3).

3.1. Terminological analysis: technicalities In the Treaty of Lisbon, Maltese Eurolect is characterized by lexical differentiation as proved by the relationship between the total number of words and their occurrences. The standardized type/token ratio (equal to 30.63) refers to the percentage of types per 3

4

This Code marks the beginning of the modern Maltese legislation and it consists of a corpus of laws written in Italian passed by the Great Master Fr. Emanuel-Marie de Rohan in 1784. However, as it was not technically possible to guarantee the drafting in Maltese of all acts adopted by the institutions from 1 May 2004 onwards, the EU introduced a derogation from the obligation to draft all acts of general application in Maltese and to publish them in this language in the Official Journal. The requirement of drafting in Maltese covered regulations adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council only. The derogation – which aimed to leave sufficient time to recruit well-trained Maltese translators – was only temporary and ended after 3 years in 2007 (see European Commission, 2010).

114

Laura Mori

one hundred tokens, thus witnessing a certain degree of variation and lexical density not dissimilar to the Italian style.5 Maltese lexicon is characterized by a linguistic stratification which is related to the history of foreign dominations of the island: the Arabic substratum and Italian and English as superstrata and practically also adstrata languages. In an everlasting situation of diglossia, these European languages have affected the development of Maltese especially as far as technicalities are concerned in different sectors related to various scientific fields. Traditionally, legal technicalities have always resulted from the borrowing of Italian technical terms adapted on both the phonetic-graphic and morphological level (Chircop 2000). In EU legal Maltese this conservative trend is maintained since technical nouns are mainly of Italian origin or they result from a mixture of Romance lexical words and Semitic grammatical elements. Innovation in Maltese Eurolect is more evident in verb formation: apart from verbs of Latin origin or Italian loanwords, a considerable amount of technical verbs are English loanwords integrated within the Maltese morphological paradigm (‗second generation-verbs‘, in Mifsud 1995). This particular distribution (Italian-origin nouns vs. English-origin verbs) has been recorded in other varieties of Maltese, for example in the media variety used when referring to EU topics (Caruana 2009) where mainly nouns are Italian loanwords. On the one hand this could be interpreted as a general innovative pattern where Italian (and Arabic to a minimum extent) is the source for nouns and noun phrases while for verbal neologisms English is the preferred source of borrowing. On the other hand this could be a feature restricted to the sphere of technicalities without being a more general mechanism of lexical innovation. Data from other non-standard varieties of Maltese would be needed to evaluate this properly.

3.2. Lexical analysis: Europeisms Technicalities referring to the European Union (institutions, policies, principles, guide lines, etc.) are mainly loanwords from English or French which are widespread in all official languages: the so-called Europeisms.6 In Maltese, Europeisms are direct adaptations either of the English counterparts (such as implimentazzjoni from ‗implementation‘ or arrangiamenti from ‗arrangements‘ in English) or of the Italian ones (such as armonizzazzjoni from harmonisation in French, mediated by the EU Italian armonizzazione).

5

6

The Italian version of the Treaty of Lisbon presents a type/token ratio of 31,70 while in the English one it amounts to 25,09. On Europeisms attested in Italian see Mori (2003; 2005; 2007).

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

115

Eurolectal noun phrases are mainly Italian adapted loanwords combined with words (especially functional ones) of Arabic origin: Konvenzjoni Ewropea għall-Protezzjoni tad-Drittijiet tal-Bniedem u-l-Libertajiet Fondamentali (Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), Karta tad-Drittijiet Fundamantali ta‘ lUnjoni Ewropea (The Charter of Fundamental Rights), Prinċipju tas-sussidjarjetà u lproporzjonalità (Principle of subsidiarity and proportionality) and Moviment liberu talpersuni (Free movement of persons). Acquis is the only example of unadapted Europeism: in EU legal Maltese it is attested either alone or with some specification (acquis ta‘ Schengen, acquis communautaire, acquis ta‘ l-Unjoni, acquis tal- Komunità) but it is never coupled with the Maltese adjective komunitarju as happens in other EU Legal varieties: acquis comunitario in Italian or Community acquis in English (see Mori 2003).

3.3. Morpho-syntactical features A contrastive analysis of the Treaty of Lisbon (Maltese-Italian-English) revealed the preference for the use of the present tense in EU legal Maltese and Italian in order to define principles and duties, whereas in EU legal English the future tense is preferred (see Table 1 below). In order to express an obligation to be fulfilled Maltese Eurolect shows a preference for the future, either simple or composed (see Table 2). A cross-linguistic feature, typical of the legal varieties, is the great amount of participial forms used either as adjectives or within passive constructions introduced in Maltese by jiġi/tiġi (3rd person singular, masculine and feminine) and jiġu (3rd person plural).

4. From EU directives to Maltese national laws Unlike EU Regulations, Directives are not self-executing legislative acts of the European Union and do require implementing measures by Member States, which can adopt them through a variety of legislative procedures, depending on the subject matter. The implementation of Directives, referred to as ‗transposition‘, requires changes to national laws to comply with the EU requirements. Directives drafted at an EU level, thus presenting Eurolect features, are transposed in national laws which have to be incorporated into the national legal system. According to the mainstream of the more recent literature on Europeanisation, adjustment processes are expected to be more problematic if the degree of misfit between European rules and existing institutional and regulatory traditions is high and national governments are expected to protect internal legal-administrative traditions against intrusion from the European Union (cf. Falker et al. 2004). This refers to the setting of national

116

Laura Mori

legislative measures as well as to the linguistic adaptation of the EU legal variety to the national legal one in use in each Member State. An intra-linguistic translation takes place in order to remove foreign traces resulting from the cross-linguistic translation process within the European institutions in order to match with the legal variety in domestic use. Due to this peculiarity, the transposition of Directives is virtually an International compromise which presupposes an interaction between EU texts and the implementing acts in different Member States. In order to compare differences between EU legal Maltese and national legal Maltese, the present linguistic investigation was carried out on a sample of EU Directives in the area ‗Freedom of movement of workers and Social Policy‘ to be compared with the national Maltese laws implementing the corresponding Directives (see Appendix). The transposition within the Maltese legislation revealed that not always is there a one-to-one correspondence between EU Directives and Maltese implementation laws, such as in the case of directives concerning the equal treatment between men and women where five EU Directives were implemented in a single national act.

5. Lexical remarks on legal Maltese: EU and national variety In Maltese Eurolect technicalities mainly derive from Italian through borrowing processes and they follow the general adaptation patterns for Italian loans to comply with the graphic-phonetic rules of Maltese and its morphology. Since in Maltese final wordpositions may be occupied by consonants or by certain vowels (/a, u, i/), Italian originlegal terms are adapted through final vowel elision (kuntratt < It. contratto ‗contract‘), vowel maintenance in the case of /a/ (ugwaljanza < It. uguaglianza ‗equality‘) or substitution by following this pattern: Mt. /u/ < It. /o/ (preġudizzju < It. pregiudizio ‗prejudice‘); Mt. /i/ < It. /e/ (ġurisdizzjoni > giurisdizione ‗jurisdiction‘). Even consonants are involved in the process of adaptation: consonant substitution (Mt. ([Ɂ]) from It. ([k]) such as in qorti (< It. corte ‗court‘) or consonant doubling of (/ts/) such as diskriminazzjoni (> It. discriminazione ‗discrimination‘) or prattika (< It. pratica ‗practice‘). On the morphological side, many Italian loanwords have been adapted to Maltese by forming the plural with the autochthonous grammatical morpheme -ijet such as: allegazzjonijiet, assocjazzjonijiet, bzonnijiet, disposizzjonijiet, eskluzjonijiet, funzjonijiet, implikazzjonijiet, ligijiet, pattijiet, applikazzjonijiet, organizzazzjonijiet, pensjonijiet, professjonijiet, relazzjonijiet, sanzjonijiet, soluzzjonijiet, transazzjonijiet.7 Italian-origin adverbs, ending with the suffix -ment, are quite widespread in legal Maltese (national variety and Eurolect) such as: partikolarment, perjodikament, deliberatament, direttament, effettivament, esplicitament, espressement, favorevolment, indi7

Allegations, associations, needs, dispositions, exclusions, functions, implications, laws, agreements, applications, organisations, pensions, professions, relationships, penalties, solutions, transactions.

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

117

rettament, irrispettivament, konsistentement, raġunevolment, retroattivament, konformement, objettivament, oġġettivament, possibilment, primarjament, riċintement, soċjalment, speċjalment.8 Further evidence of loanword adaptation is recorded in the domain of verb morphology where Latin has exerted a cultural influence throughout the centuries, playing the role of ―cultural superstratum‖ for legal, administrative, religious and literary communication within the International scientific community.9 As already pointed out, Directives present a cross-sectoral terminology in order to deal with different domains, from Financial matters to Agriculture and Fishing or Language Policies. Therefore it is particularly interesting to focus on the way this terminology is created or adapted in Eurolects. In this regard, the case of Maltese is more relevant compared to other EU languages, since it is experiencing a phase of lexical expansion because of the lack of technical and scientific terminology. In the lexical analysis carried out, the following technicalities in the field of Social Policy were attested, both in EU Directives and in Maltese national legislation. Italian and English represent the main lexical sources for newly-coined technical words and many neologisms are created from an admixture of items of different linguistic origin, as one can see in the following examples.

5.1. Plurilingual compound noun phrases The majority of technical compound noun phrases in this sector are composed by mixing Arabic words with Italian adapted loanwords:

Italian + Arabic esperjenza prattika ta‘ xogħol: internship ugwaljanza fit-trattament fl-impjieg u fix-xogħol: equal treatment fastidju fil-post tax-xogħol: harassment kondizzjonijiet ta‘ xogħol: job conditions postijiet tax-xogħol: job places riskji għas-sigurtà u s-saħħa: risks for safety and health rappreżentanti tal-ħaddiema: workers‘ representatives Il-Ħarsien tad-drittijiet: the defense of rights ftehim kollettiv: collective agreement responsabbiltà ta‘ min iħaddem: employer‘s responsibility sorveljanza tas-saħħa: health surveillance 8

9

Particularly, periodically, deliberately, directly, effectively, explicitly, expressly, favourably, indirectly, independently, substantially, reasonably, retroactively, in accordance with, impartially, objectively, possibly, primarily, recently, socially, specially. For further examples on Maltese Eurolect see Mori (in press).

118

Laura Mori

Il-konsulktazzjoni u l-parteċipazzjoni tal-ħaddiema: workers‘ consultations and participation l-istat tas-saħħa: health and safety of workers As far as this field is concerned, the role of English in compound formation is rather marginal. The following occurrences attest the presence of a loanword (leave) within trilingual compound noun phrases where the three lexical strata of Maltese (English, Arabic and Italian) are combined: English + Italian leave tal-ġenituri: parental leave leave tal-maternità: maternity leave leave ta‘ paternità: paternity leave The examples below show two bilingual compounds where an adapted English loanword couples with an Arabic word: Arabic + English taħriġ vokazzjonali: vocational training rekords/records tas-saħħa: data on health

5.2. Loanwords As for loanwords, the Anglicism allowance is recorded in both samples (EU Directives and national implementation laws) as well as the following Italianisms, attested in Maltese Eurolect as well as in national legal Maltese: diskriminazzjoni diretta jew indiretta: direct or indirect discrimination regoli antidiskriminatorji: anti-discrimination rules diskriminazzjoni fuq il-bażi ta‘sess/diskriminazzjoni minħabba fis-sess: sex-based discrimination protezzjoni u prevenzjoni: protection and prevention pensjoni perijodika: periodic pension impjieg temporanju: temporary job il-fatturi ambjentali: environment factors gruppi partikolarment sensittivi għar-riskji: particularly sensitive risk groups The following examples are cases of loanwords – either Italianisms or Anglicisms – attested in legal Maltese (at a national and supranational level) presenting a peculiar usage compared with the model language.

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese



119

Benfiċċji (benefits):

Both in national and EU legal Maltese the word is attested. Probably it is as an adapted Italian loanword (< It. benefici10) which underwent a process of semantic calque due to the pressure of the semantics of the English word.11 

Kumpens (compensation):

Italian adapted loanword (< It. compenso) used in National legal Maltese and in EU Directives although in Italian Eurolect the technical word risarcimento is preferred. 

Reklutaġġ (recruitment):

Maltese technicality coined by combining the lexical root derived from the borrowed verb irrekluta (< It. reclutare, to recruit) with the productive suffix -aġġ of Italian origin (< It. -aggi-o). It is interesting to point out that the derivational morpheme used in Italian is rather -ment-o (< It. reclutamento). Furthermore, in the Italian version of this Directive the corresponding term is not reclutamento but assunzione, the first one used mainly to refer to recruitment in the military field. 

Rtirar (retirement):

The attested Maltese form, l-irtirar, could be derived from the borrowed verb irtira (< It. ritirarsi, to retreat) by expanding its original meaning: in Italian this verb is generally used in the military field or to refer to the end of a sporting activity career. 

Sigurtà (safety):

In contemporary Italian sicurezza, this case exemplifies a typical phenomenon attested in Maltese: the diffusion of borrowed Italian archaic literary terms. 

Paga (salary) :

This Italianism, used in legal Maltese, has a limited usage in Italian (i.e. ‗busta paga, pay packet) where ‗compenso/salario‘ are more widespread. The technical term used in formal register is retribuzione which is the form preferred in Italian Directives. 

Tkeċċija (dismissal):

This noun was probably derived from the borrowed Italian verb keċċa (< It. (s)cacciare, to chase away) that is classified as an Italian frequently used word. The equivalent Italian technicality is licenziamento which is the term used in the Italian Directive.

10 11

Noun, plural. The term attested in the Italian version of this Directive is prestazioni.

120

Laura Mori

6. Intra-linguistic translation and linguistic variation in legal Maltese Another aspect to be discussed here concerns the description of the Maltese EU legal variety compared to the national legal one. Our research objective was to find out how, and to what extent, linguistic features characterizing the EU legal variety are transposed into the national laws through a process of intra-linguistic translation. A previous comparison between national legal Italian and EU legal Italian had highlighted different variation phenomena to be considered mainly as style-and registershifts to comply with Italian conventions (see Mori 2005). In the case of Italian, passing from EU Directives to Italian implementation laws affected the style as far as the usage of lexical variants is concerned. Avoidance of the repetition of lexical items and the consequent need for periphrastic expressions or synonyms are stylistic peculiarities of official texts written in Italian (administrative documents or legislative acts). Another Italian stylistic feature is the preference for a more exalted lexicon rather than commonly used words. A common word like giovani (‗young people‘) is attested in Italian Eurolect because it is clearly aligned with the English and French versions: young people and jeunes.12 However, in the Italian implementation law this is systematically substituted with the Italian higher resister-variant minori (see Mori 2005). In the present study our attention was focused on lexical variation occurring when Maltese Directives are transposed into Maltese Law; the examples collected were gathered into categories in order to highlight different linguistic phenomena (see Tables 3–5). In Table 3 different lexical items are preferred in the Maltese implementation laws: in general, when referring to equal treatment between men and women the adjective diskriminatorju (‗discriminatory‘) is always preferred in national legal Maltese to variants attested in Maltese Eurolect: sfavorevoli (‗unfavourable‘) and ugwali (‗equal‘). Another notable trend is the substitution of technicalities adopted in the Directives with other variants of different origin (see Table 4): the most frequent phenomenon concerns the substitution of Semitic-origin words with Italianisms or the preference for Italianisms rather than Anglicisms. A few examples evincing an inverse mechanism (Italian to English) were also found. In Maltese Eurolect too, as in Italian Eurolect (see Table 5), intra-linguistic registershift variations were recorded, such as the preference for Latinisms13 and some spelling changes (i.e. kundizzjonijiet > kondizzjonijiet; esposizzjoni > espożizzjoni).

12 13

See Directive 94/33/CE. Such as ―in bona fede u b‘lealtà ma‘ l-ethos ta‘ l-organizzazzjoni‖, in good faith and with loyalty to the organisation‘s ethos (cfr. Subsidiary Legislation, 452.95).

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

121

7. Conclusions This preliminary investigation into legal Maltese allowed us to highlight some typical features of EU Maltese in use in the Primary Law (i.e. The Treaty of Lisbon) and in the Derived Law (Directives) in the field of Social Policy. In such an investigation the roles of different languages in shaping Maltese cannot be left aside. In Maltese Eurolect, Italian is the main source language for common legal terms and for technicalities in a specific domain, while English is the major lexical source for verb creation. An interesting and unexpected result is the widespread use in EU legal Maltese of Semitic-origin technical words and of a good number of compound noun phrases where Italian loanwords are combined with Arabic words. From the comparison between EU legal Maltese in Directives and national legal Maltese, many of these Semitic influences are blurred and Italian or English-origin words are preferred, these European languages being the traditional sources for lexical innovation in Maltese. Even in Maltese, the passage from the EU dimension to the national level affects the language to some extent: in order to comply with the national legal tradition the variety in use in Subsidiary Legislation presents some differences. A number of terms are substituted to comply with legal usage or as a result of a more or less occult operation of language planning, in order to have a more European-like terminology. From this first investigation, what is notable to remark is that, for Malta, being part of the EU has meant an enhancement of Maltese as the national language to be used in every domain of public life. The necessary operation of linguistic expansion has been interpreted – as far as our first data show – by EU translators as an opportunity to highlight the Semitic component of Maltese, considered to be its original nucleus.14 Somewhat interestingly, the attitude of lawyer-linguists working at a national level seems is more oriented towards the maintenance of a traditional bond with the European languages which affected Maltese development so far.15

14

15

On this regard we have to keep in mind that the variations we observed may be the result of personal preferences of translators who are now playing a fundamental role in technical terms creation in Maltese. Therefore, they are not necessarily the expression of language planning choices at an EU level. It could be particularly interesting to see if this different attitude among indoor and outdoor language experts depends on social variables: those who are working for EU institutions belong to new generations and their education might have been more oriented towards Semitic studies, whereas those who have been working for National institutions may have undergone an educational path where the competence in Italian and English played a greater role.

Laura Mori

122

Appendix Maltese 272: It-Trattat dwar lUnjoni Ewropea ghandu jigi emendat skond iddispozizzjonijiet ta' dan lArtikolu 293: L-Unjoni ghandha tissostitwixxi u tkun issuccessur tal-Komunità Ewropea 285: Fir-relazzjonijiet taghha mal-bqija tad-dinja, l-Unjoni ghandha tafferma u tippromwovi l-valuri u linteressi taghha 310: 2. L-Unjoni ghandha toffri lic-cittadini taghha spazju ta' libertà, sigurtà u gustizzja 314: 3. L-Unjoni ghandha tistabbilixxi suq intern 321: Hija ghandha tiggieled kontra l-eskluzjoni socjali u d-diskriminazzjoni, u tippromwovi l-gustizzja u lprotezzjoni socjali 326: Hija ghandha tirrispetta r-rikkezza tad-diversità kulturali u lingwistika taghha 325: L-Unjoni ghandha tafferma 398: Din l-adezjoni m'ghandhiex taffettwa lkompetenzi ta‘ l-Unjoni kif definiti mit-Trattati 433: L-Unjoni ghandha tizviluppa relazzjoni privileggjata mal-pajjizi girien taghha 550: 2. Il-Parlament Ewropew ghandu jkun maghmul minn rapprezentanti taccittadini ta' l- Unjoni

Italian 271: Il trattato sull‘Unione europea è modificato in base alle disposizioni del presente articolo

English 294: The Treaty on European Union shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of this Article

292: L‘Unione sostituisce e succede alla Comunità europea

315: The Union shall replace and succeed the European

323: Nelle relazioni con il resto del mondo l‘Unione afferma e promuove i suoi valori e interessi

302: 5. In its relations with the wider world, the Union shall uphold and promote its values and interests

267: 2. L‘Unione offre ai suoi cittadini uno spazio di libertà, sicurezza e giustizia

330: 2. The Union shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice

271: 3. L‘Unione instaura un mercato interno 276: L‘Unione combatte l‘esclusione sociale e le discriminazioni e promuove la giustizia e la protezione sociale

334: 3. The Union shall establish an internal market 341: It shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice

280: Essa rispetta la ricchezza della sua diversità culturale e linguistica

346: It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity

323: L‘Unione afferma

349: The Union shall uphold

394: Tale adesione non modifica le competenze dell‘Unione definite nei Trattati

421: Such accession shall not affect the Union‘s competences as defined in the Treaties

374: 1. L‘Unione sviluppa con i paesi limitrofi relazioni privilegiate

450: The Union shall develop a special relationship with neighbouring countries 561: 2. The European Parliament shall be composed of representatives of the Union's citizens

472: 2. Il Parlamento europeo è composto di rappresentanti dei cittadini dell'Unione

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese Maltese 1.578: 3. Fl-oqsma tarricerka, l-izvilupp teknologiku u l-ispazju, lUnjoni ghandha lkompetenza biex tiehu azzjonijiet

Italian 1.762: 3. Nei settori della ricerca, dello sviluppo tecnologico e dello spazio, l'Unione ha competenza per condurre azioni

123 English 1.546: 3. In the areas of research, technological development and space, the Union shall have competence to carry out activities

Table 1: The use of present tense in Maltese Eurolect Maltese 698 Membri tal-Kunsill li jirrapprezentaw l-Istati Membri li jkunu qed jippartecipaw f'kooperazzjoni 1.281 5. Jekk, sentejn wara liffirmar ta' Trattat li jemenda tTrattati, erba' minn hamsa ta' lIstati jkunu rratifikaw it-Trattat imsemmi u Stat Membru wiehed jew iktar ikun iltaqa' ma‘ diffikultajiet ghar-ratifika, l-kwistjoni ghandha titressaq lill-Kunsill Ewropew

Italian 790 i membri del Consiglio che rappresentano gli Stati membri partecipanti ad una cooperazione 1.430 5. Qualora, al termine di un periodo di due anni a decorrere dalla firma di un trattato che modifica i trattati, i quattro quinti degli Stati membri abbiano ratificato detto trattato e uno o più Stati membri abbiano incontrato difficoltà nelle procedure di ratifica, la questione è deferita al Consiglio europeo 1580: l-ezercizzju ta' din il1.764 l‘esercizio di tale comkompetenza ma jkun jista' jimpetenza possa avere per effetpedixxi lill-Istati Membri milli to di impedire agli Stati memjezercitaw taghhom bri di esercitare la loro 2.086: ―Meta membru tal-Kunsill 2.034 ―Qualora un membro jiddikjara li abbozz ta' att legislat- del Consiglio dichiari che un tiv imsemmi fl-ewwel subparaprogetto di atto legislativo di grafu jkun jaffettwa aspetti cui al primo comma lede importanti tas-sistema ta' sigurtà aspetti importanti del suo socjali tieghu, inkluz il-kamp ta' sistema di sicurezza sociale, in applikazzjoni, l-ispiza jew lparticolare per quanto riguaristruttura finanzjarja taghha, jew da il campo di applicazione, i ikun jaffettwa lekwilibriju finan- costi o la struttura finanziaria, zjarju ta' dik is-sistema […]. oppure ne altera l‘equilibrio finanziario […]. 4.079: 213) Fl-Artikolu 229 A, il- 3.574 213) All‘articolo 229 A, kliem ―... il-Kunsill, waqt li jkun i termini ―...il Consiglio, jagixxi unanimament deliberando all‘unanimità

Table 2: The use of future tenses in Maltese Eurolect

English 698 members of the Council representing the Member States participating in enhanced cooperation 1.265 5. If, two years after the signature of a treaty amending the Treaties, four fifths of the Member States have ratified it and one or more Member States have encountered difficulties in proceeding with ratification, the matter shall be referred to the European Council 1548: the exercise of that competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs 2.054 ―Where a member of the Council declares that a draft legislative act referred to in the first subparagraph would affect important aspects of its social security system including its scope, cost or financial structure, or would affect the financial balance of that system [...] 213) In Article 229a, the words ―the Council, acting unanimously

Laura Mori

124 EU Legal Maltese trattament mhux favorevoli ta’ mara relatat mat-tqala jew malmaternità trattament ugwali għal irġiel u nisa trattament sfavorevoli tan-nisa relat mat-tqala jew maternità trattament ugwali bejn persuni bla distinzjoni ta‘ razza jew oriġini etnika trattament differenti fuq bażi ta‘ età it-trattament ugwali irrispettivament mill-origini tar-razza jew letniċità perjodu tal-kollokazzjoni /kollokament ambjent tax-xogħol esposizzjoni għall-ħoss il-parir tal-professjonista

National Legal Maltese kull trattament anqas favorevoli ta‘ mara

Phenomenon Lexical Preference

trattament indaqs għall-irġiel u nnisa trattament diskriminatorju relatat mat-tqala jew leave tal-maternità trattament diskriminatorju g]al ra[unijiet ta‘ reli[jon jew twemmin reli[ju\, di\abilità, età, sess, orjentament sesswali, u ori[ini razzjali jew etnika trattament diskriminatorju g]al ra[unijiet ta‘ di\abilità u età trattament ibba\ata fuq karatteristika relatata mar-ra[unijiet ta‘ reli[jon jew twemmin reli[ju\, di\abilità, età, orjentament sesswali, u ori[ini razzjali jew etnika il-perjodu ta‘ l-istazzjonar post tax-xogħol espożizzjoni għall-ħsejjes il-parir tal-persuna kompetenti

Table 3: Lexical preferences in intra-linguistic translation EU Legal Maltese orjentazzjoni sesswali redundancies kollettivi aċċidenti fuq ix-xogħol u ta' mard ikkaġunat mix-xogħol kalkulazzjoni talkontribuzzjonijiet polza ta' prevenzjoni stima ta' riskju l-età tal-pensjoni kumpens kontribuzzjonijiet stabbiliment u stima tar-riskji l-għan ħaddiema ħaddiema temporanji ħaddiema impjegati ihaddiem ir-rati minimi ta' ħlas xogħol ħtiġiet minimi emissjoni tal-ħoss

National Legal Maltese orjentament sesswali sensji kollettivi in`identi li jinvolvu s-sa]]a u ssigurtà fil-post tax-xog]ol kalkolu tal-kontribuzzjonijiet

Anglicism > Italianism

policy ta' prevenzjoni Italianism > Anglicism evalwazzjoni ta‘ dawk ir-riskji l-età ta‘ l-irtirar benefiċċji Amonti Determinazzjoni u evalwar ta’riskji L-iskop/iskopijiet Semitic word > Italianism impjegati impjegati stazzjonati f’Malta persuni impjegati Prinċipal rati ta’ paga minimi impjieg/okkupazzjoni/servizz bżonnijiet minimi emissjonijiet ta’ storbju

Table 4: Source language-variation : from EU to national legal Maltese

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese EU Legal Maltese paga benefiċċji għas-superstiti u allowances tal-familja it-trasferiment ta' drittijiet ta' pensjoni oriġini tar-razza jew l-etniċità skemi tax-xogħol ta' sigurtà soċjali diskriminazzjoni standards applikabbli ambjent li jintimida, ostili, degradanti, umiljanti u offensiv l-ispejjeż tal-vjaġġ, ta' l-alloġġ jew ta' l-ikel aġenziji ta' spezzjoni u korpi responsabbli mis-sigurtà istruzzjonijiet

125

National Legal Maltese Rimunerazzjoni benefiċċji tas-superstiti u allowances għall familja it-trasferiment ta' drittijiet għal pensjoni ori[ini razziali jew etnika skemi ta‘sigurtà soċjali okkupazzjonali trattament diskriminatorju standards li japplikaw ambjent intimidatorju, ostili, degradanti,umiljanti jew offensiv għall-persuna li tiġi hekk spejjeż ta‘ vvjaġġar, ikel u alloġġ il-korp jew korpijet

Style Shifting Variation in Preposition

Variation in Modifiers

Noun-Morphology Variation

istruzzjoni

Table 5: Micro-linguistic variation in national legal Maltese EU Directives 76/207/EEC: ID-DIRETTIVA TALKUNSILL dwar l-implimentazzjoni talprinċipju ta‘ trattament ugwali għall-irġiel u nnisa għal dak li għandu x‘jaqsam ma‘ l-aċċess għall-impjiegi, taħriġ professjonali, promozzjoni, u kondizzjonijiet tax-xogħol 2000/43/EC: ID-DIRETTIVA TAL-KUNSILL li timplimenta l-prinċipju tat-trattament ugwali bejn il-persuni irrespettivament mill-oriġini tar-razza jew l-etniċità 2000/78/EC: ID-DIRETTIVA TAL-KUNSILL li tistabbilixxi qafas ġenerali għall-ugwaljanza fit-trattament fl-impjieg u fix-xogħol 2002/73/EC: ID-DIRETTIVA TAL-PARLAMENT EWROPEW U TAL-KUNSILL li temenda d-Direttiva tal-Kunsill 76/207/KEE 2006/54/EC: DIRETTIVA TALPARLAMENT EWROPEW U TALKUNSILL dwar l-implimentazzjoni talprinċipju ta‘ opportunitajiet indaqs u ta‘ trattament ugwali ta‘ l-irġiel u nnisa fi kwistjonijiet ta‘ impjiegi u xogħol (tfassil mill-ġdid) 1989/391/EEC: Id-Direttiva tal-Kunsill dwar lintroduzzjoni ta' miżuri sabiex jinkoraġġixxu titjib fis-sigurtà u s-saħħa tal-ħaddiema fuq ixxogħol

Maltese Laws of implementation LEĠISLAZZJONI SUSSIDJARJA 452.95: REGOLAMENTI DWAR TRATTAMENT UGWALI FL-IMPIEGI (2004)

KAP. 424: ATT DWAR L-AWTORITÀ GĦAS-SAĦĦA U SSIGURTÀ FUQ IL-POST TAX-XOGĦOL

126 EU Directives 2003/10/EC: Ir-Direttiva 2003/10/KE talParlament Ewropew u tal-Kunsill tas-6 ta‘ Frar 2003 dwar il-ħtiġiet minimi ta‘ saħħa u sigurtà li jirrigwardaw l-esposizzjoni ta‘ ħaddiema għal riskji li jirriżultaw minn aġenti fiżiċi (ħoss) 92/85/KEE: ID-DIRETTIVA TAL-KUNSILL dwar l-introduzzjoni ta‘ mizuri biex jinkoraġġixxu t-titjib fis-saħħa u s-sigurtà fuq il-post tax-xogħol għall-ħaddiema nisa tqal u ħaddiema li welldu reċentement, jew li qed ireddgħu 98/59/KE: Id-Direttiva tal-Kunsill dwar lapprossimazzjoni tal-liġijiet ta‘ l-Istati Membri dwar redundancies kollettivi 86/378/KE: Id-Direttiva tal-Kunsill dwar limplimentazzjoni tal-prinċipju ta' trattament ugwali għal irġiel u nisa fi skemi tax-xogħol ta' sigurtà soċjali 96/97/KE: id-Direttiva dwar limplimentazzjoni tal-prinċipju ta‘ trattament ugwali għall-irġiel u n-nisa fi skemi taxxogħol tas-sigurtà soċjali 96/71/KE: id-Direttiva dwar l-impjieg ta‘ ħaddiema fil-qafas ta‘ prestazzjoni ta‘ servizzi

Laura Mori Maltese Laws of implementation A.L. 158: ATT DWAR L-AWTORITÀ GĦASSAĦĦA U S-SIGURTÀ FUQ IL-POST TAXXOGĦOL

LEĠISLAZZJONI SUSSIDJARJA 452.91 REGOLAMENTI DWAR IL-ĦARSIEN TAL-MATERNITÀ (IMPIEG)

LEĠISLAZZJONI SUSSIDJARJA 452.80 REGOLAMENTI DWAR SENSJI KOLLETTIVI (ĦARSIEN TA‘ L-IMPIEGI) LEĠISLAZZJONI SUSSIDJARJA 318.20 REGOLAMENTI DWAR TRATTAMENT INDAQS FI SKEMI TA‘ SIGURTÀ SOĊJALI OKKUPAZZJONALI

LEĠISLAZZJONI SUSSIDJARJA 452.82 REGOLAMENTI DWAR IMPJEGATI STAZZJONATI F‘MALTA

Table 6: Sample of investigation

References Brincat, Joseph (1992): La lingua italiana a Malta. Storia, scuola e società. Malta: Quaderno dell‘Istituto Italiano di Cultura Brincat, Joseph (1996): Maltese words. An etymological analysis of the Maltese lexicon, in: Lüdtke, Jens (ed.), Romania Arabica (Festschrift für Reinhold Kontzi). Tübingen: Narr, 111–116. Brincat, Joseph (2003): Malta. Una storia linguistica. Genova: Le Mani. Caruana, Sandro (2006): Elementi italiani nel maltese europeizzato, in: Banfi, Emanuele & Innàccaro, Gabriele (eds.), Lo spazio linguistico italiano e le ―lingue esotiche‖. Rapporti e reciproci influssi. Roma: Bulzoni, 395–407. Caruana, Sandro (2009); Terminology of Italian origin used in EU Maltese. A case of linguistic ―Europeanisation‖?, in: Comrie, Bernard; Fabri, Ray; Hume, Elizabeth; Mifsud, Manwel; Stolz, Thomas & Vanhove, Martine (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 355–375. Chircop, John (1997): Il lessico italiano della giustizia a Malta. Tesi di laurea non pubblicata in Sociolinguistica, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università degli studi di Firenze.

Linguistic variation in legal Maltese

127

Chircop, John (2000): Il lessico italiano nella lingua della giustizia a Malta, in: Lingua Nostra 3–4, 85–94. Chircop, John (2003): L‘italiano scalfito. Resistenze, cedimenti e recuperi dell‘italiano nella lingua della giustizia a Malta, in: Valentini, Ada; Molinelli, Piera; Cuzzolin, Pierluigi & Bernini, Giuliano (eds.), Ecologia Linguistica. Società di Linguistica Italiana, Roma: Bulzoni, 247–260. Cosmai, Domenico (2001): Il linguaggio delle istituzioni comunitarie tra creazione terminologica e resa traduttiva, in: Rivista internazionale di tecnica della traduzione 5/2000, Trieste: Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori, 1–16. Cosmai, Domenico (2003): Tradurre per l‘Unione europea, Milano: Hoepli. European commission (2010) Lawmaking in the EU multilingual environment, Directorate-General, http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/studies/multilingual_lawmaking_en.pdf Falkner, Gerda; Hartlapp, Miriam; Leiber, Simone & Treib, Oliver (2004): Non-compliance with EU directives in the member states: opposition through the backdoor?, in: West European Politics, 23(3), 452–473. Fiorini, Stanley & Zabbara, Giacomo (2006): Documentary sources of Maltese history. Malta: University of Malta. Goffin, Roger (1997) : L‘eurolecte: le langage d‘une Europe communautaire en devenir, in: Terminologie et Traduction. La revue des services linguistiques des institutions européennes 1, 63–73. Mazzon, Gabriella (1993): English in Malta, in: English World-Wide 14, 171–208. Megale, Fabrizio (2008): Teorie della traduzione giuridica fra diritto comparato e ―translation studies‖. Napoli: Editoriale Scientifica. Mifsud, Manwel (1995): Loan verbs in Maltese: a descriptive and comparative study. Leiden: Brill. Mori, Laura (2001): La traduzione interlinguistica dei documenti ufficiali della Commissione europea, in: Terminologie et Traduction. La revue des services linguistiques des institutions européennes 1, 36–123. Mori, Laura (2003): L‘euroletto: genesi e sviluppo dell‘italiano comunitario, in: Valentini, Ada; Molinelli, Piera; Cuzzolin, Pierluigi & Bernini, Giuliano (eds.), Ecologia Linguistica. Società di Linguistica Italiana, Roma: Bulzoni, 473–492. Mori, Laura (2005): L‘italiano lingua della legislazione europea, in: Turchetta, Barbara; Mori, Laura & Ranucci, Elisa (eds.): Il mondo in italiano. Varietà ed usi internazionali della lingua. Bari: Laterza Editore, 73–106 Mori, Laura (2007): La dimensione verticale dell‘euroletto. Europeismi tra creazione comunitaria e linguaggio giornalistico, in: AA.VV., Identità e diversità nella lingua e nella letteratura italiana, ―Atti del XVIII Convegno dell‘AISLLI‖, Belgio, 119–131. Mori, Laura (in press): Euroletto e maltese. Un‘analisi linguistico-contrastiva del maltese nella traduzione della normativa comunitaria, Annual Conference of Italian Linguistics, Università degli Studi di Verona. Sciriha, Lydia & Vassallo, Mario (2006): Living languages in Malta. Malta: IT Printing. Tosi, Arturo (2007): Un italiano per l‘Europa. La traduzione come prova di vitalità. Roma: Carocci. Tosi, Arturo & Visconti, Jacqueline (2004): L‘ ―europeizzazione‖ della lingua italiana, in: Lingua italiana d‘oggi 1, 151–174. Wagner, Emma; Bech, Svend & Martinez, Jesús M. (2002): Translating for the European Union institutions. Manchester-Southampton: St- Jerome.

Part II Morphology and Syntax

MARIS CAMILLERI (SURREY/UK)

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

Abstract Maltese has a separate set of [–NOM] pronouns which are marked for being either a [+/–cl]. The pronominal clitic type which exists in the language is analysed as a morphosyntactic or special clitic which participates in the formation of a lexically-shared phonological word-form with its host. It is proposed that Maltese pronominal clitics, focusing on verbal enclitics, have an unmarked Case form, but which can change in the presence of a procliticised Case marker, and in turn results in a different grammatical function. It will be shown that a particular Case-marked form can have two functions: that of a core, or non-core argument. The analysis of enclitics in Maltese, which can in certain contexts have a resumptive function, will be contrasted with an opposing analysis which regards these bound elements as agreement markers or incorporated pronominal forms.

0. Introduction The paper starts off with an inventory of Maltese pronouns, where it is posited that there exists a [–NOM] set of pronouns which is distinguished by a [+/–cl] feature, and which is treated as a counterpart to the [+NOM] pronominal set in the language. Section 1 consists of evidence that the [–NOM] set, in particular the [+cl] subset, should be treated as pronominal enclitic forms, rather than inflectional affixes, on the basis of diagnostics which can differentiate between the two grammatical categories in Maltese, which in turn has an effect on how to best analyse this set of forms at the constituent-structure level. The focus of this paper is on verbal enclitics. The second section proceeds by giving a thorough analysis of the [+cl] pronominal forms and functions, whereas in the following section, a number of arguments are given which illustrate the fact that the set of pronominal clitics in Maltese are not merely phonological clitics, or simple/contracted clitic forms, but are morphosyntactic/special in nature. An alternative approach to is given in section 4, which discusses occurrences where these forms, whilst retaining the same syncretic form, have developed and become object agreement markers or affixes, which may involve pronominal incorporation with a potential non-referential function.

Maris Camilleri

132

1. Pronominal forms in Maltese 1.1. An inventory In this section I propose that Maltese has the inventory of full/strong pronominal forms, as shown in (Table 1), which are distinguished from each other by a [+/–NOM] feature. Under the [+NOM] column, we get a set of pronominal forms which are characterized by suppletion. The second set of pronominal forms in the [–NOM] column can be used either as an OBJect or Indirect Object (IO) grammatical function (GF).1 1SG 2SG 3M.SG 3F.SG 1PL 2PL 3PL

[+NOM] jien int hu hija aħna intom huma

[–NOM] lili lilek lilu lilha lilna lilkom lilhom

Table 1: The inventory of full pronouns in Maltese What is immediately striking in the case of the [–NOM] pronominal set which is being posited here, is that, what we seem to have is lil as the stem or base within a paradigmatic set of word-forms, which is brought about via the attachment of bound elements aligned at the base form‘s right edge. Before proceeding with an analysis of the bound element‘s function in relation to its base-form, the other inventory of pronominal forms which exist in the language is given in (Table 2). These set of forms are variants of the [–NOM] pronominal forms presented in (Table 1), and the basis of variation is a [+/–cl] feature. [–cl] lili lilek lilu lilha lilkom lilhom

[+cl]2 =ni ~ =i =ek =u ~ =h3 =ha =kom =hom

Table 2: The inventory of [–NOM] pronominal forms If one merely looks at the morphophonological forms of the [+/–cl] sets in (Table 2), and assumes that the [+cl] set is merely a phonologically weak counterpart of the [–cl] 1

2 3

The use of IO as a GF label here, which shall later be revised as DAT OBJ, instead of the more conventional OBL GF label used in LFG, is required for Maltese, as it helps bring out some real differences between OBLs which are PPs, i.e. introduced by a P-head, vs. IOs, which, when lil is present, this functions as a DAT-marker, and the phrase is hence not a PP, but an NP or DP as shown in (1c–d). Moreover, see Camilleri (2010) for further differences which help distinguish between the treatment of IOs/DAT OBJs and OBLs in Maltese. Refer to section 1.4 for an explanation as to why the grammar requires a [+cl] feature. An instance of phonologically-conditioned allomorphy.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

133

set, and thus considers them as simple clitics in Zwicky & Pullum‘s (1983) terminology, is incorrect, as shall be displayed in section (3). True instances of phonological cliticisation in Maltese would be the phonologically-conditioned cliticisation/contraction of prepositions in the case of vowel-following contexts, as in ta‘ Pawlu ‗of Paul‘ vs. t‘ommu ‗of his mother‘. The fact that the function of the bound element in lilek has not been discussed immediately above when it was first mentioned is because as will be shown in the following section, it is necessary to discuss the function of the element -ek in lilek, in the light of a comparison between the added bound elements in (Table 2), marked as [+cl].

1.2. A justification for the existence of the two [–NOM] pronominal sets This section starts with a justification for a proposal favoring the non-composite approach to lilek and the rest of the paradigm in (Table 1), which treats the whole form as a pronoun on a par with its [+NOM] counterpart int, and does not treat lil as having a separate predicate value which then interacts with -ek to get to a combined/compositional meaning. This analysis will eventually help exhibit the difference between the varied bound elements we are dealing with, i.e. the -ek akin to lilek vs. the [+cl] =ek. If we start by looking at (1a): (1a)

Raj-t see-PERF.1SG ‗I saw Mary‘

lil ACC

Marija Maria

the DP Marija is treated as the predicate‘s (PRED) sole internal argument fulfilling the verb‘s lexical subcategorisation requirement to have an OBJ GF present in its argumentstructure (a-structure). Here, I assume that lil4 in Maltese, as used in (1a) is an ACC 4

lil, as used in this context, is only obligatory because it precedes a Proper [+Human/Animate] Noun in OBJ position, as, on the other hand, when such nouns appear at the left or right edge periphery, (here I am using the term periphery in the sense understood in Adger et al. 2004), and are thus some kind of Discourse Function (DF), lil is optional, as shown in (1): (1) U Pawlu? and Paul ‗And what about Paul?‘ ((‘l) Pawlu) | ta=h ħass ħażin | ((‘l) Pawlu) (ACC).Paul gave.3.SG.M=3.SG.M feeling bad. SG.M (ACC).Paul ‗As for Paul, he fainted‘ What differs in this topicalised construction is that ‘l Pawlu, under a movement analysis is treated as in an Ā-position, whereas under a base-generation lexicalist theory of grammar which is being assumed here, this position is base-generated in SpecCP, (at least in the Maltese data) and is related to, and generalised across all types of Unbounded Dependency Constructions (UBDs) in Maltese. TOPicalisation will be looked at in section 3.1.3. What should be added here is that having optional lil marking in front of Pawlu in the right periphary, in (1), may be treated as marginal in Standard

Maris Camilleri

134

marker.5 Under the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis which is being assumed here, i.e. that of Bresnan (2001: 92), what can be present on a constituent-structure (c-structure) node is constrained, and only ‗morphologically complete words‘ can be present as leaves on these nodes. If enough prosodic evidence can tell us that lil functions in more or less the same way as its contracted counterpart ‘l, where it will thus be treated as a fullyfledged morphological form but which is nevertheless prosodically deficient, then it is plausible to allow lil to appear under the same N-node in the c-structure as shown in (1c) below, which would in turn be assuming some sublexical rule as in (1b): (1b)

N→

(C.Mrkr) (↑Case) = {ACC | DAT}

N |D ↑=↓ ↑=↓

where a Case Marker can optionally precede a nominal base word, depending on a number of contrasts, including the base‘s GF/DF, and whether it is a proper noun, that is involved. The Case assigned by the Case Marker can optionally be ACC or DAT, depending on the argument the GFs are satisfying.6 (1c)

NP N‘ N0 lil

Marija

If on the other hand prosodic tests can tell us that lil is truly distinct from ‘l, lil will still never project a phrase of its own, as evidence from the phrase lit-tifel ‗lil:DEF-boy‘ shows. Lit-tifel is a DP/NP and is not affected though the procliticisation of ‘l onto the definite article. While ‘l does not pose any problem in the case of lit-tifel, since ‘l always functions as a bound element, which is required as some kind of ACC case affix in the lexicon, yet, with regard to lil as a strong form, some kind of C-node (as a represen-

5

6

Maltese, and may consequently be dialectal, yet, since it is available for the author and other speakers, then any given analysis should also be able to account for this possibility. See also section 3.2. An anonymous reviewer asks why do we not simply call the lil in (1a) as an OBJ marker? While in (1a) lil marks the OBJ as syntactically ACC, the form lil can also be used to mark DAT OBJs in Maltese, as will be discussed in section 2.1, and also refer to fn. 1. Moreover, as suggested in fn. 4, lil in Maltese may also mark TOPIC DFs, as well as FOCUS DFs, such as with the use of the form ‘l min ‗whom‘, thus lil has a more general function than OBJ-making alone, although as Louisa Sadler (p.c) pointed out, it is true that such DFs are in turn functionally or anaphorically only associated with OBJs/DAT OBJs. A discussion on Case will be taken up in section 2.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

135

tation for syntactic Case), can be proposed, but on which the diacritic ( ) is added in line with Toivonen‘s (2003) non-projecting analysis of c-structure nodes, where lil, under this analysis would obligatorily need to be adjoined to an X0 phrase structure node, as shown in (1d), as it cannot take a complement or be modified. (1d)

NP N‘ N0 Ĉ

N0

If (1d) turns out to be the most suitable analysis for lil marking in Maltese, then the sublexical rule proposed in (1b) will not be required, but would require to be substituted by an Adjunct rule (Asudeh 2002), which will allow lil to adjoin to a lexical item which then maps onto an argument function. This would in turn also explain the same placement of lil, such that it can never occur at the left-edge of a phrase, as the ungrammaticality of *lil it-tifel ‗ACC DEF-boy‘ suggests, where in this case, lil is wrongly subcategorised for a DP phrasal element. Having described thoroughly what we have in (1a), we now turn to discuss the use of the pronominal forms which may alternatively substitute the DP Marija in (1a), as shown in (2a–b). (2a)

Raj-t see-PERF.1SG ‗I saw her‘

lilha her

(2b)

Raj-t=ha see-PERF.1SG=3SG.F ‗I saw her‘

If we substitute Marija with lilha in (2a), it is not the case that it is the bound element -ha which is substituting the DP, as opposed to the =ha in (2b), rather, in (2a) it is the composite form lilha which acts as a proform substituting the DP, and hence, it is following this analysis, that a fully-fledged [–NOM] pronominal set is posited in (Table 1). Thus, the bound element on lilha in (2a) does not have a pronominal status in itself, but simply functions as a regular inflectional suffix which carries [NUM], [GEND] and [PERS] υfeatures, as expected from an affix within a pronominal form. The bound element =ha in (2b), on the other hand, does indeed have a pronominal status in its own right. A further piece of evidence favouring the treatment of the [+cl] element as a pronoun, comes from its additional function as a reflexive pronoun in the language. While Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 203–204) show that Maltese uses two strategies to express reflexivity: The reflexive pronouns nifs- ‗self‘ and ruħ-, in Camilleri (2009: 63– 37) the use of the pronominal enclitic as yet another reflexive strategy was highlighted, where the pronominal enclitic also functions as a reflexive pronoun, as shown in (3).

Maris Camilleri

136

(3a)

(3b)

N-af=ni sew 1SG-know=1SG well ‗I know myself well‘ Raj-t=ni bqaj-t see-PERF.1SG=1SG leave-PERF.1SG ‗I saw myself as having fallen behind‘

lura behind

Whilst the occurrence of many more of these constructions were considered as something overwhelming in Camilleri (2009), yet, here it shall be claimed that this need not be so, as what we have is an OBJ enclitic which is bound to the SUBJ GF, which, as a result functions as a reflexive form. From an LFG perspective, this is quite interesting, in that the enclitic must permit both the binding equations for pronouns and those for reflexives (Louisa Sadler, p.c). Before proceeding to give a potential c-structure representation of the verbal enclitic in Maltese, having demonstrated and justified the analysis of a [+/–NOM] pronominal set, the imminent question which follows is to determine on what basis has it been decided that the items in question are actually clitics.

1.3. Differentiating between clitics and inflectional affixes The issue discussed here looks at what constitutes any real difference between inflectional affixes and clitics in general. The main classic criteria for distinguishing between the mentioned two types of grammatical categories, are those set by Zwicky & Pullum (1983). The problem with some of these diagnostics, however, is that they fail to capture the continuous language change, as is true of all attempts at defining linguistic categories, an anonymous reviewer points out. At this point, it is important to note that cliticisation is to be considered as a state or phase within a continuum-path of grammatical category changes, where the left-most end starts with reduced word-forms whereas the right-most end reflects a final grammaticalised process through affixation. This trajectory is referred to as a ‗CLINE‘, in Heggie & Ordónez (2005: 2), and is represented in (4). (4)

content item > grammatical word > clitic > inflectional affix

A discussion which relates to the above phenomenon of grammatical category transition, illustrating some ways in which pronominal enclitics in Maltese have changed, is given in section (4). The point for raising the issue of category change here is that, as expected, in the course of a grammatical element being half way between a clitic and an inflectional affix, Zwicky & Pullum‘s (1983: 503–504) criteria cannot be rigorously adhered to. In this section I shall only be mentioning three of the most relevant criteria for Maltese.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

A.7

137

Clitics can exhibit a low degree of selection with respect to their hosts, while affixes exhibit a high degree of selection with respect to their stem

This criterion is what mostly distinguishes Maltese enclitic forms from inflectional affixes, apart from the fact that pronominal enclitics in Maltese are optional, unless they are used as resumptive pronouns, as shall be discussed in section 3.1.3. As also suggested in Kroeger (2005: 326) ―if the bound forms sometimes attach to words other than the verb which selects them, they are almost certainly clitic pronouns; if they are always attached to the verb, they could be either clitic pronouns or agreement markers‖. Pronominal enclitics in Maltese attach to V, P, and N hosts, whereas, the -ek in lilek or the n- in nara ‗see.1SG‘ are simply only attached onto their respective hosts, i.e. a lil stem and a V, and, as discussed in section (1.2), -ek in lilek does not have any pronominal status. C.

Morphophonological idiosyncrasies are more characteristic of affixed words than of clitic groups

While we do get morphophonological idiosyncrasies with affixation in Maltese, such as in the case of suppletive morphology, yet, in the case of clitics, or clitic groups, i.e. the host + clitic combinations, the only morphophonological changes which we get there are phonologically conditioned, and are thus not idiosyncratic at all. F.

Clitics can attach to material already containing clitics, but affixes cannot

This criterion correctly predicts the nature of clitic clusters in that it allows for clitics to attach with other clitics. It is not the case however that an affix attaches to a clitic. This somehow implies that cliticisation is peripheral to affixation, and at the same time may also be suggestive of the optional nature of the clitics themselves. With this criterion (at least in the case of Maltese, but also attested for Caribbean Spanish in Heggie & Ordónez 2005: 3), problems however arise, when it comes to the status of the NEG marker -x, which has traditionally always been assumed to be an inflectional affix in Maltese. In treating it so, it becomes a counterexample to this criterion as this element is able to combine with a clitic (or clitic cluster), as shown in (5), having attested that the pronominal forms in (Table 2) are actually pronominal enclitic forms. (5)

Ma not/NEG ‗I did not eat it‘

kil-t=u=x eat-PERF.1SG=3SG.M=NEG

Although not much work, if any, has been done on the morphosyntactic nature of the NEG element =x in Maltese, one however may perhaps want to reanalyse its treatment and consider it as a contracted form of xejn ‗nothing‘, where as a result it would be

7

I shall be using the original lettering for the respective criteria as found in Zwicky & Pullum (1983: 503–504).

138

Maris Camilleri

treated as some kind of simple clitic.8 If this is the case, then as expected, in accordance with criterion F, =x would be able to combine with other clitic-type elements easily. Moreover, criterion A mentioned above can also be used as evidence favouring the treatment of =x as a clitic, however, this observation will not be pursued here. The aim of this section was to point out some differences between the clitic and affix grammatical categories, and to exhibit the differences which exist between an inflectional affix such as -ek in lilek and the enclitic =ek in rajtek ‗I saw you‘, where in relation to criterion F, while we can have =ek in rajtek attaching onto some already present clitic group, -ek in lilek can only be attached to the base form lil. However, this of course does not exclude any diachronic hypothesis which may want to state that the affix -ek has originated from the clitic =ek, as can be predicted from the grammatical category path representation in (4) above, and as will also be discussed in section 4.

1.4. A c-structure analysis of verbal enclitics in Maltese Having somewhat established why it is the case that the grammatical status of the bound pronominal forms in (Table 2) is that of clitics, this section looks at potential cstructure analyses which may represent this element. If we take (2b) above for illustration, primarily, unlike inflectional affixes, the presence of the enclitic is optional, in that it can be substituted by a fully-fledged pronoun or NP/DP. The enclitic is thus not treated as an instance of pronominal incorporation, as in an LFG analysis, this would be referring to the use of affixes in Maltese, such as SUBJ prefixes, which may optionally, in the presence of no SUBJ NP/DP in the construction, take a predicate value which would be pronominal and thus function as the actual SUBJs themselves within a given functional-structure (f-structure). This would be a typical PRO-DROP analysis. (Refer also to section 3.2). For this reason, a structure like (6) is not an appropriate enclitic analysis, as that is what would have been the case if inflectional-affixes were involved, where as a result of Lexical Integrity there is no syntactic representation for these. A separate c-structure node will be postulated for Maltese enclitics, which will essentially bring out the fact that the enclitic is a syntactic element in its own right, and it is only due to the enclitic‘s inherent prosodic deficiency in Maltese, that this element and its host form one phonological word. While Sadler (1997), Broadwell (2007), and Mittendorf & Sadler (2008), within an LFG perspective, consider the type of clitics they discuss to be lexical clitics, i.e. clitics at an X0 level which do not project their own phrases, this analysis cannot be retained for Maltese however, since, as shown in the 8

Here I would like to thank Alexandra Vella for pointing out to me that the hypothesis of treating =x as a contracted/simple clitic counterpart to xejn, as posited here, also finds proof in prosody and intonation. One may here add that in Benmamoun (1999: 185), the treatment of a similar morphological negation form in Moroccan Arabic is also treated as an instance of encliticisation.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

139

contrast between (7a–b), where, while tajjeb ‗good.3SG.M‘ functions as an adverb with default masculine agreement, taking scope over the whole VP in (7a), in (7b), the feminine form is used, showing that what is being modified is the feminine enclitic form in OBJ position. The enclitic in Maltese can also take a complement, as shown in (7c), which, like modification, is something atypical of any affix or non-projecting word. (6)

IP ↑=↓ VP ↑=↓ V‘ ↑=↓ V rajtha

(7a)

(7b)

(7c)

Raj-t=ha tajjeb (minn see-PERF.1SG=3SG.F good.3SG.M from lit: ‗I saw her well from where I was‘ Raj-t=ha tajba/*tajba see-PERF.1SG=3SG.F good.3SG.F/*good.3SG.M ‗I saw her good/suitable for her work‘9 Raj-t=ha t-rid wisq see-PERF.1SG=3SG.F 3SG.F-want a lot lit: ‗I saw her (she) needs a lot of work‘ ‗I saw that she/it needs a lot of work‘

fejn kon-t) where be-PERF.1SG għal for

xogħol=ha work=3SG.F

xogħol work

Given this data, the enclitic is treated as a syntactic element which projects its own head. Although issues with regard to coordination scope may potentially interfere with this proposed analysis, these shall not be discussed here and are left for further research. The proposed analysis for the verbal enclitic in (2b) is (8), where the enclitic is treated just as any other NP/DP functioning as the verb‘s OBJ GF. It is important to note that the structure in (8) does not violate the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis discussed in 1.2, since it has so far been attested that enclitics are not instances of morphological pronominal incorporation in Maltese.

9

Note that the enclitic however cannot be modified by a clause which is introduced with li ‗that‘, thus explaining why a relative construction cannot be used to modify a pronominal enclitic. Refer to Camilleri (2010) and section 3.1.

Maris Camilleri

140

(8)

IP ↑=↓ VP ↑=↓ V‘ ↑=↓ (↓PRED) = ‗saw‘ (↓TENSE) = PST (↓SUBJ PRED) = ‗pro‘ (↓SUBJ PERS) = 1 (↓SUBJ NUM) = SG ⇓=↓ V

DP (↑OBJ)=↓ D‘ (↓PRED) = ‗pro‘ (↓PRN TYPE) = +cl (↓CASE) = ACC10 (↓PERS) = 3 (↓NUM) = SG (↓GEND) = FEM ⇓=↓ D rajtha

In addition to the syntactic representation of this c-structure, it also has reference to the fact that what we have is one phonological word when the enclitic combines with its host, and is shared by both elements, hence the name ―Lexical Sharing‖ (Wescoat 2005), where the word-form rajtha ―corresponds to two X0 categories in the c-structure‖ Alsina (2010: 6). Through lexical sharing, the word-form is treated as an exponent of the composition of the verbal host + the enclitic, which requires that both these constituents are adjacent, thus explaining why the word-form is ‗order preserving‘. It is here that the [+cl] feature on enclitic pronominal forms may be useful in the overall grammar presented here. This is because lexical sharing will only be constrained to take place if for example, an OBJ DP in the phrase structure rule is annotated with (↑PRED) = ‗pro‘ and (↑PRN TYPE) = +cl. Via a lexical sharing analysis, one can simultaneously postulate a syntactic enclitic, i.e. one which cannot function in a structure such as (6) above, and at the same time be able to account for stress-shifts, stem-form alternations, and phonologically-conditioned enclitic form variation at the level of the phonological word, for which see a description in Camilleri (2009). Without this analysis, postulating post-lexical cliticisation alone would have been paradoxical, since in that case the enclitic would have been required to ‗show no morphological or lexical phonological interaction‘ with its host Mittendorf & Sadler (2008: 9), which is not the case for the Maltese verbal enclitic. 10

The requirement for the pronominal form‘s CASE attribute to be specified as ACC, rather than –NOM, as specified in (Table 2), will be discussed in section 2.1.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

141

2. An analysis of the [+cl] [–NOM] pronominal form The [–NOM] Case which I have assigned to the pronominal set in Table 2, but in particular to the [+cl] form, implies a conflation of the non-NOM syntactic Cases found in the language. The forms presented there are the ones which will be called the ―unmarked θ ACC pronominal forms‖ which substitute OBJ and OBJ GFs. [+cl] pronominal forms however, can also substitute IO GFs, or rather DAT OBJ GFs.

2.1. =ek vs. =l=ek Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 359) treat the function of the form =lek in jiftaħlek as an IO/DAT OBJ function. In this discussion however, rather than adhering to the traditional dichotomy and say that Maltese has two separate sets of bound pronominal forms, Fenech‘s (1998) intuition to treat the l within lek as separate from the pronominal form itself will be followed. Contra Fenech however, the l as a contracted form of lil will not be treated as a preposition, rather, the analysis here is paralleled with that of Fabri (1993), where, as also displayed in the treatment of lil in section 1 above, this was taken to be an ACC marker. Following Borer & Grodzinsky (1986), in relation to their treatment of lǝ in front of IOs in Hebrew, l in front of the pronominal form =ek in jiftaħlek ‗he opens for you‘, for example, is treated as the procliticised form of the DAT lil marker, which obligatorily precedes DAT OBJ NPs in Maltese, unlike the ACCmarking lil, whose presence is determined in accordance with the animacy hierarchy, as mentioned in footnote 4. The proposal posited here is that the [–NOM] [+cl] pronominal forms are the unmarked ACC forms. This thus implies that when l precedes this unmarked form, what we get is a DAT-marked pronominal form which can substitute IO/DAT OBJ GFs. The sublexical entries for =ek and l can be specified as follows in (9): (9a)

=ek

PRN

(9b)

=l=

PART

(↑PRED) (↑PRON TYP) (↑CASE) (↑PERS) (↑NUM) (↑CASE)

= ‗pro‘ = +cl = ACC =2 = SG = DAT

(9a) shows that the pronominal‘s default Case is ACC, whereas in combination with the l, which is treated as a simple cliticised particle whose function is that of a DAT-marker, the proclitic imposes its own morphosyntactic DAT Case and overrides the otherwise default ACC Case. While the discussion here will not seek to see whether the procliticised l should be treated as the equivalent of the ACC or the DAT lil, or whether Maltese truly has two varied lil forms; i.e. one which precedes OBJs and another which precedes IOs/DAT OBJs,

Maris Camilleri

142

or furthermore whether these are actually one and the same homophonous form, what is definitely important to note is that while the ACC lil may be optional, or rather, determined by an animacy hierarchy, the procliticised form preceding a [+cl] pronominal form has to be obligatorily present, just as the lil preceding IO/DAT OBJ NPs. 2.1.1. The nature of [+cl] pronominals in Dative Shift vs. Double Object Constructions In Camilleri (2009: 52–53), the analysis proposed in the previous section appeared to pose a problem for occurrences such as (10a–b), as well as Borg & Comrie‘s (1984: 116–117) observation on the way in which the verb ta ‗give‘ works with respect to the pronominal enclitic forms it is able to take, as shown in (10c). (10a) Meta n-asl-u n-semmgħ-u=k when 1-arrive-PL 1-hear:CAUSE-PL=2SG ‗When we arrive we‘ll make you hear the song‘ (10b) Għallim-t=hom il-grammatika illum, teach-PERF.1SG=3PL DEF-grammar today ‗I taught the students grammar today‘ (10c1) Ta l-ktieb lilu ≈ give.PERF.3SG.M DEF-book him ‗He gave the book to him‘ (10c2) Ta=h il-ktieb ≠ give.PERF.3SG.M=3SG.M DEF-book ‗He gave him the book‘

id-diska DEF-song.SG.F l-istudenti DEF-students ta=hu=l=u

*ta=l=u l-ktieb

Following further observation and research, it is proposed that what is present in (10a, b, and c2) is a Double Object Construction (DOC) which includes the OBJ and OBJθ GFs. This in turn allows the analysis proposed above to be maintained, as a DAT-marking proclitic is only present on a pronominal form when this substitutes an IO/DAT OBJ GF. The DOC as grammaticalised in Maltese should not be analysed under Larson‘s original (1988) analysis, where he equates these constructions to instances of Dative Shift, as will be evident through the data below. (11a) is a regular instance of a clause in which an OBJ precedes the IO,11 while (11b) is a Dative Shift construction where the IO/DAT OBJ GF enclitic precedes the OBJ GF il-grammatika, whereas in (11c), we get a DOC which is similar to (10b), where the same argument which was marked as DAT in (11a–b) is now ACC-marked and has an OBJ function, while what was the OBJ in (11a– b), now bears an OBJθ GF.

11

The use of the word regular here, when referring to an order in which OBJ˃ IO/DAT OBJ, has to do with the fact that this parallels the same ordering of the clitics in a clitic sequence, as shall be shown in section 3.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

143

(11a) Għallim-t=hie=l=hom il-grammatika teach-PERF.1SG=3SG.F=DAT=3PL DEF-grammar ‗I taught them the grammar‘ (11b) Għallim-t(i)=l=hom il-grammatika (11c) Għallimt=hom il-grammatika

2.2. One DAT-marked enclitic form: two functions Saying that the DAT-marked pronominal enclitic is used to substitute IO/DAT OBJ GFs is somewhat of an undergeneralisation, as it is not always the case that the DAT-marked enclitic functions only as a core argument. It is possible to have the presence of a DATmarked enclitic even when an IO/DAT OBJ is not one of the verb‘s core subcategorised arguments. While the DAT-marked enclitic form used with non-ditransitive and ditransitve verbs is one and the same form, yet, their function differs. When the DAT-marked form is attached onto the former type of verbs, this renders the use of the enclitic as an ―affected dative‖, according to Berman‘s (1982) terminology. Affected datives is an umbrella term, and there exist different kinds of affected datives. The type which shall be discussed here is the ―ethical dative‖, which, following Anderson (2005: 245) may be considered as a non-core argument that adds a semantic content corresponding to ‗on me/us/you‘ to the meaning of the sentence. The ethical dative‘s function according to Jaeggli (1986: 24) is to contribute some kind of benefective or affected θ-role to the verb, as shown in (12). (12a) Raqad=l=i t-tifel sleep.PERF.3SG.M=DAT=1SG DEF-boy ‗The boy slept (for me)‘ (12b) It-tifel kil(i)=l=ha t-tuffieħa DEF-boy eat.PERF.3SG.M=DAT=3SG.F DEF-apple ‗The boy ate the apple (for/to her)‘ Apart from looking at the verb‘s subcategorisation frame/a-structure, in order to distinguish whether a DAT-marked enclitic is being used as an IO/DAT OBJ or an ethical dative, one should observe that when this pronoun is attached onto a ditransitive verb, and thus functions as an IO/DAT OBJ GF, the pronominal enclitic can be substituted by a [– NOM] [–cl] object pronoun, as shown in the distinction between (13a–b), where lili substitutes =l=i, whereas on the other hand, an ethical dative cannot, as illustrated in the ungrammaticality of (14b). (13a) Bagħat=l=i send.PERF.3SG.M=DAT=1SG ‗He sent me a letter‘

ittra letter

Maris Camilleri

144

(13b) Bagħat ittra send.PERF.3SG.M letter ‗He sent a letter to me‘

lili me

(14a) Seraq=l=i l-portmoni stole.PERF.3SG.M=DAT=1SG DEF-purse ‗He stole the purse (for me)‘ (14b) *Seraq lili l-portmoni stole.PERF.3SG.M me DEF-purse ‗He stole the purse for me‘ The data in (14) corresponds with Borer & Grodzinsky‗S (1986: 180) comment where they say that ―ethical datives are obligatory clitics‖. Having touched upon briefly, and hinted at the mismatch in the distribution between the use of [+/–cl] [–NOM] pronouns, as illustrated in (14), the following section further demonstrates how the [+cl] pronominal set in Maltese is not merely a contracted or weak phonological form of the [–cl] counterparts, but rather, this set of pronouns displays its own idiosyncratic morphosyntactic functions and distributions.

3. Distinguishing between [+/–cl] pronouns in Maltese This section discusses evidence which shows why the [+cl] pronouns in Maltese are to be treated as a morphosyntactic clitic (as mentioned in section 1.1), which may be considered as a linguistic element ―whose position with respect to the other elements of the phrase or clause follows a distinct set of principles separate from those of the independently motivated syntax of free elements in the language‖ Anderson (2005: 31). The independent nature with which [+cl] pronouns function can be captured rather strongly in their asymmetric distribution when contrasted with their [–cl] counterparts.

3.1. The nature of the variation 3.1.1. Placement We may start with an important characteristic which deals with the placement and alignment of [+cl] pronouns in Maltese. As already demonstrated in the above sentences, [+cl] pronouns are bound in a fixed position at the right-edge of their respective hosts. This alignment differs from the independent syntactic nature with which [–cl] [– NOM] pronouns can operate, as shown in the distinction between (15a–b), where the pronoun lilu follows the NP ittra, while in (15a) the clitic‘s placement and alignment is in a fixed adjacent position to the verb.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

145

(15a) Jien bgħat-t=l=u ittra I send-PERF.1SG=DAT=3SG.M letter ‗I sent him a letter‘ (15b) Jien bgħat-t ittra lilu I send-PERF.1SG letter him ‗I sent a letter to him‘ 3.1.2. Combinations Another interesting property of pronominal enclitics in Maltese is that these can combine together to form clitic clusters including up to two [+cl] pronouns, as displayed in (11a), where each pronoun satisfies a different internal function of the verb‘s requirement, unless the DAT-marked enclitic is not an ethical dative, as discussed in section 2.2. This availability of two enclitic combinations, provided that they fulfil different GFs, is contrary to what takes place with fully-fledged [–cl] [–NOM] pronouns, where it is only one internal argument per clausal predicate that can be expressed by a [–cl] pronoun. Thus, while (16a) is possible, (16b) is ungrammatical. (16a) Xtraj-t=hie=l=hom buy-PERF.1SG=3SG.F=DAT=3PL ‗I bought it for them‘ (16b) *Xtrajt lilha lilhom As follows from (16a), another property of [+cl] pronouns which makes them independent from any similar treatment to [–cl] pronouns, as would be the case if we treat the [+cl] pronouns as simple clitics, is that, within the clitic cluster, the clitics‘ sequence is ordered in such a way that the ACC form precedes the DAT-marked form; OBJ ˃ IO/DAT OBJ. While this rigid ordering ordering is required with [+cl] pronouns, this is not the case with [–cl] [–NOM] pronouns and overt NPs. In relation to what was discussed in section 1.3 with respect to the use of the NEG element -x, we see that while a [+cl] pronoun requires that the NEG form follows the pronominal enclitic or the clitic cluster, in the case of the presence of a [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun, the NEG element attaches to the verb and precedes the fully-fledged pronoun in its linear ordering, as shown in the contrast between (17a–b). (17a) Ma ġib-t=hom=x not/NEG get-PERF.1SG=3PL=NEG ‗I did not get them‘ (17b) Ma ġibtx lilhom

Maris Camilleri

146

3.1.3. [+cl] [–NOM] pronouns as Resumptive Pronouns Another further issue related to the differences between [+/–cl] pronouns, which was not mentioned in Camilleri (2009) is that it is only [+cl] pronouns that can be used as resumptive pronouns (RPs), which, defined somewhat roughly are ordinary pronouns which used in argument positions (therefore have a GF status) and are anaphoricallybound (a-bound) with some DF. An illustration of this can be taken from Fabri & Borg (2002: 355), where they mention how topicalisation in Maltese is grammaticalised through the obligatory presence of the enclitic pronoun, as shown in (18). Their analysis of what constitutes a TOP NP/DP is identified as being ‗that NP that is equivalent to X in an answer to the question: And what about X?‘. (18)

U Pawlu x‘minn=u? and Paul what:from=3SG.M ‗And what about Paul?‘ Pawlu kellim-t=u / *lilu illum Paul speak-PERF-1SG=3SG.M today ‗As for Paul, coincidently I spoke to him today‘

In Camilleri (2010) however, a generalisation is posited whereby the obligatory enclitic which Fabri & Borg (2002) show that is required within a topic construction, is to be treated as part of a wider RP strategy which cuts across different types of unbounded dependency constructions (UBDs) (also known as Ā-movement constructions in nonModel Theoretic approaches). These include topicalisation, dislocation, relativisation and interrogation. As expected, however, such constructions are not all homogeneous in their use of RPs. (See Camilleri 2010 for more detail). Having made a rather strong statement above; i.e. that it is only [+cl] pronouns which can function as RPs in Maltese, it is important to note however that Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 36) comment on how (19a), which they still treat as grammatical, ‗feels rather cumbersome‘. (19a) Ġemma kitb-(e)t lill-kappillan Gemma write-PERF.3SG.F DAT.DEF-parish priest li lilu bagħt=u ittra anonima COMPL him send-PERF.3PL=3SG.M letter anonymous ‗Gemma wrote a letter to the parish priest to whom they sent an anonymous letter‘ While in Camilleri (2010) the sentence in (19a) is judged as ??/*, it is proposed that while the [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun lilu, as an instance of a resumptive strategy within a relative clause, appears to be ungrammatical, the sentence is highly ameliorated through the use of a [+cl] RP alongside with the presence of the [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun, as shown in (19b).12 12

See Camilleri (2011), where data for Maltese is given where it may optionally be the case that in instances where the [+/–DEF] head is an OBJ GF (but not in the DAT OBJ) in restrictive relative constructions, a preposed [–cl] [–NOM] pronominal form can function as a RP in the absence of a correferential enclitic form.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

147

(19b) Ġemma kitb-(e)t lill-kappillan Gemma write-PERF.3SG.F DAT.DEF-parish priest li lilu bagħt=u=l=u ittra anonima COMPL him send-PERF.3PL=3SG.M=DAT=3SG.M letter anonymous ‗Gemma wrote a letter to the parish priest to whom they sent an anonymous letter‘ Having the [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun present here does not nullify the statement made above, which acts as another criterion which is able to capture yet another way in which the function of [+/–cl] pronouns differ. The function of the [–cl] pronoun in (19b) is not that of a RP, rather, its effect is to somehow be a-bound with the [+cl] RP itself, and which is in turn also a-bound with the head of the relative clause lill-kappillan. (Refer also to section 3.2 below). Moreover, in relation to UBDs, a further distinction between [–cl] [–NOM] pronouns and [+cl] ones is that while the former can head a NRRC/ARC, (contra claims in the literature that pronouns in general cannot head relative constructions, such as Bianchi 1999), a [+cl] pronoun cannot Camilleri & Sadler (to appear). What follows in the next section is an account of how the above [+cl] RPs, in particular the ones which occur in constructions similar to (18), were wrongly treated as instances of clitic doubling, hence the heading (Pseudo) Clitic Doubling below.

3.2. An analysis of (Pseudo) Clitic Doubling in Maltese In Camilleri (2009) the phenomenon of what then appeared to be Clitic Doubling was discussed for Maltese. In the analysis given there, the author kept reiterating that what is available in the language, following Fabri (1993: 144), is a pronominal enclitic which saturates an internal argument position which can then be doubled by a corresponding NP or [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun in an adjunct position. Instances such as (18) above were treated as Clitic Doubling constructions, where the enclitic =u in kellimtu ‗speak-PERF1SG=3SG.M‘ was regarded as being doubled by Pawlu. However, further research and analyses on UBDs in Camilleri (2010) suggests that what was discussed in Camilleri (2009), following the analysis which Fabri & Borg (2002) give for topicalisation constructions, as shown in the previous section, is not truly one which involves Clitic Doubling. Under the LFG analysis followed here, Pawlu in (18) is treated as a base-generated DP in SpecCP, bearing a TOPIC DF within this UBD construction, as shown in (20). The enclitic is also base-generated where it is, i.e. as an OBJ of the verb.

Maris Camilleri

148

(20) CP DP ↑TOP = ↓ ↓TOPσ = ↑OBJσ

C‘ ↑=↓ IP

D‘ I‘ D Pawlu (↑PRED) = Pawlu (↑Human/Anim) = + (↑NUM) = SG (↑GEND) = M

VP ↑=↓

AdvP ↑ ϵ (↓ADJ)

V‘ ↑=↓ (↓PRED)=‗spoke‘ (↓TENSE) = PST (↓SUBJ PRED) = ‗pro‘ (↓SUBJ PERS) = 1 (↓SUBJ NUM) = SG ⇓=↓ V

DP (↑OBJ) = ↓

Adv‘ ↑=↓

D‘ (↓PRED) = ‗pro‘ (↓PRN TYPE) = +cl (↓CASE) = ACC (↓PERS) = 3 (↓NUM) = SG (↓GEND) = M ⇓=↓ D

Adv illum

kellimtu

The ―contextual anchoring‖ which Fabri & Borg (2002: 360) mention is imperative, in that, this is equivalent to the requirement for the enclitic in OBJ position, whose role is that of a RP, to be a-bound with the TOP DP Pawlu, which, in (20) is represented through the σ symbol. A further requirement, or rather, as a consequence of the need for the TOP to be ―contextually anchored‖, the corresponding a-bound enclitic should have matching υ-features in Maltese, although the [DEF] feature on the pronoun and its binder in SpecCP need not be unified, contra Fabri & Borg‘s (2002: 360) statement that ―pronominal clitics can only be co-referential with definite NPs‖, as discussed in Camilleri (2009: 129–133) and illustrated in (21), where the OBJ [+cl] pronoun in the relative clause is a-bound with the [–DEF] relativised head.13 This DEFiniteness mismatch implies that SPECificity ranks above DEF in Maltese.

13

See Camilleri (2010) and Camilleri & Sadler (to appear), where it is shown that it is possible to have a RP which does not have any matching υ-features with the head of the relative clause with which it is a-bound, when there exists some kind of DF within the same relative construction.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

(21)

149

Tifel li kellim-t=u lbieraħ boy COMPL speak-PERF.1SG=3SG.M yesterday ġie j-żur=ni llum come.PERF.3SG.M 3-visit.SG.M=1SG today ‗A boy to whom I spoke yesterday came to visit me today‘

The above exposition should have helped to come towards a clearer understanding that Maltese does not have any Clitic Doubling constructions, and that what one actually finds are occurrences involving UBDs, where a [+cl] pronoun is a resumptive in an argument position, and is a-bound to a DF. Extending somewhat the claim which was made in the previous section with regard to the use of [+cl] pronouns as RPs vs. [–cl] [–NOM] pronouns, we can here make another definite statement which follows it: While a [+cl] pronoun always functions as a GF, a [–cl] [–NOM] pronoun can function both as a GF, provided that there is no [+cl] pronoun present which is fulfilling the same GF (as used in (15b) or (17b), for example), as well as a DF, as given in (22). (22)

Lilu, rajt=u him see.PERF.1SG=3SG.M ‗As for him, I saw him‘

This thus implies that lilu, in the case of (19b) should therefore also be treated as some kind of DF.14 This is not all there is to say with regard to the mistaken notion of the occurrence of clitic doubling in Maltese. What seems to be more problematic are not instances which have to do with the left periphery as in (18) and (22), but rather, occurrences such as (23) below. (23a) Kil-t=u eat-PERF.1SG=3SG.M ‗I ate the food‘ (23b) Bikkej-t=u cry:CAUSE.1SG=3SG.M ‗You made that boy cry‘

l-ikel DEF-food tifel boy

Retaining Fabri‘s (1993) hypothesis of free adjunction in Maltese, which implies that there is no distinction between the left and the right periphery, the analysis of (23) above would be the same as the constructions in (18) and (22), except that (23) involves the right periphery. My aim is to follow FABRI and give a homogeneous analysis for the =u as used in (20) (and the =h in fn. 4), and as used in (18) and (22). The enclitic in these constructions is an OBJ pronoun with a resumptive function. Discussions on the nature of the grammaticalised topic in Maltese in Fabri & Borg (2002) and Borg & 14

For an analysis along these lines see Camilleri (2010) and Camilleri & Sadler (to appear).

150

Maris Camilleri

Azzopardi-Alexander (2009) have always focused on the left-periphery, although the latter do not exclude that there may be a similar patterning on the right periphery as well. More evidence from the prosodic-pragmatic interface of the language is required to test Fabri‗S (1993) ―free adjunction‖ hypothesis, and to be able to postulate the generalisation wished to be made here, i.e. one which cuts across all enclitics found in UBDs, focusing here in particular on topicalisation, irrespective of the periphery occupied by the TOP element itself. If on the other hand, the interface between prosody and pragmatics can otherwise show that the proposal to look for a unified account for the enclitic in (18) and (23) is incoherent, then the next thing to do is to resort to a separate treatment of =u in (23). The starting point for this would be to identify the DP/NP on the right periphery as the element fulfilling the OBJ GF, as, if this is not the case, then we are back to treating =u as the OBJ of the whole construction, and the DP/NP as the DF, since it cannot be the case that both items fulfill the same function. Having more than one element in the clause functioning as a given GF will result in ungrammaticality, and is thus constrained by the f-structure‘s Uniqueness Principle, which restricts attributes to have only one unique value. The hypothesis which will be assumed for the bound element u in (23), (if enough evidence can show that there is truly an asymmetry between the left and right peripheries in Maltese), is to say that it serves as an OBJ agreement marker on the verb, and υ-agrees with the OBJ GF. This would mean that the PRED ‗pro‘ feature on the u will be made optional, hence allowing it to optionally lose its pronominal status, which renders it to become more affix-like, especially if it happens that this bound form will eventually need to obligatorily surface as part of the verbal word-form. If this hypothesis is to be upheld in the light of evidence in favour of an asymmetric periphery conclusion, there would of course be nothing innovative about it, as evidence from language change and development shows. As is attested in other languages, pronominal clitics in particular, are highly prone to become agreement markers in due course. (Refer back to the CLINE representation in (4) in section 1.3).

4. The development of the [+cl] pronominal form This section looks at ways in which pronominal enclitics, whilst retaining their same syncretic form, have diachronically developed in what synchronically can be treated as an inflectional affix (4.1). Moreover, as shown in section 4.2, some data appear to show that an ACC or DAT-marked form in some particular idiomatic contexts may not necessarily have any referential properties left.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

151

4.1. From pronominal enclitic to inflectional affix In the discussion within this section, verb-like forms which Comrie (1982: 290) refers to as ―quasi-auxiliaries‖ and which Peterson (2009) terms as ―pseudo-verbs‖, such as donn-u ‗appear-3SG.M‘ and għodd-u ‗almost-3SG.M, as well as Haspelmath & Caruana‘s (2000) ―Impersonal Verbs‖15 such as ji-sim-ni ‗3-name.SG.M-1SG‘ ‗my name is‘ and ji-fdal-l-i ‗3-left.SG.M-DAT-1SG‘ ‗I have (something) left‘, will be grouped together. While the treatment of this verb-like set of elements in the language will not be looked at here, (for that see Fabri 1993 and the references given above), the main concern is to explore the nature of the bound-forms attached onto the right-edge of these same verblike predicates. With regard to the collective set of predicates presented above, Fabri (1993: 198) comments that the form which marks the subject on these verbs is that of the bound object pronoun in Maltese. This reasoning follows Comrie‘s (1982: 290) line of argument closely, where in giving two optional analyses for this occurrence in Maltese, Comrie suggests that the bound form on quasi-auxiliaries (but further research has shown that any analysis of quasi-auxiliaries should also be extended to the whole set of verb-like predicates mentioned above) correlates with the bound form of the direct object. The alternative analysis which he proposes is to say ―that these suffixes [i.e. referring to the form u on donnu for example] correlate with the subject ...‖. The step forward which was posited in Camilleri (2009: 85) is to say that ―what appear to be syncretic pronominal forms, are actually not only correlated with the subject ... but [have rather developed] as subjectmarker suffixes themselves, and [similar to the other] regular subject prefixes, they have the same agreement properties of PERS, NUM, and GEND‖. What we have is thus some kind of syntagmatic form deponency, as understood in Baerman (2007) whereby we have a featural mismatch between the actual form used, i.e. the exponent, which is specified for a [–NOM] Case feature, and the set of morphosyntactic properties this is supposed to be realizing, hence [+NOM] SUBJ concord. What one may also want to add, in relation to the synchronic analysis of Maltese SUBJ-Verb agreement, is that the pronominal enclitic forms discussed in the above sections (including both the unmarked ACC forms, as well as the DAT-marked ones), have developed into subject inflectional suffixes which optionally involve pronominal incorporation, and are in complementary distribution with the other canonical subject affixes n-, t-, j-, -u etc. Their suffixal properties have come to follow all the properties which mark an inflectional affix as distinct from clitics in the language. This is particularly 15

For this latter set of verbs see a discussion in Camilleri (2009: 78–84). It is important to mention that the set of Impersonal Verbs which Haspelmath & Caruana (2000) group together are not at all homogeneous, and not all of them can be treated as true Impersonal Verbs, contra the authors‘ classification. Another important difference which exists in this class of verbs is that some verbs take these bound elements whose form is syncretic with the ACC pronominal forms, while others take DAT-marked forms.

152

Maris Camilleri

shown through: a) the obligatory nature of these forms to surface as part of the verb‘s form, unlike the optional nature of pronominal enclitics (unless they are used as resumptives); b) their inability to form clitic clusters; and c), their restrictive selection of the type of predicates with which they can be attached.

4.2. Non-referential uses of the pronominal enclitics Having emphasised the pronominal nature of enclitics in Maltese, implied, although not spelt out explicitly, that enclitics have referential properties. The implication that this was the case was pursued further through the discussion of enclitics in Maltese as having a resumptive status in section 3.1. In this section, on the other hand, another property of these pronominal forms will be displayed, where predominantly in the case of the 3SG.F form =ha and the DAT.3SG forms, when these are combined to a particular class of verbs, which cannot be classified by means of any morphosyntactic categorisation, but depend heavily on their lexical meaning, as shown in the list given in Camilleri (2009: 88–89), the pronominal forms lose their referential properties, and function as dummies. It will here be hypothesised that the analysis of forms such as: għaxxaq=ha ‗please: CAUSE.PERF.3SG.M=3SG.F‘, għaġġib=ha ‗surprise:CAUSE.PERF.3SG.M=3SG.F‘, iħoss =ha ‗feel.3SG.M=3SG.F‘, irid=ha ‗want.3SG.M=3SG.F‘, and irħie=l=ha ‗leave.PERF. 3SG.M=DAT =3SG.F‘ amongst others, which have ended up with a non-referential pronoun attached to them, could have possibly had a parallel analysis to the one which will be given here, illustrated with the word-form għaxxaqha. It is proposed that initially this verb form started in some second phase after what was originally some kind of idiomatic phrase formation, as in għaxxaq d-dinja ‗lit: He pleased the world‘, which is still in common use in colloquial speech. Following this stage, the enclitic appears and acts as one of the verb‘s subcategorised GFs, while the optional presence of the DP id-dinja merely functions as a TOP of some sort. It is also possible, of course, to alternatively consider id-dinja as the GF itself, with the bound form functioning as some kind of agreement marker, as mentioned in section 3.2. After this stage, where both the enclitic and the DP are co-present, the DP id-dinja is elided altogether. Following this elision one can now argue why it should be the case that the bound element ha in għaxxaqha cannot be anything else other than a dummy OBJ, with its status potentially being that of an inflectional affix. If it is argued that the bound element ha which we are looking at here is pronominal, then since it does not refer to anything, in the absence of something with which the pronoun could be contextually or anaphorically bound, the pronominal form can only be a non-referential one. Evidence for my argumentation that we have a pronoun here is because the verb għaxxaq ‗please‘, in whichever context it is found, has to subcategorise for a SUBJ and OBJ GF. Thus, the main function of the pronoun is to fulfil the OBJ

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

153

GF.

If the pronoun is not present, and no other element in the clause fulfils the OBJ PRED value, then this would result in a violation of the Completeness Principle in LFG, which requires that all the GFs which the clause‘s predicate subcategorises for, be present in the f-structure representation, and hence predicts the ungrammaticality of a clause like: *Huwa għaxxaq ‗He pleased‘. Thus, with this evidence, the bound form attached on these verbs has a pronominal status, but which is a dummy one. When it comes to the bound element‘s grammatical status, in occurrences such as għaxxaqha and irħielha, this item has become lexicalised. This means that in these word-forms, the bound form is reanalysed as part of the whole word-form, and is constructed in the lexicon, such that the verb cannot surface without having this element attached onto it. Hence, following this analysis, what is present in such occurrences are morphological pronominal incorporations, which can be treated as instances of non-referential OBJ PRODROP instances.

5. Conclusion This paper‘s aim was to discuss the nature of the [+cl] pronoun in Maltese, which functions as a GF, and optionally, depending in which construction it is found, can also be used resumptively, and which truly shows morphosyntactic differences from its [–cl] counterpart. A potential analysis of the set of verbal pronominal enclitics in Maltese, which suggests that these involve lexical sharing with their hosts, was presented, and reasons for why these forms cannot be treated as being either morphological incorporations or non-projecting words in their standard use, thus excluding the developments mentioned in section 4, were provided. In the final section of this paper it was shown how the pronominal enclitic‘s function is changing, in accordance with the grammatical category cline, whilst retaining the same syncretic form. Following the observed development of the enclitic‘s function, it is not surprising, that the bound form is alternating between a syntactic pronominal element, an incorporated pronoun, and an object agreement marker or affix, in its synchronic use in the language. The bound pronominal status remains quite hazy in UBD constructions, which suggests that there may exist potential asymmetries involving the right periphery. Although a unified resumptive analysis has been advocated for in this exposition, it is only through more research at the prosodic-pragmatic interface in Maltese, that this issue can be resolved.

Maris Camilleri

154

Abbreviations ˃ ≈ ≠ ?? * ↑ ↓ ⇓ –(bound form) =(bound form) + – 1/2/3 Ā ACC

C Ĉ cl DAT DEF DF DOC DP F FOC

fn. GEND GF

I IP IO

LFG M

mrkr N NP NEG

precedes equivalent does not equal to rather unacceptable ungrammatical the value of my mother‘s node functional-structure the value of my own node‘s functional-structure the value in my functional-structure as a shared lexical exponent affix clitic possessing the feature does not possess the feature 1st, 2nd, 3rd person NOM nominative A-bar NUM number accusative OBJ object Case OBJθ object theta/ thematically non-projecting Case node restricted object clitic OBL oblique dative P preposition definite/definiteness PP prepositional phrase discourse function PART particle double object construction PRED predicate definite phrase PRN pronoun feminine PRON TYP pronoun type focus PST past footnote PL plural gender RP resumptive pronoun grammatical function SG singular inflection SPEC specificity inflection phrase SpecCP the specifier position of a indirect object complementiser phrase Lexical Functional Grammar SUBJ subject masculine TOP topic/topicalisation marker UBD unbounded dependency noun V verb noun phrase VP verb phrase negation

References Adger, David; De Cat, Cécile & Tsoulas, George (eds.) (2004): Peripheries: syntactic edges and their effects. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press. Alsina, Alex (2010): The Catalan definite article as lexical sharing. Proceedings of the LFG10 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

On pronominal verbal enclitics in Maltese

155

Anderson, Stephen R. (2005): Aspects of the theory of clitics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Asudeh, Ash (2002): The syntax of preverbal particles and adjunction in Irish. Proceedings of the LFG02 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Baerman, Matthew (2007): Morphological typology of deponency, in: Baerman, Matthew; Corbett, Greville; Brown, Dunstan & Hippisley, Andrew (eds.), Deponency and morphological mismatches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–19. Benmamoun, Elabbas (1999): Arabic morphology: The central role of the imperfective, in: Lingua 108, 175–201. Berman, Ruth (1982): Dative marking of the affectee role: data from Modern Hebrew, in: Hebrew Annual Review 6, 35–59. Bianchi, Valentina (1999): Consequences of asymmetry. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Borer, Hsgit & Grodzinsky, Yosef (1986): Syntactic cliticization and lexical cliticization: the case of Hebrew dative clitics, in: Borer, Hagit (ed.), Syntax and semantics 19, 175–217. Borg, Albert J. & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997): Maltese. New York: Routledge. Borg, Albert J. & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (2009): Topicalisation in Maltese, in: Comrie, Bernard; Fabri, Ray; Hume, Elizabeth; Mifsud, Manwel; Stolz, Thomas & Vanhove, Martine (eds.), Introducing Maltese linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 71–81. Borg, Albert J. & Comrie, Bernard (1984): Object diffuseness in Maltese, in: Plank, Frans (ed.), Objects: towards a theory of grammatical relations. London: Academic Press, 109–126. Bresnan, Joan (2001): Lexical functional syntax. Oxford: Blackwell. Broadwell, George A. (2007): Lexical sharing and non-projecting words: the syntax pf Zapotec adjectives. Proceedings of the LFG07 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Camilleri, Maris (2009): Clitics in Maltese. Unpublished Undergraduate dissertation: University of Malta. Camilleri, Maris (2010): On relative constructions in Maltese. Unpublished MRes. dissertation: University of Essex. Camilleri, Maris (2011): Resumption and UBDs in Maltese. Ms. University of Essex. Camilleri, Maris (to appear): Proceedings of CamLING 2010. Cambridge University Press. Camilleri, Maris & Sadler, Louisa (to appear): Proceedings of the 25th Arabic linguistics symposium. John Benjamins. Comrie, Bernard (1982). Syntactic-morphological discrepencies in the Maltese sentence structure, in: Communication and Cognition 15, 281–306. Fabri, Ray (1993). Kongruenzund die Grammatik des Maltesischen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Fabri, Ray & Borg, Albert J. (2002): Topic, focus and word-order in Maltese, in: Youssi, Abderrahim; Benjelloun, Fouzia; Dahbi, Mohamed & Iraqui-Sinaceur, Zakia (eds.), Aspects of the dialects of Arabic Today. Rabat: Amapatril, 354–363. Fenech, Dwardu (1998): Lingwistika Ġenerali (Rev. ed.). Msida: University of Malta. Haspelmath, Martin & Caruana, Sandro (2000): Subject dissuseness in Maltese: On some subject properties of experiential verbs, in: Folia Linguistica 34, 245–265. Heggie, Lorie & Ordóñez, Francisco (2005): Clitic ordering phenomena: the path to generalizations, in: Heggie, Lorie & Ordóñez, Francisco (eds.), Clitic and affix combinations: theoratical perspectives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1–29. Jaeggli, Osvaldo A. (1986): Three issues in the theory of clitics: case, doubled NPs, and extraction, in: Borer, Hagit (ed.), Syntax and semantics 19, 15–42. Kroeger, Paul R. (2005): Analyzing grammar: an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Larson, Richard K. (1988): On the double object construction, in: Linguistic Inquiry 19, 335–391.

156

Maris Camilleri

Mittendorf, Ingo & Sadler, Louisa (2008): Welsh pronominals at the syntax-morphology interface, in: Bonami, Olivier & Cabredho-Hofherr, Patricia (eds.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 7. Paris-Sorbonne, 1–26. Peterson, John (2009): Pseudo-verbs: an analysis of non-verbal (co-)predication in Maltese, in: Comrie, Bernard; Fabri, Ray; Hume, Elizabeth; Mifsud, Manwel; Stolz, Thomas & Vanhove, Martine (eds.), Introducing Maltese linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 181–205. Toivonen, Ida (2003): Non-projecting words: a case study of Swedish verbal particles. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Sadler, Louisa (1997): Clitics and the structure-function mapping. Proceedings of the LFG97 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Wescoat, Martin T. (2005): English nonsyllabic auxiliary contractions: an analysis in LFG with lexical sharing. Proceedings of the LFG05 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Zwicky, Arnold M. & Pullum, Geoffrey K. (1983). Cliticization vs. inflection: English n‘t, in: Language 59, 502–512.

MICHAEL SPAGNOL (KONSTANZ/GERMANY)

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

Abstract This paper provides an analysis of the causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese, which revolves around three main issues: (i) the direction of derivation of the causative and inchoative alternants, (ii) the instability of the alternation and anticausative morphology in Maltese, and (iii) the derivational relationship between transitive and intransitive variants that share the same verbal form. The analysis reveals that the alternation has undergone considerable change, which goes parallel to the typological shift in word formation, from templatic to concatenative. While templatic verbs generally effect the alternation anticausatively, most concatenative verbs mark the contrast labially, with one verbal form used both transitively and intransitively. Lastly, an elicitation test suggests a tendency in the direction of derivation for a set of labile verbs in Maltese. Taqsira Dan l-istudju jistħarreġ l-alternanza kawżattiv-inkoattiv fil-Malti. L-argumenti ċentrali huma tlieta: (i) id-direzzjoni tad-derivazzjoni bejn l-alternanti, (ii) l-instabilità tal-alternanza u tal-morfoloġija antikawżattiva fil-Malti, u (iii) ir-relazzjoni derivazzjonali bejn l-istess forma verbali għall-alternant tranżittiv u intranżittiv. Minn analiżi tal-verbi kawżattivi u inkoattivi jirriżulta li l-alternanza għaddiet minn bidla kbira li timxi id f’id mal-mogħdija mill-morfoloġija introflessiva għall-morfoloġija konkatenattiva fit-tiswir tal-verbi. Waqt li l-verbi introflessivi ġeneralment jinqdew b’alternanzi antikawżattivi, il-biċċa l-kbira tal-verbi konkatenattivi jesprimu l-kuntrast bejn il-kawżattiv u l-inkoattiv b’alternanzi instabbli, fejn l-istess forma verbali tintuża b’mod tranżittiv u intranżittiv. Fl-aħħar nett, studju preliminari jindika tendenza fid-direzzjoni tad-derivazzjoni fost koppji ta’ verbi instabbli.

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Workshop on Asymmetries and Universals (Allensbach, May 2009) and at the Second International Conference of Maltese Linguistics (Bremen, September 2009). I am grateful for useful comments and suggestions to the audiences at these occasions, and to a number of colleagues for the help they gave me at various stages of my research, especially Mark Amaira, Albert Borg, Miriam Butt, Albert Gatt, Sarah Grech, Martin Haspelmath, Maialen Iraola Azpiroz, Barış Kabak, Ingrid Kaufmann, Lior Laks, Nikolaos Lavidas, Alan McMillion, Fatemeh Nemati, Frans Plank, Tikaram Poudel, Florian Schäfer, Adam Ussishkin, and an anonymous reviewer. I am indebted to several native speakers of Maltese for allowing me to pick their brains about so many issues.

158

Michael Spagnol

1. Introduction In the literature on argument realization, it has been argued that syntactic structure is directly related to the lexical semantic structure of verbs. More specifically, the lexical semantic structure of a verb represents that portion of the verb’s meaning that determines the syntactic structures in which the verb can appear, and it sets out the verb’s arguments and the relations among them. On this assumption, the idea is that it should be possible to surmise lexical structure from the alternation patterns a verb is associated with. Various studies have, for this reason, focused their attention on the ability of verbs to show ARGUMENT (STRUCTURE) ALTERNATIONS, that is, alternate expressions of their arguments (Hale & Keyser 1986; Jackendoff 1990; Levin 1993; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995, 2005; Pinker 1989; Pylkkänen 2008; Ramchand 2008; inter alia). 1 Argument alternations are a useful gauge to determine syntactically relevant semantic aspects of verbs that pattern together, for it is a verb’s ability to participate in a particular set of alternations that reveals its semantic affiliations. This paper focuses on one such alternation, the CAUSATIVE-INCHOATIVE ALTERNA2 TION, which is one of the basic types of valency changing alternations, because the set of verbs that take part in it constitutes the prototypical class of transitive verbs (Tsunoda 1985; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995: chapter 3). The data I discuss come mostly from Maltese, a language whose verb derivational morphology is variable, in the sense that it is of the templatic type for a (closed) class of verbs and of the concatenative type for another (open) class of verbs (cf. section 3.2). One implication of such a dichotomy in word formation is that argument alternations are mediated through a system of roots and verb-creating patterns (referred to as BINYANIM) on the one hand, but are not encoded in derivational morphology on the other. The morphological shift, from templatic to concatenative, the language went through makes Maltese an interesting language for exploring the diachronic paths of argument alternations. The present study pivots around two central points. The first is the formal encoding of the causative-inchoative contrast in Maltese. In describing this, I look into the temporal dimension of the morpho-syntactic organization of alternating verb pairs, suggesting that the alternation is not time stable in Maltese. In the second part, I tackle the question of the derivational relationship, if any, between the causative and inchoative alternants, especially when the same verbal form is used both causatively and inchoatively. I argue that there is not one direction of derivation, but that derivational and morphological complexity are rather sensitive to the lexical semantic structure of the verbs in question. 1 2

They are also referred to as DIATHESIS ALTERNATIONS or simply VERB ALTERNATIONS. The alternation is also known as the causative alternation (Haspelmath 1993; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; Schäfer 2009), causative-anticausative alternation (Alexiadou, Anagnostopolou & Schäfer 2006), unaccusativity alternation (Kiparsky 1997), ergative alternation (Matsuzaki 2001).

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

159

The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of the main properties of the causative-inchoative alternation. After reviewing the types of crosslinguistic markings, in section 3 I treat Maltese verb morphology as a combination of the concatenative and templatic types, and consider the effect this has on argument alternations in general, and on the causative-inchoative alternation in particular. In light of this, I go on to discuss the diachronic (in)stability of the alternation in terms of morphological markedness. I describe how the alternation has undergone considerable change in Maltese: from an overwhelmingly directed profile (“causative” and “anticausative”), it has developed a preference for non-directed formations (mainly “labile”), to use Haspelmath’s (1993) terms. In section 4, the much debated issue of whether labile verbs (i.e., verb pairs that use the same form as causative and inchoative) are basically transitive or intransitive (or neither) is analyzed from a lexical semantic point of view. I offer preliminary data from an elicitation test that suggests that the direction of derivation (for a small set of labile verbs in Maltese) is determined by the kind of event denoted by the verbs. Concluding remarks and points for further research directions are laid out in section 5.

2. The alternation The causative-inchoative alternation characterizes pairs of verbs standing in a semantic relation to each other, where the inchoative verb is intransitive and typically expresses a change of state, and the causative verb is transitive and typically denotes a bringing about of this change of state. One prominent feature of the alternation pattern [NP2 V NP1 // NP1 V] is that the subject of the intransitive alternant bears the same semantic relation to the verb as the object of the transitive. The transitive member of the pair expresses a causative event, while its intransitive counterpart expresses an event in which an external cause need not be assumed or is irrelevant. The transitive subject causes some sort of change in the direct object, and has the semantic role of agent or actor. The intransitive subject is understood as self-causing or self-affecting.3 3

One point that is not further developed in this paper is the controversial polysemous status of the verbs under investigation. It is not always the case that verbs which occur transitively with certain arguments have an intransitive counterpart, and vice versa. For instance, He broke the vase/toaster alternate with The vase/toaster broke, but He broke his promise/the world record do not alternate with *His promise/The world record broke (cf. Levin & Rappaport-Hovav 1995: 85, 105; Alexiadou et al. 2006; Koontz-Garboden 2009: 90–91; Schäfer 2009). While entities like vases, toasters, and windows can undergo a breaking event both as the object of a causative and the subject of an inchoative, entities like promises, world records, and contracts cannot undergo such a change of state event as the subject of an inchoative. Corpus-based and cognitive approaches (e.g., Montemagni 1994; Montemagni & Pirelli 1995; Montemagni et al. 1995; McKoon & Macfarland 2000; Thepkanjana 2003) show that selection restrictions for the subject of intransitives and the object of transitives are not always identical, in particular with idiomatic senses of verbs and figurative meaning extensions, namely metaphor and metonymy.

Michael Spagnol

160

Formally, researchers (e.g., Dowty 1979; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; Pinker 1989; Jackendoff 1990; Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998) make use of lexical semantic representations to spell out the internal architecture of a verb’s meaning. Following one core assumption in decompositional lexical semantics, I draw on CAUSE and BECOME as operators that factor out the relations between events as well as states. The representation or template assigned to causative verbs makes explicit two subevents, a causing and a change of state subevent, which are connected by the relation CAUSE: ((v) CAUSE (BECOME (x STATE!))) Hence, ‘The boy broke the window’ is represented as ((The boy ACT) CAUSE (BECOME (window BROKEN!))). The events described by inchoative verbs are conceptualized as having no external cause. Accordingly, the lexical semantic template of an event such as ‘The window broke’ has a simple structure of only one subevent (Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998; McKoon & Macfarland 2000): (BECOME (x STATE!))) Other than break, examples of verbal concepts that frequently display the causativeinchoative contrast in the world’s languages include boil, close, freeze, improve, melt, open, sink (cf. Haspelmath 1993; Nichols et al. 2004; Comrie 2006). The transitive and intransitive patterns of two such notions are illustrated in the following sentences from Maltese: (1a)

(1b)

(2a)

(2b)

It=tifel għalla DEF=boy boil.PFV.3SG.M ‘The boy boiled the water.’ L=ilma għala. DEF=water boil.PFV.3SG.M ‘The water boiled.’ fetħ-et open-PFV.3SG.F ‘The girl opened the window.’ It=tieqa nfetħ-et. DEF=window open-PFV.3SG.F ‘The window opened.’

l=ilma. DEF=water

It=tifla

it=tieqa.

DEF=girl

DEF=window

From the examples above, it is clear that languages mark causative and inchoative pairs in different ways. The alternation in Maltese involves morphologically related forms. In the English translations, instead, single verb forms that syntactically occur in both transitive and intransitive clausal patterns are used. The issues of the formal encoding of the alternation and morphological markedness are taken up in section 3. Verbs that take part in the causative-inchoative alternation are diverse not only formally, but also semantically. They primarily denote change of states (break, melt). However, some concern change in location and movement (raise–rise, advance),

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

161

change of quantity (narrow, increase), and yet others are the so-called aspectuals (begin, continue) and Vendlerian activities (bounce, roll). With the underlying assumption that verbs undergoing the same alternation sets constitute a semantically coherent class, Levin (1993: 27–33) distinguishes three categories of what she calls “causativity alternations”: (i) causative-inchoative verbs, (ii) induced action verbs (She walked the horse – The horse walked), and (iii) a general category of other types of verbs that enter the transitivity alternation (The nurse burped the baby – The baby burped). With this as background, I now turn to a survey of a number of selected publications that provide different theoretical perspectives on this phenomenon. I start with a review of the alternation from a cross-linguistic perspective (Haspelmath 1993; Comrie 2006), discussing the formal encoding of the alternation in Maltese, and how the data fit into the typological picture. Next, I consider lexically oriented approaches (Levin 1993; Centineo 1995; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; Piñón 2001a, 2001b; KoontzGarboden 2009) and present the results of an elicitation task on a set of labile verbs in Maltese.

3. Formal encoding of the alternation 3.1. Cross-linguistic analysis As I have hinted above, there are many ways cross-linguistically of effecting the alternation morphologically. Haspelmath (1993) provides a comprehensive overview of such formal types. Comrie (2006), then, builds on this analysis by establishing a profile for each language based on the marking of verbal notions, and by tracing the historical stability of patterns of causative-inchoative pairings in the lexicon. In this section, I give an overview of these two cross-linguistic investigations. Haspelmath’s typological approach has twofold significance. In dealing with the formal encoding of causative and inchoative pairs in terms of morphological markedness, the study draws conclusions about lexical semantic restrictions on the verbs that enter the alternation. I now briefly review both aspects of the work. Cross-linguistically, the relationship between causative and inchoative verbs with a common lexical meaning is marked with affixes, stem modification, suppletion, and other means. Haspelmath approaches the transitivity alternation from the perspective of morphological complexity: the alternant carrying less morphology is simple or basic while the alternant taking extra morphology is considered derived. Basing his analysis on morphological direction of derivation, he proposes a classification of formal relations in causative-inchoative verb pairs. A distinction is first made between DIRECTED pairs, in which one member is derived from the other, and NON-DIRECTED pairs, where there is no greater morphological marking on either member. Directed pairs are further subdivided into CAUSATIVE and

162

Michael Spagnol

alternations. In causative alternations, the causative member is morphologically more marked than the inchoative, as in example (1) above. Conversely, in anticausative alternations, the inchoative member is morphologically more marked than the causative, as in example (2) above. There are three non-directed types, illustrated by examples from Maltese: LABILE, where the same form is used both as causative and inchoative (e.g., għama ‘blind’ – għama ‘go blind’); EQUIPOLLENT, where neither member is more complex than the other, but the forms differ (e.g., faqqar ‘make poor’ – ftaqar ‘become poor’); SUPPLETIVE, where different lexical items with different argument structures are used (e.g., qatel ‘kill’ – miet ‘die’). From an investigation of a set of 31 verbal notions that can be construed both causatively and inchoatively across 21 languages, Haspelmath draws two interrelated generalizations, which are concerned with the idea that morphological patterns are sensitive to the kind of event named by the verbs in question. According to the first conclusion, the semantic properties of verbs impose a constraint on whether verbs can participate in the causative-inchoative alternation or not. The claim is that verbs can be placed along a cline, going from those most likely to be conceptualized as occurring spontaneously (e.g., laugh, bloom) to those that are more easily conceived as occurring through the initiation of an external force (e.g., wash, decapitate). The most likely candidates to take part in the causative-inchoative alternation are those lying closer to the middle than to the ends of this gradient, that is, verbs that are intrinsically neither agentoriented nor self-causing. The second generalization concerns the relationship between morphological complexity and this cline or “scale of increasing likelihood of spontaneous occurrence”, as Haspelmath (1993: 105) labels it. Events such as breaking, closing, splitting, and gathering, which are typically instigated by an external agent, are predicted to pattern with anticausative formations, that is, their more marked form is the intransitive. Events unlikely to be directly causable from an external agent are expected to show a preference for the causative alternation, i.e. for pairs whose morphologically marked form is the transitive one. Among the events that belong to this group are melting, freezing, and drying.4 In Maltese, Haspelmath’s prediction is borne out to a great extent. The notion of melting presents an interesting case in Maltese, where it may be expressed by either of two (contextually) synonymous roots: dab (vi) – dewweb (vt), as predicted, patterns with the causative alternation; nħall (vi) – ħall (vt) shows the opposite direction of derivation. Note that Haspelmath offers general typological tendencies in the lexicalization of causative-inchoative pairs and does not predict the behavior of any given verb in any given language. Even though the notion of spontaneous occurrence is quite vague and in need of elaboration, there seems to be some degree of parallelism between the ANTICAUSATIVE

4

In later works, Haspelmath (2005, 2008a, 2008b) explains this asymmetry in the coding of causative and inchoative verb pairs in terms of frequency and economy. Whichever member of a pair occurs more frequently tends to be unmarked, while the rare, less expected, member tends to be overtly marked.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

163

scale he proposes and transitivity gradients put forward by Hopper & Thompson (1980) and other researchers (cf. McMillion 2006: 20). The distinction between self-causing events and eventualities with external agents receives more attention in section 4. Comrie (2006) is an elaboration of Haspelmath in that it extends the analysis of verbal concepts as expressed morphologically to Maltese, Swedish and Tsez. By quantifying the verbal concepts for which every language makes use of each of the five types discussed above, he also proposes language profiles that would have Finnish as overwhelmingly causative, French and Russian as predominantly anticausative, English as overwhelmingly labile, showing an areally atypical preference for this non-directed type, and so on (Comrie 2006: 307). Another question raised in this study concerns the historical directionality of derivation. It is argued that, in terms of the contrast between predominance of anticausative and causative pairings, the transitivity profile of a language like Maltese, is diachronically stable (Comrie 2006: 314). In the rest of this section, I analyze a corpus of verbal concepts that enter the causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese and argue, contra Comrie, that the causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese is not time stable, displaying a shift from directed pairs to a propensity for labile pairs. Before going into this issue, some background information about the verb morphology of Maltese is in order.

3.2. Maltese verbs Maltese derivational verb morphology is in part templatic and in part concatenative. This dichotomous aspect of verb formation in Maltese is a result of extensive language contact between typologically diverse languages, viz. Arabic, Italian, and English (cf. Brincat 2000, 2004 for a study on the stratigraphy of Maltese). In the following paragraphs, I give a brief overview of verb derivational morphology in Maltese, showing how the templatic system, typical of Semitic languages, works alongside the concatenative system that characterizes word formation in many Indo-European languages. Verbs that are formed through templatic morphology may be formally separated into three main constituent elements: (i) (ii)

(iii)

ROOTS, transfixes or discontinuous morphemes of 3 and, less frequently 4, root consonants in fixed sequence, e.g., √ktb and √ħrbt; PATTERNS or binyanim, morphological templates with a specific syllabic structure, which consist of slots for the root constants to fit in, vowels, some of which are inherent to particular patterns, and in some cases affixes (cf. Table 1); INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES, marking tense and aspect, person, number and, for the third person singular, gender.

Roots form verbs or nouns when they combine with verb- or noun-creating patterns: e.g., when √ktb merges with the verbal pattern [1v2v3], kiteb ‘write’ is created, when it merges

Michael Spagnol

164

with the agentive nominal pattern [1v22vv3], kittieb ‘writer’ is formed.5 Formally, the verbal patterns or binyanim involve “the interdigitation of additional material into the root-base”, such as long and short vowels, prefixes and infixes (Mifsud 1995: 35). Corresponding to these morphological processes are valency changing and argument structure alternations. For instance, the root √ktb gives rise to an active verb when cast into binyan [1v2v3] kiteb ‘write’, and a passive verb when cast into binyan [n1v2v3] nkiteb ‘be written’; the root √qsr ranges from an inchoative verb [12vv3] qsar ‘shorten (vi)’ to a causative [1v22v3] qassar ‘shorten (vt)’ to a passive [t1v22v3] tqassar ‘be shortened’; and so forth.6 Traditionally, Maltese grammars claim that there are 11 binyanim in Maltese: nine for triconsonantal, two for quadriconsonantal roots. The main patterns, including some, not all, allomorphic variations, are laid out in Table 1. No single triconsonantal root appears in all of the nine binyanim, and so the examples are taken from different verb-creating roots.

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8

9

5

6

Binyanim triconsonantal 1v2v3 1v22 12vv3 1v22v3 1v22v2 t1v22v3 t1v22v2 st1v22v3 stv12v3 st1v22 1vv2v3 1vv2v2 t1vv2v3 t1vv2v2 n1v2v3 nt1v2v3 n1tv2v3 n1v22 nt1v22 1tv2v3 1tv22

Roots

Verbs

√ktb √rss √krh √krh √rss √krh √rss √krh √nbħ √qrr √wġb √qrr √wġb √qrr √ktb √lqt √srq √ħss √rss √fqr √mdd

kiteb rass krieh kerrah rassas tkerrah trassas stkerrah stenbaħ stqarr wieġeb qarar twieġeb tqarar nkiteb ntlaqat nsteraq nħass ntrass ftaqar mtedd

‘write’ ‘press’ ‘become ugly’ ‘uglify’ ‘press repeatedly’ ‘be uglified’ ‘be pressed’ ‘abhor’ ‘wake up (vi)’ ‘declare’ ‘answer’ ‘confess’ ‘be answered’ ‘be confessed’ ‘be written’ ‘be hit’ ‘be stolen’ ‘be felt’ ‘press oneself’ ‘become poor’ ‘lie down’

Numbers 1–4 mark the positions of the root consonants in each binyan. Repeated numbers represent geminate consonants. Vs stand for vowels: single Vs for short vowels and double Vs for long vowels. Verb derivation within the binyan system may also correspond to synonymous forms (√slf in [1v2v3] silef and [1v22v3] sellef ‘lend’) or to an aspectual distinction, namely iterative (√xmm in [1v22] xamm ‘smell’ and [1v22v2] xammem ‘smell repeatedly’), which has been referred to as intensive (cf. Sutcliffe 1936; Borg 1981, 1988). Roots sometimes only appear in one pattern (√għts only occurs in [1v2v3] għatas ‘sneeze’).

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese Binyanim Roots quadriconsonantal 1 1v23v4 √ħrbt 2 t1v23v4 √ħrbt

165

Verbs ħarbat tħarbat

‘confuse’ ‘get confused’

Table 1: Templatic verb derivational morphology Verb inflection, in contrast, is essentially concatenative, with prefixation and suffixation to a stem-base. The main tense-aspect distinction is between the perfective, formed by suffixes, and the imperfective, formed by prefixes to mark person and gender and suffixes to mark plural. Imperfective affixes constitute a homogeneous class, but the system is more complex for the perfective paradigms. There are two main perfective suffixes: suffix1 for weak-final verbs7 (√12j beka ‘cry’, e.g., bk-ejt ‘cry-PFV.1SG’) and suffix2 for: x x x

strong verbs (√123 kiteb ‘write’, e.g., ktib-t ‘write-PFV.1SG’); weak-initial verbs (√w23 wiżen ‘weigh’, e.g., wżin-t ‘weigh-PFV.1SG’); weak-medial verb (√1j/w3 sab ‘find’, e.g., sib-t ‘find-PFV.1SG’).

The two patterns are displayed in Table 2. Suffix1 1 2 3 M/F

Singular bk-ejt bk-ejt beka/bk-iet

Suffix2 Plural bk-ejna bk-ejtu bk-ew

Singular ktib-t ktib-t kiteb/kitb-et

Plural ktib-na ktib-tu kitb-u

Table 2: Two perfective paradigms for beka ‘cry’ and kiteb ‘write’ Yet another two classes of verbs, reduplicative verbs (√122 ħass ‘feel’) and silent-final verbs8 (√12għ sema’ ‘hear’), select suffix1 for the first and second persons (e.g., ħass-ejt ‘feel-PFV.1SG’, sm-ajt ‘hear-PFV.1SG’) and suffix2 for the third persons (e.g., ħass-et/-u ‘feel-PFV.3SG.F/PL’, semgħ-et/-u ‘hear-PFV.3SG.F/PL’).9 The distinction in suffix selection also applies to quadriconsonantal verbs: strong (√1234 ħarbat ‘confuse’, e.g., ħarbat-t ‘confuse-PFV.1SG’) as opposed to weak-final (√123j fisqa ‘swaddle’, e.g., fisq-ejt ‘swaddle-PFV.1SG’). For further discussion on verb inflection in Maltese, see Cremona (1961), Mifsud (1995), Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997), Fabri (2009), inter alia.

7

8

9

A verb is said to be weak (or not strong) when one of its root consonants is j or w, because semivowels are not always present in derivatives. Weak-final verbs have two slightly different paradigms in the imperfective: the beka subclass ends in -i in the singular (n-ibki ‘IFPV.1SG-cry’) and in -u in the plural (n-ibk-u ‘IFPV.1-cry-PL’), the nesa subclass ends in -a in the singular (n-insa ‘IFPV.1SG-forget’) and in -w in the plural (n-inse-w ‘IFPV.1-forget-PL’). The silent or “ghost” consonant, as Hoberman (2007) calls it, is the digraph għ, which is sometimes represented in the orthography as an apostrophe (’). In some cases, for the third person plural of reduplicative verbs suffix1 is used, that is, both ħass-u and ħass-ew ‘feel-PFV.3PL’ are possible.

166

Michael Spagnol

I now turn to verbs that are formed concatenatively. The main distinction between this class of verbs and those belonging to templatic morphology is in derivational morphology. Concatenative verbs involve: (i) ROOTS, with possible gemination of the first consonant and a prosthetic vowel, e.g., √organ, √ppretend, √vver;10 (ii) DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES, e.g., -ifika (vverifika ‘verify’), -izza (organizza ‘organize’), -ja (pparkja ‘park’), -Ø (ppretenda ‘expect’);11 (iii) INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES: for the imperfective, the same affixes for templatic verbs are used, including the two subclasses mentioned in fn.7; for the perfective paradigm only suffix1 is used (ppretend-ejt ‘expect-PFV.1SG’, organizz-ajna ‘organize- PFV.1PL’).12 In terms of stem structure and derivational potential, Maltese verbs then can be divided synchronically into two classes, templatic and concatenative. From an etymological point of view, templatic verbs are mostly of Semitic origin. A number of them are derived from Romance and English, and have been fully assimilated to the binyan system. This means that loans are reanalyzed according to the syllabic structures of existing forms (e.g., Italian noun pittore ‘painter’ in Maltese becomes pittur, which has the same syllabic pattern as the Semitic-origin noun ħaddiem ‘employer’; similarly tamburo ‘drum’ becomes tanbur, modeled on sultan ‘ruler’). Three or four consonants are then extracted to serve as roots (√ptr from pittur, √tnbr from tanbur), allowing the item to participate in the derivational processes available to indigenous verbs. For instance, √ħdm derives ħaddem ‘employ’ and tħaddem ‘be employed’ and by analogy √ptr derives pitter ‘paint’ and tpitter ‘be painted’; √sltn derives saltan ‘rule’ and √tnbr derives tanbar ‘beat the drum, harp on’. The concatenative verbal inventory comprises verbs of Romance and English origin, and a couple of Semitic verbs, such as żżejtna ‘become oily (of hair)’, that are analyzed as consisting of a stem (-żżejtn-) rather than a tri- or quadriconsonantal root (√żjt). Concatenative verbs are much more numerous than templatic verbs, which constitute a closed list of items (cf. Mifsud 1995: 141; Hoberman 2007: 275). The concatenative morphological component is the only fully productive means for integrating new verbs into modern Maltese.13

10 11

12

13

For an analysis of the origin and distribution of the initial gemination, see Mifsud (1995: 140ff.). A subclass of the verbs that select the zero morph (-Ø) take the infix -ixx-, e.g., ssuġġerixxa ‘suggest’, which is not always present in the paradigms. See Mifsud (1995: 169ff.) for an analysis of the distribution of -ixx- in loan verbs. Suffix2 is therefore restricted to the inflection of binyanim. From a marginal affix in the templatic system, suffix1 became a main channel for the integration of thousands of concatenative loan verbs. For a thorough analysis of the integration of Romance- and English-origin verbs in Maltese, see Mifsud (1995), Hoberman & Aronoff (2003). Spagnol (2011) discusses the integration of complex verbal lexemes from Italian, specifically items consisting of a verb plus clitic -si.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

167

One striking difference between templatic and concatenative verbs concerns the incarnation of roots in verbal environments. Templatic verbs have the ability to appear in more than one pattern. As described above, verb-creating roots that belong to the nonconcatenative system can create multiple verbal forms: √wġb, for instance, is associated with binyan [1vv2v3] wieġeb and [t1vv2v3] twieġeb, and √krh is associated with binyan [12vv3] krieh, [1v22v3] kerrah, [t1v22v3] tkerrah, [st1v22v3] stkerrah (cf. Table 1). In addition, templatic verbs must belong to one of the verbal patterns, that is, they must be in the form of a binyan. It follows from the ability to create multiple verbs and from the binyan requirement that argument alternations are mediated through the pattern system, as illustrated in examples (3) to (5) (cf. Arad 2005). (3)

Root √ktb √ħsr

Active kiteb ‘write’ ħassar ‘cancel’

Passive nkiteb ‘be written’ tħassar ‘be cancelled’

(4)

Root √ċkn √wsgħ

Causative ċekken ‘make small’ wessa’ ‘widen’

Inchoative ċkien ‘become small’ twessa’ ‘become wide’

(5)

Root √ħsl √wżn

Transitive ħasel ‘wash’ wiżen ‘weigh’

Reflexive nħasel ‘wash oneself’ ntiżen ‘weigh oneself’14

By contrast, concatenative verbs generally have one verbal interpretation for each root. There are fixed correspondences between roots and derivational affixes, between √vver and -ifika (vverifika ‘verify’), √organ and -izza (organizza ‘organize’), and so on. If a root such as √vver takes -ifika in a verbal environment, it does not take -izza (*vverizza) as well, and vice versa. Non-templatic roots, then, take a single verbal morpheme, assigning one verbal interpretation to each root. As a result, difference in adicity, i.e. the number of verbal arguments, is not marked morphologically: argument alternations in the concatenative component either involve a single verb, which is used both transitively and intransitively (e.g., ċċattja for both make and become flat), or express one alternant periphrastically (e.g., aċċerta ‘(re)assure’, aċċerta ruħu ‘assure oneself’), as shown in the next section (cf. sentences 6–9). These differences are taken as the starting point for an investigation of the nature of the relation that holds between the two morphological types in Maltese. A contrastive approach should establish whether the changes at the morphological level (from templatic to concatenative) are paralleled by changes in the organization of argument alternations in the verbal lexicon, specifically the causative-inchoative alternation. 14

There is anticausative/passive/reflexive syncretism in the pattern system. The same two binyanim thus may participate in more than one alternation, e.g., wessa’–twessa’ take part both in the causativeinchoative alternation (Il-ħajjata wessgħet il-libsa ‘The tailor let out the dress’ – Il-libsa twessgħet ‘The dress became loose’) and in the active-passive alternation (Se jwessgħu t-triq ‘They are going to widen the road’ – It-triq twessgħet u reġgħet ingħatat it-tarmak ‘The road has been widened and resurfaced’).

Michael Spagnol

168

3.3. Morphological instability in Maltese Comrie (2006), following Haspelmath (1993), proposes a method for investigating the morphological relations that hold between 31 notions in 24 languages, including Maltese. From an analysis of the five formal types that are used to express such verbal concepts as boil, burn, gather, open, split, fill, etc. (cf. section 3.1), it turns out that Maltese has an overall preference for anticausative formations.15 Similar findings are reported in Spagnol et al. (2010). This profile is shared with the majority of the European languages under investigation, which also have a propensity for anticausative pairings. It is, however, at odds with the global cross-linguistic tendency to prefer causative formations (cf. Nichols 1993; Comrie 2006). It is worth noting that only one of the 31 items in Comrie’s sample is a concatenative verb pair, namely labile żviluppa ‘develop’. This gives rise to the issue of whether concatenative verbs also show a preference for anticausative pairings or whether they effect the causative-inchoative alternation in a different way from templatic verbs. The question that I try to address in this section can be couched in the following way: Has the heavy influence of Romance and, to a certain extent, English on Maltese – including the development of non-templatic processes of verb formation and a reanalysis or simplification of verb inflection – resulted in a change in the formal encoding of the causative-inchoative alternation in the language? To begin with, I take a look at Romance loan verbs that have been fully integrated into templatic morphology – no templatic verb of English origin takes part in the alternation. As the data laid out in Table 3 reveals, the majority (76.9%) of these alternating verbs show a preference for anticausative formations. This conclusion, drawn from an examination of Mifsud’s (1995: 272ff.) comprehensive corpus of assimilated loan verbs, is in line with the propensity for anticausative pairings both in templatic verbs of Semitic origin and with the dominant European pattern, to which Italian and other Romance varieties conform.

15

Causative baċċaċ make chubby

Inchoative tbaċċaċ become chubby

Type Anticausative

baxxa dim, deflate, lower

tbaxxa dim, get deflated, lower

Anticausative

beċċen make plump

tbeċċen plump up

Anticausative

bezzen make flabby

tbezzen become flabby

Anticausative

ċajpar blur, make unclear

ċċajpar blur, become unclear

Anticausative

falla make s.o. go bankrupt

falla become bankrupt

Labile

fannad deepen

fnad deepen

Causative

feddel domesticate

tfeddel become domesticated

Anticausative

Two small changes in Comrie’s examples from Maltese are in order: (i) break is rather an equipollent (kisser–nkiser) than an anticausative (kiser–nkiser) pair, and (ii) for connect, an alternative lexical choice, namely equipollent għaqqad–ngħaqad rather than anticausative rabat–rtabat, is, to my mind, more appropriate.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

169

Causative korra get hurt

Inchoative korra hurt, cause injury

Type Labile

mannas tame

tmannas become tame

Anticausative

nerveż make nervous

tnerveż become nervous

Anticausative

tappan blur

ttappan blur

Anticausative

werreċ make cross-eyed

twerreċ become cross-eyed

Anticausative

Table 3: Causative-inchoative pairing of templatic verbs of Romance origin Concatenative verbs, on the contrary, express the causative-inchoative contrast with a change in syntactic patterns, but with no formal change in the verb. They are characterized by labile pairings, where single verb forms syntactically occur in both transitive and intransitive clausal patterns, as sentences (6) to (9) show. (6a)

(6b)

(7a)

(7b)

(8a)

(8b)

(9a)

Oħt=i ċċarġja-t sister=POSS.1SG charge-PFV.3SG.F ‘My sister recharged the battery.’ Il=batterija ċċarġja-t. DEF=battery charge-PFV.3SG.F ‘The battery recharged.’ San Franġisk immansa Saint Francis tame.PFV.3SG.M ‘Saint Francis tamed the wolf.’ Il=lupu mmansa.16 DEF=wolf tame.PFV.3SG.M ‘The wolf became tame/tamed.’ Omm=ha ttowja-t mother=POSS.3SG.F thaw-PFV.3SG.F ‘Her mother thawed the meat.’ Il=laħam ittowja. DEF=meat thaw.PFV.3SG.M ‘The meat thawed.’

il=batterija. DEF=battery

l=lupu. DEF=wolf

il=laħam. DEF=meat

Il=gvern

issoda l=ekonomija. strengthen.PFV.3SG.M DEF=economy ‘The government has strengthened the economy.’

DEF=government

16

Some loan stems appear both as templatic and concatenative verbs, such as nerveż ‘make nervous’– tnerveż ‘become nervous’ and nnervja with both uses, and mannas ‘tame’–tmannas ‘become tame’ and mmansa as a labile alternation (cf. Table 3).

Michael Spagnol

170

(9b)

L=ekonomija ssoda-t.17 DEF=econonmy strenghten-PFV.3SG.F ‘The economy has strengthened.’

A number of these labile verbs (e.g., ssoda, żviluppa) go back to Romance anticausative formations (assodare–assodarsi, sviluppare–svilupparsi). In such cases Maltese does not borrow or calque the Romance pattern, neutralizing the anticausative formation and marking the causative-inchoative contrast labially. Summing up this section, then, evidence has been provided that the causativeinchoative alternation in Maltese has undergone considerable change, which goes parallel to the typological shift in word formation, from templatic to concatenative. The alternation starts off as a directed one in templatic verbs, with a preference for anticausatives. Maltese is gradually losing its morphology in expressing the alternation, and is developing an overwhelmingly non-directed profile, with a strong increase of labile verbs. Maltese has extended the set of labile verbs to express the causative-inchoative contrast quite generally. The class of labile verbs is, in fact, constantly increasing, just like in English, Greek and some Daghestan languages, and unlike Sanskrit where it is decreasing (cf. Lavidas, in print). Considering that few other languages appear to have developed this means of marking the contrast (cf. Comrie 2006), one may well wonder about the factors involved in this development. Language contact and other external factors must be part of the diachronic explanation of this LABILIZATION process.18 The large number of loan verbs from English (e.g., ffriża ‘freeze’, impruvja ‘improve’, ttowja ‘thaw’), a language with a predominantly non-directed profile, must have had a part in the emergence and expansion of labile verbs in Maltese. Even though verbs in Italian, like templatic verbs in Maltese, show a preference for anticausative formations (e.g., sciogliere (vt)–sciogliersi (vi) ‘melt’), the causative-inchoative alternation is also commonly expressed by labile verbs, e.g., affondare ‘sink’, diminuire ‘reduce’, guarire ‘heal’ (for in-depth analyses of the phenomenon in Italian, see Burzio 1986; Montemagni 1994; Centineo 1995; Montemagni et al. 1995; Folli 2001). The shift from templatic to concatenative morphology has therefore had a significant impact on the encoding of the alternation in Maltese. 17

18

Reflexive verbs, especially non-templatic ones, take the marker ruħ- ‘soul’ plus direct object clitic, such as concatenative ddefenda ruħu ‘defend oneself’ and templatic ħejja ruħu ‘prepare oneself’. This marker is sometimes used to express the intransitive member of an otherwise labile pair e.g., in-negozju ssoda ruħu ‘the market has strengthened (itself)’ (cf. Spagnol 2011 on the assimilation of reflexive verbs of Romance origin in Maltese). This is in line with the cross-linguistic tendency for anticausativization and reflexivization to be marked in morphological identical ways (KoontzGarboden 2009). Worth noting in this respect is Haspelmath’s (1990) finding that anticausative markers often develop diachronically from reflexive markers via bleaching of agent entailments. Following McMillion (2006), the term labilization is here used to refer to language change that involves an increase in labile verb types to the extent that it becomes a conventional means for effecting argument alternations.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

171

Other than language contact, internal mechanisms such as analogy and reanalysis could have speeded up the revision of the alternation in Maltese. For templatic verbs, the alternation exhibits a large degree of freedom in morphological marking. Inchoative verbs may, for instance, belong to binyan [1v2v3] (nixef ‘dry’), [12vv3] (krieh ‘become ugly’), [t1v22v3] (tgħawweġ ‘bend’), [n1v2v3] (nkiser ‘break’), and so on.19 This could have been a catalyst for the change to different means for expressing the causativeinchoative contrast. Still, further diachronic research needs to be undertaken to determine which external and internal factors are crucial for the process of labilization.

4. Labile verbs This section deals with the correlation between the direction of derivation of verbs that express the alternation with one and the same form and the lexical semantic nature of verbs. The main focus is on the link between the dichotomy of internal and external causation and morphological complexity. After surveying a number of arguments that show that the dichotomy can be upheld (at least for English and Spanish), I go on to present data from an elicitation task designed to establish the direction of derivation for a small set of labile verbs in Maltese.

4.1. Causativization or anticausativization? In the preceding paragraphs, it was shown that English is typologically unusual in its reliance on the same verb form and alternating word order to mark the causative-inchoative contrast. In most cases, English fails to show any morphological mark that would distinguish causative or inchoative as formally derived from the other. Despite the lack of overt morphological marking in labile pairs, several investigations on the causative-inchoative alternation are motivated by the assumption that English should be analyzed as if it displayed direction of (syntactic) derivation. On the assumption that the transitive and intransitive use of the same verb is not to be simply analyzed as an instance of systematic polysemy (cf. Marantz 1984 for an alternative view), one central issue concerns the derivational relationship, if any, between the causative and inchoative member. Two main views have been proposed: causativization and anticausativization.20

19

20

This is not the case with such alternations as the active-passive and transitive-reflexive, where the transitive is generally expressed by binyan [1v2v3] or [1v22v3] and the intransitive by [n1v2v3] or [t1v22v3], as examples (3) and (5) above demonstrate. Others treat it as having neither causativization nor anticausativization, but instead as deriving both causative and inchoative from a third element, such as a shared verb stem or root (Piñón 2001a, 2001b) or related stative adjectives (Parsons 1990: chapter 6).

Michael Spagnol

172

For various researchers (e.g., Lyons 1968; Lakoff 1970; Pinker 1989; Jackendoff 1990), alternating verbs have a monadic lexical semantic representation, i.e. they lack an implicit external argument, and causatives are derived from inchoatives via causativization (or transitivization). As shown in section 2, the lexical semantic structure of inchoatives is simple, as they are conceptualized as having no external cause. Because they have fewer participants and contain less information, inchoatives are taken to be less complex than causatives, whose structure consists of both a causing and a change of state subevent. According to the second view, the order of derivation is reversed. One such influential analysis, which has it that inchoatives are derived from basically dyadic causatives via deletion of the CAUSE operator, is Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995: chapter 3). They argue that the lexical semantic representation is dyadic for both causatives and inchoatives. Inchoatives are derived from their causative counterparts by means of a rule of detransitivization, which consists in the “lexical binding” of the causer argument of the causative verb. The causer argument is present in the lexical conceptual structure but not at the level of argument structure of the inchoative verb. It is bound in the mapping from lexical semantic representation to argument structure and is therefore prevented from being projected into the syntax. In other words, although causatives and inchoatives have the same lexical semantic representation, they differ in their argument structure: causatives are dyadic, inchoatives are monadic due to the lexical binding of the causer argument. Derivational approaches have been criticized for two reasons. First, not all causative change of state verbs have an inchoative counterpart, and vice versa, as sentences (10) and (11) show. In such cases, change of state verbs would have to be derived from a corresponding hypothetical base. (10a) Iz-ziju sann DEF=uncle sharpen.PFV.3SG.M ‘My uncle sharpened the knives.’ (10b) *Is=skieken insann-u. DEF=knives become sharp-PFV.3PL ‘The knives became sharp.’ (11a) *Iz=zija saffr-et DEF=aunt yellow-PFV.3SG.F ‘My aunt yellowed the paper.’ (11b) Il=karta sfar-et. DEF=aunt yellow-PFV.3SG.F ‘The paper yellowed.’

is=skieken. DEF=knives

il=karta. DEF=paper

Second, even if one had to take only alternating verbs into account, there still would be a mismatch between the assumed derivational and overt morphological complexity, given the cross-linguistic variation found in the formal encoding of the alternation (cf. section 3; Piñón 2001a, 2001b; Alexiadou et al. 2006). At this point one might well ask

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

173

whether morphological marking is indeed an evidence for the direction of syntactic derivation. Further research needs to be undertaken to resolve this issue. In derivational studies, it is generally assumed there is one direction of syntactic derivation for all alternating verbs. In what follows, I discuss studies that argue for a difference in direction of derivation for two main classes of verbs, based on the idea that derivational and morphological complexity is sensitive to the lexical semantic structure of verbs.

4.2. Internal and external causation Under Levin & Rappaport Hovav’s (1995) formulation of the Unaccusativity Hypothesis, it comes to light that there is not one, but two semantic classes of inchoative verbs. The basic lexical difference is the source of change: an inchoative verb may denote either an internally caused or an externally caused event. In the context of change of state verbs, the idea is that verbs like bloom, deteriorate, and rust are internally caused because the means of bringing about the change of state event is conceptualized as an inherent property of the entity undergoing the change. Verbs such as break, crumble, and explode, on the other hand, are conceptualized as coming about due to a force external to the entity undergoing the change of state. Stated another way, an externally caused intransitive construction such as The window broke is a derivation of the underlying transitive structure, implying that someone or something broke the window. By contrast, flowers bloom and pipes rust because of something internal to them; the change of state event is brought about by the entity undergoing the change itself. Among the diagnostics to distinguish externally from internally caused verbs are (a) the by itself test, (b) the scope of negation, and (c) adverbial modifiers. Relying on data mostly from Spanish, Koontz-Garboden (2009: 106ff.) shows how por sí solo ‘by itself’ is acceptable with externally caused (e.g., el barco se hundió por sí solo ‘the boat REFL sank by itself’) but not with internally caused events (e.g., ??Juan empeoró por sí solo ‘Juan worsened by himself’), because the latter are argued by Levin & Rappaport Hovav to lack a CAUSE operator as part of their denotation. Since the by itself modifier must be the sole agent or cause of the event named by the verb heading the clause in which it appears, it is judged unacceptable in clauses headed by internally caused verbs that lack agentive or causer subjects.21 21

In Maltese, the waħ(e)d- ‘by itself, lit. alone’ modifier in general fits more naturally with externally caused (a, b) than internally caused verbs (c, d). ?? a. il-bieb ingħalaq waħdu c. il-kafè kesaħ waħdu ‘the door closed by itself’ ‘the coffee cooled down by itself’ ?? b. il-fjamma ntfiet waħedha d. xagħarha twal waħdu ‘the flame went out by itself’ ‘her hair got longer by itself’ However, there are internally caused verbs that do license waħ(e)d- (e) and externally caused verbs that are judged unacceptable with waħ(e)d- (f).

Michael Spagnol

174

According to the second diagnostic, there are two different interpretations under negation for external causation verbs, as shown in examples (12) and (13) taken from Koontz-Garboden (2009: 112–113). (12)

Father: Son:

(13)

Father: Son: Father:

¿Se rompió el vaso? ‘Did the glass break?’ No, no se rompió el vaso. ‘No, the glass did not break.’ ¿Que pasó, hijo? ‘What happened, child?’ El vaso se rompió. ‘The glass broke.’ No se rompió sino que tú lo rompiste! ‘The glass didn’t break–you broke it!’

In negating the former case, the son denies that the glass has undergone the change of state. It did not break. In the latter example, the glass does break, even though the verb naming the change of state is negated. What the father denies is not that the glass broke, but that the vase was the cause of its own breaking. In other words, negation has scope over a BECOME operator in (12) and over a CAUSE operator in (13), loosely speaking. Such ambiguity is not found with internally caused verbs, which lack a causative lexical semantic representation (cf. Koontz-Garboden 2009: 112–119). The ability to take agent-oriented adverbial modifiers is another piece of evidence for the internal-external causation dichotomy. Centineo (1995) observes that external but not internal causation verbs in Italian may be modified by the adverb violentemente ‘violently’. Compare externally caused la porta si è chiusa violentemente ‘the door closed violently’ with internally caused *la nave è affondata violentemente ‘the boat sunk violently’. Similar data has been observed for Greek by Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2004: 131ff.). Additional support for Levin & Rappaport Hovav’s dichotomy comes from corpus analysis and psycholinguistic experimentation. McKoon & Macfarland (2000) found out that the range of subjects of transitive patterns for internally caused verbs is restricted to lexically delimited entities: bloom, for instance, is restricted to flowers, plants, trees, and the like. For external causation verbs, by contrast, there is no such

e.

il-ħwejjeġ (ma kellix għala nonxorhom għax) nixfu waħedhom ‘(I did not need to hang) the clothes (on the line as they) got dry by themselves’ f. ??il-ġelat inħall waħdu ‘the ice-cream melted by itself’. In Schäfer (2007), which is an analysis of the by itself phrase and its counterparts in German, Greek and Italian, it is observed that the phrase can be found cross-linguistically modifying predicates which arguably do not involve an external causer argument.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

175

restriction. The range of transitive subjects of externally caused events like break is open to animate entities, natural forces, conditions, and instruments. Similar findings are reported by Wright (2001, 2002). Corpus data indicate that internally caused verbs occur significantly less often in transitive constructions. When they are used transitively, they are more likely (i) to involve a nature-related causer as opposed to externally caused verbs, which tend to involve a human causer, and (ii) to have a metaphorical interpretation. Psycholinguistic evidence supports the view that change of state verbs can generally be divided into two classes. The experiments in McKoon & Macfarland (2000: 847ff.) show processing differences between sentences with internally caused and sentences with externally caused verbs. External causation verbs, both transitive and intransitive, require longer comprehension times than verbs of internal causation. This conclusion follows from the assumption that verbs describing externally caused events are more complex than verbs denoting internally caused events, because the former have two subevents (a causing and a change of state subevent) in their lexical semantic representation while the latter have only one (a change of state subevent). Wright (2001, 2002) observes another difference between the two main types of change of state verbs with regard to transitivity. Results from survey data show that internally caused verbs are rated less acceptable than externally caused verbs in transitive constructions. Internally and externally causation verbs differ in terms of the frequency and acceptability with which they are used transitively. She suggests that causer type (human-driven vs. non-human driven events), controllability (internal vs. external locus of control), and selectional restrictions in relation to subject-modification, are three factors that play a role in determining the transitive behavior of change of state verbs. The difference in lexical semantic representation between internally and externally caused verbs results in different predictions about derivational relationships. As it was hinted at in section 3.1, the direction of derivation is linked to the lexical semantic nature of verbs. Rephrasing Haspelmath’s (1993) generalization, externally caused verbs, which lexicalize a CAUSE operator, favor anticausative derivations, while internally caused events, which lack a causative lexical semantic representation, favor causativization. In other words, externally caused verbs are morphologically simple as causatives and anticausativize, while internally caused verbs are morphologically simple as inchoatives, with the causative derived.

4.3. Direction of derivation in Maltese Assuming that the two variants in labile pairs are derivationally related, in this section I seek to determine the direction of derivation of labile pairs in Maltese, without presuming there is a single correct analysis of the causative-inchoative alternation for all languages. No single diagnostic that was proposed in the literature can be uncontroversial-

176

Michael Spagnol

ly used to distinguish internal from external causation verbs in Maltese, even in cases where the direction of derivation is overtly marked (cf. section 4.2, in particular fn. 21). In order to establish the priority between causative and inchoative labile verbs, researchers (e.g., Visser 1970; Kitazume 1996; McMillion 2006) carry out studies under a diachronic perspective, tracing the earliest recorded appearances of the items to determine whether they started out as transitive or intransitive verbs. The idea is that the more salient type would be the basic type in an argument structure alternation and that it will be the first to appear in the language. Such an exercise is difficult to conduct for languages without a long written tradition like Maltese. Besides, there is no good reason why a diachronic sequence should necessarily translate into synchronic preeminence of one of the senses of the current polysemous, labile verbs. It may be therefore premature to assume that a verb is structurally of one rather than another pattern because it is used historically in the first pattern before it appears in the second. The basic-derived notion can be viewed not only diachronically, but also in terms of frequency. Preliminary corpus evidence from English demonstrates that verbs such as break and open occur more frequently as transitives, while the occurrence of freeze, dry, and the like in intransitive clauses is higher than that for transitive ones (Wright 2001: 127–128; Haspelmath 2008a: 13, 2008b: 14). This finding incidentally correlates with Haspelmath’s (1993) spontaneity scale: the percentage of transitive occurrences of items that are typically instigated by an external agent is higher than that for items that are typically conceptualized as occurring spontaneously (see fn. 4). In this respect, further corpus-based research is required to find out whether morphological markedness, or the internal-external causation dichotomy in general, has correlated frequency effects, with internally caused verbs (morphologically simple as inchoatives) occurring more frequently in intransitive patterns, and externally caused verbs (morphologically simple as causatives) more frequently in transitive patterns. Preliminary evidence that verbs taking part in the causative-inchoative alternation (whether derived via anti/causativization or not) are associated with two different basic syntactic frames, comes from native speakers’ responses to an elicitation test I carried out in person and via electronic mail. 28 native speakers were given a list of Maltese labile verbs such as sploda ‘explode’ and ċċarġja ‘charge’. For each verb they were asked to write down the first sentence they could think of.22 In the previous section, it was shown that, even for causative and inchoative verbs that are not overtly marked as basic or derived, the class of alternating verbs is not homogeneous, but rather consists of two main classes of verbs with opposite directions of (syntactic) derivation. It was therefore expected that native speakers would use some of the labile verbs in the list mostly in their transitive form, and others mostly in their 22

Some of the verbs are polysemous (cf. fn. 3). When the sentences involved senses that do not take part in the causative-inchoative alternation, such as ċċarġja in the sense ‘to require payment’ rather than in the intended or alternating sense ‘to supply with or receive electrical energy’, these sentences were not taken into account.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

177

intransitive form. In fact, the majority of the speakers used verbs such as sploda ‘explode’ and ssoda ‘strengthen’ intransitively, and verbs such as ċċarġja ‘charge’ and ċċattja ‘flatten’ transitively (cf. Table 4). Verb ċċarġja charge ċċattja flatten espanda expand għama blind/go blind impruvja improve sploda explode ssoda strengthen

inchoative causative inchoative causative inchoative causative inchoative causative inchoative causative inchoative causative inchoative causative

Percentages 26.9% 73.1% 16.7% 83.3% 70.4% 29.6% 81.5% 18.5% 96.3% 3.7% 92.6% 7.4% 71.4% 28.6%

Table 4: Percentage of inchoative and causative verb pairs Though the research I have reported is still in its preliminary stages, it seems to support the idea that alternating verbs, which do not show any morphological mark that would distinguish them as formally derived from a causative or inchoative counterpart, are nonetheless associated with a basic transitive or intransitive template. The source of the change of state, whether internally or externally caused, and the frequency of the items in transitive and intransitive clauses (cf. Haspelmath 2005, 2008a, 2008b) must be part of the explanation for the difference in the assumed direction of derivation. Further psycholinguistic and corpus-linguistic research in the spirit of studies like McKoon & Macfarland (2000) is required to determine: (i) whether there are processing differences between sentences with sploda-type verbs (presumably, internally caused) and sentences with ċċarġja-type verb (presumably, externally caused); and (ii) whether splodatype and ċċarġja-type verbs do indeed occur more frequently in intransitive and transitive patterns, respectively.

5. Conclusion In this paper, I have sought to accomplish two goals. First, I described the formal encoding of the causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese as a dichotomous system: templatic verbs favor morphologically simple causatives and derive inchoatives via anticausativization, whereas concatenative verbs generally effect the alternation labially, relying on the same verb form and alternating word order. This difference in mark-

Michael Spagnol

178

ing the causative-inchoative contrast goes parallel to a typological shift in word formation, and was presented as a case of diachronic instability, for new verbs are integrated into Maltese through concatenative morphology, and would therefore not mark the alternation by directed means (mostly anticausativization). Maltese has undergone considerable change, and is gradually extending the class of labile verbs to effect the opposition quite generally. Considering that the alternation appears to be relatively time stable in the world’s languages, and that few other languages show a preference for marking the causative-inchoative contrast with labile pairings (cf. Comrie 2006), additional research must be undertaken to investigate which language internal and language external factors are responsible for bringing about this revision in the formal encoding of the alternation in Maltese. Second, I tackled the issue of whether labile verb pairs are basically transitive or intransitive. I argued that there is not one direction of syntactic derivation (causativization or anticausativization), but that the direction of derivation is rather sensitive to the kind of event named by the verbs in question (whether internally or externally caused) and, possibly, to the frequency of occurrence of transitive or intransitive clausal patterns. Further research is required to find out whether morphological marking, in languages where there is morphological marking, does reflect the direction of syntactic derivation. It is worth looking at the ordering of causative and inchoative pairs by means of psycholinguistic experiments, to see if it is indeed the case that speakers are more likely to treat certain verbal notions but not others as more typically transitive or intransitive, irrespective of whether verb pairs mark the contrast overtly or labially.

Abbreviations DEF F M PFV

definite article feminine masculine perfective

PL SG

vi vt

plural singular intransitive verb transitive verb

References Alexiadou, Artemis & Anagnostopoulou, Elena (2004): Voice morphology in the causative-inchoative alternation: evidence for a non-unified structural analysis of unaccusatives, in: Alexiadou, Artemis; Anagnostopoulou, Elena & Everaert, Martin (eds.), The unaccusativity puzzle: explorations of the syntax-lexicon interface. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 114–136. Alexiadou, Artemis; Anagnostopoulou, Elena & Schäfer, Florian (2006): The properties of anticausatives crosslinguistically, in Frascarelli, Mara (ed.), Phases of interpretation. Berlin: Mouton, 187–211. Arad, Maya (2005): Roots and patterns. Hebrew morpho-syntax. (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 63). Dordrecht: Springer. Borg, Albert (1981): A study of aspect in Maltese. Malta.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

179

Borg, Albert (1988): Ilsienna: Studju grammatikali. Malta. Borg, Albert & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997): Maltese. Lingua descriptive grammars. London/New York: Routledge. Brincat, Joseph M. (2000): Il-Malti: Elf Sena ta’ Storja. Malta: PIN. Brincat, Joseph M. (2004): Malta. Una Storia Linguistica. Genova: Le Mani. Burzio, Luigi (1986): Italian syntax. A government and binding approach. Dordrecht: Reide. Centineo, Giulia (1995): The distribution of si in Italian transitive/inchoative pairs, in: Simons, Mandy & Galloway, Teresa (eds.), Proceedings from semantics and linguistic theory V. Ithaca: Cornell University, 54–71. Comrie, Bernard (2006): Transitivity pairs, markedness, and diachronic stability, in: Linguistics 44(2), 303–318. Cremona, Ninu (1961): The classification of the Maltese verb, in: Journal of Maltese Studies 1, 117–129. Dowty, David (1979): Word meaning and Montague grammar. The semantics of verbs and times in generative semantics and in Montague’s PTQ. Dordrecht: Reidel. Fabri, Ray (2009): Stem allomorphy in the Maltese verb, in: Ilsienna 1, 1–20. Folli, Raffaella (2001): On the relation of priority between causative and inchoative structures, in: D’Hulst, Yves, Rooryk, Johan & Schroten, Jan (eds.), Romance languages and linguistics theory 1999. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 143–166. Hale, Kenneth & Keyser, Samuel Jay (1986): Some transitive alternations in English. (Lexicon Project Working Papers 7). Center for Cognitive Science, M.I.T. Haspelmath, Martin (1990): The grammaticalization of passive morphology, in: Studies in Language 14(1), 25–72. Haspelmath, Martin (1993): More on the typology of inchoative/causative verb alternations, in: Comrie, Bernard & Polinsky, Maria (eds.), Causatives and transitives. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 87–120. Haspelmath, Martin (2005): Universals of causative verb formation. LSA Institute class handout, August 2, 2005. Cambridge, MA. Haspelmath, Martin (2008a): Frequency vs. iconicity in explaining grammatical asymmetries, in: Cognitive Linguistics 19(1), 1−33. Haspelmath, Martin (2008b): Causatives and anticausatives. Syntactic universals and usage frequency, Leipzig Spring School on Linguistic Diversity, March 2008. Leipzig. Hoberman, Robert D. & Aronoff, Mark (2003): The verbal morphology of Maltese, in: Shimron, Joseph (ed.), Language processing and acquisition in languages of Semitic, root-based, morphology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 61–78. Hoberman, Robert D. (2007): Maltese morphology, in: Kaye, Alan S. (ed.), Morphologies of Asia and Africa 1. USA: Eisenbrauns, 257–281. Jackendoff, Ray (1990): Semantic structures. Cambridge: MIT Press. Jacobsen, Wesley (1992): The transitive structure of events in Japanese. Tokyo: Kuroshio. Kiparsky, Paul (1997): Remarks on denominal verbs, in: Alsina, Alex; Bresnan, Joan & Sells, Peter (eds.), Complex predicates. Stanford, Cal.: CSLI, 473–499. Kitazume, Sachiko (1996): Middles in English, in: Word 47, 161–183. Koontz-Garboden, Andrew (2009): Anticausativization, in: Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 27, 77–138. Lakoff, George (1970): Irregularity in syntax. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Lavidas, Nikolaos (in print): The diachrony of labile verbs: evidence from the history of English and Greek, in: Kittilä, Seppo & Kulikov, Leonid (eds), Diachronic typology of voice and valencychanging categories. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Levin, Beth (1993): English verb class and alternations: a preliminary investigation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

180

Michael Spagnol

Levin, Beth & Rappaport Hovav, Malka (1995): Unaccusativity: at the syntax-lexical semantics interface. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. Levin, Beth & Rappaport Hovav, Malka (2005): Argument realization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lyons, John (1968): Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marantz, Alec (1984): On the nature of grammatical relations. Cambridge: MIT Press. Matsuzaki, Toru (2001): Verb meanings and their effects in syntactic behaviors: a study with special reference to English and Japanese ergative pairs. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida. McMillion, Alan (2006): Labile verbs in English. Their meaning, behaviour and structure. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stockholm University. McKoon, Gail & Talke Macfarland (2000): Externally and internally caused change of state verbs, in: Language 76, 833–858. Mifsud, Manwel (1995): Loan verbs in Maltese. Leiden: Brill. Montemagni, Simonetta (1994): Non alternating argument structures: the causative/inchoative alternation in dictionaries, in: Martin, Willy; Meijs, Willem; Moerland, Margreet; ten Pas, Elsemiek; van Sterkenburg, Piet & Vossen, Piek (eds.), Proceedings of the sixth Euralex international congress on lexicography. Amsterdam, 30-8/3-9, 349–359. Montemagni, Simonetta & Pirelli, Vito (1995): Do lexical rules apply across the board? A corpusbased investigation in the machinery of the causative-inchoative alternation in Italian. Proceedings of the Acquilex Workshop on Lexical Rules. University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. Cambridge, 9–11. Montemagni, Simonetta; Pirelli, Vito & Ruimy, Nilda (1995): Ringing things which nobody can ring. A corpus-based study of the causative-inchoative alternation in Italian, in: Textus, English Studies in Italy 8(2), 371–390. Nichols, Johanna (1993): Transitive and causative in the Slavic lexicon: evidence from Russian, in: Comrie, Bernard & Polinsky, Maria (eds.), Causatives and transitivity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 69–86. Nichols, Johanna; Peterson, David A. & Barnes, Jonathan (2004): Transitivizing and detransitivizing languages, in: Linguistic Typology 8, 149–211. Parsons, Terence (1990): Events in the semantics of English: a study in subatomic semantics. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Pinker, Steven (1989): Learnability and cognition: the acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Piñón, Christopher (2001a): Modelling the causative-inchoative alternation, in: Linguistische Arbeitsberichte 76, 273–293. Piñón, Christopher (2001b): A finer look at the causative-inchoative alternation, in: Hastings, Rachel; Jackson, Brendan & Zvolenszky, Zsofia (eds.), Proceedings of semantics and linguistic theory 11, Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications, Cornell University. Pylkkänen, Liina (2008): Introducing arguments. Cambridge: MIT Press. Ramchand, Gillian (2008): Verb meaning and the lexicon: a first-phase syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schäfer, Florian (2007): ‘By itself’, ms, Universität Stuttgart. Schäfer, Florian (2009): The causative alternation, in: Language and Linguistics Compass 3(2), 641–681. Spagnol, Michael (2011): L’integrazione delle costruzioni italiane con il si in maltese, in: Breu, Walter (ed.), L’influsso dell’italiano sul sistema del verbo delle lingue minoritarie: Resistenza e mutamento nella morfologia e nella sintassi. (Diversitas Linguarum 29). Bochum: Brockmeyer, 211–226.

The causative-inchoative alternation in Maltese

181

Spagnol, Michael; Bamyacı, Elif & Schönhuber, Florian (2010): From state to state, on the typology of states and the causative-inchoative alternation, Poster Presentation, 8th Semantics in the Netherlands Day, Nijmegen. Sutcliffe, Edmund (1936): A grammar of the Maltese language. Malta: Progress Press. Thepkanjana, Kingkarn (2003): A cognitive account to the causative/inchoative alternation in Thai, in: Casad, Gene & Palmer, Gary B. (eds.), Cognitive and non-Indo-European languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 247–274. Tsunoda, Tasaku (1985): Remarks on transitivity, in: Journal of Linguistics 21, 385–396. Visser, Fredericus T. (1970): A historical syntax of the English language. Part I: Syntactical units with one verb. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Wright, Saundra K. (2001): Internally caused and externally caused change of state verbs. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). Wright, Saundra K. (2002): Transitivity and change of state verbs, in: Larsen, Julie & Paster, Mary (eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society, 339–350. Yamaguchi, Toshiko (1998): Lexical semantic analysis of causative/inchoative alternation in Japanese: a preliminary investigation of subclasses of verbs, in: Doug, Arnold (ed.), Essex graduate students papers in language and linguistics Vol. II. Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex. http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/publications/egspll/volume_2/pdf/Yamaguchi.pdf.

THOMAS STOLZ (BREMEN/GERMANY)

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

Abstract This paper introduces the Maltese possessive relative clause as a morpho-syntactic strategy in its own right. On the basis of a sizable literary corpus of modern Maltese prose, it is shown that this strategy is a pervasive phenomenon within the system of possessive constructions. Syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects are discussed in some detail. The interaction of the parameters of syntactic weight, temporal possession and (non-)focus is scrutinised. The high frequency of the possessive relative clause is amply documented by a rich inventory of empirical evidence. The paper seeks to demonstrate that the possessive relative clause is closely associated with all kinds of atypical possession.

1. Introduction Possession is an important functional dimension of language (Seiler 1983) which, for the past three decades, has been gaining ever more attention by many linguists of rather different convictions and backgrounds. The current bibliography of titles pertinent to the topic of linguistic possession is far too long to be scrutinised in any detail in this contribution. Suffice it to mention only a small selection of items. Modern classics like Heine (1997), Lehmann (1998) and more recent work by Stassen (2009) as well as the articles published in Chappell & McGregor (1996), Payne & Barshi (1999), Baron et al. (2001), Coene & D’Hulst (2003) and McGregor (2009) demonstrate that possession provides fertile ground for empirical research and theory-oriented discussion within and

This paper has developed (post facto) from the project STO 7-1/2 Alienabilität/Inalienabilität in Europa financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) at the University of Bremen (2002–2004). I am grateful to my audiences at the universities of Düsseldorf, Berlin (FU), Vienna and Bremen where I presented earlier versions of this article in late 2008 and early 2009. The final version has benefited especially from the thought-provoking comments made by native-speaker linguists during the 2nd International Conference on Maltese Linguistics hosted by the University of Bremen in September 2009. Ray Fabri deserves many thanks for reading and commenting upon the draft version of this article. For their kind help with technical matters, I am indebted to Marina Breussov, Sonja Kettler and Susanne Schuster, members of my research group at the University of Bremen. Unless otherwise stated, all ideas expressed in this paper have to be blamed on me.

184

Thomas Stolz

across various frameworks, no matter whether they are considered to be formalist or functionalist. Notwithstanding the enormous amount of scholarly work dedicated to possession, there are still many areas of the phenomenon which have not been explored sufficiently yet, if at all. There are literally thousands of languages world-wide whose systems of possession have not been studied. Even for many of those languages which are included in the at times impressively sizable cross-linguistic samples employed for the purpose of typological investigations of possession, it is clear that the researcher can only touch upon selected aspects of their properties in the realm of possession. Moreover, certain aspects may be privileged to the detriment of other aspects which, for some reason or other, are deemed less interesting for the purpose at hand. To start one’s investigation from firm ground, students of possession often define a prototype (Heine 1997) or canonical type (Stassen 2009) of possessive situation and/or construction which, in turn, becomes the invariable basis of their comparative study (see below). On the formal side, there are several potential cut-off points. Investigations may focus on adnominal possession (KoptjevskajaTamm 2002), pronominal possession (Stolz & Gorsemann 2001), or predicative possession (Stassen 2009), to name just the triad of typical syntactic contexts in which possession is usually studied. Functionally, the distinction of alienable vs. inalienable possession (Nichols 1988), its further internal differentiation and conceptual basis (Heine 1997) are very often addressed in the literature. It cannot be denied that there are very good reasons for looking into these and other prominent areas. However, a negative effect of the preference given to the above phenomena can be that other aspects connected to possession fall into oblivion such that their potential importance for our understanding of the general category of linguistic possession cannot be evaluated properly. The plea for the inclusion of the entire network of possessive relations into the theory of possession is the leitmotif of Stolz et al. (2008), who provide substantial evidence of grammatically relevant possession splits in some 40 languages of Europe. Most of these “newly discovered” possession splits – not all of them based on the alienability parameter, by the way – share the characteristic of being encoded by morphosyntactic means which also fulfil other (often primary) functions such that their integration into the possessive system is not self-evident at first blush. Unfortunately, categories which require close scrutiny (for instance, of extensive text corpora) to be identified are easily overlooked (not only) in cross-linguistic studies which, of necessity, rely on the information given in the extant descriptive literature on the languages of the sample. Since in the Latin-school-inspired western tradition of grammar writing, possession (like other function-based categories) is not a topic in its own right but is usually distributed over a variety of chapters devoted to other issues, non-canonical aspects of possession may be hidden in unexpected places, if they are treated at all. The format of many descriptive grammars imposes severe limitations upon what linguists may find out about the nature of language. The latter can only be understood fully if the supposedly marginal and/or unusual is taken account of, too.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

185

This paper presents a case in point, namely, the possessive relative clause (= PRC) in Maltese – a construction type which hitherto has not been taken notice of in typological and theory-driven work on possession. I claim that a thorough linguistic appraisal of the formal and functional side of the Maltese PRC will have an impact on the current debate in possession research. To this end, it is necessary to present some basic facts about Maltese possession first (section 2). In section 3, I sketch the properties of the relative clause in Maltese. Section 4 scrutinises the PRC in modern literary Maltese. The conclusions are given in section 5. My study is exclusively synchronic. Except in section 4, languages other than Maltese are mentioned only in passing. No attempt is made to connect the Maltese phenomena to potentially similar phenomena in other Semitic languages. In terms of methodology and theory, I adopt a functionalist stance which is compatible with most of the work currently carried out within functional typology. Additionally, I employ elements of construction grammar in order to describe the formal and functional properties of the PRC without committing myself to any particular school of thought within the highly variegated spectrum of construction grammar(s) (Fischer & Stefanowitsch 2006). My treatment of the PRC and sundry issues connected to Maltese possession largely consists of qualitative analyses. Since this study is not intended as a full-blown statistical evaluation according to the principles of corpus-linguistics, wherever I support these qualitative analyses with quantitative date, I use relatively simple statistical methods to determine type and token frequencies of the phenomena under scrutiny. The bulk of the data documenting the PRC are drawn from a convenience corpus documenting 20th and 21st century Maltese prose (including three translations from French and Italian originals into Maltese). The genres covered are various kinds of literary fiction and autobiographies. The seventeen texts (authored by thirteen different writers) are listed with all bibliographical details at the end of this paper, where I also spell out the abbreviations used in the morpheme glosses. Additional data stem from diverse linguistic studies devoted to Maltese matters. Except otherwise stated, all translations from the Maltese are mine.

2. Basic facts about Maltese possession The most comprehensive treatment of Maltese possession so far forms part of the arealtypological study on split possession in Europe by Stolz et al. (2008: 44–110). In earlier studies, Comrie (1982) looks at the development of a HABEO-verb in Maltese predicative possession, Koptjevskaja-Tamm (1996) describes the alienability correlation with focus on pronominal possession whereas Fabri (1996) highlights aspects of adnominal possession. More recently, Peterson (2009: 189–196) tries to determine the functional domain of the Maltese (pseudo-)verb of possession. The international reference grammar of Maltese (Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997) also provides useful information in those sections which deal with possession according to the LDS-format. Additional-

Thomas Stolz

186

ly, Maltese data are discussed (mostly only in passing) in cross-linguistic studies on aspects of possession (e.g. in Stassen 2009). Apart from some minor points of dissent, the above scholars are in agreement among each other as to the ground-plan of the Maltese possessive system (to be outlined in sub-section 2.1). That the possessive system goes far beyond this common ground of linguists is shown in sub-section 2.2, which also introduces criteria which are crucial for the analysis of the PRC. Before I look at the Maltese data in more detail, however, I have to touch upon some general points first. Possession is a functional domain whose conceptual makeup is notoriously difficult to capture. As to the definition of possession, I follow Seiler’s (1983) original ideas and Heine’s (1997) elaboration thereof. Possession is an asymmetrical binary relation in which a participant – the possessor – exerts control over the other participant – the possessee – such that the two participants may be legally, socially, emotionally or physically associated with each other to varying degrees. Possessor, possessee and the relation obtaining between the two participants are variables. For some languages, the semantics of the fillers of the three variables is largely without major effects on the morpho-syntactic level (e.g. many of the so-called SAE languages such as German). In other languages, such as Maltese, the properties of the fillers are crucial for the internal differentiation of the possessive system (Stolz et al. 2008). For the present purpose, it is crucial to recapitulate the properties which Heine (1997) and others ascribe to the components of the prototypical possessive relation: x x

x

the possessor is a human being represented by a definite NP, the possessee is an inanimate concrete manipulable object at the disposal of the possessor; the possessee is represented by o a definite NP in constructions of adnominal possession, o an indefinite NP in constructions of predicative possession, the possessive relation which connects the two participants to each other is stable (similar to legal ownership).

As will become clear from the ensuing discussion, the prototype covers only a segment of the rich phenomenology of possession – a richness of which the Maltese data bear witness.

2.1. Common wisdom In the realm of attributive possession, Maltese overtly distinguishes two categories, viz. alienable and inalienable possession. In the case of pronominal possession, this distinction is reflected by the contrast of two strategies: possessor suffixation on the possessed noun and the employment of the preposition ta’ (largely equivalent to English of) as the host of the possessor morpheme. Feminine nouns ending in -a undergoing possessor suffixation usually replace their final vowel with the t-marbuta (“bound -t”) as, e.g.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

187

persuna ‘person(ality)’ → person-t-u ‘his person(ality)’ with the t-marbuta in boldface. Possessor suffixation bars the use of determiners on the possessed noun whereas no such restriction holds for the ta’-construction. Possessor suffixation is associated with inalienable possession whereas the use of the ta’-construction is far less restricted such that one may speak of a general possessive construction. In short, we are dealing with two construction types: (1)

(a) [N(-t)-PROpossessor]inalienable vs. (b) [(DET-)N ta’-PROpossessor]alienable/general

In (2), I illustrate the two constructions with typical examples of inalienably possessed nouns (ras ‘head’) and alienably possessed nouns (karozza ‘car’). (2)

Paradigms of pronominal possession

Possessor 1SG 2SG 3SG.M 3SG.F 1PL 2PL 3PL

Inalienable ras-i ras-ek ras-u ras-ha ras-na ras-kom ras-hom

Alienable/General il-karozza tiegħ-i il-karozza tiegħ-ek il-karozza tiegħ-u il-karozza tagħ-ha il-karozza tagħ-na il-karozza tagħ-kom il-karozza tagħ-hom

The set of inalienably possessed nouns is usually described as a small and closed class, consisting mainly of kinship terms, body-part terms and a minor number of culturally salient concepts, a class which is depicted as currently giving way to the general possessive construction which is expanding its domain to the detriment of the old binary paradigm of possessive categories (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 1996, Borg & AzzopardiAlexander 1997: 115). That this point of view needs to be modified will be demonstrated in sub-section 2.2 below. The above distinction can also be observed in adnominal possession, where so-called genitival N-N-combinations come in two shapes. The construct state (Fabri 1996) corresponds functionally to possessor suffixation in pronominal possession as it expresses inalienable possession. In the construct state, the t-marbuta familiar from pronominal possession replaces the final -a of possessed feminine nouns as, e.g. nanna ‘grandmother’ → nann-t Pawlu ‘Pawlu’s grandmother’. Apart from the t-marbuta, the construct state can be described as N-NP juxtaposition. It contrasts with the ta’construction. In both cases, the linear order is POSSESSED > POSSESSOR. In the construct state, the possessed nouns cannot be accompanied by determiners whereas the ta’construction allows the possessed noun to be marked overtly for definiteness. The two construction types can be schematised as follows: (3)

(a) [N(-t) (DET-)Npossessor]inalienable vs. (b) [(DET-)NP ta’ (DET-)NPpossessor]alienable/general

The sentential examples (4)–(5) illustrate the use of the construction types identified in (1) and (3) above. In (4), inalienability applies twice – once in the guise of the construct

188

Thomas Stolz

state (omm l-għarusa ‘mother of the bride’) and once with possessor suffixation on the same possessed noun (ommi ‘my mother’). (4)

Inalienable possession (RAJT 118)1 Niftakar, meta iżżewwiġt, bagħtet rigal 1.IMPERF:REFL:remember when marry:1SG.PERF send:3SG.F.PERF present sabiħ lill-għarusa u bukkett ward lil omm l-għarusa nice to:DET-bride and bouquet flower to mother DET-bride u lil ommi. and to mother:1SG ‘I remember that when I married she sent a nice present to the bride and a bouquet of flowers to the mother of the bride and to my mother.’

In (5), the noun problema ‘problem’, under pronominal possession, takes the ta’-construction, just like the five possessed nouns in the chain of genitival N-N-combinations in the same sentence. (5)

Alienable possession (RAJT 306) Kont tfajt il-problema tiegħi fil-baħar be:1SG.PERF throw:1SG.PERF DET-problem of:1SG in:DET-sea tal-problemi kbar tal-fqar, tal-morda, of:DET-problem:PL big.PL of:DET-poor.PL of:DET-sick.PL ta’ l-isfortunati tal-ħajja. DET-unfortunate:PL of:DET-life of ‘I had thrown my problem into the sea of the huge problems of the poor, the sick, the unfortunate in life.’

Superficially, the distinction of the two possessive categories seems to be on the decline also with adnominal constructions because the ta’-construction is reported to occur also with nouns which are bona fide instances of inalienable concepts. The supposed generalisation of the ta’-construction (which boils down to the disintegration of the old bipartite system) fits in with the situation in Maltese predicative possession – at least as it is commonly described. The highly suppletive pseudo-verb 1

For the sentential examples, the following conventions hold. I respect the orthography and punctuation of the sources from which I draw the examples. Boldface highlights those parts of the examples which are relevant for the ensuing discussion. In the morpheme glosses, I follow the principles of economy, meaning: morphemes are never hyphenated. The identification of grammatical categories is restricted to the minimum. Where examples are presented in the form of lists, I refrain from providing separate morpheme glosses. The same holds for longer chunks of text which I present in sub-section 4.3.2. In the English translations (all of which are mine), I deliberately give preference to possessive constructions other than those which could pass as English PRCs. Only where this option is blocked completely because strong pragmatic constraints do I resort to English PRCs as translation equivalents of Maltese PRCs. That this practice leads to stylistically marked English translations is hereby explicitly acknowledged.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

189

għand- ‘to have’ (with its perfective/past form kell- and the future/irrealis jkoll-) is the nucleus of the predicative possession construction: (6)

[(NPpossessor) għand-PROpossessor NPpossessee]predicative possession

The possessor is obligatorily marked by pronominal suffixes on the pseudo-verb. It can be shown to combine with nouns of all semantic classes such that it neutralises potential possessive distinctions (Peterson 2009: 192–193). The examples in (7) only cover small part of the domain of the construction presented in (6) (cf. also Stolz et al. 2008: 98–99). Għand- is used to express the possession of kinship terms, body-part terms, animate nouns, concrete inanimate nouns, physico-mental states, abstract nouns, etc. (7)

Predicative possession

# 1

Source ANNI 24

2

PALM 12

3 4

ANNI 7 PALM 63

5

PALM 9

6

ANNI 13

7

ANNI 25

Example Int għandek ġenituri li jħobbuk… Kellha xagharha qasir, iswed tuta. Għandek atturi tajbin… …u s-Sur Sapian kellu lkarozza tieghu… Kellu kamra għalih waħdu ħdejn dik taz-zija Nora… Għandi n-ngħas u aħjar immur norqod. Urihom li int għandek ittajjeb tiegħek!

Translation ‘You have parents who love you.’ ‘She had short [lit. her] hair, pitchblack.’ ‘You have good actors.’ ‘And Mr. Sapian had his [own] car.’ ‘He had a room of his own next to that of aunt Nora.’ ‘I am tired [lit. I have drowsiness] and I better go to sleep.’ ‘Show them that you have your strengths [lit. your good].’

Possessee kinship body-parts animate inanimate

physicomental state abstract concept

This omnicompatibility of għand- is reminiscent of the neutralising effect of the ta’construction in pronominal and adnominal possession. One might get the idea that, in predicative possession, Maltese does not attest the alienability-inalienability contrast while in attributive possession the old system is being levelled out. However, this interpretation is much too simple.

2.2. Phenomena which are less easy to grasp The above sketch has to be complemented in more than one respect. First of all, the neutralisation of the alienability-inalienability distinction via the generalisation of the ta’-construction in attributive possession is not an arbitrary or random phenomenon. What strikes the eye immediately, if one scrutinises Maltese literary prose, is the unexpectedly high number of nouns which undergo possessor suffixation. On a comparatively small textual basis, Stolz et al. (2008: 50–77) identify over a hundred different types of possessed nouns which host possessor suffixes. This wealth of nouns which are overtly marked for inalienable possession is in stark contrast to the idea that possessor

Thomas Stolz

190

suffixation is restricted to a small segment of the Maltese lexicon. Moreover, body-part terms and kinship terms are responsible for only a part, albeit a sizable part of all attested cases. On the one hand, the contrast of possessor suffixation and ta’-construction used with the same possessed noun serves the purpose to disambiguate meanings with possessor suffixation indicating a more intimate (sometimes only emotional) relation between possessor and possessed item as, e.g. ktieb ‘book’ → ktiebi ‘my book (= the one I wrote)’ vs. il-ktieb tiegħi ‘my book (= the one I bought)’, dar ‘house’ → dari ‘my home (= where I live/was born)’ vs. id-dar tiegħi ‘my house (which I intend to sell)’ (Stolz et al. 2008: 70). Often, the inalienably possessed noun has a metaphorical meaning whereas its alienably possessed counter-part has a concrete meaning (Stolz et al. 2008: 71–72), although speakers disagree widely as to which of the inalienably possessed nouns are acceptable including ktiebi and dari (Ray Fabri p.c.). On the other hand, the alternation of the two construction types obeys (preferencebased) rules which are tightly connected to (referential) definiteness (Stolz et al. 2008: 87), (pragmatic) focus (Stolz et al. 2008: 71) and (syntactic) weight (Stolz et al. 2008: 87–89). Secondly, in predicative possession, the construction type (6) does not have the uncontested monopoly as there are competing constructions which are used to express certain possessive categories which are neutralised by għand- (Stolz et al. 2008: 100– 109). I briefly discuss these necessary additions to the above sketch below. 2.2.1. Attributive possession Since possessor suffixes cannot bear stress, the construction (1) (a) is pragmatically disadvantageous in the sense that only the lexical morpheme of the possessed noun can be prosodically prominent. This means that construction (1) (a) is ambiguous as to which, if any, of the two components of the possessive relation – possessor or possessed – is focused upon.2 In contrast to (1) (a), the ta’-construction, however, is accessible for contrastive focus and emphasis on the possessor because the inflected preposition constitutes a phonological word of its own which may or may not be given prosodical prominence within the multi-word construction (1b), cf. (8)–(9). (8)

2

Possessor suffixation – non-focus [Stolz et al. 2008: 57–58] Iżda wara l-gwerra ġew f’pajjiżna but after DET-war come:3PL.PERF in:country:1PL xi familji Ingliżi… some family:PL English:PL ‘After the war however, some English families came to our country.’

Maris Cammilleri (p.c.) goes even further when she claims that possessor suffixation and focus are mutually exclusive in Maltese, i.e., nouns which host a possessor suffix are automatically in the non-focus (but see Fabri 1993: 174).

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(9)

191

ta’-construction – possessor focus [Stolz et al. 2008: 65] U dan il-pajjiż tagħna li għadu jħobb il-familja… and this DET-country of:1PL REL still:3SG.M 3.IMPERF:love DET-family ‘And this country of ours which still loves the family…’

In example (8), the possessed noun pajjiżna ‘our country’ is not focused upon (the focus being most probably on the subject NP xi familji Ingliżi ‘some English families’) whereas in (9), there is a heavy dose of emotional involvement and emphasis on the possessor – too much of an emphasis for pajjiżna to be the best choice. The ta’construction, however, offers the perfect site for the focus accent (in the sense of contrastive focus), namely the inflected preposition tagħna. Possessor suffixation normally invites the interpretation of the possessed noun as definite. This (not absolutely strict) correlation of possessor suffixation and definiteness can be held responsible for the absence of the definite article pro-clitic from inalienably possessed nouns – including those which form part of the genitival N-N construction (= construct state, i.e., construction type [3] [a]). In the absence of fully grammaticalised indefinite articles, bare nouns are understood normally as indefinite unless they form part of the construct state (be they possessor nouns or possessed nouns). The ta’construction, however, makes it possible for the possessive construction to contain indefinite NPs, cf. the apposition in (10). (10)

Indefinite possessed noun (ĠENN 152) kien ġie għandna s-Sur Aldo Debono, ħabib tal-familja… be.PERF come.PERF at:1PL DET-Mr. Aldo Debono friend of:DET-family ‘Mr. Aldo Debono, a friend of the family, had come to us.’

In (10), two nouns are in a genitival relationship. If the possessed noun were definite, the construct state would be an option: ħabib il-familja ‘the friend of the family’. However, since indefiniteness applies to the possessed noun, this option is blocked. Thus, the ta’-construction must be employed instead. In addition to the xi-construction described by Vanhove (2009) as nominal quantification, indefiniteness (with different degrees of specificity) may also be expressed by partitive constructions, which however are ambiguous as to indefiniteness and quantification. The partitive construction comprises a cardinal numeral (or quantifier like ħafna ‘many’) on the left edge, the preposition minn ‘from’ (which morphonologically assimilates to its neighbour on the right) and a definite NP in the plural: (11)

[NUM minn DET-N(P)-PL]partitive

Wieħed mill-ħbieb tal-familja ‘one of the friends of the family’ is a fully acceptable replacement of the apposition highlighted by boldface in example (10). What the partitive construction contributes to is the syntactic complexity of the phrase which includes the possessed noun. In my terminology, the more complex a syntagm becomes, the more syntactic weight it acquires. The multi-word phrase wieħed mill-ħbieb is certainly

Thomas Stolz

192

heavier than the one-word phrase ħabib. Syntactically weighty phrases tend to trigger the use of the ta’-construction no matter whether the phrase in question is definite or indefinite, cf. (12). (12)

Syntactic weight [Stolz et al. 2008: 85]3 Li kont flokok kont indabbar rasi if be:1SG.PERF in:place:2SG be:1SG.PERF 1.IMPERF:acquire head:1SG baxx baxx it-tlitt iħbieb tiegħi. DET-three friend.PL of:1SG low low ‘If I was in your place, I would try to seek refuge secretly with my three friends.’

Example (12) illustrates the use of the ta’-construction in pronominal possession. Ħbieb ‘friends’ – the broken plural of ħabib ‘friend’ – may host the possessor suffix and thus ħbiebi ‘my friends’ is perfectly acceptable. However, the possessed noun is overtly quantified by the cardinal numeral tlitt ‘three’ (the pre-nominal form of tlieta ‘three’). The presence of the numeral adds syntactic weight to the NP which becomes syntactically heavy. Accordingly, the ta’-construction is given preference over the alternative possessor suffixation. Within an NP, syntactic complexity can be caused by any kind of attributes, determiners or appositions. To conclude this sub-section, it can be stated that, in Maltese attributive possession, pragmatic, semantic and syntactic factors conspire in such a way that the ta’-construction boasts of a particularly high text (= token) frequency because it is accessible to focus accent, it disambiguates some meanings and it facilitates the parsing of syntactically heavy phrases. However, these advantages notwithstanding, the binary system of alienable and inalienable possession has not disintegrated yet. Not only in written Maltese, possessor suffixation is still going strong. 2.2.2. Predicative possession In sub-section 2.1, the description of predicative possession in Maltese invokes the typical picture of predicative possession in European languages like English, French, German and Italian whose HABEO-verb combines with all kinds of possessors and all kinds of possessees. The distinction of alienable and inalienable possession typical of attributive possession is neutralised by għand- in predicative possession. On closer inspection, however, one notices that għand- is not the sole option when it comes to encoding predicative possession. The first alternative is the bi-construction based on the Maltese preposition bi ‘with’ which normally requires a non-human complement (Stolz et al. 2006: 285–293). The bi-construction (cf. [13]) contains a slot for the copula which is defective in Maltese as 3

Ray Fabri (p.c.) considers this example almost ungrammatical as he expects the final part to be baxx baxx mat-tlitt iħbieb tiegħi. The absence of the preposition ma' ‘with’ is perhaps the effect of a printer’s error.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

193

there are no regular present tense forms in the paradigm (often the personal pronoun fulfils the task of the copula in the present tense).4 (13)

[(COP-)PROpossessor bi (DET-)N]

Literally, the bi-construction states that someone – the possessor – is with something – the possessee. The bi-construction is used mainly to express temporary possession, be it physical possession or that of physico-mental states, cf. (14)–(15). (14)

Temporary physical possession (DJAR 40) Min ser joqgħod jagħti kas jekk Karmena who FUT 3:stand 3:give attention if Karmena hix bin-nuċċali jew le? with:DET-spectacles:PL or no she:NEG ‘Who would be paying attention to whether or not Karmena is wearing [lit. is with] spectacles?’

(15)

Temporary physico-mental state (RASU 73) Tonin Bonnici… ta’ 24 sena wkoll kien b’saħħtu Tonin Bonnici of 24 year also be.PERF with:health:TM:3SG.M ħafna… very ‘Tonin Bonnici, 24 years of age, was also very strong [lit. much with his health].’

The bi-construction is very often used with possessed clothes if the focus is not on ownership but on attire, i.e., the clothes a person is wearing at a given point in time as in (13). The employment of għand- in the same sentence would not exclude a different interpretation, namely, that of ownership and/or permanent possession. With physicomental states as in (15), the use of għand- seems to be ruled out completely. Within the functional domain of the bi-construction, temporary possessive relations are most important (Stolz et al. 2008: 100–106). The second construction-type which competes with the għand-construction is schematically outlined in (16). (16)

[(DET-)NPpossessee li għand-PROpossessor (NPpossessor) fuq-PROpossessor]

Superficially, the schema in (16) resembles the għand-construction in (6). This resemblance is the effect of the embedding of an expanded għand-construction: the NP representing the possessee is syntactically external to the embedded għand-construction as the possessee functions as the head of the relative clause in which the għandconstruction is integrated. The relative clause also contains an adverbial PP headed by the preposition fuq ‘on’. The possessor is marked by pronominal suffixes on both the 4

The construction types I introduce here and in sub-sequent paragraphs tend to be polyfunctional. This is why I refrain from assigning a functional label to the bracketed schemas.

Thomas Stolz

194

preposition and għand-. The fuq-construction is used very often with possessed physico-mental states, cf. (17)–(18).5 (17)

Temporary physico-mental state (BUTL 47) Bl-uġigħ li kellu l-ġgant fuqu, with:DET-pain REL have.PERF:3SG.M DEF-giant on:3SG.M lanqas biss ra ‘l Butlettax jiżgiċċa not_even only see.PERF to Butlettax 3.IMPERF:scamper minn taħt is-sodda… from under DET-bed ‘Because of the pain the giant felt [lit. the giant had on him], he did not even see Butlettax escaping from under the bed.’

(18)

Temporary physico-mental state (ĠAĦA 32) Beża’ li bil-ġuħ li kellhom fuqhom fear.PERF that with:DET-hunger REL have.PERF:3PL on:3PL kienu se jieklu lilu! FUT 3.IMPERF:eat:PL to:3SG.M be.PERF:3PL ‘He feared that because of all their hunger [lit. the hunger they had on them] they would eat him!’

Stolz et al. (2008: 107–109) conclude that the fuq-construction serves the purpose of depicting physico-mental states as being temporarily possessed (= experienced). In this area, the fuq-construction and the bi-construction seem to overlap functionally. The physical strength of the possessor in (15) is an ephemeral property (associated with his relatively young age). However, its temporary status extends over a longer stretch of time than the pain and the hunger experienced by the giant and the dogs in (17)–(18), respectively. The fuq-construction opens the window to the PRC because Stolz et al. (2008: 107) observe that the PP may sometimes be omitted from the construction. However, the authors do not investigate this issue further. It is therefore necessary to fill this gap by scrutinising the Maltese PRC. In section 4, I elaborate on the functional and formal aspects of the PRC. The in-depth study of the PRC requires a short introduction to the properties of the Maltese relative clause in general, which is provided in section 3.

3. A glance at the Maltese relative clause Apart from its treatment in Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997), the Maltese relative clause is studied from a pan-Mediterranean perspective by Comrie (2002) and Cristofaro & Giacalone Ramat (2002). The general relativiser (or better: general subordinator) li is an invariable particle which can be employed to relativise NPs with various syntactic 5

Ray Fabri (p.c.) emphasizes that kell- can be omitted from examples (17)–(18) too.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

195

functions and semantic roles. If needs be, a resumptive pronominal element (often attached to a preposition) anaphorically refers back to the relativised head. The general structural format of the Maltese relative clause is given in (19). The position of the PP is variable, although the slot to the immediate right of the relativiser seems to be preferred. (19)

[NP li (PP) S]

In the subsequent section, ample evidence of Maltese relative clauses (in their PRC format) is provided. The PPs which are part of one variety of the PRC, however, are of a different kind: their complement is a pronoun or noun which represents the possessor.

4. The PRC Structurally, the Maltese PRC is nothing out of the way if one looks at it from the perspective of English, French, German or other SAE-languages. In these languages, similar constructions occur and thus isolated examples of the PRC do not seem to have anything about them which catches the eye of the observer. At this point, however, text frequency comes into play. In English and German, for instance, relative clauses which fulfil the function of expressing a possessive relation are most probably not as frequent as the PRC is in Maltese.6 Consider the statistics given in (20). The calculation is made for ten of my seventeen sample texts. The ranking order is according to the decreasing share of PRCs. The percentages are rounded. If two texts display equal shares of PRCs, the one which has the higher absolute number of tokens precedes the one with lower absolute values. Grey shading marks those texts whose PRC shares are equal or go beyond the average. (20) Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6

Statistical weight of the PRC in the Maltese corpus Text RAJT FOMM RASU MAIG ĠENN ANNI SALT POLI PALM LPP Maltese Total Average

PRC tokens 149 52 58 30 79 23 46 22 26 12 497 49.7

Sentences 7,472 2,656 3,552 2,352 6,800 2,272 4,960 2,336 3,360 1,650 37,410 3,741

Share 20% 20% 16% 13% 12% 10% 9% 9% 8% 7% 13%

Christel Stolz (p.c.) assumes that in German, PRCs have to be restrictive relative clauses in the sense of Lehmann (1984: 261). Supposedly appositive PRCs sound pragmatically odd at least to German native speakers.

Thomas Stolz

196

Unsurprisingly, the frequency of the PRC is not the same throughout the corpus. Nevertheless, the percentages are generally relatively high. According to my German native speaker intuition, the Maltese shares are definitely higher than the average German text would provide. It is this impressionistic quantitative aspect which has drawn my attention to the Maltese PRC in the first place. Why is this construction so “unexpectedly” frequent in Maltese texts? To verify the above intuition, I compare the instances of PRCs in the Maltese translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince with their translation equivalents in the French original and the English, German and Italian versions. The data are presented in the form of a synoptic table in (21). Their order reflects the chronology of attestation in the text. The literal translation of the Maltese examples is provided in the endnotes. The bracketed numbers indicate the pages on which the examples can be found in the various versions of Le Petit Prince. (21) # 1 2

3 4 5

6 7

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

PRCs in the Little Prince Maltese [3] L-ilma li kelli għax-xorb7 [19] il-ħsara li kelli8

French [11] j’avais … de l’eau à boire [27] ma panne

[20] Bix-xewk li għandom9 [22] l-għodda li kelli10 [24] fuq l-erba’ xewkiet li kellha11 [41] l-wieħed li għandi rieqed12 [58] t-tliet vulkani jwasslu sa rkobbtejja li għandi13

[28] avec leurs épines [30] mes outils

English [7] I had drinking water [24] the breakdown of my plane [24] their thorns [26] my tools

[32] de ses quatre épines

[28] of her four thorns

[49] celui qui est éteint [66] mes trois volcans qui m’arrivent au genou

[45] the one that is extinct [62] three volcanoes that come up to my knees

German [10] Ich hatte … Trinkwasser mit [35] meine Panne

Italian [11] avevo acqua da bere [35] mia panne

[36] mit Hilfe der Dornen [39] mein Werkzeug [42] von ihren vier Dornen

[36] con le loro spine [38] i miei utensili [42] delle sue quattro spine

[66] den erloschenen [89] meine drei Vulkane, die mir bis ans Knie reichen

Literally: ‘the water that I had for drinking’. Literally: ‘the damage that I had’. Literally: ‘with the thorns that they have’. Literally: ‘the tools that I had’. Literally: ‘on the four thorns that she had’. Literally: ‘the one that I had sleeping’. Literally: ‘the three volcanoes that I have reach to me knees’.

[65] di quello spinto [89/90] i miei te vulcani che mi arrivano alle ginocchia

The possessive relative clause in Maltese # 8

9

10 11

12

197

Maltese [59] l-uniċi interessi li għandhom14 [67] l-aħħar qatra ilma li kelli maħżuna15

French [67] leur seul intérêt

English [64] their only interests

German [90] ihr einziges Interesse

Italian [91] il loro solo interesse

[76] la dernière goutte de ma provision d’eau

[72] the last drop of my water supply

[103] den letzten Tropfen meines Wasservorrats

[75] ir-rivolver li kelli16 [76] il-ħsara li kellek filmagna17

[84] mon revolver [84] ce qui manquait à ta machine

[112] meinem Revolver [112] was an deiner Maschine fehlte

[82] taħt ilbozza tal-ħġieġ li għandu18

[92] son globe de verre

[79] my revolver [80] what was the matter with your engine [87] her glass globe

[103] l’ultima goccia della mia provvista d’acqua [112] il revolver

[121] seinem Glassturz

[112] quello che mancava al tuo motore [121] la sua campana di vetro

The table is revealing: not a single of the Maltese PRC corresponds to a PRC in any of the other four languages. The PRC, thus, is not a primary option in English, French, German or Italian.19 This also means that Maltese employs PRCs to translate passages from the French which do not contain PRCs in the original. The Maltese PRC cannot be triggered by a structural equivalent in French. The stimulus which determines the use of the PRC must be of a different nature. The grey shading in (20) indicates that in the majority of cases, the Maltese PRC corresponds to an attributive possessive construction of the pronominal kind in French (nine times), English (seven times), German (eight times) and Italian (eight times). Since Maltese also provides the structural means for constructions of this kind (cf. [1] above), there is no obvious reason why the ta’construction (1) (b) fails to be used in lieu of the PRC (none of the possessees qualifies as inalienable and thus construction [1] [a] is ruled out as an option). The validity of these observations is corroborated by the relation of the Maltese PRC in MAIG and the constructions used in the French original AMIE. According to the table in (19), there are 30 cases of the PRC in MAIG. For none of these 30 instances is there a PRC in the French original. I skip the 13 cases in which the French version does not attest any kind

14 15 16 17 18 19

Literally: ‘the only interests that they have’. Literally: ‘the last drop of water that I had stored [= in store]’. Literally: ‘the revolver that I had’. Literally: ‘the damage that you had in your motor’. Literally: ‘under the glass globe that he has’. Apart from the confrontation of French and Maltese data in 4.2.1, I refrain from discussing the Maltese data in a comparative perspective. It can be assumed that in most of the cases, the PRC would also be possible structurally in English, French, German and Italian. However, stylistically/pragmatically, speakers of these languages would prefer to avoid the PRC.

Thomas Stolz

198

of possessive construction. In 16 cases20, French employs the combination of possessive pronoun and possessed noun, in one case the possessor is not pronominal and thus the genitival de-construction is used. In sum, Maltese often prefers the PRC over the canonical forms of attribute possession even in those contexts in which other languages opt for the latter. What is it that makes Maltese native speakers opt for the PRC? To answer these and related questions, I review the formal and functional aspects of the Maltese PRC in the subsequent sub-sections. With a view to giving a clear description of the workings of the various factors which come into play, I separate formal aspects from functional aspects and start with reviewing syntactic weight (sub-section 4.1). Semantic and pragmatic aspects of the PRC are the topic of sub-sections 4.2–4.3.

4.1. Syntactic weight 4.1.1. Complexity within the PRC The external head of the PRC is an NP which represents the possessee. Inside the PRC, the possessive relation is expressed predicatively and the possessor is encoded by the pronominal suffix on the forms of għand-. As the forms of għand- cannot host further pronominal clitics, the possessee is not resumed formally in the PRC. The PRC exists in two varieties: the light PRC (to be discussed further below) and the heavy PRC. In contrast to the light PRC, the heavy PRC contains an adverbial as shown in (22). (22)

[(DET-)NPpossessee li għand-PROpossessor (NPpossessor) ADV]

This adverbial adds syntactic weight to the PRC and thus justifies its classification as heavy PRC. A sub-type of the heavy PRC is schematically represented in (23). (23)

[(DET-)NPpossessee li għand-PROpossessor (NPpossessor) PP]

The adverbial is a PP and this PP, more often than not, conveys spatial information. In the general literature on possession, it has been shown repeatedly that it is not always possible to separate neatly the realm of possession from the one of location (Stassen 2009). This holds especially for those possessive constructions which reflect the so-called location schema (Heine 1997). However, affinities of possession and location are by no means restricted to the conceptual bases of grammaticalisation processes of primary expressions of a given possessive category. The co-occurrence of the pseudo-verb għand- and a locative PP in the PRC is indicative of the possession-location association. The fuq-construction (16) is a derivative of the more general construction types (22)– (23). In the PP, the complement of fuq can also be an NP as example (24) shows. (24)

20

Possession + Location (FOMM 11) Ix-xhieda ewlenija tal-qlubija DET-testimony principal of:DET-courage

tiegħu of:3SG.M

Some of these French constructions are looked at more closely below.

kienet be:3SG.PERF

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

il-ġerħa

li

DET-wound

REL

199

kellu fuq ħaddejh. have.PERF:3SG.M on cheek:DU:3SG.M ‘The principal evidence of his courage was the scar he had on his cheeks.’

Superficially, there is nothing remarkable about this sentence. The English translation makes use of a relative clause, too. However, one might ask whether or not a simple attributive PP (with or without double possessor marking) would have been a viable alternative (= il-ġerħa [tiegħu] fuq ħaddejh ‘the [his] scar on his cheeks’). Is there any special reason why the PRC is given preference? In (25), the PP embedded in the PRC is headed by the preposition fi ‘in’. (25)

Possession + Location (ĠENN 17) Telqu jqattgħu jumejn fil-kmamar leave:3PL.PERF 3.IMPERF:cut:PL day:DU in:DET-room.PL li kellhom fil-bidu ta’ Triq Gidwet REL have.PERF:3PL in:DET-start of Triq Gidwet fil-bajja ta’ San Tumas. of San Tumas in:DET-bay ‘They went to pass a couple of days in the rooms they had at the beginning of Gidwet Street in St. Thomas Bay.’

As with the previous example (24), sentence (25) does not seem to be especially noteworthy from the perspective of English or other European languages. Again, the question arises why the author does not opt for the ta’-construction (= fil-kmamar tagħhom fil-bidu ta’ Triq Gidwet ‘in their rooms at the beginning of Gidwet Street’). Each of the alternatives – the simple PP for the PRC in (24) and the ta’-construction for the PRC in (25) – would reduce the number of predicates by one. In terms of economy, the PRC appears to be an unnecessarily wordy construction. Locative PPs represent only a particularly frequent type of fillers for the adverbial slot in the PRC. Relations other than properly spatial relations are also relatively common in the PRC. Sentence (26) attests the comitative. (26)

Comitative (PALM 35) Id-diskursata li kellha ma’ Robbie kienet DET-chat REL have.PERF:3SG.F with Robbie be:3SG.F.PERF fetħitlha l-ktieb griż tat-tifkiriet. open:3SG.F.PERF:IO.3SG.F DET-book grey of:DET-memory:PL ‘Her chat [= the chat she had] with Robbie had opened for her the grey book of memories.’

Like in the cases above, the question arises why id-diskursata tagħha ma’ Robbie ‘her chat with Robbie’ with the ta’-construction does not oust the PRC. That the PRCinternal PP is a (semantic) attribute of the head noun can be gathered from the following pair of examples (27)–(28) – two sentences taken from the same source text.

200

Thomas Stolz

(27)

PP inside PRC (RASU 97) Il-kilba li kellu għall-baħar DET-strong_craving REL have.PERF:3SG.M for:DET-sea ħraxet tant li ma kien jaqta’ roughen:3SG.F.PERF such that NEG be.PERF 3.IMPERF:cut qalbu minn xejn… heart:3SG.M from nothing ‘His strong craving for the sea [lit. the strong craving that he had for the sea] became so fierce that he never lost hope because of anything.’

(28)

PP outside PRC (RASU 166) Imma l-kilba għall-baħar li kellu but DET-strong_craving for:DET-sea REL have.PERF:3SG.M l-Bugazz kienet kbira wisq… DET-Bugazz be:3SG.F.PERF big too_much ‘However, Bugazz’s strong craving for the sea [lit. the strong craving for the sea that Bugazz had] was too big.’

In (27), the PP għall-bahar ‘for the sea’ is integrated into the PRC whereas in (28), the same PP turns up next to its head noun il-kilba ‘the strong craving’ outside the PRC. In both cases, the strong carving for the sea is possessed. This possessive relation is expressed by the PRC. The place where the PP genuinely belongs is the slot on the immediate right of the head noun because the PP functions as the attribute of the head noun. The minimal pair (27)–(28) may be explained in terms of different focus. Most probably, baħar ‘sea’ is focused upon in (27) whereas in (28), the focus is on the nickname of the possessor, i.e., on Bugazz. Since pragmatic aspects are detailed in sub-section 4.3 below, I make do with observing, for the time being, that these examples suggest that the (potential) complexity of the possessed NP is a (potential) trigger for the PRC. As the above examples show, the PPs embedded in the heavy PRC are potential attributes of the external head noun. This also holds for those cases in which the slot of the PRC-internal adverbial is occupied by a participle as in (29), cf. also (21.6) and (21.9) above. (29)

PRC with participle (ĠENN 245) Hekk kellha miktub so have.PERF:3SG.F PP:write l-badge li kellna DET-badge REL have.PERF:1PL mal-but tal-blazer… with:DET-pocket of:DET-blazer ‘It was written like this on the badge that blazer pocket.’

fuqha on:3SG.F meħjuta PP:sew

was [lit. we had (as)] sewn on our

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

201

In this example, the PRC is especially heavy because the passive participle is itself modified by a locative PP. Again, the construction (i)l-badge meħjuta mal-but talblazer tagħna ‘the badge sewn to the pocket of our blazer’ is structurally an alternative. What speaks against its use is perhaps the uninterrupted sequence of four attributes (related to different heads internally). Since this sequence comprises several nouns (badge, but ‘pocket’, blazer) uncertainties might arise as to which of these potential possessees associates with the pronominal possessor. The NP-final position of tagħna ‘our’ in the alternative construction poses the question of scope. Most probably, the first interpretation presupposes local scope such that tagħna has scope only over the immediately preceding noun blazer. The PRC in (29), however, allows the noun badge to be singled out as the possessee. The alternative (i)l-badge tagħna meħjuta mal-but tal-blazer ‘our badge, sewn onto the blazer pocket’ is probably too heavy and thus needs to be segmented prosodically into two parts with an intonation break after tagħna such that everything that follows tagħna is turned into an apposition. A small selection of other cases of participles in the adverbial slot of the PRC from my corpus is given in (30). (30)

PRC with participle in the corpus

# 1

Source ANNI 79

2

RAJT 332

3

SALT 145

4

SALT 202

Example fil-fardal li kellha mdawwar ma’ qaddha it-tragedija li dik il-mara kellha mohbija fil-harsa skantata taghha l-kappell li kellu mniżżel għoddu sa fejn għajnejh s-serqa li kellu moħbija f’ħobbu

Translation ‘in the apron she had (wound) around her hip’ ‘the tragedy that this woman had, hidden in her astonished look’ ‘his hat that hung down almost to his eyes’ ‘the theft that he had hidden in his bosom’

Via the construction (23), a chunk of this sequence is relegated from the higher NP to the lower clause. In a way, this relegation can be understood as a strategy to reduce potential parsing problems which might arise from the accumulation of grammatical information within the higher NP. Since the PRC is still an attribute within the very same NP, the overall complexity of the syntactic architecture is not reduced. In a way, the density with which grammatical information is conveyed is reduced to some extent. Relative clauses and other sub-ordinate clauses which take the possessed noun as their head make the NP potentially heavy and thus relatively often require the PRC to express the possessive relation, cf. (31). (31)

Dependent clause (ĠENN 41) Kulma niftakar minn dan il-perijodu huwa everything 1.IMPERF:remember from this DET-period 3SG.M il-biża’ li kelli li mmut qabel DET-fear REL have.PERF:1SG that 1.IMPERF:die before

biss only

Thomas Stolz

202

nilħaq nagħmel il-Preċett. 1.IMPERF:manage 1.IMPERF:make DET-First_Holy_Communion ‘All I remember from this period is my fear [lit. the fear that I had] to die before being able to receive the First Holy Communion.’ In accordance to my previous observations, the alternative il-biża’ tiegħi li mmut ‘my fear to die’ with the intercalated inflected preposition ta’ is structurally possible. The subordinate clause li mmut ‘that I die’ is dependent upon il-biża’ ‘the fear’ and thus renders the NP rather bulky especially if the additional ta’-construction is part of the sequence. In this sub-section, I have interpreted the use of the heavy PRC as a strategy of reducing the syntactic weight of possessed NPs. However, not every weighty possessed NP is made lighter by the PRC. In 4.1.2, I demonstrate how possessed NPs which retain their complexity interact with the PRC. 4.1.2. Complex possessed NPs In (31) and to some extent also in (28), one notices that a light PRC can combine with a complex NP as external head. This situation is by no means exceptional. Examples (32)–(39) are meant to show that not every complex possessed NP looses weight automatically via relegating some of its attributes to the PRC. (32)

(PRAS 236) U San Ġużepp ġabar fl-ixkora and Saint Joseph gather.PERF in:DET-sack l-affarijiet kollha li kellhom. DET-thing:PL all REL have.PERF:3PL ‘And Saint Joseph put all their things [lit. all the things that they had] into the sack.’

In (32), the possessed noun is accompanied by the post-nominal quantifier kollha ‘all’. The presence of this quantifier requires the noun to be overtly marked as definite by the article pro-clitic. In lieu of applying the PRC-strategy, the author could have opted alternatively for the ta’-construction: l-affarijiet tagħhom kollha ‘all their things’ is a grammatically well-formed complex NP. (33)

(PRAS 238) U x-xwejjaħ mar u ġabhom and DET-old_man go.PERF and get.PERF:DO.3PL il-ftit ħwejjeġ maħmuġin li kellu. DET-little clothe.PL PASSP:dirty:PL REL have.PERF:3SG.M ‘And the old man went to get them his few dirty clothes [lit. that he had].’

In (33), the NP under scrutiny is doubly complex in the sense that in addition to the prenominal quantifier ftit ‘little’ (also a dimensional adjective meaning ‘small’), there is the number-inflected post-nominal passive participle maħmuġin ‘dirty’ serving as an

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

203

adjectival attribute of the head noun ħwejjeġ ‘things, clothes’. The NP is overtly marked for definiteness. As with the previous example, the ta’-construction is a structural alternative: il-ftit ħwejjeġ maħmuġin tiegħu ‘his few dirty clothes’. (34)

(ĠAĦA 23) Mela ħsibtna li se nisirquhomlok well_then think:2SG.PERF:DO.1PL that FUT 1.IMPERF:steal:DO.3PL:IO.2SG il-widnejn twal li għandek, Ġaħan! DET-ear:PL long.PL REL have:2SG Ġaħan ‘Well then, did you think that we would steal your long ears [lit. the long ears you have], Ġaħan!’

In (34), the external head noun of the PRC belongs to the class of inalienably possessed body-part terms. The NP comprises the pluralised post-nominal adjective twal ‘long’ (← singular masculine twil ‘long’). The presence of the adjectival attribute makes the NP heavy. Nevertheless, widnejk twal ‘your long ears’ with direct possessor suffixation on the body-part term is again a grammatically correct alternative to the PRC construction.21 (35)

(ANNI 30) Kien iqatta’ aktar żmien fil-Klabb milli be.PERF 3.IMPERF:cut.CAUS more time in:DET-Club than fid-dar ċkejkna li kellu. in:DET-house small:F REL have.PERF:3SG.M ‘He passed more time in the Club than in his small house [lit. the small house that he had].’

Example (35) contains the head noun dar ‘house’, which could be possessed both ways – either alienably or inalienably – in accordance to the reading one wants to apply to the polysemous noun (see above). However, the adjective ċkejkna ‘small’ (← masculine singular ċkejken ‘small’) turns the NP into a multi-word syntagm. This is tantamount to a change from light NP to heavy NP. In 2.1.1, I have argued that an increase in syntactic weight on the side of the NP tends to trigger the ta’-construction independently of the (in-)alienability of the possessed noun. Thus, one could expect to find iddar ċkejkna tiegħu ‘his small house’ as competitor of the above PRC. The two sentential examples (36)–(37) are both connected to definiteness albeit in two different ways. (36)

21

(ĠENN 340) Jidħol 3.IMPERF:enter

fiha biss meta in:3SG.F only when

jkun waħdu fuq 3.IMPERF:be.FUT one:3SG.M on

Since, in the Maltese present tense, the copula is not realised segmentally, widnejk twal is ambiguous as to attribution and predication: ‘your long ears’ and ‘your ears are long’ are possible readings.

204

Thomas Stolz

l-iskrivanija, itektek fuq dik il-magna li għandu. DET-desk 3.IMPERF:tap on this.F DET-machine REL have:3SG.M ‘He enters it [= the realm of fantasy] only when he will be alone at his desk, tapping on this machine that he has.’ In (36), the possessed noun receives an extra dose of definiteness, in a manner of speaking, because the demonstrative dik ‘this’ determines magna ‘machine’. Since, in Maltese, the demonstrative requires always another marker of definiteness on the noun – be it the definite article pro-clitic or the possessor suffix, definiteness is multiply encoded. The syntagm is a multi-word construction. Nevertheless, it would be possible to rephrase it by way of introducing the ta’-construction: dik il-magna tiegħu ‘this machine of his’. (37)

(ĠENN 179) noħrog lapes żejjed li kelli 1.IMPERF:get_out pencil excessive REL have.PERF:1SG u ngħidlu… and 1.IMPERF:say:IO.3SG.M ‘I get out an extra pencil that I had and I say to him…’

In contrast to the foregoing example, sentence (36) attests an indefinite noun under possession. In (36), indefiniteness (see examples [10]–[11] and ensuing discussion above) makes do without an overt marker. The absence of an indefiniteness marker cannot be understood as an element of syntactic heaviness of the NP. However, in addition to being indefinite, the NP is also complex as the noun is accompanied by a postnominal attribute. As an alternative to the PRC, the ta’-construction seems to be perfectly well-formed: lapes żejjed tiegħi ‘an extra pencil of mine/an extra pencil I happened to have on me’. Furthermore, some of the usages of xi ‘some’ can be considered instances of indefiniteness marking (in the sense of “weak determiner” or “indefinite article second degree determiner” [Vanhove 2009: 32]). The presence of xi makes the NP automatically complex such that xi lapes ‘some pencil’ would strongly favour the use of the PRC (xi lapes li kelli ‘some pencil I had’) (38)

(STEJ 82) Il-merħla ngħaġ li kellu kien iħobbha… DET-pen sheep REL have.PERF:3SG.M be.PERF 3.IMPERF:love:DO.3SG.F ‘He loved his pen of sheep [lit. the pen of sheep that he had].’

The penultimate example in this survey illustrates the use of the light PRC with an external head which is a binary N-N-combination. The noun merħla ‘pen, flock, swarm’ serves as a collective quantifier of the animate noun ngħaġ ‘sheep’, which is a grammatical collective/plural itself. I do not see any obstacles on the formal side which would prevent the author from re-formulating without employing the PRC. In morphosyntactic terms, il-merħla ngħaġ tiegħu ‘his pen of sheep’ seems to be perfectly acceptable as replacement of the synonymous il-merħla ngħaġ li kellu attested in (38).

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(39)

205

(ĠENN 14) Jien u ħija René morna niżbarazzaw l-istudju I and brother:1SG René go:1PL.PERF 1.IMPERF:tidy_out:PL DET-office ta’ missieri, u qalb il-ħafna kaxxi, fajls, gazzetti, of father:1SG and among DET-many box:PL file:PL newspaper:PL programmi tal-festi, korrispondenza, u dokumenti program:PL of:DET-festival:PL correspondence and document:PL li kellu, sibna manuskritt ta’ 67 paġna REL have.PERF:3SG.M find:1PL.PERF manuscript of 67 page miktub min-nannu Ċensu nnifsu… PASSP:write from:DET-grandfather Ċensu self:3SG.M ‘Me and my brother René went to tidy out my father’s office, and among his many boxes, files, newspapers, festival programs, correspondence and documents [lit. that he had], we found a manuscript of 67 pages written by grandfather Ċensu himself.’

Example (39) is a rather long one. The length is caused by the enumeration of six different classes of objects the late father of the author had left behind in his office. All these objects had been in the possession of the deceased. Their enumeration in the form of a list can be considered a kind of co-ordination. In this way, the six different classes of objects are represented by nouns which join up to form a rather long sequence of NPs of the same syntactic status. They can be understood as one complex mega-NP. In addition, the presence of the pre-nominal quantifier ħafna ‘many’ (also adverbial ‘much, very’) already justifies the use of the PRC. Interestingly, the wide scope of this quantifier reaches from its position on the extreme left as far as the very last of the enumerated nouns. However, this wide-scope interpretation does not seem equally feasible with the ta’-construction (see the above discussion in connection with [29]). If one tries to replace the PRC with the inflected preposition, the problem arises how many instances of tiegħu ‘his’ are needed and where exactly they should be placed. Only one instance of tiegħu in the rightmost position could be ambiguous as to scope. There is the possibility that it is analysed locally, i.e., exclusively with scope over the very last of the enumerated nouns (dokumenti tiegħu ‘documents of his’). To avoid this ambiguity, many, instances of tiegħu would be called for, namely one per possessed noun. In this case, the PRC is definitely the more economical solution.22 The possessed nouns in (32)–(39) belong to different semantic classes. What they have in common is the relative complexity of the NPs whose heads they are. This shared property correlates with the use of the light PRC with all of the above NPs. It remains to be seen what factors determine the choice between the two types of PRCs. The examples in this sub-section suggest that the type of attribute within the NP of the external head of the PRC is decisive. If the attribute is a PP, there is a strong tendency 22

Ray Fabri (p.c.) is skeptical as to the supposed difference in scope.

Thomas Stolz

206

to opt for the heavy PRC. If the attribute is a participle, there is no clear preference for either of the two types of PRC, whereas adjectival attributes and quantifiers in the NP combine overwhelmingly with the light PRC. To support the hypothesis that certain patterns of complex NPs combine preferentially with the light PRC, I provide a list of 29 pertinent cases which I have found in three of my sample texts. Post-nominal adjectival attributes are represented by the examples (40.1–18). Quantification is involved in the complexity of the NPs in (40.13–14) and (40.19–29). Examples (40.16–19) are connected also to definiteness. Super-heavy NPs are (40.2), (40.7), (40.10), (40.12–14). (40)

Complex NPs in combination with the light PRC

# 1 2 3 4/5

Source ĠENN 219 FOMM 71 ĠENN 353 FOMM 135

6 7

PALM 44 PALM 198

8 9 10 11 12 13

PALM 101 PALM 106 ĠENN 150 ĠENN 140 ĠENN 414 ĠENN 19

Example l-baffi bajda li kellu mil-librerija kważi vojta li għandek fis-sala l-kbira li kellhom a) l-ħanut ċkejken li kellhom, b) fil-ħanut żgħir li kellhom bid-dublett qasir li kellha il-blouse skullat u d-dublett qasir li kellha l-elmu abjad li kellhom l-jersey abjad li kellha l-piano accordion ċkejken li kellu il-kelb sufi li kellna It-tour leader famuż li kellhom waħda mis-sefturi Għarab li kellhom

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25/ 6 27 28 29

ĠENN 407 FOMM 125 ĠENN 284 ĠENN 407 ĠENN 407 ĠENN 408 FOMM 108 PALM 47 ĠENN 335 FOMM 9 FOMM 57 FOMM 122, 135 FOMM 135 PALM 45 ĠENN 136

Ħafna mill-ħbieb żgħażagħ li kelli l-ħwejjeġ l-oħra li kellha l-mejta dik it-tajprajter antika li kellna dik ir-relazzjoni twila li kelli relazzjoni twila li kelli xi ideat li kellu il-mazz karti li kellu iż-żewġ tfajliet li għandna L-ewwel episcope li kelli l-agħmara kollha li kellu x-xhieda kollha li għandna a) il-ftit ħwejjeġ li kellu, b) l-ftit ħwejjeġ li kellhom il-ftit flus li kellha l-ftit ġmiel li kellha il-ftit komiks li kelli

Translation ‘his white whiskers’ ‘from your almost empty library’ ‘in their huge hall’ ‘(in) their small shop’ ‘with her short skirt’ ‘her low-necked blouse and her short skirt’ ‘their white helmet’ ‘her white jersey’ ‘his little piano accordion’ ‘our hairy dog’ ‘their famous tour leader’ ‘one of their Arab womanservants’ ‘many of my friends’ ‘the other things of the deceased’ ‘this old typewriter of ours’ ‘this long relation of mine’ ‘a long relation I had’ ‘some ideas I had’ ‘his pack of cards’ ‘our two girls’ ‘my first episcope’ ‘all his furniture’ ‘all our witnesses’ ‘his/their few belongings’ ‘the little money she had’ ‘the little beauty she had’ ‘the few comics I had’

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

207

The evidence seems to suggest that there is a dominant model of explanation of the use of the PRC, be it the light version or the heavy version. A high degree of syntactic complexity of the NP which comprises the possessed noun applies in the vast majority of the cases discussed so far. Thus, syntactic weight could be easily taken to be the decisive factor that triggers the employment of the PRC. However, this solution is far too simplistic. That the explanatory power of syntactic weight is limited becomes clear from the list of examples in (41). (41)

ġerħa ‘wound, scar’ – variably possessed

# 1

Source FOMM 16

2 3 4 5 6 7

FOMM 95 FOMM 24 FOMM 11 FOMM 153 FOMM 154 FOMM 25

Example dik il-ġerħa kbira li għandek fuq wiċċek din il-ġerħa li għandu fuq wiċċu il-ġerħa kerħa li kellu fuq wiċċu il-ġerħa li kellu fuq ħaddejh il-ġerħa li għandi f’wiċċi mill-ġerħa li kellu il-ġerħa li kellu

translation ‘this huge scar that you have on your face’ ‘this scar that he has on his face’ ‘the ugly scar that he had on his face’ ‘the scar he had on his cheeks’ ‘the scar that I have on my face’ ‘from his scar’ ‘his scar’

These seven examples stem from one and the same source. They share the same possessed noun, namely ġerħa ‘wound, scar’ which is the distinctive mark of the bad guy who plays an important part in this Maltese novel. That is why his scar is mentioned relatively frequently throughout the story. Every time the scar is mentioned, it is always accompanied by the PRC. The examples in (41) are ordered according to decreasing complexity of the syntactic units. In examples (41.1–5), the heavy PRC occurs always with a locative PP in the adverbial slot. In (41.1–3), the NP of the external head of the PRC is complex. There are post-nominal adjectives in (41.1) and (41.3). In (41.1–2), a demonstrative makes the NP complex. A combination of demonstrative and adjective is attested in (41.1). All of these cases are fully in line with what the previous examples seem to evidence: there is a strong correlation of syntactic weight and the presence of the PRC. This correlation is contradicted by examples (41.5–6) both of which illustrate the combination of a light NP and a light PRC. In the absence of any additional syntactic weight on the side of the head noun, the use of the light PRC is no longer predictable. Two intermediary conclusions can be drawn on the basis of the restricted predictability. First of all, the parameter of syntactic weight alone is not that important for the determination of the use of the PRC. It holds good for a sizable number of cases. However, it fails to do justice to other cases. Secondly, if syntactic weight does not hold the monopoly for the explanation of the grammar of the PRC, there must be competing or complementing factors which are responsible for the use of the PRC in supposedly “unexpected” contexts. These factors have to be sought for outside the realm of syntax proper, meaning in semantics and pragmatics.

Thomas Stolz

208

4.2. Semantics 4.2.1. Towards temporality If phrases and clauses are said to be made complex, this means that elements are added to their basic structure. Everything that is added to a given structure does not only contribute to the expansion of the structure as such but also introduce new semantic nuances and components. The above complex NPs and the heavy PRC illustrate this correlation of syntactic complexity and semantic “enrichment”. The various attributes mentioned above modify either the possessed noun directly or, as adverbials, the possessive relation expressed in the PRC. The modification is an instance of specification in the sense that the head cannot be interpreted as having generic reference, normally. Its specificity may be connected to aspects of contrastive focus to be discussed in sub-section 4.3. In this subsection, however, I discuss semantic issues associated with the PRC. Temporality is an important factor which calls for the PRC to be employed. What I mean by temporality can be illustrated with the comparison of data taken from AMIE and MAIG – the French original and Maltese translation of a Maigret mystery. In French, it is possible to specify within the NP of the possessed noun whether the possessive relation belongs to the past, present or future. The NP sa précédente activité [AMIE 118] ‘his previous occupation’ is translated into Maltese as l-attività li kellu qabel [MAIG 142] (lit. ‘the activity/occupation that he had before’). The possessive relation is specified as a relation that does no longer hold as it was terminated sometime in the past. This temporal specification is conveyed by the adjectival attribute in the French NP. In Maltese, the specification is separated from the possessed noun. Qabel ‘before’ adverbially modifies the predicate nucleus of the PRC. This is a recurrent pattern. If the possessive relation is specified as to its temporality, Maltese most often resorts to utilising the PRC. The temporality of the possessive relation can be expressed by various kinds of adverbials within the PRC. Example (42) contains the bare adverbial dik il-ħabta ‘at that time’. (42)

Possession in the past (ĠENN 41) Għadni niftakar in-numru li kellna still:1SG 1.IMPERF:remember DET-number REL have.PERF:1PL il-ħabta… DET-time ‘I still remember the [phone] number that we had then.’

dik that.F

Apart from the adverbial strategy, there is also the possibility to indicate tense/aspect/ mood via the different forms of għand- and periphrastic combinations thereof with the auxiliary. In (43), the possessive relation is a potential/habitual relation located in the past. That is why the habitual past kien ikollna ‘we would have’ is used in the PRC.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(43)

209

Potential possession (ĠENN 281) Jien u Vince konna nagħmlu sigħat twal I and Vince be.PERF:1PL 1.IMPERF:make:PL hour:PL long.PL nitkellmu u niddiskutu dak kollu li 1.IMPERF:talk:PL and 1.IMPERF:discuss:PL that all:3SG.M REL kien itaqqlilna moħħna meta be.PERF 3.IMPERF:make_heavy:IO.1PL mind:1PL when l-problemi li kien ikollna DET-problem:PL REL be.PERF 3:have.FUT:1PL kienu jkunu aktar mistħajla milli reali. real be.PERF:3PL 3:be.FUT:3PL more PASSP:imagine:PL than ‘Me and Vince used to spend long hours talking and discussing all that which burdened our minds when the problems that we used to have were more imagined than real.’

In English, for instance, possessed nouns may be specified for their temporality with attributes like future, ex-, former, erstwhile, would-be, potential, (up-)coming, etc. While NP-internal markers of temporality are not completely foreign to Maltese either, the PRC seems to be the first and largely preferred option. In the European languages taken into account in this paper, the PRC is also a possibility when it comes to expressing the temporality of the possessive relation. However, as the texts I consulted suggest, it is made use of to a much lesser extent than its Maltese counterpart. Another aspect of specificity can be reconstructed from the following confrontation of the French and Maltese data drawn again from the Maigret detective story. The complex French NP sa valise à échantillon [AMIE 107] ‘his sample case’ is translated as l-valiġġa li kellu bil-kampjuni [MAIG 129] (lit. ‘the suitcase that he had with the samples’). The French PP à échantillon ‘with pattern’ forms a close unit with the noun valise ‘suitcase’ – one may speak of a phrasal compound – such that the PP is the immediate syntactic neighbour of the head noun. In the Maltese rendering, however, this close association of the two syntactic units is given up (perhaps because there is no compound-like equivalent with the meaning of sample case as proper N-N compounds are rare in Maltese [Ray Fabri p.c.]). In this way, the PP can be interpreted as an indicator of a temporal property, meaning: the suitcase incidentally contains the samples while it is used for different purposes on different occasions. However, the French construction refers to a suitcase which is usually (“professionally”) employed as a sample case.23 Maltese PPs often indicate temporary properties associated with the referent of the head noun. Usually they convey information on the whereabouts of the referent at a certain time. In this sense, the property encoded by the PP is not basic to the semantics of the head noun. In contrast to the PPs, adjectival attributes often highlight properties which are of relevance to head noun. In accordance to the principles of topological 23

Ray Fabri (p.c.) suggests an alternative Maltese translation, namely, il-valiġġa tal-kampjuni li kellu.

Thomas Stolz

210

iconicity (Haiman 1985) and the so-called semantic relevance parameter (Bybee 1985), it is to be expected that if there are differences as to how close an attribute may stand to its head-noun, adjectival attributes and the nouns they modify are adjacent to each other whereas the attributive PP may wind up in a more distant slot. Consider the confrontation of more data from the Maigret story in (44). (44)

French-Maltese comparison

#

French Example sa poule qui était au feu ‘her chicken which was on the stove’ en dépit de ses protection politiques ‘in spite of his political protection’

1

Page 12

Page 13

2

28

3

37

son courier entassé sur la longue table ‘his correspondence, piled on the long table’

45

4

47

avec ses casseroles emboîtées ‘with her saucepans in a pile’

56

5

56

ses notes ‘his notes’

67

6

58

à travers ses grosses lunettes ‘through his huges spectacles’

70

7

84

par le col de son pardessus ‘by the collar of his cloak’

101

8

88

l’heure de son rendez-vous avec un client ‘the time of his appointment with a client’

105

33

Maltese Example it-tiġieġa li kellha fuq in-nar ‘the chicken that she had on the stove’ minkejja l-protezzjoni politka li kellu ‘in spite of the political protection that he had’ il-korrespondenza li kellu gozz fuq il-mejda twila ‘the correspondence that he had in a pile on the long table’ bil-kzazel li kellha waħda fuq loħra ‘with the sauce-pans that he had [sitting] one over the other’ n-noti li kellu quddiemu ‘the notes that he had in front of him’ minn ġon-nuċċali daqsiex li kellu ‘through the huge spectacles that he had’ mill-għonq tal-kapott li kellu fuqu ‘by the collar of the cloak that he had on’ il-ħin għall-appuntament li jkollu ma’ xi klijent ‘the time for the appointment that he would have with a client’

There are two examples of adjectival attributes within the NP which functions as external head of the PRC, namely (44.2) and (44.6), in which the attributes politka ‘political’ and daqsiex ‘huge’ identify properties which are of relevance to the semantics of the head-noun. For the spectacles, it is clear that their size is a permanent property. Political support, on the other hand, may be seen as a potentially changeable property. However, in the story from which the example is drawn, the political connections of the character are treated as relatively stable over time. In all other cases, the PRC contains a PP or a bare adverbial which describes a temporary location, position or property associated with the head noun. The chicken (in [44.1]) is not permanently on the stove but only at the reference time. Similarly, the letters are not always piled on the desk (see [44.3]), the saucepans are not always stacked one on top of the other (see [44.4]). The inspector

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

211

has his notes in front of him exactly at the moment in which something else is about to happen (see [44.5]). The suspect is wearing his cloak when Maigret is getting hold of him (see [44.7]). In (44.8), talk is of a particular appointment scheduled for a certain time. The actual state of the possessed objects is highlighted via the PRC. I interpret the strong association of the PRC with temporal properties of the possessee as follows: The PRC offers the means to distinguish structurally temporal/ephemeral properties of the possessee from those which are inherent of or relevant to the possessee as such. With the PRC, temporal properties are dissociated from the possessee itself because they are presented as characteristics of the possessive relation that holds at a given point in time. Thus, the heavy PRC – among other things – serves the purpose of focusing certain non-permanent properties of the possessive relation (see sub-section 4.3 below). Moreover, the expression of temporality is not the exclusive privilege of the heavy PRC. Examples (45)–(46) demonstrate that the light PRC can also be employed even with light NPs as external head if actual physical or temporal possession applies. (45)

Past possession (POLI 25) U magħha tlift it-teżor li kelli… and with:3SG.F lose:1SG.PERF DET-treasure REL have.PERF:1SG ‘And with her, I lost my treasure [lit. the treasure that I had].’

(46)

Physical possession (PRAS 84) F’ daqqa waħda ċ-Ċjusi jaħtaf in hit one:F DET-Ċjusi 3.IMPER:grab il-bastun li kellu wieħed xwejjaħ DET-stick REL have.PERF:3SG.M one old_man li kien bilqiegħda fil-folla. REL be.PERF sitting in:DET-crowd ‘All of a sudden, Ċjusi grabs the stick of an [= a certain] old man who was sitting in the crowd.’

In (45), the possessee teżor ‘treasure’ is described as an ephemeral part in the story of the author’s life. The treasure was lost early on in his youth and thus, the possessive relation dissolved with the loss. The use of the PRC is motivated by the necessity to underline the fact that the possessive relation no longer holds at the time of reminiscence. For (45), it is unimportant whether the stick is legally owned by the old man. What is crucial in the situation, however, is that the old man has the stick with him at the moment Ċjusi grabs it. The temporal interpretation of the possessive relation, thus, does not hinge on the heaviness of the PRC. The PRC, in general, invites an interpretation which depicts the possessive relation as non-permanent. To complement the above observations, I list further cases of temporal possession for which the light PRC is employed. The data in (47) are all taken from one and the same source. They represent nine different types of possessees.

Thomas Stolz

212

(47) # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Further evidence of temporal possession Source RAJT 32 RAJT 118 RAJT 171 RAJT 199 RAJT 212 RAJT 300 RAJT 358 RAJT 425 RAJT 438

Example l-istallett li kellu l-mobbli li kellhom iċ-ċikkulatini li kelli mill-karigi li kellu s-soċjetajiet li kellna bl-istudju li kelli il-lukandi li kellna bil-maġġoranza li kellu l-compact il-flus li kellna

Translation ‘his dagger’ ‘their furniture’ ‘my chocolate bars’ ‘from his offices’ ‘our associations’ ‘because of my studies’ ‘our hotels’ ‘because of the majority of the compact’ ‘our money’

The contexts of these examples support the idea that the possessive relation is of a momentary, ephemeral nature or has come to an end in the past. The dagger in (47.1) is the weapon a murderer happens to have on him when he kills his wife in a rage. The furniture mentioned in (47.2) is disposed of by the owners in the situation described such that the possessive relation is cancelled by the act of selling. In the context of (47.3), the protagonist distributes among the children at the carnival those chocolate bars which he incidentally carried on him. Past possession holds for all remaining cases such that their English translation could always be complemented by at the time or similar expressions. At first blush, all these phenomena seem to point in one direction: the PRC – be it light or heavy – is tightly connected to temporal possession independent of the semantic properties of the possessed noun. In sub-section 4.2.2, I argue however, that temporality is only one of the many facets of the functional domain of the PRC. As can be demonstrated empirically, the PRC displays a strong preference for combinations with nouns of certain lexico-semantic classes. 4.2.2. What can be possessed via the PRC? Examples (17)–(18) above illustrate the fuq-construction. This construction makes the PRC heavy as the PP headed by the preposition fuq is always embedded in the PRC. In point of fact, the heaviness of the PRC which hosts the PP is always an indicator of temporality. However, it is not temporality alone which is expressed by the fuqconstruction because there is a relatively strong correlation which ties the fuqconstruction to possessees of certain semantic classes. First of all, the fuq-construction is used in combinations with clothes one is wearing or substances which cover part of one’s body at a particular point in time. Table (48) presents six cases with five different types of possessees.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(48) # 1 2 3 4 5 6

213

Clothes and substances which cover the body Source ĠAĦA 96 RASU 57 ANNI 115 ANNI 136 PALM 170 RASU 55

Example bil-ħmieġ li kellha fuqha l-melħ niexef li kellhom fuqhom mill-but tal-ġakketta li kellha fuqha fuq il-libsa li kellha fuqha l-libsa li kellha fuqha l-flanella li kellu fuqu

Translation ‘because of the dirt on her’ ‘the dry salt on them’ ‘from the pocket of her jacket’ ‘on her dress’ ‘her dress’ ‘his flanell shirt’

Examples (48.1)–(48.2) refer to situations in which the protagonists happen to be covered temporarily in dirt or salt. The relation between the possessor and the possessee is incidental and transitory. For the remaining four cases, ownership is not ruled out. However, the PRC and the fuq-construction draw the attention to the fact that the possessor is wearing the jacket, dress or shirt at the reference time. Other aspects of possession are irrelevant in the situations described in the context. The ta’-construction – e.g. in il-libsa tagħha ‘her dress’ – would be semantically ambiguous as to whether reference is made to an object legally owned or actually worn by the possessor. In my corpus, the fuq-construction is more frequently attested in combination with nouns which denote physico-mental states. Accordingly, the table in (49) provides a much richer inventory of cases than that of the previous table. (49) # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Physico-mental states and the fuq-construction Source ĠAĦA 32 PRAS 21 PRAS 187 SALT 283 ĠAĦA 117 PRAS 203 ĠAĦA 106 PRAS 183 ĠAĦA 98 RASU 215 RASU 47 PRAS 221 SALT 28 FOMM 135 PALM 131

Example bil-ġuħ li kellhom fuqhom il- ġuħ li kellu Ġaħan fuqu bil-ġuħ li kellha fuqha in-ngħas li kellha fuqha bil-ferħ li kellu fuqu bil-ferħ li kellu fuqu bil-ferħ li kellhom fuqhom bir-rabja li kellu fuqu bil-qatgħa li kellha fuqha l-qatgħa li kellhom fuqhom bix-xokk li kellu fuqu bil-biża’ li kellhom fuqhom mill-biża’ li kellu fuqu bin-niket li kellha fuqha l-eċċitament li kellu fuqu

Translation ‘because of their hunger’ ‘Ġaħan’s hunger’ ‘because of her hunger’ ‘her tiredness’ ‘because of his joy’ ‘because of his joy’ ‘because of their joy’ ‘because of his anger’ ‘because of her shock’ ‘their shock’ ‘because of his shock’ ‘because of their fear’ ‘from his fear’ ‘because of her grief’ ‘his excitement’

In addition to these 15 cases of physico-mental states represented by light NPs, there is also a sizable number of instances in which the physico-mental state is further modified by attributes such that the NP counts as heavy, cf. the table in (50).

Thomas Stolz

214

(50)

Physico-mental states in complex NPs

# 1 2 3 4

Source SALT 196 ANNI 138 PRAS 233 ANNI 119

5 6

RAJT 32 MAIG 23

Example bil-ġuħ klubi li kellu fuqu il-biża’ kbir li Jonathan kellu fuqu bil-mistħija kbira li kellha fuqha minn dik l-inferiority complex qawwija li għandha fuqha bl-istess telfa li kellu fuqu bl-attakk nervuża li kellha fuqha

Translation ‘because of his doglike hunger’ ‘Jonathan’s big fear’ ‘because her strong timidity’ ‘from this heavy inferiority complex of hers’ ‘with the same loss of self-control (of his)’ ‘with her sudden nervousness’

With 15 out of 21 cases (= the grand total of both tables), the vast majority of the examples contain syntactically light NPs. Since the heavy NP il-ġuħ klubi ’the doglike hunger’ in (50.1) behaves like the three instances of il-ġuħ ‘the hunger’ without additional attribute in (49.1)–(49.3), I conclude that the PRC is not triggered by the syntactic heaviness of the NP but by the semantic class of the possessee. Analogously, I assume that it is the semantic class of the possessee which is responsible for the PRC in all cases included in (49)–(50) independent of the degree of complexity of the NPs. The two tables attest 15 different types of physico-mental states which range from hunger via tiredness, joy, anger, shock, fear, aversion, timidity, intentions, qualms, inferiority complex, grief, excitement, nervousness to pain (as in [17]). This is a huge segment of the field of bodily and mental experiences of living beings (prototypically of humans). In the situations in which these bodily and psychic effects are experienced they are usually of a momentary nature. Thus, the excitement of the protagonist in (49.15) is not a general characteristic of the person (meaning: the person is not constantly excited all his life). If the physico-mental states are understood as relatively time-stable, however, the fuq-construction is not the adequate solution. In these cases, the light PRC alone is called for. Compare examples (51) and (49.4). (51)

Permanent characteristic (SALT 108) Ara hemm li ma tqajjimx rivoluzzjoni see there that NEG 3.IMPERF:rise.CAUS:NEG revolution bin-ngħas li għandek, rivoluzzjoni tar-rqad… with:DET-drowsiness REL have:2SG revolution of:DET-sleep ‘Watch out that you do not cause a revolution with your sleepiness, a revolution of sleep…’

The drowsiness is blamed on one of the characters of the story who do not seem to understand what is happening in the outside world (the historical background is the time of the French Revolution). The accuser depicts the drowsiness as a typical and thus relatively time-stable trait of his interlocutor. However, this is only half of the story. The two constructions (16) and (52) – the basis on which (22) is built – have two functional domains which are in an inclusion relation to each other.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(52)

215

[(DET-)NPpossessee li għand-PROpossessor (NPpossessor)]

The light PRC may neutralise the temporality-based distinctions whereas the fuqconstruction cannot be used in contexts in which the possessive relation is of long duration. The neutralising power of the light PRC can be illustrated by example (53). (53)

Light PRC with temporal physico-mental state (SALT 166) Ma stajtx narak NEG be_able:1SG.PERF:NEG 1.IMPERF:see:DO.2SG minħabba t-taħwid li kelli. because_of DET-confusion REL have.PERF:1SG ‘I could not see you earlier because of my confusion.’

qabel before

The protagonist is not constantly confused by nature. He had gone through a short period of conflicting feelings from which he has recovered already when he addresses his interlocutor. The confusion was thus temporary. Nevertheless, the fuq-construction fails to be employed. As the long list of examples in (54) suggests, the absence of the fuqconstruction is a relatively common phenomenon. Since not all of the possessees fit the description of physico-mental states, I label this ad-hoc group “non-prototypical possessees” (cf. below). (54) # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Light PRC with non-prototypical possessees Source RAJT 41 RASU 105 RAJT 169 ĠENN 174 ĠENN 16 RAJT 317 ĠAĦA 17 RAJT 85 ĠAĦA 7 RAJT 248 RAJT 124 RAJT 45 FOMM 89 RAJT 137 RAJT 466 ĠENN 24 ANNI 36 RAJT 43 ĠAĦA 131 FOMM 56 PALM 89 FOMM 17 RAJT 132

Example mill-forma li kellu l-istatura li kellu skond il-feriti li kellhom bil-ferita li kelli it-tbenġil li kellu bl-ażżma li kellu bid-deni li kellha bil-ġuħ li kelli bil-ġuħ li kellu bl-aptit li kellu bin-ngħas li kellna bil-biza’ li kellu bil-biza’ li kellu mill-paniku li kellu bl-eċċitament li kellu bid-dwejjaq li kelli d-dwejjaq li jkolli bl-għira li kien ikollna bir-rabja li kellu bil-għaġla li kellu bil-vizzju li kellha il-vizzji li kellu l-arja li kellu

Translation ‘from its shape’ ‘his stature’ ‘according to their wounds’ ‘because of my wound’ ‘his bruises’ ‘because of his asthma’ ‘because of her fever’ ‘because of my hunger’ ‘because of his hunger’ ‘his appetite’ ‘because of our sleepiness’ ‘because of his fear’ ‘because of his fear’ ‘from his panick’ ‘because of his excitement’ ‘because of my grief’ ‘my future grief’ ‘with our jealousy’ ‘because of his anger’ ‘because of his haste’ ‘because of her vice’ ‘his vices’ ‘his arrogance’

Thomas Stolz

216 # 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Source RASU 210 RAJT 445 RASU 174 RASU 196 ANNI 40 RASU 181 SALT 203 PALM 86 SALT 308 SALT 186 RAJT 295 FOMM 40 RAJT 49 RAJT 216 FOMM 44 FOMM 126 SALT 155 ĠENN 15 ĠENN 368 ĠENN 389 ĠAĦA 108 RASU 48 FOMM 40 PRAS 238

Example bl-arroganza li kellhom l-kuraġġ li kelli il-kuraġġ li kellu mill-kuraġġ li kellu t-talent li għandek r-rieda li kellu max-xewqat li kellu l-esperjenza li kellu Mario bil-fehma li kellu il-għerf li għandha l-influwenza li kellu Tacito s-seħer li kellhom bir-renti li kellu bil-pagi li kellha bil-flus li kellha id-djun li kellu mill-mandat li kellu minħabba x-xogħol li kellu mill-impjieg li kellu mix-xoghol li kelli l-inkwiet li kellu l-unità li kellhom is-sajjieda id-dritt li għandhom l-ħin li kellha

Translation ‘because of their arrogance’ ‘my courage’ ‘his courage’ ‘than his courage’ ‘your talent’ ‘his will’ ‘with his wishes’ ‘Mario’s experience’ ‘his opinion’ ‘her wisdom’ ‘Tacitus’s influence’ ‘their magic’ ‘because of his income’ ‘her payment’ ‘with her money’ ‘his debts’ ‘from his mandate’ ‘because of his work’ ‘from my work’ ‘from my work’ ‘his trouble’ ‘the unity of the fishermen’ ‘their right’ ‘the time that she had’

The examples are ordered starting from possessees which are connected directly to the human body (shape, size, wounds, illness, hunger), via all kinds of moods, habits, behaviour, cognitive abilities, and, already beyond physico-mental states, power, financial matters, work, and a variety of abstract concepts. There are altogether 39 types distributed over 47 tokens. Of these 39 types, five are also attested in combination with the fuq-construction, namely ġuħ ‘hunger’ ([49.1]–[49.3], [50.1] ~ [54.8]–[54.9]), ngħas ‘drowsiness’ ([49.4] ~ [54.11]), rabja ‘anger; rage’ ([49.8] ~ [54.19]), biża’ ‘fear’ ([49.12]–[49.14], [50.2] ~ [54.12]–[54.13]), and eċċitament ‘excitement’ ([49.15] ~ [54.15]). Differences in temporality of the possessive relations expressed by the competing construction types are not always discernible. Apart from this compatibility of the two constructions with exactly the same possessees, the light PRC boasts of a type frequency which is much higher than that of the fuq-construction. This discrepancy increases even further if one also takes into account all those constructions in which the light PRC combines with a complex NP which contains a possessee from the same semantic domain as that illustrated in the table in (54). These additional cases are surveyed in (55).

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

(55)

217

Light PRC with non-prototypical possessees in complex NPs

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Source ĠENN 8 RASU 126 SERA 115 SERA 21 PALM 45 ANNI 31 RASU 34 RAJT 32 WENZ 113 PRAS 250 RAJT 390 RASU 174 RASU 174 ANNI 39 FOMM 17 SALT 194 ĠENN 74 POLI 33 RAJT 280/1 RASU 1 PRAS 12 WENZ 87 WENZ 149 ANNI 45 RASU 135 SALT 291 RASU 176 WENZ 109 STEJ 135 SALT 56 ĠENN 89 RAJT 180

Example il-ħara kollu li kellu il-par idejn goffi li kellu il-par mustaċċi li kellu il-lewn sabiħ li kellu il-ftit ġmiel li kellha għan-nuqqas ta’ sbuħija li kellu din is-saħħa li kellha għall-vuċi sabiħa li kellha mis-sulluzzu qawwi li kellu l-għatx kbir li kellha b’dak l-istint li għandhom in-nisa r-rieda u l-kuraġġ li kellu it-talenti u l-kuraġġ li kellu wieħed mit-talenti li kellha Katya id-doni kbar li ghandek il-ħeġġa kbira li kellu Alessandru minkejja l-ħeġġa kollha li kellu għall-ħeġġa u inizjattiva li kelli l-entużjażmu tal-laqgħa’ li kellu għall-qalb tajba li kellu għar-ruħ tajba li għandu bil-geddum kollu li kellha bl-arja kollha li kellu l-arja kollha li kellu l-ispirtu kumbattiv li kellu Pietru il-jedd kbir li għandi ix-xewqa kbira li kellu din id-duda li kellu bl-iskrupli kollha li kellu fir-responsabilità kbira li kellu bis-sens kbir ta’ dover li kellhom kull sens ta’ liberaliżmu li kellu

33

STEJ 81

34 35 36 37 38

POLI 69 PALM 65 RAJT 262 FOMM 8 FOMM 124

minkejja l-intenzjoni ħażina li kellu l-influwenza kbira li kellhom b’dik il-paga li għandu il-ħafna ħin liberu li kelli mas-sebgħin sena li kellha għas-sittin sena li kellha

Translation ‘all his excrements’ ‘his bulky hands’ ‘his pair of moustaches’ ‘its nice colour’ ‘the little beauty of hers’ ‘because of his lack of beauty’ ‘this stength of hers’ ‘because of her beautiful voice’ ‘from his heavy hickup’ ‘her big thirst’ ‘because of this instinct of women’ ‘his will and courage’ ‘his talents and courage’ ‘one of Katya’s talents’ ‘your great gifts’ ‘because of Alexandru’s great enthusiasm’ ‘inspite of all his enthusiasm’ ‘because of my enthusiasm and initiative’ ‘his enthusiasm for the meeting’ ‘because oif his good heart’ ‘because of his good soul’ ‘because of all her bad mood’ ‘because of all his arrogance’ ‘all his arrogance’ ‘Pietru’s spirit of competition’ ‘my strong right’ ‘his great desire’ ‘this doubt that he had’ ‘because of all his qualms’ ‘in his great responsibility’ ‘because of their great sense of duty’ ‘every understanding of liberalism that he had’ ‘in spite of his bad intention’ ‘their strong influence’ ‘because of this payment of his’ ‘my extended free time’ ‘with her seventy years of age’’ ‘because of her sixty years of age’

This list provides evidence of 31 types of possessees of which only a fifth (= six types) overlap with those of the previous table (54). It is this intersection of the two tables, however, which proves that the use of the PRC in the examples given in (55) is not primarily motivated by the complexity of the NP. The crucial factor for the activation

Thomas Stolz

218

of the PRC is the semantics of the possessee. Many of these possessees can be subsumed under the heading of physico-mental states. This includes ħara ‘excrement’ in (55.1) because the situation in which the possessive relation applies is such that the body of an infant is covered temporarily with his excrements (cf. [48.1]–[48.2] above). By analogy, I extend my above interpretation also over those possessees for which there are no doublets in the previous tables. In this way, the list of concepts covered by the PRC is enlarged considerably. In addition to those mentioned above, in connection with the table in (54), there are substances which cover one’s body, body-parts, colour of skin, aesthetic properties, voice, thirst, instincts, gifts, character traits, rights, obligations, desires, doubts, senses, time and age. Unsurprisingly, possessees from the same range of semantic classes are attested also in combination with the heavy PRC. The possessees in (56) follow largely the same order as those listed in (54)–(55). (56)

Heavy PRC with non-prototypical possessees

# 1 2 3 4

Source RAJT 343 FOMM 138 ĠENN 113 SERA 134

5 6 7 8 9

ĠENN 361 RAJT 299 ĠENN 22 SALT 222 RAJT 143

10

SALT 191

11 12

FOMM 156 ĠENN 126

13

POLI 46

14

RASU 185

15

ĠENN 388

16 17

RASU 70 RASU 48

18

ĠENN 328

19

ĠENN 349

20 21

FOMM 57 ĠENN 311

Example dik is-sbuħija eleganti li kellu qabel il-biża’ li kellha lill-qassis l-biża’ li kelli minn dan l-inkwatru kull biża’ jew stmellija li kellhom lejh r-rabja li kelli kontra dak kollu l-umoriżmu li dejjem kelli l-ħeġġa li kellha għall-ilsien Malti mill-fiduċja li kellu fih mill-fiduċja esaġerata li kellhom fin-Navy Ingliża l-fidi li kellu fil-ħaqq u s-siwi talbniedem ir-rieda li kelli li… It-tifkira li għandi ta’ dawn listatwi minħabba l-esperjenza vasta li kelli fil-ġurnaliżmu il-moħħ vast li kellu l-iżgħar fost laħwa l-konoxxenza li kellu fid-dwal talpalk, stage managing, audio u mitt ħaġa oħra, il-ħila li kellu fuq it-tmun il-ħila u d-determinazzjoni li kellu Ġakond ix-xeħta, il-ħeffa u l-ħila kbira li għandek biex… Id-dixxiplina li kelli fit-technical drawing, bid-drawwa li kellha li… id-drawwa li kelli li

Translation ‘its former elegant beauty’ ‘her fear of the priest’ ‘my fear of this painting’ ‘all their fear or aversion of him’ ‘my anger against all that’ ‘my constant sense of humour’ ‘her enthusiasm for the Maltese language’ ‘his trust in him’ ‘from their exagerated trust in the English Navy’ ‘his faith in the justice and the value of man’ ‘my determination to…’ ‘the memory that I have of these statues’ ‘because of my vast experience in the field of journalism’ ‘the vast mind of the smallest of the brothers’ ‘my knowledge in stage lighting, stage managing, audio and hundreds of other things’ ‘his skill on the steering-wheel’ ‘Ġakond’s skill and determination’ ‘my inclination, promptitude and skill to…’ ‘my discpipline in technical drawing’ ‘because of her habit to…’ ‘my habit to…’

The possessive relative clause in Maltese # 22 23 24 25

Source PALM 113 RASU 169 FOMM 58 ANNI 77

26

FOMM 74

27

PALM 199

28

POLI 103

29

PALM 85

Example l-ġibda li kellhom għal xulxin n-namur li kellu għall-bahar l-imħabba li għandi għalikom l-imħabba kbira li Richard kellu għall-mużika għall-mibegħda li kellu għallknisja il-ġrajjiet l-imgħoddija li kellu magħha problemi soċjali kbar li kellu pajjiżna s-siwi kollu li qatt kellhom

219 Translation ‘their mutual attraction’ ‘his love of the sea’ ‘my love for you’ ‘Richard’s great love for music’ ‘because of his hate of the Church’ ‘his past events with her’ ‘(the) huge social problems of our country’ ‘all the value they ever had’

I assume that the possessees in (56) would have triggered the PRC in any case – independent of all aspects of syntactic weight. In these and many other examples (see previous and subsequent tables), syntactic weight and semantic properties conspire such that the use of the PRC is multiply motivated. As to the semantic side of the phenomenon, it is evident that we are dealing with possessees that do not correspond to the prototype as described in section 2 above. They fail to fulfil the criteria of being concrete and manipulable by the possessor. The control over the possessee exerted by the possessor is minimal, tends to zero. Not all of the concepts are properly abstract (for instance, bruises on one’s skin). However, they are not under the physical control of the possessor. To some extent, this is also true of the possessee flus ‘money’ and its partial synonyms, which show up in the above tables. In the contexts in which flus is attested as possessed via the light PRC, reference is not necessarily made to the coins and bills the possessor carries in his or her purse. More often than not, flus ‘money’ is a substitute of the more abstract concept of wealth. If real money is meant, flus would normally trigger the heavy PRC to indicate that the possessor has the money handy. That both varieties of the PRC are largely responsible for non-prototypical possessive relations is supported by the huge number of examples of human possessees which occur in combinations with the PRC. A selection of cases is presented in (57). Grey shading indicates those cases in which syntactic heaviness applies. (57) # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Human possessees with the PRC Source FOMM 7 RAJT 271 RAJT 333 RAJT 317 RAJT 292 RASU 74 ANNI 34 SALT 247 SALT 296

Example is-sagristan li kellu is-seftura li kellhom seftura li kelli is-serva li kellhom il-professori li kelli il-baħrin li kellu Ġanni mal-boyfriend li kellha il-ħbieb li kelli il-ħbieb li kellu l-Ordni

Translation ‘his Sacristan’ ‘their maid-servant’ ‘a maid-sevant that I had’ ‘their maid-servant’ ‘my professors’ ‘Ganni’s sailors’ ‘with her boyfriend’ ‘my (former) friends’ ‘the friends of the Order’

Thomas Stolz

220 # 10 11 12 13 14 15

Source ĠENN 382 PALM 8 PALM 47 RAJT 362 RAJT 258 RAJT 366

Example Il-ħbieb li kellna jien u Stella il-missier-argużin li kellhom shabu iż-żewġt tfajliet li għandna liż-żewġ bniet li kellu din in-namrata li kelli l-istudenti u l-ħbieb Għawdxin li kelli

Translation ‘the friends of me and Stella’ ‘the father-dictator of his friends’ ‘our two girls’ ‘his two daughters’ ‘this girl-friend of mine’ ‘my Gozitan students and friends’

Human beings do not qualify as good possessees as they are on equal rank with the possessor on the empathy hierarchy (Lehmann 1998). The concept of FRIEND is attested four times in (57). In three cases, the plural form ħbieb ‘friends’ is used which – qua inalienable concept – could host a possessor suffix in (57.8) (= ħbiebi ‘my friends’) or form part of the construct state in (57.9) (= ħbieb l-Ordni ‘the friends of the Order’). In (57.10), however, ħbiebna ‘our friends’ does not go together with the coordinated possessor expressions jiena u Stella and thus is not a viable alternative. Possessor suffixation would be possible marginally in (57.13) (= liż-żewġ bnietu ‘(for) his two daughters’)24. In all other cases, the ta’-construction is grammatically acceptable. Nevertheless, the PRC is preferred over the supposed standard possessive constructions, most probably because it represents iconically the detachment of the possessor from the non-prototypical possessee by creating a topological distance on the syntactic surface between the NP of the possessee and the expression of the possessor. The examples in (57) illustrate the use of the light PRC for relatively time-stable possessive relations, in which the possessee has the property [+human]. If the possessive relationship is of a momentary nature and implies physical (sometimes only ideal) co-presence, a sub-type of construction (23) comes to be employed rather frequently, namely, the ma’-construction (58). (58)

[(DET-)NPpossessee li għand-PROpossessor (NPpossessor) ma’-PROpossessor]

The comitative preposition ma’ ‘with’ introduces a human participant. In the case under scrutiny, it introduces the participant that is accompanied by the human possessee (Stolz et al. 2006: 294–301), cf. (59). (59)

24

Temporal human possessee (RASU 141) Spiru dar dara ma’ Marsaxlokk biex Spiru turn.PERF turn with Marsaxlokk in_order_to jigbor lill-bahrin li kellu mieghu 3.IMPERF:collect for:DET-sailor:PL REL have.PERF:3SG.M with:3SG.M

An example of this possibility is [PRAS 148] Miegħu kellu liż-żewġt uliedu l-kbar u lin-nies talpalazz. ‘Along with him he had his two oldest children and the staff of the palace.’ Ulied‘offspring’ is obligatorily possessed via possessor suffixation (or via the construct state). This is a strict rule which also holds if other constituents of the NP host the definite article pro-clitic, here: the numeral żewġ- ‘two’ (= iż-żewġt ‘the two’) and the pluralised adjective kbar ‘big’ (= il-kbar ‘the big’).

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

221

dak l-istaġun… that season ‘Spiru made a tour of Marsaxlokk in order to collect up the sailors that he had (with him) in this season…’ Via the ma’-construction, the relation of the ship’s master Spiru and his crew is specified as being temporary. The time adverbial dak l-istaġun ‘that season’ specifies more precisely the temporality of the possessive relation. The anonymous sailors belong to the staff only for a limited period of time. It cannot be denied that the semantic properties of the possessee and the temporality of the possessive relation are important factors when it comes to deciding which of the various possessive constructions should be used. Non-prototypical possessees, nonstable relations and syntactic heaviness are favourable conditions under which the PRC becomes an option. However, the PRC is only one of several options speakers of Maltese have. The PRC has to compete with possessor suffixation, the ta’-construction and the construct state such that it is precluded to speak of exceptionless rules which govern the use of the PRC. Given the right contextual conditions, there is a relatively strong preference for the PRC to be used. Only rarely however, is this preference strong enough to suppress all other possible solutions. One of these rare cases is closely connected to pragmatics.

4.3. Pragmatics 4.3.1. Superlative In my corpus, human possessees occur particularly often in combination with the superlative which applies to the adjectival attribute (or functional equivalent thereof). A typical case is example (60). (60)

Human possessee (ĠENN 20) Fost l-egħżeż ħbieb li kellhom among DET-dear.COMP friend.PL REL have.PERF:3PL kien hemm l-aħwa tal-familja Tanti… be.PERF there DET-brother.PL of:DET-family Tanti ‘Among their dearest friends, there were the brothers of the Tanti family…’

The superlative requires the NP to be complex as the superlative can only operate on an attribute of the possessed noun. Since only a limited number of Maltese adjectives have synthetic forms of the comparative, analytic constructions with aktar/iktar ‘more’ are frequently employed and render the NP additionally heavy. The superlative is formally the definite comparative, i.e., the comparative form also hosts the definite article pro-clitic. One may argue that this is already enough morpho-syntactic complexity to justify the use

Thomas Stolz

222

of the PRC. However, the combination of superlative and PRC abounds to such an extent in the texts I consulted that this combination hardly leaves space for alternatives (although l-egħżeż ħbieb tagħhom/ħbiebhom ‘their dearest friends’ are by no means categorically ruled out). The table in (61) is suggestive of the close association of superlative and the (light) PRC. Examples (61.1)–(61.11) give testimony of human possessees, whereas the remaining 16 examples illustrate various semantic classes of inanimate possessees. The superlative is understood in a relatively broad sense. It is represented by a proper synthetic superlative, by an analytical superlative or by one of the superlative-like expressions lewwel ‘the first’, l-aħħar ‘the last’ and l-uniku ‘the only’. (61)

Superlative and light PRC

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Source RAJT 355 RASU 123 RAJT 433 RAJT 294 FOMM 80 RAJT 236 RAJT 248 RAJT 141

9 10 11 12 13

PALM 9 RAJT 177 RAJT 184 ĠENN 389 SALT 207

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

SALT 269 SALT 320 SERA 116 FOMM 42 FOMM 56 FOMM 127 SALT 41 FOMM 8 RAJT 374 POLI 35 RAJT 192 ĠENN 43 ĠENN 70 ĠENN 140 ĠENN 280 ĠENN 302

Example l-ewwel namrata li kellhom l-aħħar baħrin li kellu l-aħħar konfessur li kellha l-aħjar professur li kellna l-akbar ħabib li kellu l-aqwa ħabiba li kellha l-ikbar ħabib li kellu l-ikbar riformatur li kellha n-Navy Ingliża l-aktar abbati bil-għaqal li kellhom l-uniku tifel li kelli l-unika tifla li kellhom ma’ l-egħżeż tifkiriet li għandi. l-egħżeż libertà li għandu jkollu bniedem l-egħżeż ħaġa li għandha l-egħżeż ħaġa li kelli l-aqwa ħaġa li kelli l-aħħar sold li għandha l-anqas sold li kellek l-anqas sold li kellu l-inqas ħsieb li kellu l-isbaħ libsa li kellha bl-isbaħ qmis li kellu l-ikbar difett li kellu Pawlu l-aħjar kostituzzjoni li kellha Malta l-uniku ritratt innoċenti li għandu l-unika arma li kelli l-uniku aċċess li kellu l-uniku u l-ikbar inkwiet li kelli l-unika tama u konsolazzjoni li kelli

Translation ‘their first girlfriend’ ‘his last sailors’ ‘her last confessor’ ‘our best professor’ ‘his best friend’ ‘her best girlfriend’ ‘his best friend’ ‘the greatest reformer of the English Navy’ ‘their most sensible altar-boy’ ‘my only son’ ‘their only daughter’ ‘among my dearest memories’ ‘the dearest freedom man should have’ ‘her dearest thing’ ‘my dearest thing’ ‘my most important thing’ ‘her last penny’ ‘your last penny’ ‘his last penny’ ‘his least thought’ ‘her nicest dress’ ‘with his best shirt’ ‘Pawlu’s greatest defect’ ‘Malta’s best constitution’ ‘his only innocent picture’ ‘my only weapon’ ‘his only access’ ‘my only and greatest trouble’ ‘my only hope and consolation’

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

223

The superlative itself is a grammatical category which associates easily with the pragmatic category of emphasis. This is so because the superlative is the grammatical equivalent of contrastive focus, in a manner of speaking. The superlative singles out one referent from among an array of potential referents and gives prominence to the chosen referent. These referents are overtly or covertly compared to others which do not fulfil the criteria to the same extent. This effect is particularly clear in chapter XXII of [RAJT 188-96] where the author discusses the constitutional development in the history of Malta by way of comparing the many different constitutions the Maltese were given by the British government. Example (61.14) identifies the constitution Herbert Ganado considers the very best whereas most of the others are shown to be insufficient. This contrast alone is suggestive of a strong element of emphasis on (61.14). Similarly, the bulk of the other examples in (61) have a discernible note of emotional involvement on the part of the author or of the protagonists of the stories. Outstanding events or personalities are remembered and talked about, very often with a clear personal attachment to the topic. As with other phenomena discussed in the previous sub-sections, the superlative is compatible also with the heavy PRC. This combination is most probably as frequent as the combination of superlative and light PRC. (62) assembles a wide range of examples from my corpus. (62)

Superlative and heavy PRC

# 1 2 3

Source ANNI 17 RAJT 400 RAJT 91/2

4

RAJT 338

Example l-aqwa attriċi li għandna fil-Klabb l-aqwa surmast li qatt kellna l-aqwa mużiċista Malti li qatt kellu pajjiżna l-isbaħ figura li kellna f’pajjiżna

5 6

RAJT 119 POLI 29

l-unika ħabiba li kellha matul ħajjitha l-iktar ħaġa li kelli għal qalbi

7 8 9 10 11

SALT 118 POLI 64 ĠENN 122 RAJT 367 POLI 32

12

ANNI 122

13

POLI 95

l-akbar arma li għandu f’idejh l-akbar teżor li qatt kelli l-akbar teżor li kellha din il-kamra l-aħjar prodotti li għandna Malta l-ikbar strajk b’suċċess li qatt kellha l-G.W.U. l-iktar play diffiċli li qatt kellna f’dan il-Klabb l-unika kelma ta’ tifħir li Dr. Barton kellu għal…

Translation ‘our best actress in the Club’ ‘the strongest principa we ever had’ ‘the strongest Maltese musician our country ever had’ ‘the nicest personality we had in our country’ ‘her only girlfriend during all her life’ ‘the thing which was dearest to my heart’ ‘the best weapon he had in his hands’ ‘the biggest treasure I ever had’ ‘the greatest treasure of this room’ ‘our best products in Malta’ ‘the biggest successful strike the General Workers Union every had’ ‘the most difficult play we ever had in this Club’ ‘Dr. Barton’s only word of praise for…’

Very often, the superlative is embedded within a partitive construction. The partitive construction is semantically less daring than the simple superlative because it leaves the

Thomas Stolz

224

possibility that there might be some member of the same class of referents which has the capacity to oust the chosen referent. The partitive construction adds considerably to the syntactic complexity of the NP (cf. [11] above). (63) provides evidence for the partitive-superlative-PRC combination. (63)

Superlatives embedded in partitive constructions

# 1 2

Source SERA 62 RAJT 22

3

RAJT 296

4

RAJT 369

5

RAJT 106

6

RAJT 422

7

ĠENN 323

Example wieħed mill-aktar ħbieb tal-qalb li kellu wieħed mill-politiċi l-iktar makakki li qatt kellna wieħed mill-aqwa oraturi li kellna f’pajjiżna wieħed mill-iktar Prim Ministri popolari li kellha Malta wieħed mill-aqwa rjus li qatt kellu pajjiżna waħda mill-iktar battalji politiċi akkaniti li qatt kellna waħda mill-aħjar sensiliet li kellna filMalti.

Translation ‘one of his most intimate friends’ ‘one of the shrewdest politicians we ever had’ ‘one of the best orators we had in our country’ ‘one of Malta’s most popular Prime Ministers’ ‘one of the strongest heads our country ever had’ ‘one of the fiercest political battles we ever had’ ‘one of our best series in Malta’

To sum up this sub-section, it can be said that the PRC has a very strong leaning towards combining with categories (such as the superlative) which, in turn, are prone to attract pragmatic prominence in terms of emphasis and focus (which does not imply that the PRC is in focus). In sub-section 4.3.2, I look at similar phenomena outside the realm of the superlative. 4.3.2. Emphasis and focus Further evidence of PRCs in connection with emphasis is not difficult to come by in my corpus. Example (64) for instance, gives testimony of the use of the PRC in exclamations. (64)

Exclamation (BUTL 45) Dik żaqq kbira li kellu! that.F belly big:F REL have.PERF:3SG.M ‘That was a big belly that he had!’ [= What a big belly he had!]

The exclamatory sentence reflects the astonishment of the protagonist (the tricksterhero Butlettax) who meets his opponent – the giant – for the first time. The sentence does not instantiate direct speech. However, it is a narrative device patterned on typical exclamatory sentences. This is why it can be taken for granted that the sentence (64) is associated with the characteristics of emphatic speech. Which part of the exclamatory sentence is in the focus? The most likely candidate is the adjectival attribute kbira ‘big’ in the NP which functions as external head of the PRC. What astonishes Butlettax is the size of his adversary’s belly. The possessive

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

225

relation as such is not emphasised. In (65), two seemingly disparate phenomena are compared, namely the enormous size of the sea and the courage of the fisherman. (65)

(RASU 196) U d-dmugħ wasal fuq xfar l-għajnejn għaliex and DET-tear.PL arrive.PERF on edge.PL DET-eye:DU because il-baħar kien bil-bosta akbar DET-sea be.PERF with:DET-much big.COMP mill-kuraġġ li kellu. than:DET-courage REL have.PERF:3SG.M ‘…and the tears appeared in his eyes because the sea was much bigger than his courage.’

Comparative constructions are conceptually based on contrastiveness and thus bear functional similarity to focus constructions. In analogy to (64), it is most plausible that the possessee – l-kuraġġ ‘the courage’ – is focused upon whereas the PRC itself is outside the scope of emphasis. This is in line with the recurrent combination of the PRC with superlatives as described in the previous sub-section 4.3.1. For the superlative, it is the quality in which someone or something excels that attracts focus – and this quality is expressed within the NP on which the PRC depends. These concurrent observations boil down to identifying the PRC as a strategy of creating a niche for the non-focus. The external head represents the possessee, which is the best candidate for being assigned focus. Inside the PRC, the possessive relation itself is represented by the predicative possessive expression. Furthermore, the PRC contains information about the possessor. The possessor and the possessive relation are in the non-focus whereas the possessee is in the focus. The pragmatic division of focused possessee vs. non-focused possessor and possessive relation can also be deduced (albeit with an important complication) from the cooccurrence of the ta’-construction and the PRC in the same paragraph of some of my sample texts. Examples (66)–(67) illustrate the pragmatic differences of the constructions used with identical possessees. (66)

(ANNI 40) Fi kliem ieħor int użajt it-talent in word other you use.PERF:2SG DET-talent b’mod mhux kif għandu jkun… with-manner NEG:3SG.M:NEG how have:3SG issa jien irridek tuża t-talent li now I 1:want:DO.2SG 2SG:use DET-talent b’mod aktar pożittiv. with-manner more positive ‘In other words, you have used your talent not in the way want you to use your talent in a more positive way.’

tiegħek of:2SG 3:be.FUT għandek REL have:2SG

it should be… now I

Thomas Stolz

226

As to (66), the possessee talent ‘talent’ is construed as possessed in two different ways. When the possessee is mentioned for the first time, the ta’-construction is employed. As I have argued above (see section 2.2.1), the ta’-construction provides the means for focusing on the possessor. Possessor focus makes sense for this example as the addressees talents are compared indirectly to those of other, supposedly much better actors. The second time the talents are referred to, the PRC is chosen as the appropriate morpho-syntactic strategy. There are two possibilities to interpret it-talent li għandek ‘your talent’ in terms of pragmatics: a)

the PRC serves the purpose of backgrounding both the possessive relation and the possessor such that the possessee alone is in the focus; this interpretation follows the lead of what was concluded in connection to the pragmatics of the superlative construction in combination with the PRC, the PRC facilitates emphasising that the possessive relation holds; this interpretation makes a lot of sense as example (66) is taken from a pep-talk of the director who tries to convince an insecure actress-to-be that she has talent for the stage, meaning: emphasis is on the fact that she has talent, i.e., on the fact that the possessive relation applies.

b)

(67)

(RASU 105)25 Ma damx ukoll ma sar padrun għalkemm bħal kull sajjied ieħor fi żmien ta’ għaks li kien jgħix fih, kellu jistinka u jbati bla qies biex kien jista’ jgħajjex lillfamilja numeruża li kellu. Anqas din ma kienet xi ħaġa ħafifa għaliex fiż-żmien li kien jgħix Karmnu, kellu kompetizzjoni qawwija minn padruni oħra kapaċi li bħalu kienu fl-istess ilma u riedu jgħajxu lill-familji kbar tagħhom. ‘It did not take long either and he became a ship’s master, although, like every other fisherman in times of dearth in which he lived, he had to work hard and suffer without measure in order to be able to feed his big family. Neither was this an easy thing to do because in the time in which Karmnu lived, he had strong competition from other capable ship’s masters who like him were in the same waters and had to feed their big families.’

For (67), there are no such ambiguities as to the pragmatics of the different constructions. Big families are the possessees, their size being indicated by different but largely synonymous attributes. A contrast is made between the protagonist Karmnu and those ship’s masters who compete with him in the same areas at sea. When Karmnu’s family is mentioned, it is its size that is important because it explains how hard Karmnu has to work in order to feed the many mouths of his family. Accordingly, the PRC is used because the emphasis is on the size of the family. At the end of the same paragraph, the equally large families of Karmnu’s competitors are mentioned. This time, the ta’construction is made use of because the focus is on the possessor. The dichotomy of l25

Owing to the length of this example, I refrain from providing interlinear glosses.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

227

familja numeruża li kellu vs. l-familji kbar tagħhom reflects the contrast of possesseefocus and possessor-focus. That the possessive relation itself can be in the focus is corroborated by (admittedly rather rare) examples like (68). (68)

Intercalation (ĠENN 407) Minkejja l-esperjenza kollha li KONT in_spite_of DET-experience all:3SG.F REL BE.PERF:1SG NAĦSEB LI kelli, kont 1.IMPERF:THINK THAT have.PERF:1SG be.PERF:1SG għadni ma ntbaħtx li fil-ħajja realise.REFL:1SG.PERF:NEG that in:DET-life still:1SG NEG m’ hawn xejn permanenti… NEG here nothing permanent ‘In spite of all the experience that I THOUGHT I had, I had not yet realised that in life there is nothing permanent…’

The upper case letters identify an intercalation of the author which interrupts the syntactic chain. This intercalation – kont naħseb li ‘I thought that’ – has semantic scope over the PRC and thus makes a statement about the possessive relation. The possessive relation is depicted as the author’s own interpretation. With the segmental means of intercalation, the PRC is not only further removed from the possessee-NP, but also receives additional pragmatic prominence. What appears to be a contradiction can be easily explained. The PRC is pragmatically polyfunctional. In its default interpretation, the PRC, especially the light PRC, serves the purpose of backgrounding the possessor. This is done by way of detaching the possessor from the NP of the possessee. To achieve this detachment, structural expansion applies which means that additional phonologically realised elements are made available. One of these additional elements is the predicative HABEO-expression. Its obligatory presence can also be exploited to the benefit of pragmatics as the PRC is the only possessive construction type within the realm of attributive possession in which the possessive relation as such can be directly highlighted without highlighting one of the participants of the possessive relation as well. The more words there are in a construction, the more potential landing sites for emphasis and focus are available. The PRC is thus a Janus-faced construction which may serve diametrically opposed purposes, namely, backgrounding and foregrounding. Which of the two phenomena applies crucially hinges on the availability of prosodic information. Since my corpus is exclusively literary, I can only speculate about the prosodic properties of my examples. Nevertheless, I daresay that, if the HABEO-expression in the PRC bears phrasal stress, the focus is on the possessive relation. Occasionally, the PRC contains pronominal or lexical NPs identifying the possessor additionally to the inflection on the HABEO-verb. In these cases, I assume an extra-strong focus on the possessor as in (69). The contrast between

Thomas Stolz

228

the speaker’s self-assessment and the qualities ascribed to Mario is construed in such a way that the contrastive focus is on the proper noun Mario, the possessor. In all other cases, the PRC has a low prosodic profile. (69)

Possessor focus within PRC (PALM 86) Ma nħossnix li għandi NEG 1.IMPERF:feel:DO.1SG:NEG that have:1SG l-esperjenza li kellu Mario. DET-experience REL have.PERF:3SG.M Mario ‘I do not feel that I have Mario’s experience [lit. the experience that Mario had].’

The PRC is sensitive to pragmatic distinctions. However, this sensitivity is not modelled according to a one-to-one-relation. The PRC is a multi-purpose device. This characterisation does not only hold for the role it plays within the pragmatic system of Maltese. As a matter of fact, the PRC obeys very intricate preference rules on all levels of language scrutinised in this paper.

5. Conclusions The PRC is a very common phenomenon in Maltese whose properties are difficult to grasp. However, this difficulty of getting to grips with the PRC does not justify not taking notice of it. The above close-up of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects of the PRC is suggestive of a highly intricate network of checks and balances which determine the use of the PRC in non-trivial ways. Whether or not the PRC is an option for the Maltese native speaker depends on the interaction of several criteria. There is no one-to-one correspondence of the PRC and the one trigger. The more criteria are fulfilled in a given context, the more likely it is that the PRC is used. The favourable conditions under which the PRC rises to the rank of preferred option are summarised in (70). Grey shading highlights those properties which increase the probability of the PRC being activated. (70)

Synopsis

Level syntax semantics pragmatics

PRC heavy NP non-prototypical specific possessee-focus possessive-relation focus

Other light NP prototypical possessor-focus/neutral

I emphasise the close resemblance of these favourable factors with those which are involved in the oppositions of possessor suffixation/construct state vs. ta’-construction, on the one hand, and għand-construction vs. bi-construction, on the other hand.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

229

As is shown in section 4.1, there are several types of syntactic heaviness. Since a potential element of weight – the attributive PP – is normally integrated into the PRC, the NP of the external head of the PRC is often only virtually heavy. Syntactic heaviness also favours the use of the ta’-construction over possessor suffixation on inalienable possessees. As to the semantics, section 4.2 demonstrates that the PRC is most often employed if the possessive situation fails to meet the criteria of the prototype in one way or the other. This failure includes the possession of atypical possessees such as physico-mental states and abstract notions. In a way, the temporality of the possessive relation can also be considered a deviation from the prototypical schema. Temporality has a parallel in predicative possession where the bi-construction specialises on physical and temporary possession. Sub-section (4.3) scrutinises pragmatic aspects of the PRC. By default, the PRC is a good device to put emphasis on the possessee by way of backgrounding the other components of the possessive situation. Given the adequate prosodic means, the PRC may also serve the purpose of focusing on the possessive relation as such. Note that possessor focus is normally achieved via the ta’-construction independent of the (in-)alienability of the possessee. For all of these criteria, it is rather often the case that syntactic complexity is involved. This is self-evident for heavy NPs, of course. However, semantic specificity more often than not requires the presence of additional segmental means – attributes, for instance – which make the constructions bulky. Similarly, if backgrounding and foregrounding is not exclusively achieved by prosody, pragmatics needs segmentally realised elements which allow emphasis and focus to land in unusual sites. The PRC has a leaning towards the extraordinary. The NPs tend to be heavy, the semantics favour non-prototypical elements and pragmatic phenomena happen in unexpected places. Similar things can be said of the construction type of the PRC in general. The relative clause as such is an attribute of the possessed noun, i.e., it is a strategy that associates with attributive possession. It is a third option alongside pronominal and adnominal possession. Somewhat paradoxically, the PRC is an attributive strategy which requires the predicative possessive strategy to be employed because the HABEO-verb is the obligatory nucleus of the PRC. Superficially, the PRC looks like an unnecessary detour from attribution via predication back to attribution. However, what appears to be largely uneconomical at first blush turns out to be a rather convenient strategy to provide the speaker with a construction which can be employed for a variety of purposes which other constructions fail to fulfil. The PRC has psycholinguistic, semantic and pragmatic advantages which make it the prime candidate for the expression of non-prototypical possessive relations, no matter in what respect these are non-prototypical. Still, the use of the PRC is governed by preference rules. The details of the system behind the employment of the PRC and its competitors have not been studied exhaustively in this paper. To understand the nature of the PRC better it is necessary to conduct an in-depth study of the contexts in which the PRC competes with other possessive constructions. In sequels to this study, experimental data and data drawn from the spoken register must be taken account of in order to refine the notion of the PRC. One aim

Thomas Stolz

230

of these future studies should be determining whether or not the high frequency of the PRC is typical only of the written register. My article proves that the PRC exists and that it has a strong position within the Maltese system of possession. The little comparative evidence I have provided is already suggestive of a striking difference among languages which singles out Maltese as an over-user of the PRC in contrast to a selection of SAE-languages with a pronounced aversion against the PRC. Whether or not this difference can be causally connected to other structural properties of Maltese (e.g. its relatively shallow syntax) is a topic for a dedicated follow-up study. Likewise, the “discovery” of the Maltese PRC calls for comparative work on the PRC as a structural option of human languages – be it within the framework of the Semantic phylum or on the grand scale of typologically-minded cross-linguistic research.

Abbreviations ADV CAUS COMP COP DET

DO DU F FUT IMPERF

IO M

N

adverbial causative comparative copula determiner direct object dual feminine future imperfective indirect object masculine noun

NEG

NP NUM PASSP PERF PL

PP PRC PRO REFL REL SG

TM

negator noun phrase numeral passive participle perfective plural prepositional phrase possessive relative clause pronoun reflexive relative singular t-marbuta

Sources AMIE = Georges Simenon (2007): L’amie de Madame Maigret, in: Carly, Michel (éd.), Tout Maigret V. Paris: Omnibus, 7–130. ANNI = Charles Casha (1997): Il-klabb. L-10 anniversarju. Blata l-Bajda: Merlin. BUTL = Ġorġ Mifsud Chircop (1994): Butlettax. San Ġwann: PEG. DJAR = Carmel G. Cauchi (1993): Mid-djarju ta’ Rikardu Fender. Blata l-Bajda: Librerija Preca. FOMM = Dijonisju Mintoff (1978): Fomm mitbuq. Valletta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. ĠAĦA = Ġorġ Mifsud (Chircop) (1992) [1980]: Ġaħan u ħrejjef oħra. San Ġwann: PEG. ĠENN = Trevor Żahra (2008): Il-ġenn li jżommni f’sikti. Blata l-Bajda: Merlin. MAIG = Georges Simeon [translated by Toni Aquilina] (1999): Il-ħabiba ta’ Madame Maigret. San Ġwann: PEG. PALM = Trevor Żahra (1991) [1974]: Taħt il-weraq tal-palm. Blata l-Bajda: Merlin. POLI = Paul Carachi (2002): Il-ġurnalista u l-politiku. Marsa: Partit Laburista.

The possessive relative clause in Maltese

231

PRAS = Ġorġ Mifsud Chircop (2001): Mill-praspar ta’ Ġaħan u stejjer tradizionali Maltin oħra. San Ġwann: PEG. RAJT = Herbert Ganado (1977): Rajt Malta tinbidel. L-ewwel ktieb (1900-1933). Malta: s.l. RASU = Lino Psaila (1996) [1978]: Il-baħar rasu iebsa. Valletta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. ROZI = George Zammit (1977): Id-dinja ta’ Wenzu u Rozi. Valletta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. SALT = Ġużè Aquilina (1997) [1938]: Taħt tliet saltniet. Valletta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. SERA = Pawlu Mifsud (1998): Serafin is-saħħar. Valletta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. STEJ = Aldo Farini [translated by Ġużè Chetcuti] (1997): Ħrejjef ta’ Ġaħan u stejjer oħra. Marsa: Partit Laburista.

Le Petit Prince (= LPP) English = [translator: Katherine Woods] (1994): The Little Prince. London: Mammoth. French = Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1946): Le Petit Prince. Paris: Gallimard. German = [translators: Grete Leitgeb & Josef Leitgeb] (1992): Der Kleine Prinz. Düsseldorf: Karl Rauch. Italian = [translator: Nini Bompiani Bregoli] (1994): Il Piccolo Principe. Milano: Bompiani. Maltese = [translator: Toni Aquilina] (2000): Iċ-Ċkejken Prinċep. Msida: Mireva.

References Baron, Irène; Herslund, Michael & Sørensen, Finn (eds.) (2001): Dimensions of possession. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Borg, Albert & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997): Maltese. London: Routledge. Bybee, Joan L. (1985): Morphology. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Chappell, Hilary & McGregor, William (eds.) (1996): The grammar of inalienability: a typological perspective on body-part terms and the part-whole relation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Coene, Martine & D’Hulst, Yves (eds.) (2003): From NP to DP. Vol. II: The expression of possession in the noun phrase. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Comrie, Bernard (1982): Syntactic-morphological discrepancies in Maltese sentence structure, in: Communication and Cognition 15(3-),: 719–743. Comrie, Bernard (2002): Rethinking relative clause types: the Mediterranean area, in: Ramat, Paolo & Stolz, Thomas (eds.), 87–98. Cristofaro, Sonia & Giacalone Ramat, Anna (2002): Relativization patterns in Mediterranean languages, with particular reference to the relativization of time circumstantial, in: Ramat, Paolo & Stolz, Thomas (eds.), 99–112. Fabri, Ray (1993): Kongruenz und die Grammatik des Maltesischen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Fabri, Ray (1996): The construct state and the pseudo-construct state in Maltese, in: Rivista di Linguistica 8(1), 229–244. Fischer, Kerstin & Stefanowitsch, Anatol (2006): Konstruktionsgrammatik: ein Überblick, in: Fischer, Kerstin & Stefanowitsch, Anatol (eds.), Konstruktionsgrammatik. Von der Anwendung zur Theorie. Tübingen: Stauffenburg, 3–18. Haiman, John (1985): Natural syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Heine, Bernd (1997): Possession. Cognitive sources, forces, and grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

232

Thomas Stolz

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria (1996): Possessive noun phrases in Maltese: alienability, iconicity and grammaticalization, in: Rivista di Linguistica 8(1), 245–274. Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria (2002): Adnominal possession in the European languages: form and function, in: Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 55(2), 141–172. Lehmann, Christian (1984): Der Relativsatz. Tübingen: Narr. Lehmann, Christian (1998): Possession in Yucatec Maya: structures, functions, typology. München: LINCOM Europa. McGregor, William (ed.) (2009): The expression of possession. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Nichols, Johanna (1988): On alienable and inalienabl possession, in: Shipley, William (ed.), In honor of Mary Haas: from the Haas festival conference on native American linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 557–609. Payne, Doris & Barshi, Immanuel (eds.) (1999): External possession. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Peterson, John (2009): “Pseudo-verbs”: An analysis of non-verbal (co-)predication in Maltese, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 181–204. Ramat, Paolo & Stolz, Thomas (eds.) (2002): Mediterranean Languages. Bochum: Brockmeyer. Seiler, Hansjakob (1983): Possession as an operational dimension of language. Tübingen: Narr. Stassen, Leon (2009): Predicative possession. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stolz, Thomas & Gorsemann, Sabine (2001): Pronominal possession in Faroese and the parameters of alienability/inalienability, in: Studies in Language 25(3), 557–599. Stolz, Thomas; Kettler, Sonja; Stroh, Cornelia & Urdze, Aina (2008): Split possession. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Stolz, Thomas; Stroh, Cornelia & Urdze, Aina (2006): On comitatives and related categories. Berlin: Moton de Gruyter. Vanhove, Martine (2009): The nominal quantifier xi in Maltese, in: Fabri, Ray (ed.), Maltese linguistics: a snapshot. In memory of Joseph A. Cremona (1922–2003). Bochum: Brockmeyer, 17–34.

Part III Phonology

MARIE AZZOPARDI-ALEXANDER (MALTA)

The vowel systems of Xlukkajr and Naduri

Abstract The paper examines the vowel systems of two Maltese dialects in contrast to that of Standard Maltese. The first dialect is Xlukkajr, the dialect used in Marsaxlokk, and the second is Naduri, the dialect used in the Gozitan village of Nadur. The vowel systems of these two dialects are different from that of Standard Maltese. The two dialects differ from each other and particularly from Standard Maltese both in their systemic organization or phoneme inventory as well as in terms of the phonetic realizations. The paper uses the work done on these dialects to reflect on both the changing attitudes of dialect speakers in Malta and Gozo as well as on how this affects the way forward in data collection. It also discusses listeners’ adaptation to dialects other than their own. Taqsira L-istudju rrapportat hawnhekk jittratta s-sistemi vokaliċi ta’ żewġ djaletti Maltin li jitqabblu massistema vokalika fil-Malti Standard. L-ewwel djalett huwa x-Xlukkajr, id-djalett ta’ Marsaxlokk u ttieni huwa n-Naduri, d-djalett tar-raħal tan-Nadur f’Ghawdex. Is-sistemi vokaliċi taż-żewġ djaletti huma differenti minn xulxin kif ukoll mis-sistema tal-Malti Standard: jiddifferixxu kemm fis-sistema fiha nnfisha, jiġifieri fl-inventarju fonoloġiku, kif ukoll fid-distribuzzjoni tal-vokali. Ix-xogħol li sar fuq dawn id-djaletti jintuża għal riflessjoni dwar il-bidla fl-attitudni tal-kelliema tad-djaletti f’Malta u Għawdex u dwar kif dan jaffettwa il-ġbir tad-data. Fl-aħħar issir diskussjoni dwar kif is-semmiegħ jaddatta għad-djalett.

1. Native dialect speakers: changing attitudes Native speakers of some of the dialects spoken in Malta and Gozo confirm the strong link between native dialect and the sense of belonging to the community and personal identity within that community. Instead of hiding their identifiable differences, many speakers of the different dialects nowadays assert that they would not speak Standard Maltese with another speaker of their own or of a different dialect. It would be turning their back on who they are and practically looking down at where they come from. Dialect speakers assert, quite vehemently at times, that the dialects in the neighbouring areas are differenti għal kollox (‘completely different’) and render speakers instant

I am grateful to Professor Albert Borg for his helpful comments on the draft of this paper.

236

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

ly recognizable. Indeed, it is tempting to say that dialect speakers have a much stronger sense and pride of belonging than is felt or expressed by speakers of Standard Maltese except, perhaps, when the latter live overseas for a substantial period of time and cherish the infrequent opportunities to use their language with others. Dialect speakers usually consider the dialect they speak as an important aspect of their personal identity that binds them to their community. This sociolinguistic aspect has a strong bearing on dialectology, certainly on the study of dialects in Malta and Gozo, particularly on the methodology used (see 2.1). The Aquilina & Isserlin study that started in 1963 was a major achievement and their immense contribution to Maltese dialectology must be taken into account. They report the problem of dialect speakers who “were ashamed to admit they spoke dialectal Maltese, and tried to avoid using it” (Aquilina & Isserlin 1981: iv). This contrasts with the pride reported here. Nevertheless, the same Aquilina & Isserlin study was probably instrumental in bringing about this pride.

2. Methodology in dialectology 2.1. The informants We have learnt that native speakers of a dialect are mostly comfortable with other native speakers. Perhaps this statement should be rephrased since a small number of older, unsophisticated native speakers who do not consider themselves as being competent speakers of non-dialectal Maltese are usually not self-conscious about this. However, more educated speakers such as university students, consider themselves as users of the standard variety in contexts not involving dialect speakers. This means that they are only spontaneous users of their dialect when interacting with fellow native speakers. During such interactions their conversations do not involve any level of consciousness about how they sound. A certain degree of consciousness is felt, however, where they speak their dialect in the presence of speakers of other dialects though this is very different from what happens when their conversational partners are Standard Maltese speakers. In these situations they do not use their dialect. They revert, instead, to what they consider to be the standard variety (see section 9). What is recorded when they interact with speakers of other dialects would be different – to a greater or lesser degree depending on the perceived status of that dialect – from the data recorded when interacting with speakers from their own dialect community. There seems to be at least the consciousness of identity, possibly reflecting differences between dialects and the relative status on the basis of ‘purity’ or other such criteria that may be operative within the minds or consciousness of dialect speakers. In the author’s view, this points to possible contamination of data that is recorded in a context that includes speakers from different dialect communities, particularly for the

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

237

study that focuses on the phonetic and phonological aspects of the dialect concerned. This means that the only data that should be collected is data recorded by the speakers themselves, that is, where only speakers of the dialect being studied are physically present. Adjustments are made unconsciously by speakers when they talk to others who speak differently from them in one way or another. Even amongst dialect speakers, we may get speech which could be the result of a greater or lesser degree of physical compromise between the different dialects of the speakers involved in the interaction. Hence the advantage of the availability of dialect speakers who are able to engage in data collection themselves as is reported in this study. One must also consider the fact that any recording inevitably introduces an element of artificiality pushing the speakers to speaking for the recording (see section 2.2. for further detail). 2.1.1. How native does native have to be? The great difficulty stated over time is whether it is going to be possible to find native speakers to record for very long. With greater ease of mobility and cross-communication, access to the media, and mixed marriages (mixed both in terms of what dialect is spoken and in terms of which language is spoken) becoming more common, we might not consider speakers as ‘pure’ dialect speakers if their parents are not both speakers of the same dialect, let alone if one parent does not speak a variety of Maltese as a first language in the home. On a positive note, one could say that other dialect forms might replace them where some contrasts may merge and others develop. Nevertheless, it pushes linguists to focus on dialects in the hope that these could be studied before their speakers disappear or before much more changes. Dialect speakers often report words used by their grandparents that they no longer use. Such changes may not be limited to the lexicon. Phonetic and phonological changes in this increasingly mixed context should not be assumed as moving the dialectal forms towards the standard variety. There is as much a chance of their simply moving in a different direction under the influences of the other varieties or different languages used in the community. Dialects may also change for no identifiable reason, that is, without any particular cause or influence. 2.2. Data collection Traditionally word lists, usually in responses to questionnaires, constituted the bulk of data collection in dialectology. They were elicited in particular as a sound way of comparing the same area of vocabulary. There are many difficulties resulting from this. Some of these are very clear in the recordings of the Aquilina & Isserlin data. Amongst these difficulties is the obvious discomfort of the elicitation techniques where the dialect speakers make several guesses before they come up with the target word for a photo or picture. This brings out a high level of consciousness that must result in an

238

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

adjustment to the researcher’s status in relation to that of the informant. Moreover, when repetitions are requested – which they often are when researchers use this technique of eliciting names of objects through questions about the identity of the objects – we could end up with phonetically-adjusted words. The researcher becomes a kind of hidden target for the dialect speaker since the researcher’s role is distinguishable from that of a person dropping in for a chat. The academic orientation results in an acute form of observer’s paradox as it signals positive status and hence is seen as requiring a Standard Maltese target variety where this is available. Whether or not the variety is actually Standard Maltese depends on various factors (see section 9). For the study of the phonetic and phonological level, one needs to examine extensive, natural, spontaneous interaction between speakers of the same dialect collected in a way that is non-intrusive or least intrusive. However, one also needs to focus on word lists and words within sentence frames in order to be able to work on the data experimentally and to compare forms. Any degree of self-consciousness renders the data different from what is being studied, that is, the spoken dialect forms. Any adjustment resulting from this self-consciousness or the reaching towards a spoken target may transform the data into something that may be an adjustment to the Standard variety or to what is perceived as the Standard variety by the dialect speaker. Today the recognition of the need to study representative speech, and therefore to ensure that the data leads to this, is clear and widespread: If we are after typical speech forms, it is not enough simply to obtain representative speakers. We also have to acquire representative speech. We have to ensure that speakers produce speech that is typical of the way in which they normally speak. Now the more attention speakers pay to the way they are speaking, the more formal and careful their speech is likely to be. By asking informants, in effect, what they call something, or how they pronounce a particular word, the dialectologist is directing considerable attention to their language. Urban dialect surveys, which have in any case been much more concerned with phonology and grammar than lexis, have therefore usually proceeded by obtaining tape-recorded stretches of quasi-conversational speech from their informants, usually by the asking of questions designed to produce large amounts of talk. (Chambers & Trudgill 1998: 48) The data analysed in this study was collected by native speakers of the respective dialects who recorded themselves and other native speakers. They avoided artificial repetition of words or phrases. The words in focus for minimal pairs were written into frame sentences and thus moved the speaker’s attention from the word or phrase by turning it into a sentence which explained the word in a communicative framework. Nevertheless, the fact that they were written in Maltese orthography (since dialects are not usually written except when they are part of a literary form) moved away from spontaneous conversation although the speaker did not actually read the sentence and could change

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

239

the sentence provided the words were talked about or defined. There was still a danger that they would lead to a reading style that could approximate Standard Maltese because the author, a Standard Maltese speaker, would be listening to the recordings. However, the sentences were followed by a completely spontaneous and unscripted conversation the analysis of which was subsequently used to double-check the use of the identified vowels in the dialect. Since the conversation was not scripted in any way, it qualified as a typical one except insofar as some artificiality and self-consciousness is inevitable when a conversation is being recorded, i.e. the inevitable observer’s paradox (see Labov 1972: 209 and Chambers & Trudgill 1998: 48–49).

3. Introduction to the study – how it came about Close contact with the two dialects came about as a result of working with Mary Joyce Said from Nadur and William Incorvaja from Marsaxlokk whose work is here acknowledged1 and to whom the author remains very grateful since they allowed her into their distinct speaking worlds. In ordinary life the two dialect speakers would simply have addressed the author in what one could consider the more neutralized variety of Maltese resulting from an acknowledgement of the lecturer-student relationship and possibly to a greater degree the Standard Maltese – dialect speaker accommodation (see 2.1 and 2.2 above). Although the author worked with the two speakers together and hence they could discuss the forms that were being described, they drew up a long list of words that they posited as minimal pairs and subsequently each of them recorded data from fellow native speakers of their distinct dialects in order to avoid the compromises already talked about. The study reported here is based on data that is the result of two native speakers of the same dialect speaking to each other with no other person present during the conversation.

4. The vowel system of Standard Maltese Standard Maltese is inevitably the backdrop of this study. It must be noted that Standard Maltese has a system of eleven monophthongs (Azzopardi 1981) which can be summarized as five short and six long vowels (see Table 1). The three front close (or high) vowels and the two back close (or high) vowels differ both in quality and duration whereas the two front half-open vowels, the two central open vowels and the two back half open 1

Acknowledgment: William Incorvaja, a native speaker of Xlukkajr who wrote his undergraduate thesis on Ix-Xlukkajr: Is-Sistema Vokalika u Differenzi Lessikali; and Mary Joyce Said, a native speaker of Naduri who wrote her undergraduate dissertation on: In-Naduri: Is-Sistema Vokalika u Differenzi Lessikali. (Both works are dated May 2007). I am grateful for our many meetings during which the two dialects were gradually unfolded and motivated the recordings which they made and on the basis of which I could check my analysis.

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

240

vowels differ mainly in duration. This can be examined in the light of the study of the quality and duration of the vowels in different phonetic contexts (Azzopardi 1981: 89– 121) together with the perception test reported in Azzopardi (1981: 149–182). i: ɪ : ɛ: ɐ: ɔ: u:

ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ʊ

Table 1: The vowels of Standard Maltese (after Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997) It is the phonetic characteristic of vowels as sounds made with approximation of the articulators rather than a more determined and easily identifiable relationship as that found in stops or fricatives, and the low information value of vowels that may be responsible for their greater variability and instability compared to consonants (Ashby & Maidment 2005: 81) and hence the instability of vowels across dialects in the sense that most dialects or related varieties of a language vary mainly in the vowel realizations or, indeed, in the vowel system itself on the phonetic and phonological front (Lodge 2009: 166). Maltese is no different. The view of diphthongs as a combination of a vowel with preceding or following /w/ or /j/ in SM (as in Azzopardi 1981 and Borg & AzzopardiAlexander 1997) is maintained here.

5. Xlukkajr 5.1. Marsaxlokk The Xlukkajr dialect of Marsaxlokk, a traditional fishing village in the south east of Malta, is distinguishable even from the dialects of other nearby villages and towns such as that of Żejtun from which Marsaxlokk separated (Incorvaja 2007). There are around 3000 inhabitants in Marsaxlokk today. However, it is not known how many inhabitants of these are native speakers of Xlukkajr.

5.2. The vowel system of Xlukkajr Some evidence for the vowel system of Xlukkajr will be presented to illustrate the vowel opposition. First of all, it must be said that Xlukkajr shows evidence of all of the 11 vowels of SM as well as an additional 3 vowel phonemes, namely /ɯ/, / ʊ :/ and /ӕ/. There are minimal pairs for all of these vowels. However, they are not the same minimal pairs as in SM since the realizations of words in SM and in Xlukkajr often do not match (see Tables 2 and 3 for the minimal pairs for the first 11 vowels and Table 4 for

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

241

the minimal pairs of 2 of the additional vowels). However, we do have various minimal pairs showing the phonemic status of the following sets as in Standard Maltese: ˈhi:lɛ ˈhɪlɛ

‘to waste’ ‘ability’

mi:l mɪ:l

‘a mile’ ‘to bend’

ˈr ɪ:hɛ ˈr ɪ hɛ

‘smell’ ‘the colour ran’

Table 2: Evidence for the contrast between the front close vowels /i:/, /ɪ:/ and / ɪ / in Xlukkajr ˈdɛnɪ ˈdɛ:nɪ

‘fever’ ‘deserving’

sɐ:n sɐn

‘healthy’ ‘Saint’

zɔ:r zɔr:

‘small’ (PL) ‘mean’

Table 3: Evidence for the contrast between the half-close front vowels /ɛ:/ and /ɛ/, the contrast between the two central open vowels /ɐ:/ and / ɐ/ and the contrast between the half-open vowels /ɔ:/ and /ɔ/ in Xlukkajr The minimal pairs in Tables 2 and 3 illustrate the phonological opposition in Xlukkajr of the members of all of the sets used in Standard Maltese. However, it does not have the same system of contrasts with 11 elements. Xlukkajr, like many other dialects of Maltese, includes additional members, mainly the open central vowel /ӕ/ and the back unrounded /ɯ/ together with the rounded lax vowel with the quality of the Standard Maltese /ʊ/ but with the duration of the long vowels. In SM the allophone [ʊ:] of the short back vowel is found in the context of following glottal consonants /h/ or /ʔ/. Thus Xlukkajr uses the long back rounded vowel /ʊ:/ as a fully contrastive element within the system of back vowels such that all of the four back vowels can be found in minimal pairs as illustrated in Table 4. dnɯp kɯl tɯt ˈhʊ:tɪ ˈsʊ:rʊ du:r

‘sin’ ‘eat’ ‘blackberries’ ‘guilty’ ‘cooked’ ‘turn’ (IMP)

dnu:p kʊl: t ʊ:t ˈhu:tɪ ˈs ʊ r ʊ d ʊ: r

‘tails’ ‘every’ ‘she gave’ ‘my siblings’ ‘nun’ ‘house’

Table 4: Evidence for the contrast between the 4 members of the back vowel set /ɯ/, /ʊ:/, /u:/ and / ʊ / in Xlukkajr Xlukkajr could be seen as exploiting its additional vowel contrasts to enable it to disambiguate various homophones in SM as shown in Table 5. However, there are several other homophones in Xlukkajr that are differentiated in SM as can be seen in Table 6.

5.3. Disambiguation of homophones SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr

/zɐ:r/ for ‘small (PL)’ or ‘to visit’ or ‘orange blossom’ /zɔ:r/ and /zʊ:r/ for ‘small (PL)’ or ‘to visit’ respectively; /ˈsɛmɐ/ for ‘sky’ and ‘to hear’ /ˈsɛmӕ/ and /ˈsɐmɐ/ respectively;

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

242 SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr

/tɐ:nɐ/ for ‘ours’ and ‘he gave us’ /ˈtɐ:nӕ/ and /ˈtʊ:nɐ/ respectively; /ˈbɛlɐ/ for ‘mad woman’ and ‘to swallow’ /ˈbɛlӕ/ and /ˈbɐlɐ/ respectively;

Table 5: SM homophones disambiguated in Xlukkajr However, other homophones still occur in Xlukkajr which are disambiguated in SM as illustrated in Table 6. SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr SM Xlukkajr

/ˈnɛsɐ/ ‘to forget’ and /ˈnɪsɐ/ ‘women’; /ˈnɪsӕ/ for both /flɪt:/ ‘an insecticide’ and /flɛt:/ ‘flat’; /flɛt:/ for both /ˈbɐ:lɪ/ ‘a type of farmland’ and /ˈbɛ:lɪ/’he sold s.th to me; /ˈbɐ:lɪ/ for both /ˈbɐ:tʊ / ‘he sent him’ and /ˈbɛ:tʊ / ‘I sold it’ /ˈbɐ:tʊ / for both /bɐ:t/ ‘he sent’ and /bɛ:t/ ‘I sold’. /bɐ:t/ for both

Table 6: Homophones in Xlukkajr disambiguated in SM This is one of the great wonders for any linguist tackling the phonological systems of dialects. Why, one asks, develop a number of phonological contrasts and reduce ambiguity but still retain ambiguity through other changes? The answer, of course, is that the diversification within phonology is not necessarily a simple answer to ambiguity.

5.4. The close unrounded back vowel in Xlukkajr A few words will be devoted here to discuss the relationship of the statement about the close unrounded back vowel /ɯ / in Xlukkajr (see 5.2). It is a noteworthy extension of the Xlukkajr back vowel set considering the fact that there are only two close back vowels in SM. Moreover it seems to parallel the extension of the Naduri front set of vowels to include the close front rounded vowel. It should be observed that though the vowel /iw/ may well be diphthongal in SM it is only used in the word liwja (‘a bend’). In other instances, it does not form the nucleus of a syllable but in fact is divided such that /i/ is at the ends of the first syllable and /w/ begins the second syllable in words like liwi (‘bending’), tiwi (‘folding’). In dialects such as Naduri there is simply a rounding of the close front vowel parallel to the unrounding of this close back vowel in Xlukkajr where it is a fully fledged phoneme. Unfortunately the discussion of diphthongs in Standard Maltese goes beyond the focus of the present paper.

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

243

5.5. Correspondences between vowels in SM and in Xlukkajr There are other interesting elements of Xlukkajr that are also puzzling but that characterize geographical varieties of Maltese generally. These are the correspondences between SM and DM vowels, that is how, in spite of sharing the 11 SM vowels, DM have a different distribution of those same phonemes such that one can work out some general patterns as listed in Tables 7 to 9: (a)

We have central open vowels corresponding to close back vowels – these constitute the largest group in fact. Some examples are shown in Table 7.

SM Central Open Vowels (long and short) /ˈpɐtʃɪ/ ‘peace’ /ˈhdɐ:ʃ/ ‘eleven’ /dɐ:n/ ‘this (M)’ /nɐ:r/ ‘fire’ /ˈhɐdʒɐ/ ‘thing’

Xl Close Back Vowels (long and short) /ˈp ʊ: tʃɪ/ /hd ʊ:ʃ/ /d ʊ:n/ /n ʊ:r/ /ˈh ʊ dʒɐ/

Table 7: Correspondences of SM central open vowels and DM (Xl) close back vowels (b)

We have central open vowels corresponding to mid-close vowels. Some examples are shown in Table 8.

SM Central Open Vowels /ˈhɐfnɐ/ ‘many’ /ˈhɐrdʒʊ/ ‘they went out’ /ˈjɪsrɐʔ/ ‘he steals’ /ˈrɐhɐl/ ‘village’ /mɐʔˈlu:p/ ‘inside out’

Xl Mid Close Vowels /ˈhɛfnӕ/ /ˈhɛrdʒʊ / /ˈjɪsrɛʔ/ /ˈrɛhɛl/ /mɛʔˈlu:p/

Table 8: Correspondences of SM central open vowels and DM (Xl) mid close vowels (c)

We have some examples of half open back vowels changing to close back vowels, close front vowels corresponding to half-close front, and half-close front vowels corresponding to close front as seen in Table 9.

SM Half-Open Back Vowel /ˈɔm:ɪ/ ‘my mother’ SM Close Front Vowel /ɪlˈbɪst/ ‘I got dressed’ SM Half-Close Front Vowel /ˈdʒɛrɐ/ ‘to happen’

Xl Close Back Vowel /ˈʊm:ɪ/ Xl Half-Close Front Vowel /ɪlˈbɛst/ Xl Close Front Vowel /ˈdʒɪrӕ/

Table 9: A variety of correspondences of SM and DM (Xl) vowels Thus one can say that there are both systemic and realizational differences between SM and Xlukkajr.

244

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

5.6. The vowel [ӕ] In addition to these there is the interesting occurrence of [ӕ]. The vowel is not found in SM. It is particularly common in word-final open syllables but appears also in other places and in closed syllables as can be seen in Table 10. Word- finally: /ˈmɪlӕ/ ‘so’ Interconsonantal and stressed /ˈthӕb:ɛl/ ‘entangle’ Interconsonantal, stressed and following a glottal stop /ˈʔӕl:ɛp/ ‘to overturn’ Interconsonantal, unstressed, preceding a glottal stop /ˈtɛlӕʔ/ ‘to leave’ Interconsonantal, stressed and unstressed /ˈwӕhӕl/ ‘to get stuck’ Interconsonantal in a monosyllable /hӕt:/ ‘nobody’

Table 10: The occurrence of [ӕ] word finally and elsewhere in Xlukkajr

5.7. Other interesting differences between SM and Xlukkajr One interesting phenomenon which deserves experimental investigation is what I hear as deviance from the durational symmetry of the short vowel + long consonant in SM. It is usual for long vowels in SM to be followed by short consonants, i.e. single short consonants, and for short vowels to be followed by consonant clusters or long single consonants. However, in Xlukkajr this symmetry is either not functional or works in a different way or to a different degree. The Xlukkajri speakers whose speech I studied (one in person and a few others via digital recordings) did not seem to follow the same pattern as SM speakers. It is necessary to study vowel and consonant duration in relation also to the distinction between the long and short vowels, particularly the half open and half close and the central open vowels. This is a particularly interesting phenomenon since the identification of phonological elements in SM may well be determined by a combination of cues from syllable components, particularly vowels and following consonants. It is unfortunate that I can only, so far, report that there seems to be a distinctive variation in the quantitative aspect of the speech of Xlukkajri speakers from that of SM speakers. In particular, short vowels in Xlukkajr are not necessarily (if at all) followed by long consonants. One of the other distinguishing features of Xlukkajr is the presence of the alveolar trill as a realization of the SM alveolar approximant. The realisation of /r/ as [r] instead of [ɾ] or [ɹ] as in SM in many if not most phonetic contexts barring word-initially and in clusters, is a distinguishing feature of Xlukkajr. Whether it is a characteristic that goes

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

245

across gender and age groups and other social groupings is not clear. However, it can be heard in young educated native speakers as well as in older native speakers. A final observation that requires more extensive study is the inconsistency of wordfinal obstruent devoicing in Naduri. There is the possibility that instead of devoicing, word-final obstruents may simply be unaspirated, unlike the production of voiceless stops in SM which are produced in such a way that non-native listeners consider them forming an open syllable with an unstressed vowel – thus SM [si:pʰ](‘to find’) heard as [si:pʰǝ].

6. Naduri 6.1. Nadur Naduri is the native tongue of the people of Nadur, a village on a hill on the east coast of Gozo, the sister island of Malta. It has one of the largest number of inhabitants for a Gozitan locality – 4,000. The name of the village refers to a place of vigilance. Nadur is referred to as the Village of the Rising Sun and is well-known for its beautiful sandy beaches and its celebration of Carnival. Traditionally the people of Nadur earned their livelihood as farmers.

6.2. Naduri and Standard Maltese Naduri has a vowel system that appears to be very similar to that of Xlukkajr in terms of composition though not in realization. It uses the 11 vowel phonemes of SM and an additional 3 vowels, namely, /y/, / ʊ :/, and /ӕ/. Instead of the unrounded close back vowel /ɯ/ of Xlukkajr we fine the corresponding element in the rounded close front /y/ in Naduri. It may well be that when many other speakers have been studied the analysis may be modified as far as these particular vowels are concerned. First of all, Naduri, like Xlukkajr, shows evidence of all of the 11 vowels of SM as shown in the minimal pairs attesting their phonemic status in Tables 11 and 12. Table 13 shows the minimal pairs illustrating the phonemic status of the additional 3 vowels in its phonological system. Not all of the minimal pairs of SM are minimal pairs in Naduri. /i:/ – // ˈti:nɐ ‘a fig’ ˈtɪnɐ ‘to fold’

/i:/ – /ɪ:/ ˈti:lɐ ‘climbing’ ˈtɪ:lɐ ‘canvas’

/ɪ:/– / ɪ / ˈnɪ:dɐ ‘announced’ ˈnɪdɐ ‘dew’

Table 11: Minimal pairs for vowels /i:/, /ɪ:/, and /ɪ/ in Naduri /ɛ:/ and /ɛ/ mɛ:s ‘goats’ mɛs: ‘to touch’

/ɐ:/ and / ɐ/ ʔɐ:t ‘to stay’ ʔɐt: ‘never’

/ɔ:/ and /ɔ/ rɔ:s ‘head’ rɔs: ‘press (IMP)’

/u:/ – /ʊ/ ˈku:lɐ ‘eat’ IMP ˈkʊl:ɐ ‘glue’

Table 12: Minimal pairs for vowels /ɛ:/ and /ɛ/, /ɐ:/ and / ɐ/, /ɔ:/ and /ɔ/ and /u:/ – /ʊ/ in Naduri

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

246

6.3. The vowels /y/, /ʊ:/ and /ӕ/ in Naduri Minimal pairs exist to illustrate the phonological opposition of the vowels /y/, /ʊ/, / ʊ :/, /u:/, that is, the long and short back vowel also present in SM and the additional vowels /y/ and /ʊ:/ in Naduri as can be seen in Table 13. byt ‘pocket’ bʊt: ‘tin’

kyl ‘eat (IMP)’ kʊl: ‘every’

ˈhmu:rɐ ‘redness’ ˈhmʊ:rɐ ‘a donkey’

ˈkʊp:jɐ ‘a couple’ ˈkʊ:pjɐ ‘a copy’

Table 13: Minimal pairs for vowels /y/, /ʊ/, / ʊ :/, /u:/ in Naduri The vowel /ӕ/ is also used in Naduri as seen in Table 14. ˈdɪhlӕ ‘she is going in’ ˈdӕhlӕ ‘entrance’

Table 14: The vowel /ӕ/ in Naduri

6.4. SM homophones disambiguated in Naduri Similarly to Xlukkajr, a number of homophones in Standard Maltese are disambiguated in Naduri as seen in Table 15. SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM SM

ˈhɐs:ɐ hɐjt hmɐr: ʔmi:s rɐ:t ˈbɛlɐ ˈkɛrɐ ˈdɐ:rɪ rɐ: ˈkɔl:ɐ hɐt: ʔɐ:t ˈtɛfɐ kɔnt tɛwm

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

ˈhɛs:ɐ ‘to feel’ vs. ˈhɐs:ɐ ‘lettuce’ hɐjt ‘wall’ vs. hɛjt ‘thread’ hmʊ:r ‘donkey’ vs. hmɔ:r ‘to redden’ ʔmi:s ‘shirt’ vs. ʔmys ‘agitation’ rɔ:t ‘she saw’ vs. rɐ:t ‘thunder’ ˈbɛlɐ ‘idiot’ vs. ˈbɐlɐ ‘a quick drink’ ˈkɛrɐ ‘ugly’ vs. ˈkɪrɛ ‘to rent’ ˈdʊ:rɪ ‘my house’ vs. ˈdɐ:r³ɪ ‘my back’ rɔ: ‘to see’ vs. ˈru:ɐ ‘he saw her’ ˈkɪl:ɐ ‘all’ vs. ˈkʊl:ɐ ‘glue’ hɛt: ‘nobody’ vs. hɔt: ‘I took’ ʔɐ:t ‘to stay’ vs. ʔɛ:t ‘never’ ˈtɛfɛ ‘to throw’ vs. ˈtɪfӕ ‘to switch off’ kɪnt ‘I was’ vs. kʊnt ‘a bill’ tɔwm ‘you swim’ vs. tɛwm ‘garlic’

Table 15: SM homophones disambiguated in Naduri

6.5. The use of [ӕ] in Naduri and Xlukkajr The [ӕ] that is common to both dialects and which contrasts with the central open vowel it shares with Standard Maltese is interesting because in the author’s view this

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

247

identifies the English spoken by Gozitans from the English spoken by Maltese speakers. It is very similar to the vowel in English (RP) realizations of the phoneme /ӕ/ rendering the Gozitan accent of what has been identified as more Maltese-English than the Maltese-English of Standard Maltese speakers. The reason may be that /ӕ/ is not part of the phonological inventory of Standard Maltese nor is it the realization of any of the Maltese phonemes. Other factors may be responsible for this perception, particularly the fact that many more Gozitan migrants may return to Gozo from places like Australia and Canada on a regular basis using English as a second language more frequently than Maltese migrants would; or possibly because Gozitans have to be more competitive for various non-linguistic reasons and so work harder at achieving competence in English which is an important requirement for job opportunities. But perhaps the fact that the English vowel that is most alien to Standard Maltese speakers is the [ӕ] that is very similar to that found in many Gozitan dialects has a bearing on this judgment.

7. The larger vowel inventory of dialects It is interesting to consider the larger vowel inventory of the Xlukkajr and Naduri dialects in comparison to that of Standard Maltese, particularly as we follow how homophones in Standard Maltese are disambiguated in the dialectal forms. However, it is inevitable that we are driven to ask why the increase in the number of phonological contrasts would lead to a reduction of particular, potential ambiguities but still allow an increase in potential ambiguity through other changes. One must conclude that diversification does not necessarily exist as an answer to ambiguity. A larger vowel inventory may not be directly related to disambiguation though it could well serve to ease either the speaker’s or the listener’s burden or both. A consideration of how the inventories developed would perhaps throw some light on the matter. However, evidence for such a consideration is unlikely to be available for the dialects. Few written documents are available for Standard Maltese but none for Dialectal Maltese to my knowledge. Fortunately, there are now serious attempts to write some dialects (Lino Psaila and Manuel Psaila, p.c.). We can look forward positively at the various contributions from the diversity of linguists interested in dialects and state with Chambers & Trudgill (1998: 188), Instead of giving up on the relationship between linguistic orderliness and geographical dispersions, what is required is a richer set of hypotheses about language variation and a more profound understanding of spatial networks and the diffusion of innovations. It is more hopeful in the light of the University of Malta’s Maltese department students who are expressing an academic interest in their own dialects. There are now various techniques available to compare vowels within dialectology. Trudgill’s ‘gravity model’

248

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

that “directly encodes the essential insight that geolinguistic diffusion is a function of population and distance” (see Chambers & Trudgill 1998: 166–186) is a promising technique. Another system of showing the distance between vowels is the Levenshtein distance (Kessler 1995) which has been applied specifically as a tool to measure dialect distances. The use of such methodologies would have the advantage of providing us with the possibility of allowing us to reflect on mutual intelligibility or otherwise as well as on other related phenomena in a more scientific way.

8. Determining vowels across dialects 8.1. Difficulties in vowel identification The indeterminacy of vowel location is rather problematic in a discussion of vowels between linguists from different language backgrounds. It may be worthwhile considering the observations made by Hayward: For consonants, the tongue, as it were, puts into port somewhere on the coastline of the mouth space, defined by the roof of the mouth and the back wall of the pharynx, while for vowels it ventures out into the open sea. The phonetician aims to construct a two-dimensional map of possible tongue locations, using a system which has been compared to geographical mapping using lines of latitude and longitude. Of course, since the tongue is a large structure which takes up a good deal of space inside the mouth, it does not really make sense to speak of a precise location of the tongue in the mouth. Rather, one must determine the location of a reference point on the surface of the tongue. This reference point is conventionally taken to be the highest point of the tongue. (Hayward 2000: 270–271) Beyond the difficulties referred to here, that is, the difficulty of determining the precise location of the tongue within the vowel space in view of the largeness of the tongue itself, the matter is complicated further by the fact that an additional parameter is involved, that of lip position which further determines the quality of the vowels. It may be worth considering much tighter evidence for claiming similarities and differences between the vowels used in dialects. This would need to wait for an extensive database to be compiled.

8.2. The work of the listener – The continuum of intelligibility It may be considered unnecessary to consider the listener’s role in a conversation with dialect speakers precisely because Maltese (and Gozitan) dialect speakers report that they are not in the habit of holding conversations in dialect with speakers of Standard

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

249

Maltese. Nevertheless, speakers of different dialects are often involved in conversation and thus need to understand what is being said by the other. There is no doubt that adjustment occurs on the part of the listener to enable understanding of the message. This adjustment has long concerned linguists and in particular phoneticians. (see also Borg, Albert, section 5.2.3. this volume) Joos theorized (way back) in 1948 that the listening process is a rapid construction of a vowel pattern within which the listener can locate the sounds that each speaker makes. The listener sets up this acoustic vowel frame within receiving just a few of the speaker’s utterances. Hence, however strange a speaker’s usage may seem, understanding him becomes an easier task as the listener becomes more adept at placing the sounds within the pattern, hence identifying separate vowel categories (or spaces)… depending on a spatial relationship to the points on the vowel frame that is established for that speaker. In other words, the listener establishes the speaker’s vowel range. (Azzopardi 1981: 182–183) All of this happens spontaneously and usually unconsciously. Joos (1948) also suggests that there is a projection in the listener’s mind of the incoming patterns in such a way that he can track the sounds he hears to the total frame he possesses, i.e. he converts the incoming sounds into his own articulatory habits. It is this conversion technique that enables him to understand a vast number of speakers in spite of the widely varying speech traits. As a result, Ladefoged & Broadbent (1957), too, show that the: … linguistic information conveyed by a vowel sound does not depend on the absolute values of its formant frequencies, but on the relationship between the formant frequencies for that vowel and the formant frequencies of other vowels pronounced by that speaker.” (Ladefoged & Broadbent 1957: 98) … the linguistic information conveyed by a given vowel is partly dependent on the relations between the frequencies of its formants and the frequencies of the formants of other vowels occurring in the same auditory context. (Ladefoged 1967: 113–114). It seems that phonology is outside conscious awareness. “The level of autonomy of these [phonology, syntax and semantics] relates to conscious awareness. Meaning interacts with conscious thought, but sound patterns mostly do not. Syntax comes somewhere between the two.” (Aitchison 1996: 211). Evidence from clinical studies leads Aitchison to conclude that “Phonology… is … largely detachable… It is a relatively independent system, whose patterning is mostly outside human conscious awareness.” (Aitchison 1996: 205).

250

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

9. Neutralization In contexts which dialect speakers assess as requiring the use of Standard Maltese, a number of things may happen. If the speaker is a speaker of both varieties then there will be a switch to the standard variety with possible code-switching. If the speaker speaks the dialect exclusively in the home, then an attempt is made to speak Standard Maltese. However, different speakers seem to have different perceptions of the phonology of Standard Maltese. There seems to be a shedding of what the speaker considers to be the identifying characteristics of the native dialect both at a phonological but also at other levels. However, the adopted phonology may be any one on the continuum from dialect to standard phonology either with frequent hypercorrections (as reported in Albert Borg section 7.2, this volume) or with what Albert Borg (section 7.3, this volume) refers to as “intermediate realizations”. The attempt to merge into the Standard Maltese setting in places like the University often brings about not a replica of the standard to which dialect speakers are often exposed through their education and the media. They seem to be moving away from their dialect by constructing what I prefer to term the neutralization of the two distinct phonological vowel systems. It is not possible to say exactly why this neutralization happens except that it could be considered transcending the dialectal features and targeting the standard ones though not necessarily reaching the phonetic targets. This could be explained by looking at the speaker’s point of view within the explanation given by Ladefoged as cited in section 8.2. The speaker may, in fact, also be targeting a position sufficiently distant from the dialect vowel but nevertheless not quite reaching the standard vowel target. Borg’s term “intermediate realizations” may reflect this position more accurately from the speaker’s point of view. Speaking in dialect to another dialect speaker allows one to put down all defences as it were. Speaking in SM would be a kind of “putting on” an accent. How close the speaker is to the target standard vowels may be a reflection of the exposure the speaker has to Standard Maltese, the self-imposed demand of sounding like the standard as well as a matter of perception. This area requires extensive work to enable us to talk further of both the perceptions of dialect speakers as well as what dialect speakers do to sound standard. Do they store separate phonological systems as one would with two distinct languages or do they use one system and stretch it to reach the perceived targets of the other? One needs to consider available data from educated speakers addressing audiences beyond the domains of their native dialect. Can we talk of a neutral accent that does not allow a geographical location to be identified even if it sounds different from the standard? This needs a phonetic study of the quality of the vowels and how close they are to the Standard form and to what degree they have come away from the dialect forms. It would bring us closer to understand what native speakers do when they shed their dialect to merge into the Standard Maltese setting. SM is not really restricted geographically, it is also extended culturally and educationally. Life in Malta has continued to change in the last thirty years since Alexander Borg

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

251

(1977) and Puech (1978) wrote their articles (see section 11). People have mixed more and so we can no longer talk about the geographical containment of Standard Maltese. Standard Maltese is the variety used to a greater or lesser extent in the media and in education. However, there is no doubt in the author’s mind that what is often heard on the media may be more what could be called a neutralization of dialectal characteristics, a neutralization of the dialectal and the standard vowels, that is, dialect-levelling that is not unique to the Maltese islands (Williams & Kerswill 1999). This is different from the switch from a dialect to another, or the switch from a dialect to the standard variety. Several factors lead to what can be considered de-dialectalization. These include education, the media as the most prominent contributors. However, since in the case of Malta and Gozo this is not actually evidenced in speakers rejecting their dialect as their first language but possibly acknowledging the acceptance of the fact that others who may hold high status positions (e.g. teachers, parish priests) speak differently. The reason may be that neutralizing the difference may be considered to have more widespread acceptance or is more “neutral”, less distancing, from the conversational partners who cannot be expected to assume a dialect that is not theirs, or to pretend to be speakers of a dialect they do not speak. In non-linguistic circles the resulting speech would be unmarked or ‘neutral’ and hence within the range of the ‘norm’ or the standard variety.

10. Will Maltese dialects disappear? In 1977 Alexander Borg wrote: … the process of social modernization that was relatively gradual in the period leading up to World War II appears to have undergone intense acceleration over that past decade (i.e. since the attainment of complete political independence from Britain in 1964 – footnote) with the result that the dialect boundaries of rural Maltese are fast receding and will probably disappear within the next generation. In the meantime, one is faced with the phenomenon of standardization under the influence of urban Maltese, a process which though of obvious linguistic interest, has not, as yet attracted the attention of modern sociolinguists.” (Borg 1977: 211) In 1978 Gilbert Puech wrote: Standard Maltese (SM), based on the vernacular dialect of the urban area around Valletta and Sliema on Malta, is spoken by all but a few Maltese. There are also a number of different dialects, each one with specific features. A village dialect is spoken mostly at home or with fellow villagers. Due to the structure of the settlement, no speech community is really homogeneous: … a number of speakers may use less characteristic variants under the influence of SM or neighbouring dialects.” (Puech 1978: 377)

252

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander

The dialect survey (Aquilina & Isserlin 1981) was started in 1963. In the introduction to the 1981 publication Aquilina and Isserlin state: ….the Maltese language is rapidly changing now – a fact of which many among the Maltese people are indeed aware. There is a recognizable cleavage between the “traditional” speech of the old, especially in the villages, and the language of the younger generation. Differences are note-worthy particularly in the field of lexis. Such changes may be connected with a number of factors – greater openness of the young to education, the press and television, increased contacts with the outside world, and particularly with the English-speaking countries, but also contact with Italy (especially through television); moreover very important factors making for replacement of vocabulary in particular are presented by the transformation affecting the economy, and the style of life in general. …. (Aquilina & Isserlin 1981: ii–iii) Aquilina and Isserlin recognized the problem with outsiders recording dialect speakers and acknowledge the difficulties that result (Aquilina & Isserlin 1981: iv). Amongst these, as was discussed earlier (section 9), are possible changes to the dialect speakers’ pronunciation hence compromising the data collected.

11. Conclusion The aim of this paper was twofold. On the one hand, the vowel systems of Xlukkajr and Naduri were analysed. The vowel systems were compared to the Standard Maltese vowel system to highlight the differences between them. On the other hand, the study served to lead to a number of reflections on methodology for the study of dialects, particularly for the study of the phonetics and phonology of dialects. Furthermore, these reflections led to a consideration of the listener’s role together with a parallel consideration of the dialect speaker’s stance in relation to Standard Maltese.

References Aitchison, Jean (1996): (Canto edition 2000): The seeds of speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aquilina, Joseph & Isserlin, B.S.J. (1981): A survey of contemporary dialectal Maltese. Volume I: Gozo. Leeds: Isserlin, B.S.J. Ashby, Michael & Maidment, John (2005): Introducing phonetic science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Azzopardi, Marie (1981): The phonetics of Maltese: areas relevant to the deaf. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis University of Edinburgh.

The vowel system of Xlukkajr and Naduri

253

Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (2002): The vowel system of Maltese: from production to perception, in: Ferrando, Ignacio & Sanchez Sandoval, Juan Jose (eds.), AIDA 5th Conference Proceedings 2002. Cadiz, Spain: AIDA, 321–333. Borg, Albert (this volume): Lectal variation in Maltese. Borg, Alexander (1977): Reflexes of pausal forms in Maltese rural dialects? in: Israel Oriental Studies 7, 211–225. Chambers, Jack K. & Trudgill, Peter (21998): Dialectology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hayward, Katrina (2000): Experimental phonetics. Essex UK: Pearson Education Ltd. Incorvaja, William (2007): Ix-Xlukkajr: Is-Sistema Vokalika u Differenzi Lessikali. Volume I and II University of Malta: Unpubl. B.A.(Hons) dissertation. Joos, Martin (1948): Acoustic Phonetics. (Language Monograph No. 23). Baltimore: Ling. Soc. of America. Kessler, B. (1995): Computational dialectology in Irish Gaelic, in: Proceedings of the seventh conference of the European chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 60–66. Labov, William (1972): Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Ladefoged, Peter (1967): Three areas of experimental phonetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ladefoged, Peter & Broadbent, Donald E. (1957): Information conveyed by vowels, in: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 29, 98–104. Lodge, Ken (2009): A critical introduction to phonetics. London: Continuum. Puech, Gilbert (1978): A cross-dialectal study of vowel harmony in Maltese, in: Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistic Society – Papers from the Fourteenth Regional Meeting. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 377–390. Said, Mary Joyce (2007): In-Naduri: Is-Sistema Vokalika u Differenzi Lessikali. University of Malta: Unpubl. B.A.(Hons) dissertation. Williams, Ann & Kerswill, Paul (1999): Dialect leveling: change and continuity in Milton Keynes, Reading and Hull, in: Foulkes, Paul & Docherty, Gerard (eds.), Urban voices. Accent studies in the British Isles. London: Arnold. 141–162.

ALEXANDRA VELLA (MALTA), MICHAEL SPAGNOL (KONSTANZ/ GERMANY), SARAH GRECH (MALTA) & FLAVIA CHETCUTI (MALTA)

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

Abstract Spontaneous speech, unlike read speech, is replete with filled pauses (FPs) and other disfluencies. Evidence exists that FPs have their own specific phonetic, including prosodic, characteristics, as well as an important discourse function. This paper reports preliminary results on Maltese FPs based on analysis of a corpus of Maltese Map Task dialogues. Three FPs, namely ee, em and mm, consisting of a vocalic and/or a nasal element, are identified, ee being the shortest in duration and mm the longest. The study presents distributional analyses in terms of surrounding pauses and breaks and of sentential position. A strong tendency for the three FPs to be preceded and/or followed by silence, and to occur more frequently at the beginning of sentences rather than in the middle, is demonstrated. These results support evidence of the important role of FPs in the planning, organisation and production of discourse in Maltese, as in other languages. Taqsira It-taħdit spontanju hu miżgħud b’waqfiet mimlijin (WM) u tipi oħra ta’ inkonsistenzi fit-taħdit. Ir-riċerka turi li l-WM għandhom karatteristiċi tipiċi, ta’ natura fonetika u prosodika, u li jaqdu funzjoni importanti fid-diskors. Dan l-istudju preliminari jistħarreġ il-WM fil-Malti f’korpus tal-Malti mitħaddet. L-analiżi tiffoka fuq tliet WM, jiġifieri ee, em u mm, ilkoll magħmulin minn element vokaliku u/jew element nażali, iżda jvarjaw fit-tul: ee hi l-iqsar, mm l-itwal. L-artiklu janalizza d-distribuzzjoni tal-WM skont jekk maġenbhom ikollhomx skiet jew taħdit u skont il-pożizzjoni tagħhom fis-sentenza. Jirriżulta li hemm tendenza qawwija li t-tliet WM ikollhom intervall ta’ skiet qabilhom u/jew warajhom, u li kollha kemm huma jokkorru ferm iktar fil-bidu milli f’nofs is-sentenza. Dawn is-sejbiet jikkonfermaw li, anke fil-Malti, il-WM għandhom sehem importanti fl-ippjanar, l-organizzazzjoni u l-produzzjoni tad-diskors.

1. Introduction Filled pauses (FPs), like other disfluencies such as false starts and slips of the tongue, are a common characteristic of spontaneous speech. Much research has been underta

This study was supported by funding from the research projects SPeech ANnotation for Corpora of Maltese, SPAN (1) and SPAN (2) made available through the University of Malta’s Research Fund Committee (vote numbers 73-759 and 31-418 respectively). We would like to thank Janet Grijzenhout and an anonymous reviewer for insightful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.

256

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

ken in the last two decades on features of spontaneous speech in a number of languages including English, European Portuguese, French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Swedish (cf. Shriberg 1996; Clark & Wasow 1998; Eklund & Shriberg 1998; Quimbo et al. 1998; Clark & Fox Tree 2002; Den 2003; Tseng 2003; O’Connell & Kowal 2005; Campione & Véronis 2006; Moniz et al. 2007; inter alia). Research on features of spontaneous speech in Maltese, by contrast, is to date virtually non-existent. The recent compilation and annotation of a small corpus of spoken Maltese in the context of the two projects, MalToBI and, more so, SPAN (Speech Annotation for Corpora of Maltese), (cf. Vella & Farrugia 2006; Vella et al. 2007, 2010), has made it possible for issues in this area to start to be addressed. Consideration of literary works, grammars and dictionaries of Maltese demonstrates a serious lack of standardisation in the written representation of features typical of spontaneous speech such as the FPs under consideration here (cf. section 4.1). Such features also pose problems in work on automatic speech recognition. A better understanding of their behaviour in everyday speech is therefore useful in a general way, as well as more specifically to researchers working on the development of human language technologies such as Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text systems for Maltese. Establishing standards for annotating such features was therefore considered important in the context of SPAN. The goal of the present work is to provide a descriptive study of one common type of speech disfluency, namely FPs, in Maltese. More specifically, this paper seeks to identify the types of FPs used in the eight Map Tasks from the MalToBI corpus and to investigate their phonetic, including prosodic, properties, as well as their distribution in relation to (unfilled) pauses and breaks and across syntactic units. This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 surveys research on speech disfluencies, outlining various widely accepted characteristics of FPs across languages. Section 3 gives a brief description of interesting issues arising in the context of the annotation of the MalToBI Map Task data, particularly issues related to the representation of speech disfluencies which came up in the course of the process of annotation. On the basis of the FP data analysis carried out to date, section 4 presents some of the salient features of Maltese FPs. It gives a characterisation of their phonetic shape, durational properties and, in a preliminary fashion, of the intonation associated with them. The paper also reports on an analysis of distributional factors of FPs in the data in relation to (a) the presence of pauses/breaks, and (b) sentential position. Concluding remarks and suggestions on possible avenues for further research in this area are laid out in section 5.

2. On speech disfluencies A prominent feature of spontaneous speech is that it contains high rates of disfluencies. Everyday speech typically exhibits disruptions to generally accepted syntactic construc-

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

257

tions, repetitions, hesitations, false starts, mispronunciations, self-repairs, slips of the tongue, and other articulation errors. Studies suggest a disfluency ratio of about 6 per 100 words in English conversational speech (Shriberg 1994; Rose 1998). Notwithstanding the high frequency of disfluencies, spontaneous speech tends to exhibit fairly regular patterns and to operate on the basis of its own rules and devices, to the extent that there are consistencies in the production of “faults”. Mispronunciations, for instance, have been shown to be repaired in a rule-governed way (Levelt & Cutler 1983). Empirical evidence also suggests that speakers use disfluencies in similar ways across languages to announce upcoming topics, to reveal their intention to hold or give the floor, and to revise or abandon an utterance, thus achieving better synchronisation between interlocutors (cf. Shriberg 1994, 2001; Clark & Wasow 1998; Swerts 1998; Clark & Fox Tree 2002). A phenomenon characteristic of spontaneous speech that has received much attention in the literature is that of the filled pause. Filled pauses are discourse elements which fill silences resulting from pauses of various sorts. They can have different forms. In RP and other dialects of English, they involve the use of [ə], [m] and in some cases [ʔ] and/or combinations of these. Among other phonemes or sequences of phonemes that are used to fill pauses are [e] in Scottish English and [n] in Russian (cf. Cruttenden 1997: 174). FPs typically involve non-lexicalised sounds such as er and erm. Crosslinguistically, FPs may belong to different word classes, such as demonstratives in Mandarin (Zhao & Jurafsky 2005) and interjections in English (Clark & Fox Tree 2002; but cf. O’Connell & Kowal 2005 for an alternative view on the word-class membership of English FPs). FPs are not just audible counterparts to silent or unfilled pauses, but are rather believed to be highly relevant perceptually and to have communicative import. The study of FPs may shed light on mental processes underlying speech production, for they are viewed as signals that hint at speakers’ word-searching problems as well as at their cognitive and affective states (Goldman-Eisler 1968; Rose 1998: 9–12). Research has shown that FPs have an important discourse function. They are interactional phenomena that play a fundamental role in the structuring of spontaneous speech. One of the various functions which researchers have claimed that FPs fulfil in discourse is that they presignal upcoming important linguistic materials (Fox Tree 1993; Shriberg & Stolcke 1996; Watanabe et al. 2005). The hesitancy introduced by the use of FPs may lead to spontaneous speech being perceived as more “fluent” than, say, read speech (cf. Swerts 1998). In a dialogue, they may function as turn-holders or serve as pragmatic markers of some kind of metacognitive state, what Brennan & Williams (1995) term the “Feeling-of-Another’s-Knowing”. In what follows, we examine data from spoken Maltese with a view, first, to establishing what types of FPs occur in the language, and second, to describing their durational and distributional charactertistics. We argue, on the basis of evidence of a strong tendency for FPs to occur in the vicinity of silence and/or sentence initially, that FPs in Maltese fulfil an important function in the structuring of discourse.

258

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

3. Methodology and annotation of data The data analysed form part of the MalToBI corpus, compiled as reported in Vella & Farrugia (2006). The MalToBI corpus was designed to be representative of standard spoken Maltese, with choices being made in favour of homogeneity rather than variability. Corpus participants were carefully selected with a view to balance the number of female speakers versus the number of male ones, their age (18 to 29 vs. over 30), their level of education (up to secondary level, post-secondary or tertiary level), and where they come from.1 A Map Task was designed on the lines of similar tasks used as a means of collecting spoken data which is spontaneous in nature whilst at the same time also comprising an element of controlled elicitation (cf. HCRC Map Task Corpus). The Map Task included locations – “target items” – consisting of all-sonorant material. These target items represent different syllable structure and accentual possibilities in Maltese, with stress (marked in bold type in the underlined item) on the final (e.g., iż-Żona tal-Għajnejn ‘The Eye Zone’), penultimate (e.g., Triq l-Imnarja ‘L-Imnarja Street’), or antepenultimate (e.g., Triq Amery ‘Amery Street’) syllables.2 The Map Task data involves quasi-conversational, rather than fully spontaneous, speech. Orthographic annotation of the eight Map Tasks from the MalToBI corpus (cf. Vella & Farrugia 2006) was carried out in the context of the project SPAN and a set of conventions for the orthographic annotation of spoken data from Maltese was compiled (cf. Vella et al. 2010 for a summary of the annotation conventions used). A first pass analysis of each file was followed by checking and revision by transcriber/s other than the original one. Final amendments to the annotations (cf. also section 4) and a final consistency check were also carried out.

3.1. The orthographic annotation tiers Annotation was carried out using PRAAT (Boersma & Weenink 2008), which allows the facility of inputting data into TextGrids composed of various tiers. The tiers contained in the current annotation are the following: 1. 2. 3.

1

2

SP(eaker)1 tier and SP(eaker)2 tier; Br(eak)-Pa(use)-O(verlap)s tier; T(arget)I(tem)s tier;

Participants came from various localities in Malta; none were from Gozo, where dialect use is often assumed to be more widespread than it is in Malta, since it was considered important, for the purposes of compiling a first corpus of spoken Maltese, that influence from varieties of Maltese other than that considered “standard” be minimal. Examples provided throughout the text are taken from the Maltese Map Task annotations carried out.

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

4.

5.

259

F(illed)P(ause)s tier, renamed as the FP-Voc(alisation)s tier on the basis of considerations reported in this paper – throughout the rest of this paper this tier will be referred to as the FP/Voc(alisation)s tier;3 MISC(ellaneous).

A short sample excerpt from one of the annotated Map Tasks can be seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 The SP1 and SP2 tiers contain word-by-word annotations of the contributions of each speaker. This annotation makes use of standard orthography except in cases where it was considered important to record deviation from the norm of any sort, in such a way as to obtain as close a record as possible to what was actually said (e.g. orthographic n’lek in the SP1 tier in Figure 1 is meant to signal elision of the diphthong and consonant following the word initial [n] in the speaker’s rendering of ngħidlek ‘(let me) tell you’). Annotation follows the new spelling rules published by Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti in 2008 and all Maltese characters use Unicode codification (cf. Akkademja tal-Malti 2004; Kunsill tal-Malti 2008). The Br-Pa-Os tier is used to indicate the presence of breaks and pauses, as well as overlap, in the dialogues. Differentiation between breaks and pauses is based on a broad distinction between intra-sentential gaps (breaks) and inter-sentential ones (pauses). Intonation as well as the transcribers’ intuitions were allowed to inform decisions. The annotation in the Br-Pa-Os tier has been enriched to include information related to change

3

A further renaming of this tier to BC-FP-Vocs tier has since taken place in order to reflect the relabelling, as BC, of those elements in this tier having a clear backchannel function (cf. one instance of use of such an element, eħe, in Figure 3).

260

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

of speaker, indicated by means of a C, after a break or pause (cf. one instance of this in Figure 1). The TIs tier is intended as a means of flagging items included as locations in the Maps (cf. Triq Amery ‘Amery Street’ in Figure 1). Information on anything other than the above thought to be worthy of note by the transcriber/s is recorded under MISC (e.g. in the above example, the presumed full rendering of the elided form n’lek is entered under SP1 and under MISC as ngħidlek). Other features noted in this tier range from unexpected vowel quality realisations and unusual uses of aspiration and devoicing, to disfluency-type phenomena such as abandoned words, trailing off and nonlinguistic elements such as noise. For more detail on the standards and conventions employed in the annotation of data see also Vella et al. (2010). The original FP/Vocs tier was intended to provide a means of cross-referencing elements or “forms” of a “non-standard” type, “non-standard” being roughly defined as “forms not usually found in a dictionary”. These forms were inputted into SP1 or SP2 for easy access. The FP/Vocs tier, like the TIs tier, is intended as a means of improving searchability of the corpus and is therefore extremely useful to phoneticians, particularly those using PRAAT as their main analysis tool. The elements entered in the FP/Vocs tier are of the sort which writers often have difficulty deciding how to write, given that they are elements which have no clearly recognisable standard representation. The idea was to give an orthographic rendering to such forms under SP1/2 but also to flag them in the FP/Vocs tier for ease of access in later analysis. In fact, the FP tier, as it stood originally, included more forms than one would want to assign the status of “real” FPs to, hence the necessity for renaming the tier. The analysis reported in section 4 served, amongst other things, to distinguish between different kinds of phenomena which the original FP tier conflated into one relatively undifferentiated group. Conventions and standards for the various phenomena originally flagged in this tier were also established.

3.2. The prosodic annotation tiers Three further tiers, Tone, Prom(inence) and Functions are included in the TextGrids of files for which prosodic annotation has been carried out. An example of transcription on these tiers is shown in Figure 2 although no further reference to elements annotated in these tiers will be made here as their discussion falls outside the scope of this work. The excerpt in Figure 2 provides an example of a falling tune (here annotated as H*+L L%) attached to the prominent syllable of l-Imnarja in the utterance Sa Triq lImnarja. ‘(Go) as far as Imnarja Street.’ having an EXPLAIN function. It also contains an example of some kind of rising tune (here annotated as L- H%) attached to Eħe? ‘Yes?’ having an ACKNOWLEDGMENT function. Functions are determined on lines similar to those suggested by Carletta et al. (1995).

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

261

Figure 2

4. Results and discussion This section consists of two main parts. The first part presents an analysis of the forms inputted into the FP/Vocs tier and distinguishes between three types of vocalisations, “real” FPs, paralinguistic vocalisations and quasi-lexical vocalisations (section 4.1). An analysis of the frequency of occurrence of the different forms as well as of their durational properties is provided in subsections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2. The main phonetic, including prosodic, characteristics of Maltese FPs are then described in subection 4.1.3. The second part examines the distribution of Maltese FPs in terms of surrounding pauses and breaks (subsection 4.2.1) and in relation to sentential position (subsection 4.2.2). Finally, in subsection 4.2.3, a comparison of the distributional analyses establishes a correlation between FPs in terms of their pausal context and sentential position.

4.1. Collapsing the forms The Map Task data analysed consists of c. 5300 words.4 The total number of words spoken by the female participants is far lower than that spoken by the male participants 4

The term “word” is being used rather loosely to refer to any elements included within one PRAAT “interval”. These may be simple lexical items or complex items such as an NP consisting of the definite article and a noun (e.g. il=logħba ‘DEF-game’), a PP consisting of a preposition, a definite article and a noun (e.g. ta=r=Re ‘of=DEF=king’), or a (pseudo-)verb plus a direct object enclitic and a negative circumfix (e.g. m’-għand=hie-x ‘NEG-have=3SG.F-NEG ‘she/it does not have’).

262

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

(c. 1950 vs. c. 3350) although a cursory count on the basis of role suggests that the relevant factor in “who speaks most” may well be role in the Map Task (i.e. Follower vs. Leader) rather than gender (Female vs. Male). Of the total number of words, 249, approximately 5%, have been flagged in the FP/Vocs tier, although as the following analysis shows, only a small number of these items, i.e. 82 or 1.5% of the total, deserve the status of “real” FP (cf. also Table 2 below). A full list of the forms originally flagged in the FP/Vocs tier is given below. References abbreviated as Aq, B&A-A and M&B in the list are to Aquilina (1987/1990), Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997) and to Mifsud & Borg (1997) respectively. Of the forms included in the list overleaf, only e, eħe, eqq, ija, ħeqq and ta occur in Aquilina’s (1987/1990) dictionary. Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 338) refer to uff (of which our fff could be a variant) and ttt in their section on “ideophones and interjections”. Use of a reduplicated element represented as “Tsk, tsk!” to express disapproval is also mentioned in Mifsud & Borg (1997: 38). The non-reduplicated instantiations of this form in the data analysed, however, have a meaning closer to that of “express[ing] lack of agreement with an interlocutor, often in conjunction with le or leqq ‘no’”, suggested by Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 338). It is Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander’s preference that we follow in so far as the choice of orthographic form is concerned. Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 338) also list ee, whose function they describe as “expressing one’s understanding of what is being said by an interlocutor. This expression is also used phatically over the phone to reassure an interlocutor one is still at the other end of the line”. Such an ee is clearly different, at least in function, if not in its phonetics, to the forms transcribed as e/ee/eee in our data. Mifsud & Borg (1997) also make reference to forms eee… (pp. 44, 46, 50), eh (p. 49 – this however seems to have a different function to instances labelled as eh in our data), emm… (p. 44) and mmm… (p. 46 – instances of this in our data also seem to be used with a different function to that of “showing that one is following a person’s discourse” suggested by Mifsud & Borg 1997). On examination of the data, a distinction between forms of three main types can be made as follows (cf. also Vella et al. 2010): Type 1: paralinguistic vocalisations – the examples of this type in the data analysed to date are eqq, fff, ħeqq and ttt; Type 2: quasi-lexical vocalisations such as ta, as well as other vocalisations such as aħa/eħe which have parallels in ija/iwa, all of which co-vary with lexical iva ‘yes’ and with the non-lexical vocalisation involving the backchannel mhm (instances of this form originally annotated as mhmm in the data have been standardised to mhm); Type 3: non-lexical vocalisations which have an actual pause as their counterpart, the “real” FPs.

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

263

The distinction made above is inspired by that made in the BNC User Reference Guide (British National Corpus) which distinguishes between paralinguistic elements and the more general category of “vocalised semi-lexical” elements. The latter category is defined in the BNC User Reference Guide as “any vocalised but not necessarily lexical phenomenon for example voiced pauses, non-lexical backchannels, etc.”. A finer subdivision is made here: Type 2 above consists mainly, but not solely, of “non-lexical backchannels”, and Type 3 above corresponds to the “voiced pauses”. The rest of this paper focuses on Type 3, non-lexical vocalisations. The next step was to collapse these non-lexical vocalisations by grouping together as “the same”, forms which in the annotation had been labelled as “different”. This was done by means of a durational analysis of all instances of non-lexical vocalisations originally transcribed as e, ee, eee, eh, ehhhh; em, emm, ehm; m, mm and mmm. The results of this analysis are reported in subsection 4.1.1 below. 4.1.1. Durational analysis of similar forms The primary aim of the durational analysis was to determine whether any evidence could be found for distinctions between “different” orthographic forms (e.g. m, mm, and mmm) made on the basis of intuition by the transcribers. The results of the analysis carried out are presented in Table 1 below. Label used aħa e ee

Revised label aħa ee ee

eee eh

ee e(h)

eħe

eħe

ehhhh

e(h)

ehm

e(h)m

em

em

emm emme eqq

em em-ee eqq

fff ħeqq

fff ħeqq

ija

ija

Comments variant of eħe, see below to be relabelled as ee, see analysis and also below e and eee to be relabelled as ee (cf. B & A-A’s, 338, choice of orthographic form, rather than M & B’s, 44, 46, 50) to be relabelled as ee, see analysis and also above analysed separately from ee: e(h) is longer in duration and characterised by glottal pulses in waveform often associated with breathy phonation yes; also “interj. expressing inquiry or surprise, or inviting assent” (Aq, 272) similar to e(h) above and therefore analysed together with it – duration not significantly different different from em in having glottal pulsation between [e] and [m] portions em to be retained, see analysis (choice of orthographic form different to M & B’s, 44) to be relabelled as em, see analysis incl. under em and ee analyses “used for emphasis and having a vague meaning defined only by its context” (Aq, 282) variant of uff (cf. B & A-A, 338) “with a vague meaning approximately ‘well, what can you do?’” (Aq, 538) variant (according to Aq, 563 ‘dialectal’) of iva

Number 1 12 22 5 1 46 1 2 6 12 1, 1 1 1 1 2

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

264 Label used m mhm

Revised label mm mhm

Comments

to be relabelled as mm, see analysis and also below analysis ongoing; clear characteristics of mhm are a disyllabic form and a backchannelling function mhmm mhm to be relabelled as mhm; analysis ongoing, see above mm mm m and mmm to be relabelled as mm (choice of orthographic form different to M & B’s, 46) mmm mm to be relabelled as mm, see analysis and also above ta ta “short for taf, you know” (Aq, 1382) tu ttt alveolar click [!] indicating ‘no’ (cf. B & A-A’s, choice of ttt as the orthographic form, 338, rather than M & B’s, 38, tsk, a reduplication of which is suggested as one way to express disapproval) Mean duration of forms as originally transcribed in seconds Speakers e ee eee Male 0.30 > 0.21 < 0.37 Female 0.33 < 0.40 – Overall 0.31 > 0.30 < 0.37 eh/ehhhh Male 0.74 em emm ehm Male 0.25 < 0.4 < 0.52 Female 0.45 > 0.44 – Overall 0.35 < 0.42 – m mm mmm Male 0.84 > 0.17 < 0.56 Female 0.15 < 0.24 < 0.72 Overall 0.49 > 0.20 < 0.64

Number 4 97 12 13 2 4 2

Table 1 The results suggest that transcribers were in fact responding to some impression of “lengthening” in the choices they made. Thus, for example, a progressive increase can be observed in the mean durations of male speakers’ ems, emms and ehms – leading one to assume that the latter can be considered to be some form of generic ‘em’ – as well as in the mean durations of female speakers’ ms, mms and mmms. Mean durations in the case of the different ‘e’ forms transcribed as e, ee and eee, respectively, by contrast, do not differ significantly from each other. Considering that this FP is by far the most frequent form of FP found in these data (40 out of a total of 82 FPs, excluding the two instances transcribed as eh and ehhhh, both of which have significantly longer durations than do other ‘e’s in these data), the results of this part of the analysis suggest that there is no reason to differentiate between different ‘e’s, ‘em’s and ‘m’s on the basis of duration. Annotations of the variant forms in these cases have therefore been revised accordingly as instances of ee, em and mm, the “middle-of-theway” form in each case being chosen to represent orthographic instantiations of the respective FPs.

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

265

At this stage, the single instances of eh and ehhhh, (for which the recommended annotation is e(h)) as well as the 2 ehms (recommended annotation e(h)m), will continue to be distinguished from other instantiations of the FPs ee and em. There are two reasons for this. First, these forms, though few in number, are significantly longer than both their ee and em counterparts. Second, the forms appear to have an element of “glottalisation” not normally characteristic of either ee or of the vocalic element in em. This may however be idiosyncratic as the instantiations of these forms come from the same speaker. To conclude, the analysis suggests no firm basis for assuming that transcriber intuitions of differences in duration for forms consisting of the same phonetic material can be consistently encoded. On the basis of the data analysed to date, it appears that there are three main FP forms in Maltese. The recommended orthographic forms to be used in annotating these forms are ee, em and mm. Pending further analysis, e(h) and e(h)m are being retained as possible annotations for forms involving the perception of glottalisation in the speech signal. 4.1.2. Frequency of the different forms by type In what follows, we present an analysis of the frequency of the paralinguistic, quasilexical, and non-lexical vocalisations originally flagged in the FP tier in the annotations carried out. Table 2 below lists frequencies for each form in the collapsed list of forms across speakers. Forms are listed by type as suggested at the end of section 4.1. Frequency of different forms by type using revised labels Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 (Paralinguistic) (Quasi-lexical) (Non-lexical) eqq 1 aħa/eħe 47 ee+e(h) 40+2=42 fff 1 Ija 2 em+e(h)m 19+2=21 ħeqq 1 Mhm 109 mm 19 ttt 2 Ta 4 5 (2%) 162 (65%) 82 (33%)

Table 2 Table 2 shows that, overall, the most frequent type of vocalisations used in the data analysed are the quasi-lexical vocalisations, in particular mhm and eħe (also aħa and ija), all of which have formal as well as functional characteristics similar to those of backchannelling devices used in other languages. Non-lexical vocalisations, the “real” FPs, are also frequent in the data, with ee occurring most frequently amongst the three kinds of FP, followed by em and mm. The two instances now relabelled as e(h) and those labelled as e(h)m are analysed together with instances of ee and em, respectively, unless otherwise stated. Frequency of occurrence of FPs in the data analysed as compared to other forms for each speaker listed by one of the two roles in the Map Task, Leader or Follower, is shown in Table 3.

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

266

SPEAKERS IN FOLLOWER ROLE

The table shows that speakers in the Leader role use more FPs than do speakers in the Follower role, with Followers using more “other” forms than the Leaders. Since mhm and eħe feature so prominently in this “other” group, it is safe to assume that Followers in fact used a large number of the latter forms. The fact that mhm and eħe are the most commonly used forms in the data analysed (cf. also Table 2) may be an artifact resulting from the nature of the Map Task, which requires participants to collaborate in order to fulfil the requirements of the task. One function of mhm and eħe is actually that of backchannelling, a strategy often used for collaborative purposes. The greater use of “other” forms by Followers rather than Leaders may therefore also be, at least in part, a function of the task in itself. Speakers Female Female Female Female Female Sub-total female Male Male Male Sub-total male

Role Follower 1 Follower 2 Follower 5 Follower 6 Follower 8

Female Female Female Sub-total female Male Male Male Male Male Sub-total male

Leader 3 Leader 4 Leader 7

Follower 3 Follower 4 Follower 7

SPEAKERS IN LEADER ROLE

Total by role

Total by role

Leader 1 Leader 2 Leader 5 Leader 6 Leader 8

“Real” FPs 3 13 0 11 0 27 0 4 0 4 31 1 9 0 10 3 2 7 24 5 41 51

Other forms 73 20 12 4 9 118 5 10 3 18 136 1 5 0 6 2 1 5 17 0 35 31

Table 3 A number of points emerge clearly from the data presented in Table 3. In the data analysed, Followers use fewer FPs than Leaders do, and Female speakers use slightly fewer (albeit longer, cf. also Table 1) FPs than male speakers do. These data are not extensive enough for observations related to gender distinctions made for American English disfluency data (not merely FP data but disfluencies more generally) by Shriberg (2001) to be properly explored. The analysis does suggest however that, whilst practically all the speakers use some kind of “other” forms, there is a much greater degree of variation across speakers on whether or not an individual uses FPs (5/16 speakers evidenced no instances of FPs at all).

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

267

4.1.3. Characteristics of the different FPs Having identified the different FPs which occur in the data analysed, some of their characteristics can now be described. First, the three FPs identified for Maltese are composed of a vocalic [e] and/or a nasal element [m]. FPs in typologically diverse languages, such as Dutch (Swerts 1998), European Portuguese (Moniz et al. 2007) and Mandarin (Zhao & Jurafsky 2005), have been reported to consist of similar combinations of phonemes (cf. also Cruttenden 1997). Some instantiations of glottalisation of the vocalic element but no actual glottal stop [ʔ] were noted in the data. Given the small amount of data available to date, however, no conclusions can be drawn on whether this is significant or merely idiosyncratic (but cf. also below). Second, in terms of frequency, the FP which occurs most often in the data analysed is ee (40/82, approximately 50%). This is followed by em and mm in equal numbers (19/42, approximately 25% in each case).5 Third, the durational study reported above also allows for some generalisations to be made on differences in the relative duration of the three FPs identified. Thus, the mean duration across all ees in the data is of 0.32s; that of the ems is of 0.39s; that of the mms is of 0.44s. Greater articulatory effort is required to produce a nasal as compared to a vowel. This seems to be reflected in the fact that the forms containing a nasal element are the ones which are longer in duration in the data analysed. It is clear from the preliminary results reported here that differences in the duration of FPs correlate strongly with other factors such as their position in relation to pauses and breaks and to other turns within the discourse (cf. Guaïtella 1993; Clark 1994; Swerts 1998, as well as section 4.2 below). One further point can be made in connection with the instantiations of e(h) and e(h)m excluded from the analysis above. The duration of these forms is by far longer than that of any of the other forms (cf. Table 1 above). Is it possible that while some speakers use different types of FPs depending on how much time they think they need before they can move on (typically with ees being used when one needs only a little time, ems when a bit more time is needed and mms when most time is needed), other speakers perhaps use glottalisation as an alternative means of “playing for time”? However interesting it might be to speculate on this matter, the data examined so far are clearly too limited for anything further to be said on this matter at this point. An important feature of FPs, and one which has begun to attract attention, is their intonational characteristics. A preliminary auditory analysis of the intonation of the FPs in these data has been carried out. The analysis suggests that FPs in the data reflect similar patterns to those described in the literature (cf. Shriberg 1999). Even at this early stage, it is clear that the predominant pattern involves F0 which is relatively level 5

These values do not include instantiations of e(h) and e(h)m given that, on the basis of the data available to date, one cannot exclude the possibility of these forms constituting a different kind of FP; cf. the observation on the duration of these forms made at the end of subsection 4.1.1.

268

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

although slightly falling, the onset of F0 often occurring at a point slightly higher than that in the preceding stretch of speech suggesting some sort of “reset”. This is particularly the case for those FPs which seem to function most clearly as a means of allowing speakers to maintain their turn in the conversation while organising their thoughts. Figure 3 below illustrates this pattern clearly.

Figure 3 In this example, SP2 is maintaining his conversational turn while at the same time giving himself time to think. SP2’s contribution, Eħe naħseb ee BREAK ħa nieħu, which translates roughly as ‘Yes I think ee BREAK I’m going to take’, not only involves use of a FP followed by a break, but couples use of both these strategies with that of the lexically overt indication, naħseb ‘I think’, of his need for more time.

4.2. Distribution of forms This section first presents a distributional analysis of Maltese FPs in terms of their pausal context (subsection 4.2.1) as well as their sentential position (subsection 4.2.2). It then compares the results, drawing conclusions on the correlation between the distribution of FPs with respect to pauses/breaks (P/B) and initial vs. non-initial position (subsection 4.2.3). 4.2.1. Distribution of forms in relation to pauses/breaks The results of the analysis of the distribution of FPs in the Maltese Map Task data in terms of pausal context are shown in Figure 4 below. Four possible contexts, P/B to L(eft), P/B to R(ight), P/B on both sides and No P/B are distinguished. A significant

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

269

proportion of all FPs (80% overall) occur with a P/B either to their L (35%) or to their R (16%) or on both sides (30%). Only in a small percentage (20% overall) do FPs occur without a P/B in their immediate environment, No P/B. Put differently, the data suggest a strong tendency for FPs (regardless of their form) to be preceded and/or followed by perceptible silent intervals. Guaïtella (1993) reports similar results for the occurrence of French FPs in the context of P/Bs to those reported here. Unlike the French FPs, however, the Maltese FPs in the data analysed show a greater propensity to follow silence rather than to precede it. This difference may be a function of the fact that Guaïtella’s results are based on a corpus of interviews in which speakers are faced with different communicative requirements from those which speakers participating in a Map Task come across.

Figure 4 It has been suggested that use of FPs may reflect problems in the planning and production of discourse (Shriberg 1994). The presence of P/Bs in the vicinity of such a large proportion of the FPs in the data analysed can be interpreted as suggesting that FPs, together with the P/Bs occurring in their vicinity, allow speakers to buy more planning time. The distribution of ee, em and mm in relation to the four pausal contexts referred to above is shown in Figure 5. The results of this analysis indicate that the distribution of ems in relation to P/Bs is different to that of ees and mms. While the favoured context for both ees and mms is with a P/B to their L, em occurs more frequently with a P/B on both sides, although the second most frequent position for em is also one following a P/B. As mentioned earlier, the literature suggests that the distribution of FPs may reflect difficulties in the planning and production of discourse. Shriberg (1994: 154) says: “The form ‘um’ may be used relatively more often during planning of larger units, while ‘uh’ may be relatively more likely to reflect local lexical decision making”. The high incidence of ems having a P/B on both sides may suggest a similar distinction in

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

270

Maltese. Use of this FP possibly reflects planning of larger, more problematic units, as in the case of Shriberg’s ‘um’, with ees and mms being used in less problematic contexts.

Figure 5 4.2.2. Distribution of forms in terms of sentential position within turns A second analysis examined the distribution of FPs in terms of their sentential position. A distinction was made between stretches of speech, corresponding roughly to turns within the discourse, having an FP occurring in initial position, and stretches having an FP in non-initial position. As Table 4 reveals, the incidence of FPs occurring initially is higher overall in these data than is that of FPs occurring non-initially. The data analysis also suggests that ee occurs non-initially to a slightly greater extent (in 36% of all instances of ee) than do occurrences of em and mm (29% and 16% of all instances of their respective categories). Initial position is however still the favoured position for the occurrence of the FPs in these data. FPs ee em mm Total

FP in initial position 27 (N=42) 15 (N=21) 16 (N=19) 56 (68%)

FP in non-initial position 15 (N=42) 6 (N=21) 3 (N=19) 26 (32%)

Table 4 A further distinction can be made on the basis of whether the FPs in question occurred in turns produced by one speaker (intra-speaker) or whether they occurred at speaker turns (inter-speaker). As can be seen from Table 5 below, there is a higher propensity

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

271

for ee and mm to occur in initial position in inter-speaker environments. Initial position is also the favoured position for em but this is so in intra- rather than inter-speaker contexts. By contrast, in intra-speaker environments, ee occurred more often in non-initial position. FPs ee em mm Total

FP in initial position intra-speaker inter-speaker 5 22 8 7 3 13 16 (19%) 42 (51%)

FP in non-initial position intra-speaker inter-speaker 13 2 5 1 3 0 21 (26%) 3 (4%)

Table 5 Although the results of this analysis should be treated as preliminary, they do suggest a tendency for FPs to occur in initial position in inter-speaker contexts and in non-initial position in intra-speaker contexts. In other words, speakers tend to use FPs more often when they start speaking after the other speaker has concluded his turn. When speakers keep their turn, they are more likely to use FPs mid-sentence. These preliminary results echo claims made by other researchers in this field on the function performed by FPs in presignalling upcoming important linguistic content (cf. Fox Tree 1993; Shriberg & Stolcke 1996; Watanabe et al. 2005). In this context, it would be interesting to investigate the relationship between the occurrence of FPs in intra-speaker context and overlaps between speakers in dialogue data. This matter awaits further study. 4.2.3. Correlation between factors involved in the distribution of FPs Table 6 compares the result from the analyses presented in subsections 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 in such a way as to examine the correlation between the position of FPs in relation to surrounding P/Bs and their sentential position (initial or non-initial). ee noninitial 3 7 0 5 15

initial P/B to L P/B to R P/B on both No P/B Total

12 1 7 7 27 42

em noninitial initial 4 2 1 1 9 3 1 0 15 6 21

mm noninitial initial 8 0 1 2 5 0 2 1 16 3 19

29 (35.4%) 13 (15.8%) 24 (15.8%) 16 (19.5%) 82 (100%)

Table 6 The overriding generalisation that can be derived from Table 6 is that, in the large majority of cases, the tendency for all FPs, in all pausal contexts, is to occur initially. One variation on this general tendency emerges from the information in the first two rows of

272

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

Table 6, i.e. that speakers produce non-initial ees more frequently when anticipating a silence rather than after one. In the case of FPs occurring with silence on both sides, the pattern for ee and mm is that they only occur in initial position. In a less categorical, though similar way, em surrounded by silence occurs more often initially than noninitially. Finally, analysis of the few instances of FPs embedded within a context involving speech on both sides also shows that these FPs occur more frequently initially than non-initially. Summing up this section, the preliminary results demonstrate a correlation between the occurrence of FPs and both (i) the presence or otherwise of silent intervals, i.e., (unfilled) pauses and breaks, and (ii) sentential position, whether initial or non-initial. The data indicate that FP pausal context, i.e., whether an FP is preceded and/or followed by silence, is not determined by which FP is used, but rather by the occurrence of FPs in initial or non-initial positions. These findings constitute preliminary evidence of a role for FPs in the structuring of discourse similar to that reported in the literature (cf. section 2).

5. Conclusion This paper identifies and describes three distinctive forms of FP in Maltese used in eight Map Tasks from the MalToBI corpus of spoken Maltese. The forms contain the phonetic element/s [e] and [m] and are being annotated as ee, em and mm. Examination of the phonetic and durational properties of a number of related forms leads to a three-way distinction being proposed, setting the three “real” FPs apart from paralinguistic vocalisations (e.g., eqq, fff) on the one hand and quasi-lexical vocalisations that include backchannels (e.g., mhm, ta) on the other. An analysis of the FP forms in terms of their duration, frequency and distribution was carried out. The most common form of FP in these data is ee, which is also the form with the shortest duration; ees are durationally shorter than ems while mms have the longest duration. The analysis of the distribution of FPs in relation to the presence of pauses suggests that there is a strong tendency for FPs to occur with silence on at least one side if not on both, with a slightly stronger tendency for FPs to occur following a pause rather than preceding one. em, however, behaves somewhat differently from ee and mm in the data analysed in that it occurs more frequently with pause on both sides, while ee and mm both occur more frequently following a pause. FPs occur with speech on both sides in only a very small proportion of the data. The analysis also looked at the distribution in terms of sentential position: FPs occur more frequently in initial position, although some interesting differences were observed with respect to inter-speaker as compared to intra-speaker contexts. Further investiga-

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

273

tion in this area is needed particularly to determine what relationship, if any, exists between overlap in dialogue data and the occurrence of FPs. Finally, a correlation of the results of the analysis of the distribution of FPs by pausal context and sentential position was carried out. It appears that ees and mms have silent intervals on both sides only when they occur initially. When they occur in non-initial position, they are never preceded and followed by silent intervals. By contrast, when em is surrounded by silence on both sides, it occurs more often in initial position. This preliminary investigation of the behaviour of FPs in Maltese is also important in the context of crosslinguistic research on the role of FPs in the communication process. Further research on the form, distribution and function of FPs in Maltese, and on speech disfluencies more generally, using more data, is necessary for generalisations to be made on the patterns at play. Data from more speakers with a greater variety of linguistic backgrounds and from different age groups may also shed light on the formal and distributional properties and discourse functions of FPs, not only in Standard Maltese but also in its dialects.

References Akkademja tal-Malti (2004): Tagħrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija II. Malta: Klabb Kotba Maltin. Aquilina, Joseph (1987/1990): Maltese-English dictionary – Volumes 1 & 2. Malta: Midsea Books Ltd. Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David (2008): PRAAT: doing phonetics by computer. (Version 5.0.08). http://www.praat.org visited 11-Feb-08. Borg, Albert & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997): Maltese. [Descriptive grammars]. London/New York: Routledge. Brennan, Susan E. & Williams, Maurice (1995): The feeling of another’s knowing: prosody and filled pauses as cues to listeners about the metacognitive states of speakers, in: Journal of Memory and Language 34(3), 383–398. British National Corpus, http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/index.xml visited 20-Feb-10. Campione, Estelle & Véronis, Jean (2006): Pauses and hesitations in French spontaneous speech, in: Proceedings of disfluency in spontaneous speech. Aix-en-Provence, France, 43–46. Carletta, J., Isard, A., Kowtko, J., Doherty-Sneddon, G. & Anderson, A. (1995): The coding of dialogue structure in a corpus, in: Andernach, J.A., van de Burat, S.P. & van der Hoeven, G.F. (eds.), Proceedings of the twentieth workshop on language technology: corpus-based approaches to dialogue modelling, 25–34. Clark, Herbert (1994): Managing problems in speaking, in: Speech Communication 15, 243–250. Clark, Herbert & Fox Tree, Jean E. (2002): Using uh and um in spontaneous speech, in: Cognition 84, 73–111. Clark, Herbert & Wasow, Thomas (1998): Repeating words in spontaneous speech, in: Cognitive Psychology 37, 201–242. Cruttenden, Alan (1997): Intonation. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Den, Yasuharu (2003): Some strategies in prolonging speech segments in spontaneous Japanese, in: Proceedings of disfluency in spontaneous speech, Geneva, Switzerland, 87–90. Eklund, Robert & Shriberg, Elizabeth E. (1998): Crosslinguistic disfluency modelling: a comparative analysis of Swedish and American English human-human and human-machine dialogues, in: Pro-

274

Alexandra Vella, Michael Spagnol, Sarah Grech & Flavia Chetcuti

ceedings of the 3rd international conference on spoken language processing. Sydney, Australia, 2631–2634. Fox Tree, Jean E. (1993): Comprehension after speech disfluencies. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA. Guaïtella, Isabelle (1993): Functional, acoustic and perceptual analysis of vocal hesitations in spontaneous speech, in: Proceedings of ESCA Workshop on Prosody. Lund, Sweden, 128–131. Goldman-Eisler, Frieda (1968): Psycholinguistics: experiments in spontaneous speech. London: Academic Press. HCRC Map Task Corpus, http://www.hcrc.ed.ac.uk/maptask/ visited 10-Nov-09. Kunsill tal-Malti, http://kunsilltalmalti.gov.mt/filebank/documents/Decizjonijiet1_25.07.08.pdf visited 15-Apr-10. Levelt, Willem J.M. & Cutler, Anne (1983): Prosodic marking in speech repair, in: Journal of Semantics 2, 205–217. Mifsud, Manwel & Borg, Albert (1997): Fuq l-Għatba tal-Malti. Threshold level in Maltese. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Moniz, Helena; Mata, Ana Isabel & Viana, M. Céu (2007): On filled-pauses and prolongations in European Portuguese, in: Proceedings of Interspeech, Antwerp, Belgium, 1246–1249. O’Connell, Daniel & Kowal, Sabine (2005): Uh and Um revisited: are they interjections for signaling delay?, in: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 34(6), 555–576. Quimbo, Felix C.M., Kawahara, Tatsuya & Doshita, Shuji (1998): Prosodic analysis of fillers and self-repair in Japanese speech, in: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on spoken language processing. Sydney, Australia, 3313–3316. Rose, Ralph L. (1998): The communicative value of filled pauses in spontaneous speech. Master’s dissertation, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. Shriberg, Elizabeth E. (1994): Preliminaries to a theory of speech disfluencies. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, USA. Shriberg, Elizabeth E. (1996): Disfluencies in switchboard, in: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on spoken language processing. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Addendum, 11–14. Shriberg, Elizabeth E. (1999): Phonetic consequences of speech disfluency, in: Proceedings of the 13th international congress of phonetic sciences. San Francisco, USA, 1, 619–622. Shriberg, Elizabeth E. (2001): To ‘errrr’ is human: ecology and acoustics of speech disfluencies, in: Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31(1), 153–169. Shriberg, Elizabeth E. & Stolcke, Andeas (1996): Word predictability after hesitations: a corpus-based study, in: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on spoken language processing. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 1868–1871. Swerts, Marc (1998): Filled pauses as markers of discourse structure, in: Journal of Pragmatics 30(4), 485–496. Tseng, Shu-Chuan (2003): Repairs and repetitions in spontaneous Mandarin, in: Proceedings of disfluency in spontaneous speech. Goteborg, Sweden, 73–76. Vella, Alexandra & Farrugia, Paulseph-John (2006): MalToBI – building an annotated corpus of spoken Maltese, in: Proceedings of speech prosody. Dresden, Germany. Vella, Alexandra; Chetcuti, Flavia; Grech, Sarah & Spagnol, Michael (2007): Speech annotation: developing guidelines for Maltese corpora. Paper given at the 1st international conference on Maltese linguistics, Bremen. Vella, Alexandra, Chetcuti, Flavia, Grech, Sarah & Spagnol, Michael (2010): Integrating annotated spoken Maltese data into corpora of written Maltese, in: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on language resources and evaluation, Workshop on Language Resources and Human Language Technologies for Semitic Languages. Valletta, Malta, 83–90.

A preliminary investigation of filled pauses in Maltese

275

Watanabe, Michiko; Den, Yasuharu; Hirose, Keikichi & Minematsu, Nobuaki (2005): The effects of filled pauses on native and non-native listeners’ speech processing, in: Proceedings of disfluency in spontaneous speech. Aix-en-Provence, France, 169–172. Zhao, Yuan & Jurafsky, Dan (2005): A preliminary study of Mandarin filled pauses, in: Proceedings of disfluency in spontaneous speech. Aix-en-Provence, France, 179–182.

GILBERT PUECH (LYON/FRANCE)

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

Abstract The first part of this paper examines all major contributions which, in the context of generative studies in Arabic linguistics, have been devoted to the syllabic structure in Maltese. Cast into the framework of rule-based phonology, of feature geometry and of metrical grid theories, these contributions have in common to consider that the ‘Stress Palestinian Rule’ applies to Maltese and that stress assignment is a prerequisite to vowel syncope. OT contributions including a reference to the Maltese case share the same premises. Maltese is a “mixed” language, which, once cut off from its Arabic heritage, imported loan words, mainly from Italian dialects and, more recently, from English. To evaluate the relevance of this approach, we consider how loans have been adapted to ‘native’ patterns. Then, we review two contributions in which the syllable structure is built prior to stress assignment. The second part of this paper argues that the syllabic structure results from the interaction between the morpho-prosodic organization of root-and-pattern morphology and phonotactic constraints. Stress is transparently assigned to the word-final syllabic trochee in both native and assimilated words. In pre-stressed position the ‘imaala’ vowel is reduced. Some local processes, like voicing agreement between contiguous obstruents, are surface transparent. Here applied to Maltese, this analysis proposes a new framework to account for alternations in other Arabic dialects which share the same morpho-prosodic organization with different phonotactic constraints.

0. Introduction Semitic Maltese derives from the Arabic dialect(s) which was spoken in Malta and Gozo after Arabic speaking troops took control of the archipelago around 870 CE (Brincat 1995, 2003). The islands were devastated. Arabic became the common language of survivors and of new settlers as well. After the Normans, debarking from Sicily, expelled the muslim rulers from Malta in 1090 CE, the islands were cut off from the Arab-Islamic culture (Lutrell 1994, Bresc 1994). The population converted back to Christianity1 but retained an Arabic idiom. From its origin, Maltese has been ‘isolated’ and developed on the periphery of Eastern and Western Arabic dialectal areas. As pointed out by Stumme (1904), Maltese shares some discriminant morphological and phonological features with 1

It may be the case that a small community remained Christian throughout. See Busuttil et al. (2010); Vella Gauci (2010).

278

Gilbert Puech

Levantine dialects and some others with Maghribian dialects. Furthermore, due to the increase of commercial and cultural exchanges with Sicily, Sicilian words filtered into Maltese; e.g., the word for ‘mother’ remained omm while the word for ‘father’ became missier. Up to the end of the fifteenth century, Romance loan words were scarce and fully or partly integrated into the Semitic moulds. This is attested by the Cantilena (Wettinger & Fsadni 1968, Cohen & Vanhove 1991), a late medieval poem written in Latin alphabet, and by notarial deeds written in Hebrew script (Wettinger 1985). In 1530, the Knights of the order of St. John of Jerusalem were given the domain of Malta and Gozo to contain the Ottoman expansion. The official language of the Order was Italian. Since then the influence of Italian on Maltese has been growing and a large part of the vocabulary has been borrowed from it. Maltese remained the language of the people with some dialectal variation. In the 19th century, the urban variety acquired the status of Standard Maltese (Brincat 2009). After the British became the new rulers of the archipelago in 1799, English became progressively known by the Maltese elites. During the 20th century, a large proportion of the people became familiar with or fluent in English (Bonnici 2009) so that it became the alternative source from which new words have been coined in Maltese, concurrently with terminological terms of Italian origin (Caruana 2009). Maltese has become a “mixed” language (Aquilina 1959, Mifsud 1995, Fabri 2009). The core vocabulary remains Arabic while the vast majority of modern words are non-Semitic. In his exhaustive study of loan verbs, Mifsud (1995: 8) observes that “Maltese verbs display a continuum of morphological types ranging from completely root-based forms (in the nonconcatenative Semitic system) to stem-based forms (of the concatenative Romance type).” Indeed, Semitic Maltese combines both non-concatenative and concatenative morphology, while non-Semitic Maltese morphology is typically concatenative. The general principles governing syllabic structure and stress assignment in Maltese are due to its Arabic origin but have also applied to the non-Semitic part of the vocabulary. In part I, we review the different analyses which have been proposed to account for syllabic structure and stress assignment in Maltese. The main strategy has been to assign stress cyclically and to delete certain unstressed vowels through pre- or post-cyclic syncope rules or metrically based processes. The first three sections are devoted to Brame’s contributions (1972, 1973, 1974) in the framework of SPE generative phonology, to that of Hume (1994) in the framework of feature geometry and to that of Angoujard (1990) in the framework of metrical grids. Section 4 examines different types of loan words which have a ‘native’ pronunciation and an ‘erudite’ doublet retaining both their etymological stress and syllabic structure. Sections 5 and 6 are devoted to two alternative approaches. In Puech (1979) syncope processes are based on the segmental context. In Fabri (2009) vowels are inserted between radical consonants by the ‘Syllable Builder’. Part II explores a new analysis. It is based on the interaction between the morphoprosodic structures (sections 7 and 8), phonotactic constraints (section 9) and stress assignment (section 10). Here applied to Maltese, this approach proposes a new framework to account for similar data in other Arabic dialects.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

279

Part I 1. In his influential work on the cyclic application of rules in phonology, Brame (1972a, 1972b, 1973, 1974) applies to Maltese the stress and syncope rules which he had established for Palestinian Arabic. The same cyclic treatment of stress for Maltese data is taken up from Brame in Hume (1994) and in Angoujard (1990). Yet, this stress rule, written for ‘Levantine’ dialects, is not well adapted to Maltese. 1.1. Let us first examine the Palestinian forms. Brame (1974) starts from the following examples in Palestinian Arabic: (1a) (1b) (1c) (1d) (1e)

kátӑbit kӑtábna kátab kӑtábt miktúub

‘she wrote’ ‘we wrote’ ‘he wrote’ ‘I wrote’ ‘written’

Stress falls on the antepenultimate in (1a), on the penultimate in (1b and c), on the ultimate in (1d and e). Given these data, stress is assigned by the following rule: (2)

Palestinian Stress Assignment V → [I stress] / —— C₀ ( ( V C ) V C₀¹ ) ]

According to SPE2 conventions, the rule schema in (2) collapses three disjunctively ordered subcases, displayed by Brame (1974: 40) as: (3a) (3b) (3c)

a antepenultimate assignment: penultimate assignment: ultimate assignment:

V → [I stress] / —— C₀ V C V C₀¹ ] V → [I stress] / —— C₀ V C₀¹ ] V → [I stress] / —— C₀ ]

Palestinian being a ‘differential’ dialect (Cantineau 1960: 108),3 a short and non stressed ă is maintained in open syllables. In this position a short and unstressed ĭ is deleted. Hence the forms given in (4), to be compared to those in (1): (4a) (4b) (4c) (4d) (4e) 2 3

fíhmit fhímna fíhim fhímt mifhúum

‘she understood’ ‘we understood’ ‘he understood’ ‘I understood’ ‘understood’

Abbreviation for The Sound Pattern of English, Chomsky & Halle (1968). “On peut donc distinguer dans les parlers modernes deux grandes catégories: les parlers non différentiels qui font subir le même traitement aux trois voyelles brèves a, i, u, quand elles se trouvent en syllabe ouverte; les parlers différentiels qui éliminent i et u brefs en syllabe ouverte, mais qui tendent à conserver a bref dans la même position. A l’intérieur même de ces deux grandes catégories on peut établir des distinctions, suivant le rôle que jouent, soit l’accent de mot, soit les séquences de syllabes brèves.”

Gilbert Puech

280

Brame derives forms in (4) by introducing a syncope rule that deletes a short unstressed ĭ in open syllables: (5)

ĭ→

Ø / —— C V

This rule accounts for the contrast between (1) and (4): (1a) (4a) and (1b] (4b)

katab+it fihim+it

→ →

kátab+it fíhim+it

→ →

fíhm+it

katab+na fihim+na

→ →

katábna fihím+na

→ →

fhím+na →

→

[kátabit] [fíhmit] [katábna] [fhímna]

In the examples above, the subject pronoun na (1st person plural) is suffixed to the stem katab or fihim. In (6a and b) the same morpheme na is used as an object pronoun cliticized to the stem; in (6c and d) it is the negative particle ʃ which is cliticized: (6a) (6c)

katábna (ma) katábʃ

‘he registered us’ (6b) ‘he did not write (6d)

fihímna ‘he understood us’ (ma) fihímʃ ‘he did not understand’

The first stem vowel is maintained while stress surfaces on the penultimate (6a–b) or the ultimate (6c–d) closed syllable. As explained by Brame (1974: 43): the subject pronouns are much more intrinsically bound to the stem. On the other hand, the encliticization of object pronouns and the incorporation of negative particles are the kinds of operations we frequently encounter in the syntax of natural languages… Trans-lating this distinction to stems such as fihim, we get [fihim+na] with subject pronoun suffix versus [[fihim]na] with object pronoun suffix and [[fihim]š] with the negative particle… The further assumption is that stress Assignment applies in a cyclic fashion. In conformity with SPE assumptions, a primary stress assigned in the first cycle becomes secondary if stress is assigned to a different vowel on the second cycle. Any vowel bearing stress in the first cycle will be immune to syncope in the second cycle, as exemplified in (7): (7) 1st cycle Stress 2nd cycle Stress Syncope Output

(a) (b) [[katab+na] [fihim+na]

(c) (d) [[katab] na] [[fihim]na]

katáb+na

fihím+na

kátab

f íhim

——— ——— katábna

——— f hím+na fhímna

kàtábna ——— kàtábna

f ìhímna ——— fìhímna

Stress is applied to all forms in the first cycle. In (7c and d) this application makes the first stem vowel immune to deletion. The same stress rule is then reapplied to cliticized forms in the second and final cycle. Syncope is applied after this final cycle to all forms. In (7a)

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

281

the initial stem vowel is protected from deletion by virtue of being a; in (7c), due to first cycle stress assignment on initial a, we get kàtábna, which potentially contrasts with (7a) katábna. Brame (1974: 44) writes: “if the secondary stress is not actually present in phonetic representations, it may be eliminated by postulating an additional rule”. Such a late rule neutralizes the derivational distinction between (7a) and (7c). In fact the secondary stress is not intended to mark a phonetic ‘prominence’ in Mitchell’s (1960) sense but to retain the initial ĭ in a cliticized word. 1.2. Brame transposes the same strategy of analysis to Maltese. The stress rule is basically the same as the Palestinian Stress Rule in (2), with minor differences of formalism (Brame 1972a: 44). The Syncope rule is extended to all short vowels: (8a) (8b)

Maltese Stress Assignment: V → [+stress] / — C₀ ( ( V C ) V C¹₀ ) # ] Maltese post-cyclic Syncope: V → Ø / —— C V

These rules however do not apply to the same underlying representations. First, as it is also the case in other Arabic vernaculars, the distribution of short vowels a, i and u has been reshuffled. In Maltese, i is the default vowel, u being its marked counterpart while a is retained in [BACK] contexts, i.e. adjacent to former emphatic or guttural consonants (Borg 1978, Cowan 1966). Thus, the underlying Palestinian /katab/ is /kitib/ in Maltese. Second, the Arabic component of Maltese is non-differential, which means that ă may be dropped by Syncope in the same contexts as ĭ and ŭ (represented by ɔ in Standard Maltese): (9) 1st cycle Stress Syncope Output

(a) ‘she asked’ [talab+it] tálab+it tál b+it tálbɛt

(b) ‘she wrote’ [kitib+it] kítib+it kít b+it kítbɛt

(c) ‘she drank’ [ʃɔrɔb+it] ʃɔ́rɔb+it ʃɔ́r b+it ʃɔ́rbɔt

In non differential dialects, stress assignment by rule (8) to an antepenultimate vowel is opaque. The stressed vowel will never surface as antepenultimate but always as penultimate by Syncope application to ĭ, ŭ or aɮ. Yet, there is a well-known case in which stress should be antepenultimate with syncope of the subsequent non-stressed vowel. But the derivation fails as shown in (10): (10)

1st cycle Stress 2nd cycle Stress Syncope Output

[[kitib+it] u] kítib+it [kítib+it-u ] kìtíbit u kìtíb t u *kìtíbtu

‘she wrote it-M’

correct form: kɩtbítu

Admittedly, it is not possible to draw a general conclusion from this case (Marçais 1977: 29, Angoujard 1990: 119, Watson 2002: 98). Notice however that the correct output kɩtbítu is indeed the expected form, as will be shown in (102).

Gilbert Puech

282

1.3. The stress rule in (8) is not a satisfactory device independently of this special case. Brame refers to the imperfective stem CCVC as underlying but admits in a footnote (Brame 1992: 36): It may be possible to generalize the perfective and the imperfective stems at a more abstract level of analysis to the shape CVCVC, which would mean that these imperfectives derive from CV+CVCVC+u. The rule that drops the first stem-vowel, however, is not Apocope,4 which a comparison of this more abstract representation with Stress Assignment will show. The two rules are similar but still different. The new rule might be stated as follows: (11) [pre-cyclic Syncope]: V → Ø / V+C —— CV It applies before Stress Assignment, whereas Apocope applies after stress is assigned. This is shown in derivation in (12): (12)

[[ni+kitib] u] 1st cycle Pre-cyclic Syncope Stress 2nd cycle Stress (reassignment) Post-cyclic Syncope Output

‘we write’

ni+k tib ní+k tib ní+ktib u ní+kt b u níktbu

This device implies that pre-cyclic and post-cyclic Syncope are two different rules in the grammar, forming a conspiracy (Kisseberth 1970) to eliminate a short unstressed stem vowel in an open syllable. It also implies that the plural marker u is not included in the first cycle, as subject pronouns are, but in the second cycle, along with object pronouns and the enclitic negation marker. Even admitting that this segmentation is justified for the plural marker on morphological grounds (and not just to fit the phonological derivation), it would fail for nominal plurals V+CCC+a. This pattern harks back to the fusion of two different patterns in Old Arabic, one with prefix ʔa, the other with suffix a (Borg 1978: 282), presumably because some Old Arabic words allowed both of these plural schemes. Maltese has extended the distribution of this pattern at the expense of other plural schemes: (13)

Plural ɩ́bħra ɔ́ʔbra

Singular báħar ʔábar

‘sea’ ‘tomb’

Admittedly, the suffix a may function on its own to form a plural (Borg 1978: 285); this may be why there are alternations (Aquilina 1959: 236) such as: 4

Brame (1972) uses the term Apocope as an equivalent of Syncope in Brame (1974).

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

(14)

zɩ́nda fɩ́rʃa

or

283

ɩzɩ́nda (arch.) ‘flint’ ɩfɩ́rʃa ‘mattress’

Furthermore, the prefix i is used with adjectives to form comparatives; cf. ikbar ‘bigger’. But it is not clear on what morphological grounds V+CCC+a plurals could be parenthesized as [[V+CVCVC] a], which, on the model of imperfective plurals in (12), is the only way to obtain the correct output with Brame’s rules: (15)

1st cycle Pre-cyclic Syncope Stress 2nd cycle Stress (reassignment) Post-cyclic Syncope

? [[i+ baħar] a] i+ b ħar í+ b ħar í b ħara í b ħ ra

‘seas’

1.4. A difficulty pointed out by Johnson (1988) applies to ‘Levantine’ Arabic dialects in general and to Maltese as well. It concerns the derivations associated with the CVCa perfective pattern: (16a) 3M.SG.PERF nɛ́sa ʔára

(16b)

≠ clitic nsɩħ ʔraħ

Spelling nsieh qrah

Glose ‘he forgot it-M.SG ‘he read it-M.SG

In a grammar composed of two strata, each corresponding to one cycle, the output of the first cycle yields a form stressed on the first radical vowel as input to the second cycle: (17)

1st cycle 2nd cycle

(a) [nɛsa] → [nɛ́sa h] →

nɛ́sa (b) [ʔara] → *nɛ̀sɩħ [ʔára h] →

ʔára *ʔàráħ

Primary stress is reassigned on the second cycle but the first cycle stress prevents the initial vowel from deletion. It turns out for this class of verbs that cliticized forms may not be derived by the interaction between cyclical stress and syncope. 1.5. Corresponding to singular imperfective forms Cp+Vf -CCvC, the plural is generally Cp+Vf -CCC+u, where Cp is the person marker, Vf the formative for the imperfective and u the plural marker. However, when the medial radical of a triliteral verb is R (where R stands for a set including n, l, r), the plural imperfective forms do not surface as Cp+Vf -CRC+u. Phonotactic constraints prohibit a CRC sequence. To prevent such a sequence from arising, Brame (1972) introduces a Metathesis rule at the beginning of the second cycle, prior to reapplication of Stress. The function of Metathesis is (i) to bleed Syncope, which is prevented from applying to both stem vowels; (ii) to account for an apparent exchange of quality between v1 ~ v2. Thus, corresponding to underlying perfective forms /ħalib/ and /marad/, we obtain in the imperfective after the 1st cycle: (18a) /ná-ħlib+u/

→

náħilbu

→

[nàħílbu]

‘we milk’

Gilbert Puech

284

We observe, however, that if the derivation yields the correct output in (18a) it fails in (18b), where the imperfective plural corresponding to singular nɩmrad surfaces as nɩmɩrdu: (18b) /ní-mrad+u/

MAY NOT YIELD BY METATHESIS

[nìmírdu] ‘we get sick’

1.6. In Brame (1972b: 62), the author claims that “the following hypothesis5 may well reflect the true nature of cyclic rules in natural languages”: Hypothesis I: Any kind of phonological rule may be cyclic Hypothesis II: Only stress-assigning rules may be cyclic We have pointed out internal difficulties in Brame’s analysis under Hypothesis II. The expected alternative was to try Hypothesis I in making both Stress and Syncope cyclical or Syncope alone. The latter strategy was Hume’s choice. 2. In the framework of Non-linear Phonology and more specifically of Clements’s framework on the geometry of phonological features,6 Hume (1994) made an important contribution to Maltese phonology. She writes (1994: 166) that “stress assignment in Maltese is similar to that of most Arabic dialects”. However she adheres to Hypothesis I in adding that Syncope is cyclic “based on the observation that it only applies in derived environments”. We shall see that her derivations imply that Stress is pre- and post-cyclic but not in the cycle. Concerning Metathesis, Hume (1994: 154) argues that it is rather the product of three elementary operations: delete, insert and associate. The first two operations characterize independently motivated rules of Maltese: Syncope and Epenthesis, respectively. The third operation, ‘associate’, takes the form of a universal association convention which maps a floating melody onto an unspecified slot of the prosodic template. When these three operations are sequenced within a single derivation, the result is metathesis. In (19) VOC stands for the default vocalic melody {I}, its marked counterpart {U} (surfacing as ɔ in Standard Maltese) or {A}: (19)

V (epenthetic unspecified V slot): VOC

(unassociated vocalic melody):

V VOC

In Hume’s analysis, the underlying form results from the interdigitation of radical consonants with a vocalic melody. Stress is assigned to the lexical input before the first application of Syncope (Hume 1994: 197, 201). In (20), Syncope deletes the v2 slot in the first cycle; the v1 slot is then deleted in the second cycle, whereas the vocalic melo5

6

Brame also formulates a third hypothesis: “Only rules that specify the feature stress in the matrix of the affected segment may be cyclic.” Cf. Clements & Hume (1995).

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

285

dy remains afloat. Post-lexical application of Epenthesis recreates a slot onto which the vocalic melody is mapped: (20)

(a) tlf /{I} nitilif nítilif

Lexical input7 Stress 1st cycle input Syncope 2nd cycle input Syncope Post-lexical Epenthesis Vocalic mapping Output

(b)

ʃ r b /{U} niʃɔrɔb níʃɔrɔb

nít lif nít lif u nít l f u

níʃ rɔb níʃrɔb u níʃ r b u

nítVl f u nítil f u *nítilfu

níʃVr b u níʃɔr b u *níʃɔrbu

This interaction between Stress and Syncope is hardly satisfactory, or, at best, incomplete. The formulation given to Syncope (Hume 1994: 166, 194) requires that it is applied after Stress Assignment: (21)

V -stress

→ Ø /

C — C V (A short unstressed vowel in open syllable deletes in non word-final position).

But at the post-lexical level no explicit provision is made to reassign lexical stress onto the epenthetic vowel. As it stands, the derivation in (21) does not yield the correct outputs nitílfu and niʃɔ́rbu. To save the real insight carried by Hume’s analysis (elimination of Metathesis replaced by an epenthetic slot onto which the vocalic melody is mapped), we need to sever the link between vowel deletion and stress assignment, as proposed in Puech (1979) in a rule-based framework (cf. section 5). If stress is not pre-assigned to the lexical input, we no longer need to include the ‘antepenultimate’ subcase in (8). Consequently the post-lexical stress rule only includes subcases b and c of rule (8) and becomes surface transparent: (22)

V → [ + stress] / —— C₀ ( V C¹₀ ) # ] (Stress is penultimate if the word final syllable ends in V or VC, ultimate elsewhere)

The derivation would become: (23)

7

1st cycle 2nd cycle Epenthesis Vocalic mapping Stress

ni+ʃɔrɔb niʃrɔb+u niʃrbu niʃVrbu niʃɔrbu

→ → → → →

ni+ʃrɔb niʃrbu niʃVrbu niʃɔrbu niʃɔ́rbu

To keep the notation simple, I assume that the prefixal vowel is the default vowel i.

Gilbert Puech

286

In reformulating the Syncope rule into (24), the analysis would have to make explicit that only radical vowels may be deleted: (24)

Vradical

→ Ø /

C — C (# ) V

This rule rightly specifies that affixal vowels may never be deleted by syncope in Maltese. 3. In his study on the metrical structure of Arabic, Angoujard admits that if stress rules have always been based on syllabic structure, it is in terms of syllabic structure, and in a larger sense in terms of metrical structure, that we should look for an explanation of these processes. Any attempt to propose segments as sequences of quasi independent units, or to isolate syllabic structure, stress assignment, vowel deletion, and epenthesis, will only obscure the analysis. (Angoujard 1990: 7) Yet the author keeps Brame’s stress rule and states that “in Maltese a cyclical application of stress is operative, as it is in Damascus (the prototype of the ‘Eastern’ dialects) for /CvCvC/ verbs.” According to Angoujard, Arabic dialects are classified into two groups: [+ –] and [– +], depending on how they construct their feet. Maltese, like ‘eastern’ dialects, is declared to be ‘trochaic’ and Maghribian dialects ‘iambic’ (Angoujard 1990: 215). Maltese being classified as a [+ –] language, the light initial syllable may not be the head of a trochee whose dependent element would be a final closed syllable. Thus, in Maltese (25a), the initial syllable forms a foot (Σ) on its own: “a light syllable that is not integrated into a binary foot will find itself endowed with an unhoped-for status: that of a single foot” (Angoujard 1990: 244). By contrast in (25b) the initial vowel is integrated as the dependent element into a ‘iamb’ and does not form a foot on its own. In the Maghribian example stress is assigned to the final closed syllable, which is the head of the iambic foot; being metrically weak and unstressed, the initial vowel does not surface.8 In Maltese, on the contrary, the initial vowel is metrically strong and stressed: (25a)

Maltese * * * * * * [ k v t v b] kítɛb

(25b) Maghribian dialects (Tunis) * ω (stress assignment) * Σ * * σ [ k v t v b] kt ́ b ‘he wrote’

The grid shown in (26) accounts for the contrast between ktíbna ‘we wrote’, inflected form of /kitib/, and kìtíbna ‘he registered us’, in which the 1st plural person object pronoun functions as a clitic concatenated to the lexical base. The underlying long vowel of the pronoun na is reduced in word-final position but forms a foot on its own and is immune to deletion (Angoujard 1990: 107): 8

In the framework of Government Phonology, see Scheer (2004) for a ‘lateral’ analysis of vowel deletion in Maghribian dialects.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

(26a)

287

(26b) * * * * * * * [kv t v b n a] ktíbna ‘we wrote’

* * * * * * * * * [[ k v t v b ] n a ] kìtíbna ‘he registered us’

ω2 ω1 Σ σ

In (26a) the first syllable is light while the second is heavy and stressed. Since the initial syllable may not be the head of a trochee, it forms a foot on its own. This first vowel however is ‘weak’ (Angoujard 1990: 186); consequently the association between its slot and the stem vocalic melody is broken (Angoujard 1990: 90), which means that it does not surface. In (26b) the initial vowel is stressed on the first cycle (ω1); it is thus protected from deletion. Primary stress is reassigned to the penultimate syllable at the word level (ω2). For Maltese, Angoujard was the first, as far as I know, to base his analysis on metrical structure, “a structure which determines both the possible syncopes and stress assignment” (Angoujard 1990: 3). Yet, the analysis is crucially dependent on Brame’s segmental stress rule and its cyclical application. Furthermore, the metrical structures are based on an odd foot typology, in which a light open syllable may constitute a trochee whose unique peak may be deleted. 4. In a “mixed” language it is especially important to examine how loan words adapt their syllabic structure and behave with respect to the joint processes of Stress and Syncope. 4.1. A large part of the Maltese vocabulary was borrowed from Sicilian in the late middle ages, then from Tuscan for the main part, and, since the last century, from English. Older loan words have been fully integrated into the phonological core of Maltese. As observed by Mifsud (1995: 192): primary stress can fall only on the last syllable or on the penultimate; proparoxytones are thus automatically excluded. Words with this accent were remodelled syllabically into paroxytones through the syncope of the short post-tonic vowel … In an initial stage, proparoxytones are suppressed and the stress pattern is reduced to a paroxytone, thus subduing it to the native phonological constraints. Of particular interest are borrowed words that have two reflexes. Mifsud (1995: 196) gives the following examples: (27)

Etymon América musíca stúpido dúbita grammátika cattólico

Native reflex améːrka múzka stúʷpdu i ddúʷbta grammáːtka kattólku

Doublet améːrika múːzika stúʷpidu i ddúʷbita grammáːtika kattóːliku

Glose ‘America’ ‘music’ ‘stupid’ ‘to doubt’ ‘grammar’ ‘catholic’

Gilbert Puech

288

schéletro áugura ápplica

skeléːtru awgúʷra applíʸka

skéːletru áwgura ápplika

‘skeleton’ ‘to augur’ ‘to apply’

Concerning the introduction of proparoxytone verbs in Maltese phonology, Mifsud (1995: 211) observes that their introduction into M seems to have followed the normal pattern of ‘resistance – co-existence – integration’, as can be attested by the different degrees of integration obtaining synchronically in modern M. While the full process seems to be complete in the dialect of educated bilinguals (obviously including Std M), there are some dialects which do not easily accept proparoxytones and tend to change them into paroxytones through vowel syncope or stress shift. Such adapted forms are usually associated with the rural speech of monolinguals. This holds true for borrowings from English as well; e.g., in Mifsud (1995: 241): (28)

English árabic séventy distríbutor

Maltese erébic sevénti distribyúʷter

4.2. In sections 1 to 3, the analyses we reviewed were developed in different (generative and post-generative) frameworks but were all based on the assumption that the ‘eastern’ stress rule applied to Maltese and that vowel syncope processes apply AFTER stress assignment. It results however from the investigation of both Semitic and nonSemitic words that (i) native forms (Arabic origin or fully integrated words) are never proparoxytones; (ii) speakers tend to change proparoxytones into paroxytones when no effort is made to retain the native pronunciation of the loan word; (iii) proparoxytones loan words are possible but then the Syncope rule does not apply to them. We conclude sections 1 to 4 by claiming that the application of the ‘Palestinian’ strategy does not account for the dynamics of Maltese for syllabic structure and stress. We will now in section 5 review the thesis developped in my doctoral dissertation that vowel syncope processes apply BEFORE stress assignment. Then we will review Fabri’s important contribution on how syllables are ‘built’ in Maltese. 5. In Puech (1979) I account for Maltese syllabic structure through two syncope processes. The first one deletes a short vowel or reduces a long one (represented by VV) if the input includes a prefix or a suffix: (29) (30)

V →

Ø / ——

kɩsɩr+t k ɩ s ɩ r + na

→ →

CVCC (derived forms with + boundary) CVVC ksɩr+t k s ɩ r + na

(‘I break’) (‘we break’)

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

t ɩ + k ɩ ss ɩ r9 b ɩ r ɩ k + t

289

t +k ɩ ss ɛ r bɛrɩk+t

→ →

(‘she breaks into pieces’) (‘I blessed’)

This rule does not apply through a clitic boundary. No cycle is required to get the difference between: (31)

k ɩ s ɩ r + na k ɩ s ɩ r # na

→ →

k s ɩ r + na no change

(‘we break’) (‘he broke us’)

It does not apply either to non-affixed stems: (32)

tabib tɛbut

→ →

no change no change

(‘doctor’) (‘coffin’)

The second syncope rule deletes a radical vowel in open syllable preceded and followed by a syllable. It may apply to cliticized forms: (33)

V

(34)

nɩ+ kɩsɩr nɩ+ kɩsɩr+u nɩ+ kɩsɩr#u k ɩ s ɩ r + ɩt # u

radical

→

Ø /

VC

—— C ( # ) V

→ → → →

nɩ+ ksɩr nɩ+ ksr+u n ɩ + k s r #u k ɩ s r + ɩt # u

‘I break’ ‘we break’ ‘I break it-M’ ‘she broke it-M’

This rule applies to either radical vowel or simultaneously to both of them. 10 The last example rightly shows that it does not apply to a non-radical vowel. Stress is assigned after vowel syncope. Rule (35), contrary to Brame’s rule in (8), may not stress an antepenultimate vowel: (35)

V → [ + stress] / —— C₀ ( V SEG₀¹ ) ]

ω

(where SEG stands for C or V)

If a word ends in VC or in V (realized short in Standard), it is stressed on the penultimate; otherwise it is stressed on the ultimate syllable (VC2 or VVC1). The rule applies at the word level and is not sensitive to internal boundaries: (36)

kɩtɛb ʔ a r aa m ɩ -k t u b (ma) k ɩ t ɩ b # ʃ

→ → → →

k ɩ́ t ɛ b ʔára m ɩ k t ú b k ɩ t ɩ́ b ʃ

(‘he wrote’) (‘he read’) (‘written’) (‘he did not write’)

This rule yields the correct output for kɩsrɩ́tu: (37)

kɩsr+ɩt # u

→

k ɩ s r ɩ́ tu

(‘she broke it-M’)

My conclusion was that stress was surface transparent and indeed played no role in syllable structure. According to Angoujard (1990: 215): “This, again, is an example in 9 10

In fact, there is no imperfect formative vowel in this type of form. See section 7. With a slightly different notation it may also be applied iteratively from left to right.

Gilbert Puech

290

which the nature of word stress and of the interpretation of the processes of both reduction and deletion as belonging to metrics, are misunderstood”. I now think that reduction and deletion do belong to metrics but in a way that is not due to stress assignment. 6. Fabri claims that “the observed variation can be accounted for by assuming a small number of general principles of syllabification, together with specific assumptions about the form of basic lexical entries” (Fabri 2009: 2). In this approach, vowels are not underlyingly present in pre-syllabified lexical bases but inserted by a Syllable builder to form lexical bases. 6.1. The author assumes that Semitic Maltese forms are factorised in the lexicon; i.e., the base lexical entry consists of two sets, a set of consonants, the radicals, and a set of vowels. Fabri (2009: 16) proposes that The Syllable builder scans the base lexical entry from right to left and inserts a vowel position in the first available place in order to create acceptable (optimal) syllables. The domain of application of the builder is the root or stem together with any attached affixes. A vowel can only be inserted in between radicals … Allowed syllables include CV, CVC, CCVC, CCVCC, i.e. (C((CV)C)C)11. A basic principle is economy: go for the smallest number of syllables, i.e. if you can form one syllable, do not form two. The right-to-left scan of the Syllable builder is exemplified in (38). There is only one stratum. The suffix is the 1st person subject pronoun in (a) the 3rd person plural marker or the 3rd singular masculine object pronoun in (b): (38) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Perfective Affix: Syllable 1 Syllable 2 Vocalise Output

Lexical entry: [k t b] [i,e] (a) (b) ktb+t ktb-u ktVbt (CCVCC) kt b u —— kVt b u ktibt kit bu ktíbt ‘I wrote’ kítbu

(CV) (CVC) ‘they wrote’

Stress is assigned to the output after syllables have been built. In (38a) the ‘principle of economy’ makes syllabification CCVCC optimal, compared to CVCVCC (*kitibt). A complementary principle, based on a phonotactic constraint, has to be invoked: an onset may not include three consonants.12 This principle eliminates the syllabification CCCVt (*ktbVt). In this case, the provision “that the V position is inserted inside the root” (Fabri 2009: 17) applies: 11

12

This list does not include CCV and CVCC which are also permitted syllables; e.g. tbɛ-rikt ‘I was blessed’ (1SG of perfective form 6). Some verbal forms 10 require special treatment: st is prefixed to a form 2, so that one has a 3consonant initial cluster stC. Notice however that the ability of s to be pre-appended to regular word-initial clusters has been observed across non related languages.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

(39)

291

Optimal syllabification for ktibt

Input

ECONOMY

PERMITTED ONSET

Output

CCVCC

Yes

Yes

ktibt

CV CVCC

No

Yes

*kitibt

CCCVC

Yes

No

*ktbit

In derived forms, the default vowel ɩ is epenthetised at the left edge of the stem; e.g., we have for the imperfective 9th form: t+ħdaːr → tɩħdáːr ‘it-F gets green’. Such a vowel is not transformed into a in front of a guttural consonant as is the formative vowel that belongs to the stem; cf. t+Vf - ħtar → t+a- ħtar ‘she chooses’. 6.2. In the plural of imperfective forms, the prefixal vowel, ɩ by default, encodes the information ‘non-perfective’. As in (38b) the post-stem vowel u encodes the information ‘plural’ or ‘3SG masculine object pronoun’. Affixal vowels are syllabified and must be present in the output: (40) Imperfective 1. Affix 1 2. Affix 2 3. Affix 3 4. Syllable1 5. Syllable 2 6. Vocalise 7. Output

Lexical entry: [k t b] [i,e] (a) SG i+ k t b n+i+k t b ——— nik tVb (CVC) nik tVb (CVC) nik teb níkteb ‘I write’

(b) PL i+ktb n+i+k t b n+i+k t b-u nik tbu nik tbu ——— níktbu

(CCV) (CVC) ‘we write’

In (40b) the choice of syllabification CVC CCV rather than CVCC CVC (nik tbu rather than nikt bu) “is based on native speaker intuition” (Fabri 2009: 4). Notice however that CVCC is both a possible syllable and a possible word (it is indeed the regular scheme for singular nominal forms like kɛlb ‘dog’), so that either /CVC CCVC/ or /CVCC CVC/ syllabifications appear to be acceptable in this analysis: (41)

Optimal syllabifications for niktbu: Input

ECONOMY

PERMITTED SYLLABLES

AFFIXES

Output

CiC CCu

Yes

Yes

Yes

nik tbu

CiCC Cu

Yes

Yes

Yes

nikt bu

CCV CCu

Yes

Yes

No

*nki tbu

In this approach, syllabic shapes are built-in primitives for the Syllabic builder. We complete Fabri’s list with Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 307):

Gilbert Puech

292

(42)

Syllable shapes CV CV CVC CVC CVCC CCV CCV CCVC CCVC CCVCC

With final negative enclitic ʃ CV ʃ CVC ʃ CVC ʃ CVCC ʃ CCVCʃ CCVCC ʃ

CCVCʃ

In non-stressed proclitic words and in word-initial or hiatus position, we also find: V Vː

cf. ktɩb nɩ ɩ lɩ́ʃ ktɩb nɩ ɩ́ la

‘we did not write it-F.SG to her’ (ktibnihilhiex) ‘we wrote it-F.SG to her’ (ktibnihielha)

With the prefix st (10th verbal form), an initial stC cluster is allowed: stCVC stCVCC

stker-raħ ‘he loathed’ straħt ‘I rested’ stCVCC ʃ (ma) straħtʃ ‘I did not rest’

From a typological standpoint, some of these shapes are highly marked phonological objects. The next step is to derive these odd objects from more general organization principles of Maltese grammar. In our analysis (Part II), a mora may maximally license one C in an onset and in a coda. Other consonants are appended to a superordinate prosodic node. This accounts for which syllables are allowed. 6.3. An important generalisation made by Fabri (2009: 14) is that Stem form changes according to whether the suffix is consonant initial (-t, -na, -tu, also Ø ), in which case the stem is CCVC- for perfective and VCCVC for non-perfective, or whether the suffix is vowel initial (-et, -u), in which case the stem is CVCC for perfective and VCCC for non-perfective. In other terms, the presence of v2 is conditioned by a ‘lateral’ relation with a vowel right-adjacent to the stem and not a ‘stratal’ organisation which leads to artificially attach the plural marker to the second stratum at a par with cliticised pronouns. This applies to nominals as well in which a V-suffix is concatenated to the stem: (43)

baħar (kɔtɔb) tɩfɛl

~ baħ r≠i ~ kɔt b+a ~ tɩf l +a

derivational suffix ≠i inflectional plural suffix +a inflectional feminine suffix +a

‘sailor’ ‘books’ ‘girl’

6.4. Fabri explored the approach of building syllables by inserting vowels. In his analysis of syllable structure in Maltese (i) affixal vowels are always present in the surface form; (ii) within the stem a vowel between radical consonants is inserted or not, depending on the (affixal) context and preferred principles of syllabification. In Part II we propose an alternative approach: the slots for radical vowels are present in the template but their implementation is subject to prosodic and phonotactic conditions.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

293

Part II 7. In this section, we will examine (i) the structure of root-and-pattern stems, (ii) the word constituency into domains, (iii) the status of a domain-final segment, (iv) the moraic weight of stems. This lays the foundation for the prosodic representations we will introduce in section 8. 7.1. Root-and-pattern stems are built after a template which results from the interdigitation of radical consonants and a vowel melody. Stems may be nominal or verbal. When the lexical form is not affixed, the template expresses the stem. There are three basic verbo-nominal templates: C1vC2C3 C1vC2vC3 C1C2vːC3 7.1.2. The C1vC2C3 template is reserved to masculine singular nominal forms, generally with a collective meaning, in association with a verbal form: (44)

ʃɔrb ħɔbz mard sɛrʔ ʤɩld ward bɛlt

‘beverage’ ‘bread’ ‘illness’ ‘theft’ ‘skin’ ‘roses’ ‘city’

cf. ʃɔrɔb cf. ħabɛz cf. marad cf. sɛraʔ cf. ʤɛllɛd cf. warrad

‘he drank’ ‘he baked bread’ ‘he got sick’ ‘he stole’ ‘he covered with leather’ ‘it-M blossomed’

Through suffixation, a singulative feminine noun and a determinate plural may be derived from the basic collective form; e.g., ward-a ‘a rose’, ward-ɩːt ‘roses’. Due to a phonotactic constraint, the pattern C1vC2R3 (R standing for the coronal nasal n or liquids l or r) is not allowed. In such cases, the forms surface with the pattern C1vC2vR3. A final R2 m cluster is allowed; cf. ħɔlm ‘dream’ (cf. ħɔlɔm ‘he dreamt’). 7.1.3. The C1vC2vC3 template is the basis of the conjugation system for root-andpattern verbs. It expresses the 3SG.M person in the perfect of the 1st form: (45)

kɩtɛb ‘he wrote’ talab ‘he prayed’ ʔɔrɔb ‘he approached’

This template is regularly used for nominals in which C3 is a liquid (the sequence C1vC2R3 being not allowed): (46a) tɩfɛl ‘a boy’ cf. F.SG tɩfl-a ‘a girl’ It is also used for a few nominal forms in which C3 is an obstruent: (46b) tɔʔɔb ‘holes’ cf. singulative tɔʔb-a ‘a hole’; DET.PL tɔʔb- ɩt 7.1.4. The template C1C2vː C3 is used for singular or plural nominal forms:

Gilbert Puech

294

(47)

ktɩb ‘book’ truf ‘edges’

cf. PL kɔtba cf. SG tarf

It is also used for the small class of Maltese 9th verbal form, which includes verbs of color or of quality: (48)

ħdar ‘it-M gets green’ ħzɩn ‘he grew worse’

7.1.5. In the 1st form the canonic verb pattern is based on the underived template C1vC2vC3: (49)

kɩsɛr ‘he broke’ ʔasam ‘he divided’ ʃɔrɔb ‘he drank’

The 2nd form template is derived by geminating C2: (50)

kɩssɛr ‘he broke into pieces’ ʔassam ‘he distributed’ ʃarrab ‘he soaked’

The 3rd form template is derived by lengthening the initial vowel: bɩrɛk ‘he blessed ħarɛs ‘he observed’ 7.1.6. Stems in the 2nd form are derived from the 1st form or from a nominal form (cf. baħħar ‘he navigated’ ~ baħar ‘sea’). They are characterised by the gemination of the middle radical. In general, stems in the 3rd form are also associated with a nominal form (cf. bɩrɛk ~ barka ‘blessing’). They are characterised by the lengthening of the first templatic vowel. Gemination of C2 and lengthening of the first radical vowel are to be analysed as an internal augment. 7.2. Content words include nominal and verbal forms. A nominal or verbal lexical base is composed of its stem and of inflectional affixes which are concatenated to the stem. Finite verbs are inflected for person, number and gender of the subject. The stem syllabic structure is variable for root-and-pattern verbs (Semitic or assimilated) and invariable (extended by an infix in some forms) in non-Semitic verbs. A verbal lexical base may be expanded by enclitic affixes:13 1) Lexical Base a. Prefixed person marker (imperfective) b. Infix (formative V in the imperfective or formative C in forms 5, 6,7, 8 and 10) c. STEM 13

See a traditional grammar like Sutcliffe (1936), a manual (Maltese in the collection ‘Teach Yourself’ by Aquilina) and Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997).

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

295

d. Infixed stem extension (for stems ending in a vowel) e. Suffixed plural marker /uː/ or subject pronoun (perfective) 2) Internal clitics a. Object pronoun in direct construction b. Indirect construction marker /l/ c. Object pronoun in indirect construction d. Negation marker In Figure (51), ‘Prefix’ stands for one or several morphemes preceding the stem. ‘Suffix’ includes an optional infixed glide in forms which require it: (51)

Word (ω) Lexical Base

Internal Clitics

Prefix Stem Suffix A verb is thus composed of two domains: the lexical base and, optionally, the clitic expansion. 7.3. The word-final position in Maltese requires a particular treatment. (i) In this position an obstruent is always unvoiced: (52)

kɩtɛp nɩsɛʧ ħabɛs

~ ~ ~

kɩtɩbli nɩsɩʤli ħabɩzli

‘he wrote to me’ ‘he wove for me’ ‘he baked bread for me’

(ii) In word-final position, we do not have long vowels: (53)

yɩbni kɩtbu

~ ~

(ma) y ɩ b n i ːʃ ‘he builds/he does not build’ (ma) k ɩ t b uːʃ ‘they wrote/they did not write’

In Standard Maltese, as observed in Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 311): “Wordfinally, vowels are short (in contrast to the duration of the long vowels word internally) but are longer than the short vowels found in non word-final positions”. Word-final vowels however keep their tense quality and should not be represented by their short homologue in Standard Maltese:14 (54)

kɩ́tb-u kɩtb-ú-l-i

NOT NOT

*kɩ́tb-ʊ *kɩtb-ú-l- ɩ

‘they wrote’ ‘they wrote to me’

(iii) A word-final syllable VC does not attract stress: (55) 14

k ɩ́ t ɛ p

cf. contra (ma) k ɩ t ɩ́ p ʃ

I thus disagree with Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 311) for whom word-finally shortened long vowels iː and uː are represented by their short phonemic counterpart, ɩ and ʊ respectively. In rural Maltese, these phonemically long vowels are diphthongized in word-final syllables in ‘pausal’ contexts; e.g. kɩ́tbeu, kɩtbúlei.

Gilbert Puech

296

In a number of languages domain-final syllables require more elements to count as heavy than domain-internal-domain syllables (Prince 1983: 28, Hayes 1995: 56, Watson 2002: 57). When a domain-final CVC or CVː syllable is not counted as heavy for stress assignment but as light as if it were CV, it means that the final segment is ‘invisible’ for this process. The domain-final C or V is thus declared ‘extrametrical’ and is usually noted between angled brackets as or . This also implies that the moraic weight of a CV or a CV syllable is one mora, as is the case for a CV syllable. 7.4.1. Insofar as in word-final position the last segment is ‘extrametrical’ and, thus, is not endowed with moraic weight, it follows that the three underived templates are bimoraic: (56)

C1vC2C3 C1vC2vC3 C1C2vːC3

ʃ ɔ r k ɩ t ɛ ħ m aː < r>

~ ~

b a ħ a k t ɩː

A few exceptional verbs surface as CVː in the perfective unaffixed form. This is the only case in which a word-final vowel is kept long and counts for two moras; e.g., ʤɩ́ː ‘he came’ (also ʤɩ́ə in Standard Maltese and ʤɩ́ɛ in rural varieties). 7.4.2. Under this analysis, the stem in an underived template is strictly bimoraic. When the lexical base is suffixed, the stem retains two moras (in bold): (57)

C1 v C 2 C 3 C1 v C2 v C3

C1C2 vː C3

(a) (b) (c)

ʃ ɔ r b- a k t ɩ b k ɩ t b u ɩ -b ħ r-a b a ħ r- i ħ m ɔ r ħ m aː r- u

DET.SG 1SG 3PL DET.PL ADJ

1SG 3PL

7.4.3. In derived verbal templates, the internal augment counts for one mora. Corresponding stems are thus trimoraic: (58)

C1 v C i C i v C 3 C1 vː C2 v C3

k ɩ ss ɛ b a ħħ a b ɩː r ɛ ħ a r ɛ

2nd form – 3M.SG 3rd form – 3M.SG

7.4.4. Quadriliteral stems behave as derived templates with an internal augment: (59)

C1 v CiCj v C3 ħ a r b a

3M.SG

7.4.5. We shall demonstrate that a stem may include one, and only one augment, either internal or external. Derived forms have an internal augment in the perfective and no external augment in the imperfective. In the 1st form, the perfective is not augmented but the imperfective has an external augment. The crucial point of the argument is that, in imperfectives, the formative vowel constitutes an external augment that is part of the stem and counts for one mora. For diach-

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

297

ronic evidence concerning the morpheme boundaries between the prefix and the base in imperfective forms, we refer to Goldenberg (1998: 35): The initial vowel of the base has commonly been regarded as belonging to the prefix. Notwithstanding that the real meaning of ‘Barth’s law’ was the discovery that the a in yaktub and the i in tilbas &c. belonged actually with the base and not with the personal marker, Jakob Barth himself spoke in terms of ‘Präfix vocalisation’ and the like (Barth Imperfect-Präfixe). The imperative and the imperfective of the first form are characterised by a prefixed formative vowel, except in ‘hollow’ verbs (cf. Chekayri & Scheer 2003) which are built on a CVːC template.15 The formative vowel is ɩ by default but may surface as a, ɛ or ɔ (or their dialectal counterparts), depending on the stem vocalism and the featural composition of the adjacent radical consonants. This vowel has to be analysed as an external augment on synchronic grounds. The imperfect formative vowel is present in 1st forms only. It may be stressed and it agrees, under certain conditions, which are not explored in this contribution, with the stem vocalic melody: (60)

1st form:

Perfect kísɛr ʔásam rábat xɔ́rɔb

Imperative í-ksɛr á-ʔsam ɔ́-rbɔt í-xr ɔb

Imperfect (1SG) n-í-ksɛr n-á-qsam n- ɔ́-rbot n-í-xr ɔb

7.4.6. We already mentioned that a stem may only have one augment. Thus, the imperfect and the imperative of 2nd and 3rd forms have no formative vowel: (61)

2nd form: 3rd form:

kɩ́ssɛr kɩssɛr bɩ́rɛk bɩ́rɛk This also holds true for quadriliteral stems: ħárbat

ħárbat

n-kɩ́ssɛr n- bɩ́rɛk

n- ħárbat

7.4.7.. To demonstrate that a stem may not include both an external and an internal augment, we must examine the epenthetic origin of ɩ in some cases. Consider the following derived verbal forms: (62) 5th form: 6th form:

15

(a) Perfect t-bíssɛm t-kábbar t-ʔábad t-ʔátɛl

(b) Imperative t-bíssɛm t-kabbar t-ʔábad t-ʔátɛl

(c) Imperfect nɩ-t-bíssɛm nɩ-t-kabbar nɩ-t-ʔábad nɩ- t-ʔátɛl

‘to smile’ ‘to grow proud’ ‘to fight with’ ‘to struggle

Cf. imp. bus ‘kiss!’ and tbuːs ‘she kisses’; bid ‘lay eggs!’ and tbid ‘she lay eggs’.

Gilbert Puech

298

The imperative confirms the absence of an external augment in these forms. Yet, since a word-initial onset may include 2 consonants, but not 3, an epenthetic ɩ in (c) is inserted between the prefix subject pronoun and the derivational infix. This is also the case in form 7, where the passive prefix n- is concatenated to a 1st form: 16 (63) 7th form 8th form

Perfective n- kísɛr f-t-ákar

Imperative n- kísɛr 17 f-t-ákar

Imperfective tɩ-n- kísɛr18 ‘get broken’ tɩ-f-tákar ‘remember’

The Maltese 9th form corresponds to Old Arabic form 11 for verbs denoting the acquisition of a colour or of a physical quality: (64) 9th form

Perfect ħdár

Imperative ħdár19

Imperfect tɩ-ħdár

‘to get green’

Notice again that epenthetic ɩ in (64) is not changed into a- in front of the guttural ħ, as is the case in (65) where the vowel stands for the imperfective augment: (65)

ħábat

á-ħbat

t-á-ħbat t-a-ħbát-ʃ

‘she runs into’ (negative)

Form 10 is based on prefix st- concatenated to a form 4th form template a-CCVC, no longer used in Maltese, or to a 2nd form template CVCiCiVC: (66) (67)

10th form

st-á-ħrɛʤ st-ħárrɛʤ st-kɛ́rraħ

cf. 1st form cf. 2nd form

ħárɛʤ

tɩ-st-á-ħrɛʤ

‘to inquire’

kɛ́rraħ

tɩ-st-ħárrɛʤ tɩ-st-kɛ́rraħ

‘to loathe’

In (67) there is no prothetic ɩ in front of prefix st- in the perfective. We already noticed that special behaviour of word-initial onsets s+Stop is a recurrent problem across languages and in no way specific to Maltese. As expected, epenthetic ɩ breaks a prohibited word-initial onset in the imperfective. 8. From the premises in section 7 we are now in a position to develop our analysis. It first consists in analyzing root-and-pattern stems into two prosodic components: a Head and a Dependent. The Head node is obligatorily associated to a vowel; if it is branching, its own dependent branch may be a consonant or a vowel extension (length or diphthongization) but not a nucleic vowel. The Dependent node is associated to a stem vowel (v) or to a consonant (C). 8.1. In line with the general principles of Prosodic Licensing (Ito 1988), every segment must be assigned to a higher-level prosodic. In moraic theory (Hyman 1985) an onset C is directly attached to a V mora. 16 17 18 19

These forms are realized with a prothetic ɩ; cf. infra 8.5: ɩnkísɛr. According to Borg (1976: 216) “Form 7 does not lend itself to the imperative paradigm”. With subject pronoun t- (3F.SG). Cf. áħdar ‘green’; cf. Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997: 370).

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

(68a)

μ

(68b)

C V

299

μμ

(68c)

μμ C V

C V C

In (68b), the C-coda acquires moraic weight by position; cf. Hayes (1995: 52). In (68c), the sequence V stands for a vowel realized long or diphthongized. Under this analysis, the prosodic unit superordinate to a μ node is a Head or Dp node. Let us give a provisional version of two morpho-prosodic constraints: (69)

LICENCE-Segment

(70)

LICENCE-μ

requires that a segment be affiliated with a μ node.

requires that a mora be affiliated with a Head or Dp node.

8.1.1. In the unmarked 1st form kɩtɛb, the final segment is extrametrical. As such, it is not affiliated to a μ node but attached to the Stem superordinate node. The stem right edge is also the right edge of the Lexical Base (no suffix is attached) and of the wordlevel (no internal clitic is attached) represented by ω: (71)

ω LB Stem Hd

Dp

μ

μ

Cv1 kɩ

Cv2 t ɛ

C b

8.1.2. If the stem is followed by a suffix or a clitic beginning in a vowel, the final stem consonant in onset position will not count for the stem moraic weight. In kɩtb+u ‘they wrote’, the plural marker uː belongs to the Lexical Base. In kɩtb#u ‘he wrote it-M’, the internal clitic u is attached to the word level. The radical templatic vowel v2 is not parsed according to Fabri’s phonotactic constraint; cf. 6.3. (72)

ω LB Stem

Suff.

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 k ɩ

C2 v2 t

C3 b

+

V u

Gilbert Puech

300

(73)

ω LB Stem

Int. Clitic

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 k ɩ

C2 v2 C3 # t b

V u

8.1.3. In the conjugated form ktib+t ‘I wrote’, the stem final consonant is not extrametrical: it is not at the edge of the Lexical Base since it is immediately followed by the subject pronoun t. In this context, v2 must be parsed; cf. 6.3. Thus, C3 acquires moraic weight by position. In our analysis, non-augmented templates are strictly bimoraic. It follows from this morpho-prosodic constraint that v1 must be moraless. As a consequence, C1 is directly attached to the superordinate node Stem, whose left edge coincides with that of the ω and LB nodes. (74)

ω LB Stem

Suff.

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 C2 v2 k t ɩ

C3 + b

C t

8.1.4. We come now to the contrast between ktib+na ‘we wrote’ and kitib#na ‘he registered us’. In (75), C3 is licensed as a mora; in (76), C3 is extrametrical. (75)

ω LB Stem Hd μ C1 v1 k

C2 v2 t ɩ

Suff. Dp μ C3 b

+

CVː na

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

301

(76)

ω LB Stem Hd

Int. Clitic

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 k ɩ

C2 t

v2 C3 ɩ b

#

CVː na

In (74) and (75), C3, is followed by the subject pronoun suffix, t and na respectively; consequently it is not at the right edge of the Lexical Base domain. In (76), C3, being the right edge of the Lexical Base, is domain-final and thus extrametrical; since v2 must be parsed (stem not followed by a vowel), so is v1 for the stem to be bimoraic. No cycle or stratal organisation of derivations are necessary to account for the contrast between ktib+na ‘we wrote’ and kitib#na ‘he registered us’. In order for the stem to remain strictly bimoraic, v1 must be moraless in the former case and moraic in the latter. Stress is not involved in these representations to account for the presence or the absence of stem vowels. 8.2. While the stem of nominals and of 1st form verbs in the perfective is bimoraic, the augmented stem of derived 2nd and 3rd forms is trimoraic. For all augmented stems, we analyze the Head node as branching and counting for two moras: (77)

ω LB Stem Hd μ C1 v1 C1 v1

Dp μ

μ

C2-1 C2-2 v2 C3  C2 v2 C3

cf. kɩssɛr bɩrɛk

The first part of the geminated 2nd radical in kɩssɛr counts for one mora; the second part is attached to the v2 mora. In bɩrɛk, the extension marker counts for one mora. In both cases, C3, being the right edge of the LB domain, is extrametrical. 8.2.1. If the Stem is followed by a suffix beginning in a vowel, Fabri’s constraint applies: v2 may not be parsed. Thus, the second part of C2 in kɩssr-ɛt ‘she broke’ and C2 in bɩrk-ɛt ‘she blessed’ count for one mora (in bold). C3 is not extrametrical but, being immediately followed by V, is in a position of moraless onset:

Gilbert Puech

302

(78)

ω LB Stem Hd μ

Suff. Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 C2-1 C2-2 v2 C3 C1 v1 ː C2 C3

+ +

VC VC

cf. kɩssrɛt bɩrkɛt

8.2.2. A similar analysis applies when the stem is directly followed by an internal clitic beginning in a vowel, as in kɩssr#u ‘he broke it-M.SG into pieces’ and bɩrku ‘he blessed him’: (79) ω LB Stem Hd μ C1 v1 C1 v1

Int. clitic

Dp μ

μ

C2-1 C2-2 v2 C3 ː C2 C3

#

V u

cf. kɩssru bɩrku

8.3.1. As explained in section 7.4.5, the formative vowel in the 1st form imperative and in the imperfect belongs to the stem while the person marker does not. The formative vowel and C1 are parsed by the branching Head node, while the person marker is attached to the superordinate prefix node. Maltese being a trochaic language, the dependent component of the branching Head, may be C or the vowel length extension (ː), but not the radical vowel v1 or v2. We already noticed that it makes sense on synchronic grounds to link the imperfect pattern to the C1vC2vC3 template of the corresponding perfect; cf. section 1.3. From a diachronic standpoint, however, Maltese imperfect does not derive from that template but directly inherited from a Cp-Vf-C1 C2 v C3 pattern. (80) ω LB Pref.

Stem Hd

C n

Dp

μ

μ

μ

V ɩ

C1 v1 C2 v2 k t ɛ

C3 b

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

303

8.3.2. When the plural marker +uː or the internal clitic #u follows the stem, neither v1 nor v2 are parsed: v1 because the dependent branch of the Head node may not be a nucleus; v2 because the stem final consonant is followed by a vowel: (81) (81a)

n-ɩ-ktb + u n-ɩ- ktb # u

‘we write’ ‘I write it-M.SG’ ω LB Pref.

Stem Hd

C n

Suff. Dp

μ

μ

μ

V ɩ

C1 v1 C2 v2 C3 k t b

+

Vː u

8.3.2. When C2 is a coronal sonorant n, l or r (represented by R) the imperfect plural pattern surfaces as Cp-Vf-C1 v C2 v2 C3 +u (similarly with the internal clitic #u): (82)

SG SG SG

n-ɩ́ k n ɛ s n-ɩ́ t l ɛ f n-ɩ́ f r ɛ d

n-ɩ-k ɩ́ n s+u n-ɩ-t ɩ́ l f+u n-ɩ-f ɩ́ r d+u

PL PL PL

‘we sweep’ ‘we lose’ ‘we separate’

It is noteworthy to observe the contrast between Maltese tɩkɩ́nsu and Tunis Arabic tɩ́kɩnsu; cf. Angoujard (1990: 89), Cohen (1975: 86, 97), Marçais (1977). In Maltese as in Tunis Arabic, a prohibited sequence CRC is prevented by filling the v1 slot with a surfacing vowel. In Tunis Arabic this vowel is not stressed although in other contexts a heavy syllable attracts stress. This is a cue towards the analysis we propose for Maltese: the v1 slot is licensed and prosodically attached to the stem. In Tunis Arabic as in Maltese, v1 is not licensed by the Head node. However in Maltese it may be stressed since stress assignment is not determined by the morpho-prosodic structure but by the surface syllabic pattern (cf. section 10): (83)

ω LB Prefix

Stem

Suff.

Head

Dp

μ

μ

μ

C V C v1 R v2 C t ɩ k ɩ n s

V u

Gilbert Puech

304

The morpho-prosodic analysis is the same for CCC and CRC roots. But, in order to satisfy a phonotactic wellformedness constraint, the v1 slot is in the latter case is licensed by the Stem node. 8.4.1. In indirect construction, an object pronoun may be linked to the Lexical Base by an infixed l. If this liquid is immediately preceded by a final C in the LB domain and followed by an object pronoun beginning by C, the CRC sequence is broken by an anaptyctic vowel for which there is no underlying slot. In an ‘elementary’ analysis of the Maltese sound system, a liquid is made of the elements {V; C); cf. Puech (2011). Under this analysis, the ‘V element’ is copied and promoted to the skeleton line at the left edge of the Internal clitic domain: (84) ω LB Stem

Int. Clitics Suff.

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 C2 v2

C3 +

C # v

R- CVC V

C

k

t

ɩ

b

t

ɩ

C

C

l

k ɔm

8.4.2. When the indirect construction marker l is not at the left edge of the Internal clitic domain, there is no anaptyctic vowel: (85)

k t ɩ b- t # ɔ m- l- k ɔm ‘I wrote them to you-all’

(not: *ktɩbtɔmɩlkɔm)

8.4.3. When an anaptyctic vowel is required, Fabri’s phonotactic constraint applies, which means that the v2 slot is not occupied: (86)

ω LB Stem Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1

C2

Int. Clitics

v2

C3

# v

R- CVC V

C

k ɩ

t

b

ɩ

C

C

l

k ɔ

m

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

305

If, in the imperfect, v2 is not parsed because an anaptyctic vowel is inserted, this in turn may provoke v1 licensing with attachment to the Stem node to prevent a radical CRC sequence: (87)

ω LB Pref.

Int. Clitics Stem

Head

Dp

μ

μ

μ

C V C1 v1 R2 v2 C3 # v V

t

c k

ɩ

ɩ

R- C V C V

c n

c s

ɩ

c l

c k ɔm

8.5. When a RC sequence is word-initial, underlyingly or because the v1 slot is not occupied, a prothetic vowel may be added. Fabri (2009: 18) gives the following example for a lexical base nħasel based on the template of the 7th form n-CvCvC: (88a) Ġorġ inħasel

(88b)

Pawlu nħasel

‘George/Paul was washed’

The prothetic vowel is required if the preceding word ends in a consonant or if there is an intonational break; cf. Vella (2009). This prothetic vowel surfaces as the default vowel ɩ. It is never stressed. 8.6. Maltese prohibits a word-initial CCC cluster. In the imperfect of the 6th form, we have in sequence the person prefix, the formative of the 6th form and the first radical consonant. An anaptyctic vowel breaks this cluster20 (see 7.4.7): n + t-k a bb a r

→

(89)

n ɩ t k a bb a r ω LB

Pref.

Stem Hd

Cp n 20

‘I grow proud’

v ɩ

Cf C1 t k

Dp

μ

μ

μ

v a

C2-1 C2-2 v b b a

C3 r

A v slot always follows the imperfective person marker. It is parsed only iff (i) it corresponds to the imperfective formative vowel, (ii) in-between two pre-stem consonants.

Gilbert Puech

306

The 6th form prefix t is a formative prefix at the left edge of the stem; the 1SG person prefix n is appended to the Lexical Base. This is a configuration in which the two appended initial consonants are separated by filling the pre-stem v slot referred to in footnote 20. Notice that Maltese accepts a word-final CCʃ cluster in which there is no disjunction vowel between word-final ʃ and the two preceding consonants, as in ma ktɩbtʃ ‘I did not write’. cf. (42) in section 6.2. (90)

ω LB Stem

C1 k

Int. clitic Suff.

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

v1 C2 v2 t ɩ

C3 + b

C t

C ʃ

9.1. Morpho-prosodic and phonotactic constraints determine the syllabic structure. Progressive and regressive Vowel Harmony processes require a complex ‘syntactic’ treatment (cf. Nevins 2010, Puech, to appear); They are not treated here. Let us just mention that in stems marked for the element {U}, v1 inherits it: (91)

ω LB Stem {U}

Prefix Head

Dp

μ

μ

μ

Suffix

C V C v1 R v2 C t ɩ ʃ ɔ r b

Vː u

9.2. In Standard Maltese, ɩ is lowered to ɛ iff it is followed by one word-final consonant: (92)

kɩtɩb

→

kɩtɛp

cf. (ma) kɩtɩpʃ ‘he did not write’

In the Siġġiewi dialectal area, the lowering takes place in front of one or several wordfinal consonants: (93)

cf. kɩtɩbæ ‘he wrote it-F.S’

but

kɩtɛp ~ (ma) kɩtɛpʃ

In Gozitan Maltese, the underlying pre-final ɩ is not lowered: (94)

cf. kɩtɩbæ ‘he wrote it-F.S’

and

kɩtɩp ~ (ma) kɩtɩpʃ

9.3. As anticipated in preceding notations, a word-final obstruent is unvoiced:

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

(95)

kɩtɩb ħabɩz

→ →

307

kɩtɛp ħab ɛs

‘he wrote’ ‘he baked bread’

9.4. When two obstruents are contiguous, underlyingly or because a v slot is not occupied, they regressively agree in voicing, except ħ and ʔ, which have no voiced counterpart: (96)

t -ɩ-k ɩ t ɩ b + uː (ma) k ɩ t ɩ b # ʃ

→ →

tɩk tbu

→

tɩgdbu k ɩ t ɩ pʃ

10. We eventually come to syllable parsing and stress assignment. In underlying representations, the word final position is occupied by C or by the vowel length marker ː (V alone is not possible underlyingly in absolute word final position). Words ending in V or V are stressed on the penultimate syllable; e.g., kɩ́tɛ

, kɩ́dbu; in all other cases, stress is assigned to the final syllable; e.g., (ma) kɩtɩ́p, mɩktúː

. Given the extrametricality of the word-final position, it means in metrical terms that stress is assigned to the Head of the word-final syllabic Trochee. Following Hayes‘s Foot Inventory (Hayes 1995: 81), let us consider the case where a Trochaic Foot consists in two equal units. These units are distributed over two metrically light syllables or within a single heavy syllable: (97)

σ σ

σ or

μ μ

μ μ

10.1. We have to include three cases in our typology. In the first one, the final syllable is metrically light and so is the penultimate. Stress is assigned to the Head of the trochaic foot: (98)

ω LB Stem Hd μ Cv1 {ONNU} < T

Dp μ Cv2 {ONNU

C CD}

>

STRESS

k ɩ́

t ɛ

b

In the second case, the final syllable is metrically heavy. Stress is assigned to it: (99)

k ɩ ss ɩ́ r t m ɩ k t úː b

‘I broke into pieces’ ‘written-M.SG’

In the third case, the final syllable is metrically light and the penultimate heavy:

Gilbert Puech

308

(100a) n ɩ́ k t ɛ b

(100b)

k ɩ́ t b u

This configuration may be analyzed as a bimoraic Trochee (T) followed by a monomoraic degenerate foot (τ). As expected, Stress is assigned to the Head of the syllabic Trochee: (101)

ω LB Pref.

Stem Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C V {ON NU < T n ɩ

μ

C1 v1 C2 v2 CD} {ON NU >< τ k t ɛ

C3 CD}

> b

10.2. No special provision is necessary to obtain the correct representation for kɩtbɩ́tu ‘she wrote it-M.SG’. In (102), stress is assigned on the penultimate as in (98): (102)

ω LB

Int. Clitic

Stem

Suff.

Hd

Dp

μ

μ

C1 v1 { ON NU

C2 v2 C3 { ON


STRESS

k

ɩ

d

b

ɩ́

t

u

In the imperfect 7th form, the model correctly predicts that the disjunction vowel between the person prefix and the 7th form formative prefix may not be stressed: (103) t + n-ħ a s ɛ l

→

tɩnħásɛl

In plurals formed with a prefix and a suffix, stress is penultimate since neither radical vowel surfaces: (104) ɩ- b a ħ a r -a

→

ɩ́ p ħ r a

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

309

10.3. In learned words, Stress may be lexical, in which case they are not subject to the native Stress pattern. Lexical stress may be born by a word-final vowel; e.g. (105) universitá It may be borne by the antepenultimate vowel in words ending in a …CVCVCV sequence (106) índika

(regular stress for verbs ending in -ika)

Other words may have a doublet whose adapted syllabic structure makes stress assignment regular; cf. supra 4.1 amérika ~ amérka. 10.4. The process known as ‘imaala’ in Arabic dialectology is particularly developped and central in Maltese phonology. Borg (1977: 151) gives this definition: The Arabic word imaala meaning, literally, ‘inclination, deflection’, was a phonetic term used by the medieval Arab grammarians to refer to the raising and fronting of /aa/ and /a/ towards /ii/ and /i/ in certain contexts. Though, in theory, the term included both long and short a, in practice, almost exclusive attention was given to the long vowel. In modern Maltese, three positions are to be considered for the realisation of the ‘imaala’: (107a) In word-final position: /a:/ is realized [a] in Standard Maltese, [æ] in rural dialects (non-Back environments); (107b) In stressed position: /a:/ is realized [ɩ́ː] or [ɩ́ə] in Standard M ([ɩ́ɛ] in rural dialects in metrically heavy word-final syllables); (107c) In pre-stressed position: /a:/ is realized [ɩ] or, in Standard M, with some 3rd form verbs, [ɛ]; 10.4.1. In Standard, the reduction of a radical ‘imaala’ in pre-stressed position in 3rd form verbs is ɛ or ɩ , depending on lexical forms: (108a) b ɩ́ː r ɛ k ‘he blessed’ (108b) b ɛ r ɩ́ k t ‘I blessed’ s ɩ́ː f ɛ r s ɩ f ɩ́ r t ‘I went abroad’ (examples from Alexander Borg). In a suffix, the reduction of ‘imaala’ is always ɩ. 10.4.2. Borg (1997: 271) subordinates the ‘imaala’ process to a cyclical application of the stress assignment rule: The circumstance that only synchronically stressed occurrences of SM /a:/ are affected by the ima:la-rule necessarily implies that grammatically complex strings displaying more than one instance of the two low central vowel /a:/ (e.g. concomitant with two or three layers of person markers) cannot be simply derived via fronting the last /a:/ in the string, but require recurring application of the rule of stress assignment and of the ima:la-rule, in that order. A representative SM example of such a string is the verb phrase like we did not steal it from her’, which would seem to derive from morphophonemically via cyclical

Gilbert Puech

310

application of the stress and ima:la-rule to an underlying representation such as the following string: [ma [[[srá’na:]ha:]lha:]š] (cf. Brame 1974). Even if Borg refers to Brame (1974), Borg’s and Brame’s derivations differ in their organisation. For Brame, only Stress is cyclic. The rule applies first to the lexical base (stem + suffix pronoun), then to the whole word (lexical base and its expansion). There are two cycles only. In examples given by Borg, both Stress and Ima:la apply cyclically, with one cycle per morpheme; e.g. in the case of the underlying form21 [[[[sɛráʔna:]ha:]lha:]š]: (109)

1st cycle 2nd cycle

sɛráʔna sɛraʔná: ha sɛraʔnɩ́ ha 3rd cycle sɛraʔnɩ́ ha: l ha sɛraʔnɩhá: l ha sɛraʔnɩhɩ́ː l ha 4th cycle sɛraʔnɩhɩ́lha: ʃ sɛraʔnɩhɩlháʃ sɛraʔnɩhɩlhɩ́ ʃ Post-cyclic sɛraʔnɩ:hɩ:lhɩ́ ʃ sraʔnɩ:hɩ:lhɩ́ ʃ sraʔnɩ:hɩ:lhɩ́ ʃ sraʔnɩhɩlhɩ́ʃ In this derivation, the stress rule is that of Brame in (8), except that there is no secondary stress left when the primary stress is shifted. The post-cyclic Vowel shortening rule does not concern the imaala ɩ́ː only (cf.107c) but also a:, u: and í: in pre-stressed position: (110a) sá:b-u mɩktú:b í:d

sɛraʔna sɛráʔna #ha

‘they found’ ‘written-M.SG’ ‘hand’

Stress Stress shift Imaala Stress shift Imaala Stress shift Imaala Syncope Reduction

(110b)

ma sabú:-ʃ mɩktub-ı́:n idɛjn

‘they did not find’ ‘written-M.PL’ ‘hands-DUAL’

10.4.3. As stated by Brame (1972: 63): “The phonological cycle is an interesting theoretical construct, but, at the same time, a very powerful one, for it permits the generation of a great many phonological systems”. In our analysis, no cyclical application of rules is required since the representation of the ‘imaala’ is determined by phonotactic constraints. Let us reexamine Borg’s example. The underlying string is composed of: (111a) (111b) (111C) (111d) (111e) (111f) 21

s v 1 r v2 ʔ naː h aː l h aː ʃ

1st form Perfect ‘STEAL’ 1M.SG Subject pronoun PRE-STRESSED POSITION 3F.SG Object pronoun PRE-STRESSED POSITION Indirect construction marker 3F.SG Object pronoun STRESSED POSITION Enclitic negative marker

We start from the unmarked perfect form, substitute to symbols ’ and š respectively ʔ and ʃ and leave apart the external proclitic ma, which forms a discontinuous morpheme of negation with the internal enclitic ʃ. The phonological status of h would deserve a development on its own; see Cohen (1970: 131). For the reflexes of h in synchrony, see Borg (1997: 274). In (112) a dot indicates a hiatus between two identical vowels.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

311

We obtain the output sraʔ-nɩ-ɩ-l-ɩ́ː-ʃ in one pass, as shown in (112). The three ‘imaala’ vowels are in two environments in complementary distribution: x x x

the ultimate imaala is in final heavy syllable and stressed (cf. case 107b) the penultimate imaala is internal and in pre-stressed position (107c) the antepenultimate imaala is also internal and in pre-stressed position

(112)

ω LB Stem Hd

Int. Clitics

Suf.

Dp

μ

μ

C

v1 C v2

C

{ON

NU

CD }

aː l haː {ON NU} {NU} {ON NU < Τ naː

h

C CD }

>

STRESS

s

r a

ʔ

nɩ

. ɩ

l

ɩː́

ʃ

Part II: Summary SYLLABIC STRUCTURE

1. Morpho-prosodic wellformedness constraints: x Stems are licensed by a Head and a Dependent nodes x In Basic templates, the Head is non branching (Stems are STRICTLY bimoraic) x In augmented templates, the Head is branching (Stems are trimoraic) x A Branching Head may not be binucleic (it contains one Nucleus+extension) 2. Stem Vowels Alternations: x The Stem vowel v1 is implemented iff it is moraic or attached to the Stem node (to prevent a CRC sequence); otherwise, it is not parsed. x The Stem vowel v2 is implemented if the stem is NOT followed by a suffix or an internal clitic beginning in a vowel; in the latter case, v2 is not parsed. 3. Phonotactic prohibitions: x Within the stem a CRC cluster is prohibited (R standing for a coronal liquid); x Between C3 and the internal clitic domain, a RmC cluster is prohibited; x At the left edge of the intonational word an initial RmC cluster is prohibited; (where Rm stands for a coronal liquid or the nasal labial m);

312

Gilbert Puech

4. Phonotactic constraints on consonants x A word-final obstruent is unvoiced x Non guttural obstruents regressively agree in voicing 5. Phonotactic constraints on vowels x A word-final vowel is short in Standard (diphthongized in rural dialects) x A phonemically long vowel is shortened in pre-stressed position x Stem vowels are lowered when adjacent to a guttural consonant x The ‘imala’ process applies to underlying /aː/ in non-Back contexts x Vowel Harmony : not accounted for in this paper STRESS

x Assign stress to the Head of the word-final syllabic Trochee (except in loan-words which keep an etymological lexical stress).

Conclusion With regard to the interaction between syllabic structure and stress, there have been two trends among Arabic scholars. In one tradition, stress is not the determining factor for explaining the deletion of short vowels in open syllables. Thus Cantineau (1960: 120) states that: La structure syllabique paraît évoluer sous des influences qui n’ont rien à voir avec l’accent de mot : par exemple dans les parlers maghrébins l’élimination de toutes les voyelles brèves en syllabe ouverte paraît due à la rapidité du débit dans ces parlers; dans les parlers orientaux certaines successions de syllabes brèves semblent évitées. Mitchell’s contribution regarding ‘prominence’ makes it clear that prominence results from the overall syllabic pattern and not from stress alone, although stress is indeed a prominence mark. The general tendency however has been to make syllabic structure depend on stress assignment as the primary factor triggering syncope. In rule-based frameworks the natural consequence is intrinsic ordering between the two processes since Syncope makes reference to Stress in its structural description. The dependency of syllabic structure on stress placement has even been maintained in some works where metrical structure “determines both the possible syncopes and stress assignment.” (Angoujard 1990: 3). Recently McCarthy (2008) argues for a version of OT called Harmonic Serialism, in which the effects of stress assignment and syncope can and must be evaluated sequentially. In this paper, I opt for a morpho-prosodic approach. Root-and pattern stems are strictly bimoraic when their Head is non-branching; they are trimoraic when they include a root-internal or a root-external augment. Phonotactic constraints then interact

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

313

with this prosodic organisation, yielding the surface syllabic profile of the forms. Semitic Maltese (including borrowings conform to its patterns) morpho-prosodic organization keeps it distinct from concatenative non-Semitic Maltese. On the contrary, stress assignment tends to unify these two streams by integrating loan words into a ‘native’ mould with linked changes in their etymological syllabic structure. Thus, on lexical grounds but also on morpho-phonological grounds, Maltese qualifies in synchrony as a “mixed” language. On diachronic grounds, Maltese is neither ‘western’ nor ‘eastern’, just Maltese!

Abbreviations adj adjective C1, C2, C3 consonant position in a root CD coda CE common era Cl clitics prefix consonant Cp DET determinate DP dependent prosodic node F.SG feminine singular F feminine head prosodic node HD Int internal LB Lexical Base Maltese M M.PL masculine plural M.SG masculine singular M masculine NU nucleus OA Old Arabic ON Onset

OT p PL

R Rm SEG SG

SPE Std suff T V v1, v2 Vf VH Σ σ τ ω

Optimality Theory personal prefix plural segments l, r, n segments l, r, n and m segment singular Sound Pattern of English Standard suffix trochee vowel templatic V position formative vowel Vowel Harmony Foot level Syllable level degenerate trochee Word level

References Angoujard, Jean-Pierre (1990): Metrical structure of Arabic. Dordrecht, Holland ; Providence, RI, U.S.A: Foris Pubs. Aquilina, Joseph (1959): The structure of Maltese : a study in mixed grammar and vocabulary. Msida, Malta: Royal University of Malta. Aquilina, Joseph (1987–1990): Maltese-English dictionary. Malta. Midsea Books. Aquilina, Joseph & Isserlin, B. S. J. (1981): A Survey of contemporary dialectal Maltese. University of Leeds. Leeds: B.S.J. Isserlin.

314

Gilbert Puech

Blanc, Haim; Wexler, Paul; Borg, Alexander & Somekh, Sasson (1989): Studia linguistica et orientalia memoriae Haim Blanc dedicata: Mediterranean language and culture monograph series,. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. Bonelli, Luigi (1897–1907): Il dialetto maltese, in Supplementi periodici all'Archivio Glottologico Italiano 1897, 53–98, 1899, 37–70, 1907, 1–50. Bonnici, Lisa (2009): Maltese English, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 393–414. Borg, Alexander (1976): Reflexes of pausal forms in Maltese rural dialects, in: Israel Oriental Studies 7, 211–225. Borg, Alexander (1978): A historical and comparative phonology and morphology of Maltese. The Hebrew University, Israel. Borg, Alexander (1996): On some Levantine linguistic traits in Maltese, in: Israel Oriental Studies XVI, 20. Borg, Alexander (1997): Maltese phonology, in: Kaye, Alan S. (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 245–285. Borg, Alexander (2009): Between typology and diachrony: some formal parallels in Hebrew and Maltese, eds. Daniel Sivan, David Talshir and Chaim Cohen: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press. Borg, Albert J. & Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie (1997):. Maltese: London/New York: Routledge. Brame, Michael K. (1972a): On the abstractness of phonology: Maltese ʕ, in: Brame, Michael K. (ed.), Contributions to generative phonology. Austin: University of Texas Press. Brame, Michael K. (1972b): The segmental cycle, in: Brame, Michael K. (ed.), Contributions to generative phonology. Austin: University of Texas Press. Brame, Michael K. (1973): Stress assignment in two Arabic dialects, in: Anderson, Stephen & Kiparsky, Paul (eds.), A Festschrift for Morris Halle. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 14–25. Brame, Michael K. (1974): The cycle in phonology: stress in Palestinian, Maltese, and Spanish, in: Linguistic Inquiry V(1), 39–60. Bresc, Henri (1994): Malte et l’Afrique (1282–1492), in: Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée (www.persee.fr) 71(1), 63–74. Brincat, Guiseppe (1986): Critica testuale della Cantilena di Pietro Caxaro, in: Journal of Maltese Studies 16, 1–21. Brincat, Joseph M. (1995): Malta 870-1054 : al-Himyar*i's account and its linguistic implications. Valletta, Malta: Said International. Brincat, Joseph M. (2003): Malta : una storia linguistica: Il Mediterraneo plurilingue 1. Recco (Genova): Le mani. Brincat, Joseph M. (2009): FRANCESCO VELLA and the standardization of Maltese, in: Il-Lingwa tagħna – Our Language 1, 7–15. Brogini, Anne (2006): Malte, frontière de chrétienté 1530–1670. Rome: École française de Rome. Broselow, Ellen (1992): Parametric variation in Arabic dialect phonology, in: Broselow, Ellen; Eid, Mushira & McCarthy, John (eds.), Perspectives on Arabic linguistics IV. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Busuttil, Joseph; Fiorini, S. & Vella, H. C. R. (2010): Tristia in Greek Verse of a XIIth-century Exile on Gozo. Malta: the FARSONS Foundation. Cantineau, Jean (1960): Études de linguistique arabe, mémorial Jean Cantineau. Paris: Klincksieck. Caruana, Sandro (2009): Terminology of Italian origin used in EU Maltese, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 355–375. Chekayri, A. & Scheer, T. (2003): The appearance of glides in Classical Arabic defective verbs, in: Folia Orientalia 39, 7–33.

Syllabic structure and stress in Maltese

315

Clements, G. N. & Hume, Elizabeth (1995): The internal organization of speech sounds, in: Goldsmith, John A. (ed.), The handbook of phonological theory. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell. Cohen, David (1970): Études de linguistique sémitique et arabe. La Haye/Paris: Mouton. Cohen, David (1975): Le parler arabe des Juifs de Tunis... / 2, Étude linguistique. The Hague/Paris: Mouton. Cohen, David & Vanhove, Martine (1991): La cantilène maltaise du XVème siècle: Remarques linguistiques, in: Comptes rendus du G.L.E.C.S. XXIX–XXX, 43. Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.) (2009): Introducing Maltese linguistics. Selected papers from the 1st International Conference on Maltese Linguistics, Bremen, 18–20 October, 2007. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Cowan, William (1966): Loss of emphasis in Maltese, in: Journal of Maltese Studies 3, 27–32. Cremona, J. (1990): The Romance element in Maltese, in: Transactions of the Philological Society 88(2), 36. Fabri, Ray (2009): Stem allomorphy in the Maltese verb, in: ILSIENNA – Our Language 1, 20. Goldenberg, Gideon (1998): Studies in Semitic linguistics: selected writings. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University. Hayes, Bruce (1995): Metrical stress theory principles and case studies. Chicago (Ill.); London: The University of Chicago Press. Hume, Elizabeth V. (1994): Front vowels, coronal consonants, and their interaction in nonlinear phonology: Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Garland Pub. Hyman, Larry M. (1985): A theory of phonological weight. Dordrecht: Foris. Ito, Junko (1988): Syllable theory in prosodic phonology: Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Garland Pub. Johnson, C. Douglas (1988): Levantine Cyclogenesis, in: Eid, Mushira & McCarthy, John J. (eds.), Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics II. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Kager, René (1997): Rhythmic vowel deletion in Optimality Theory, in: Roca, Iggy (ed.), Derivations and constraints in phonology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Kihm, Alain (2003): Les pluriels internes de l’arabe, in: Grammaire et gabarits. Saint-Denis. Presses universitaires de Vincennes. Kiparsky, Paul (2003): Syllables and moras in Arabic, in: Féry, Caroline & van de Vijver, Ruben F. H. E.(eds.), The syllable in optimality theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kisseberth, Charles W. (1970): On the functional unity of phonological rules, in: Linguistic Inquiry 1, 291–306. Krier, Fernande (1975): Analyse phonologique du maltais. Basel/München/Paris: S. Karger. Krier, Fernande (1976): Le maltais au contact de l'italien. Hamburg: H. Buske. Lutrell, Anthony (1994):. L’effritement de l’Islam (1091–1282), in: Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée (www.persee.fr) 71(1), 49–61. Marçais, Philippe (1977): Esquisse grammaticale de l'arabe maghrébin. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient. McCarthy, John J. (2003): Sympathy, cumulativity, and the Duke-of-York Gambit, in: Féry, Caroline & van de Vijver, Ruben F. H. E.(eds.),The syllable in optimality theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McCarthy, John J. (2007): Hidden generalizations phonological opacity in optimality theory. London; Oakville, CT: Equinox. McCarthy, John J. (2008): The serial interaction of stress and syncope, in: Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 26(3), 499–546. Mifsud, Manwel (1995): Loan verbs in Maltese: a descriptive and comparative study. Leiden/New York: E.J. Brill.

316

Gilbert Puech

Mitchell, T. F. (1960): Prominence and syllabification in Arabic., in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 23(2), 369–389. Mori, Laura (2009): The shaping of Maltese throughout the centuries, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 291–307. Owens, Jonathan (2006): A linguistic history of Arabic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pace, Joe F. (2009): The tortuous itinerary of the Maltese vowel ie, in: ILSIENNA — Our Language 1, 29. Prince, Alan (1983): Relating to the grid, in: Linguistic Inquiry 14, 19–100. Puech, Gilbert (1978): A cross-dialectal study of Vowel Harmony in Maltese. Paper presented at Chicago Linguistic Society. Puech, Gilbert (1979): Les parlers maltais, Essai de phonologie polylectale. Thesis: Université de Lyon. Puech, Gilbert (1983): Un fragment de phonologie polylectale, in: Berrendonner, Alain et al. (ed.), Principes de grammaire polylectale. Lyon: Presses universitaires de Lyon. Puech, Gilbert (1994): Ethnotextes maltais. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Puech, Gilbert (2011): An ‘elementary’ analysis of speech sounds in Maltese. Paper for the 3rd Conference on Maltese Linguistics. Malta. April 2011. Roca, Iggy (1997): Derivations and constraints in phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Roca, Iggy & Johnson, Wyn (1999): A course in phonology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Scheer, Tobias (2004): A lateral theory of phonology: what is CVCV, and why should it be? Berlin/ New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Stumme, Hans (1904): Maltesische Studien: eine Sammlung prosaischer und poetischer Texte in maltesischer Sprache, nebst Erläuterungen. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. Sutcliffe, Edmund F. (1936): A grammar of the Maltese language. London. Oxford University Press. Vanhove, Martine (1993): La langue maltaise Etudes syntaxiques d’un dialecte arabe ‘périphérique’. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Vanhove, Martine (1998): De quelques traits préhilaliens en maltais. Paper presented at Peuplement et Arabisation au Maghreb Occidental (Dialectologie et Histoire). Madrid/Zaragoza: Casa Velazquez/Universidad de Zaragoza. Vassalli, Michael A. (1796): Ktŷb yl klŷm Mâlti, ’mfysser byl-Latǐn u byt-Taljânm, sive liber dictionum Melitensium. Roma. Reedited by Frans Sammut (2002): Lexicon ta’ Mikiel Anton Vassalli. Malta: SKS. Vella, Alexandra (2009): On Maltese prosody, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 47–68. Vella Gauci, Joe (2010): Christian-Muslim relations as a topos in Maltese historio-graphy and literature. Malta: Arab European Forum for Development and Dialog. Versteegh, Cornelis Henricus Maria (1997): The Arabic language. Edinburgh: University Press. Watson, Janet C. E. (2002): The phonology and morphology of Arabic. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. Wettinger, Godfrey (1985): The Jews of Malta in the late Middle Ages: Maltese social studies 6. Valletta, Malta: Midsea Books. Wettinger, Godfrey & Fsadni, O.P. (1968): Peter Caxaro’s Cantilena. Malte. Yoda, Sumikazu (2009): The vowel system of Cantilena, in: Comrie, Bernard et al. (eds.), Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 279–290.

List of contributors

MARIE AZZOPARDI-ALEXANDER Institute of Linguistics, University of Malta 32, ‘Frae Cramond’, Triq il-Kokka, Kappara, San Gwann, SGN4102 MALTA [email protected] ALBERT BORG Institute of linguistics, University of Malta 47, Triq il-Kbira Ħas-Sajjied Birkirkara BKR 2484 MALTA [email protected] JOSEPH M. BRINCAT Department of Italian, University of Malta 47, Triq il-Kbira Ħas-Sajjied Birkirkara BKR 2484 MALTA [email protected] LARA BRINCAT Department of Arts & Languages in Education Faculty of Education University of Malta Msida MSD 2080 MALTA [email protected] MARIS CAMILLERI Department of English Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences AC Building

University of Surrey Guildford Surrey GU2 7XH UNITED KINGDOM [email protected] ANTOINETTE CAMILLERI GRIMA Institute of Linguistics University of Malta Msida MSD 2080 MALTA [email protected] SANDRO CARUANA Department of Arts & Languages in Education Faculty of Education University of Malta Msida MSD 2080 MALTA [email protected] FLAVIA CHETCUTI “Les Arcs” Triq il-Knisja l-Qadima Manikata MALTA [email protected] RAY FABRI Institute of Linguistics Rm. 402A, CCT University of Malta Msida MSD 2080 MALTA [email protected]

318

List of contributors

SARAH GRECH Dwejra Triq il-Madonna tad-Duttrina Tarxien MALTA [email protected]

MICHAEL SPAGNOL Fachbereich Linguistik Universität Konstanz 78464 Konstanz GERMANY [email protected]

LAURA MORI Facoltà di Interpretariato e Traduzione Libera Università San Pio V Via Cristoforo Colombo, 200 00145 Roma ITALY [email protected]

THOMAS STOLZ Fachbereich 10: Linguistik Universität Bremen Postfach 330440 28334 Bremen GERMANY [email protected]

GILBERT PUECH Université de Lyon 2 86, rue Pasteur F-69365 Lyon Cedex 07 FRANCE [email protected]

ALEXANDRA VELLA Institute of Linguistics University of Malta Msida MSD 2080 MALTA [email protected]

Index of authors

Adger, David 133 Agius, Alexia 71 Agius, Dionisius 20 Aitchison, Jean 90, 94, 249 Alexiadou, Artemis 158, 159, 172, 174 Alsina, Alex 140 Ammon, Ulrich 34, 35 Anagnostopoulou, Elena 174 Anderson, Stephen R. 143, 144 Androutsopoulos, Jannis 71, 97 Angoujard, Jean-Pierre 278, 279, 281, 286, 287, 289, 303, 313 Anis, Jacques 71, 77, 85 Aquilina, Catherine 33, 36 Aquilina, Joseph 13, 14, 16, 17, 104, 236, 237, 252, 262, 278, 282, 294 Arad, Maya 167 Aronoff, Mark 166 Ashby, Michael 240 Asudeh, Ash 135 Attard, Maria 18 Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie 8, 11, 13, 15, 26, 29, 135, 141, 146, 150, 165, 185, 187, 194, 239, 240, 249, 262, 291, 294, 295, 298 Baerman, Matthew 151 Barbara, Marica 28, 94, 101–104 Baron, Irène 183 Baron, Naomi S. 67, 69–71, 85 Barshi, Immanuel 183 Battaglia, Salvatore 42 Bauer, Laurie 105 Belmore, Nancy 67 Benmamoun, Elabbas 138 Berman, Ruth 143 Berruto, Gaetano 35

Bianchi, Valentina 147 Biber, Douglas 67 Blevins, Juliette 94–96, 99 Bloomfield, Leonard 94 Boersma, Paul 258 Bonnici, Lisa 278 Borer, Hsgit 141, 144 Borg, Albert 7, 13, 15, 20, 29, 37, 92, 135, 141, 142, 146–149, 157, 164, 165, 185, 187, 194, 235, 240, 249–251, 262, 281, 282, 291, 294, 295, 298, 309, 310 Borg, Alexander 12–16 Brame, Michael K. 100, 278–284, 286, 287, 289, 310 Brennan, Susan E. 257 Brenziger, Matthias 90 Bresc, Henri 277 Bresnan, Joan 134 Brincat, Joseph M. 7, 34, 35, 163, 277, 278 Broadwell, George A. 138 Brown, Penelope 49 Burzio, Luigi 170 Busuttil, Carmen 23 Busuttil, Joseph 277 Bybee, Joan L. 210 Camilleri Grima, Antoinette 8, 46, 47, 49–52, Camilleri, Antoinette 13–16, 21, 29, 91, 92 Camilleri, Maris 8, 94, 132, 135, 136, 139, 140, 142, 146–149, 151, 152 Campione, Estelle 256 Cantineau, Jean 279, 312 Carletta, J. 260 Caruana, Philip 18 Caruana, Sandro 8, 109, 114, 151, 278 Cassar Pullicino, Joseph 34

Index of authors

320 Cedar, Payung 45, 48–53 Centineo, Giulia 161, 170, 174 Chambers, Jack K. 12, 238, 239, 247, 248 Chappell, Hilary 183 Chekayri, A. 297 Cheshire, Jenny 94, 97 Chick, J. Keith 49–52 Chircop, John 112, 113 Clark, Herbert 256, 257, 267 Clements, G. N. 284 Coene, Martine 183 Cohen, David 278, 303, 311 Collot, Milena 67 Comrie, Bernard 142, 151, 160, 161, 163, 168, 170, 178, 185, 194 Cowan, William 281 Cremona, Ninu 165 Cristofaro, Sonia 194 Cruttenden, Alan 257, 267 Crystal, David 66–72, 77, 85, 87, 90, 91 Curmi, Edel 24 Cutler, Anne 257 Danet, Brenda 71, 72, 75 Davies, Claire 69, 85 De Brincat, Olivia 33, 36 De Mauro, Tullio 36, 37, 40 Debono, Marthese 24 Den, Yasuharu 256 Denis, Derek 69, 72, 84 Dowty, David 160 Drouin, Michelle 69, 84, 85

Friggieri, Oliver 33–37 Fsadni, Michael 92, 278 Garvin, Paul 34 Giacalone Ramat, Anna 194 Gnanadesikan, Amalia. E. 66 Goffin, Roger 109 Goldenberg, Gideon 297 Goldman-Eisler, Frieda 257 Gorsemann, Sabine 184 Gramsci, Antonio 33, 34 Gray, John 57, 60 Grinevald Craig, Colette 90 Grodzinsky, Yosef 141, 144 Guaïtella, Isabelle 267, 269 Haiman, John 210 Hale, Kenneth 158 Halliday, Michael. A.K. 67 Hård af Segerstad, Ylva 66, 68, 71, 77 Haspelmath, Martin 151, 157–163, 168, 170, 175–177 Hayes, Bruce 296, 299, 307 Hayward, Katrina 248 Heggie, Lorie 136, 137 Heine, Bernd 183, 184, 186, 198 Herbert, Robert K. 49–52 Herring, Susan C. 66–68, 71 Hoberman, Robert D. 165, 166 Holmes, Janet 45, 47–52, 57, 60, 94, 97 Hull, Geoffrey 34 Hume, Elizabeth V. 278, 279, 284, 285 Hyman, Larry M. 298

Eklund, Robert 256 Fabri, Ray 8, 105, 141, 146–151, 165, 183, 185, 187, 190, 192, 194, 205, 209, 278, 288, 290–292, 299, 301, 304, 305 Farrugia, George 100 Farrugia, Paulseph-John 256, 258 Fenech, Dwardu 141 Fenech, Edward 13 Ferrara, Kathleen 67 Fiorini, Stanley 112 Fischer, Kerstin 185 Folli, Raffaella 170 Fox Tree, Jean E. 256, 257, 271 Fox, Susan 97

Incorvaja, William 15, 19, 24, 239, 240 Isserlin, Benedikt S. J. 13, 14, 16, 17, 236, 237, 252 Ito, Junko 298 Jackendoff, Ray 158, 160, 172 Jaeggli, Osvaldo A. 143 Johnson, C. Douglas 283 Johnson, Donna M. 47 Joos, Martin 249 Jucker, Andreas H. 46, 47, 49, 53, 54 Jurafsky, Dan 257, 267

Index of authors Keller, Rudi 96 Kerswill, Paul 251 Kessler, B. 248 Keyser, Samuel Jay 158 Kiparsky, Paul 158 Kisseberth, Charles W. 282 Kitazume, Sachiko 176 Koontz-Garboden, Andrew 159, 161, 170, 173, 174 Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria 184, 185, 187 Kowal, Sabine 256, 257 Kress, Gunther 67 Kroeger, Paul R. 137 Labov, William 94, 95, 239 Ladefoged, Peter 249, 250 Lakoff, George 172 Larson, Richard K. 142 Lavidas, Nikolaos 157, 170 Lehmann, Christian 96, 183, 195, 219 Levelt, Willem J. M. 257 Levin, Beth 158–161, 172–174 Levinson, Stephen C. 49 Ling, Rich 66, 67, 69, 71 Lodge, Ken 240 Lutrell, Anthony 277 Lyons, John 172 Macfarland, Talke 159, 160, 174, 175, 177 Maidment, John 240 Manes, Joan 53, 54 Marantz, Alec 171 Marçais, Philippe 281, 303 Mathiot, Madeleine 34 Matsuzaki, Toru 158 McCarthy, John J. 312 McGregor, William 183 McKoon, Gail 159, 160, 174, 175, 177 McMillion, Alan 157, 163, 170, 176 Mifsud, Manuel 37 Mifsud, Manwel 94, 102, 114, 164–166, 168, 262, 278, 287, 288 Mitchell, T. F. 281, 312 Mittendorf, Ingo 138, 140 Moniz, Helena 256, 267 Montemagni, Simonetta 159, 170 Mori, Laura 8, 110, 112–115, 117, 120

321 Nichols, Johanna 160, 168, 184 O’Connell, Daniel 156, 157 Panzavecchia, Fortunato 26 Paolillo, John.C. 71 Parsons, Terence 171 Payne, Doris 183 Peterson, John 151, 185, 189 Pinker, Steven 158, 160, 172 Piñón, Christopher 161, 171, 172 Pirelli, Vito 159 Plester, Beverly 69, 85 Pollock, Sheldon 90, 91 Pomerantz, Anita 49–52 Preca, Annibale 13 Prince, Alan 296 Puech, Gilbert 8, 13, 14, 16, 251, 278, 285, 288, 304, 306 Pullum, Geoffrey K. 133, 136, 137 Pylkkänen, Liina 158 Quimbo, Felix C.M. 256 Ramchand, Gillian 158 Rapa, Josette 23 Rappaport Hovav, Malka 158–161, 172–174 Romaine, Suzannne 34, 97 Rose, Ralph L. 257 Rosen, Larry D. 69 Sadler, Louisa 134, 136, 138, 140, 147–149 Said, Mary Joyce 15, 239 Sammut, Yvonne 29 Schabert, Peter 13, 15, 16 Schäfer, Florian 157–159, 174 Scheer, Tobias 286, 297 Sciberras, Christian 33, 36, 37 Scicluna, Karl 28, 94, 101–104 Sciriha, Lydia 25, 26, 91 Seiler, Hansjakob 183, 186 Shriberg, Elizabeth E. 256, 257, 266, 267, 269–271 Siebenhaar, Beat 71 Spagnol, Michael 8, 21, 22, 94, 166, 168, 170 Spencer-Oatey, Helen 45, 49, 61 Stassen, Leon 183, 184, 186, 198 Stefanowitsch, Anatol 185

322 Stolcke, Andeas 257, 271 Stolz, Thomas 8, 96, 184–186, 189–194, 220 Stumme, Hans 13, 16, 277 Su, His-Yao 71 Sutcliffe, Edmund F. 164, 294 Swerts, Marc 257, 267 Tagliamonte, Sali A. 69, 72, 84 Tannen, Deborah 67 Thepkanjana, Kingkarn 159 Thurlow, Crispin 68 Toivonen, Ida 135 Tran, Giao Quynh 48 – 54 Trudgill, Peter 12, 238, 239, 247, 248 Tseng, Shu-Chuan 256 Tsunoda, Tasaku 158

Index of authors Wardhaugh, Ronald 14 Warschauer, Mark 71 Wasow, Thomas 256, 257 Watanabe, Michiko 257, 271 Watson, Janet C. E. 281, 296 Weenink, David 258 Werry, Christopher 70 Wescoat, Martin T. 140 Wettinger, Godfrey 18, 92, 278 Williams, Ann 251 Williams, Maurice 257 Wolfson, Nessa 48, 53, 54, 60 Wright, Saundra K. 175, 176 Wu, Si-Yuan 45, 49–53 Wurzel, Wolfgang 96 Yu, Wan-juan 45, 46, 50–54

Vanhove, Martine 13–17, 191, 204, 278 Vassallo, Mario 25, 26, 34, 91 Vassalli, Michel Anton 13, 34 Vella Gauci, Joe 277 Vella, Alexandra 8, 13, 26, 138, 256, 258, 260, 262, 305 Véronis, Jean 256 Visser, Fredericus T. 176

Zabbara, Giacomo 112 Zammit, Jacqueline 45, 46, 48–52, 57–62 Zhao, Yuan 257, 267 Zimmermann, Klaus 96 Zwicky, Arnold M. 133, 136, 137

Index of languages

Arabic 7, 14, 16, 17, 37, 40, 85, 103, 109, 114, 115, 117, 118, 121, 138, 163, 277– 279, 281–284, 286, 288, 298, 303, 309, 312 Old Arabic 282, 298 Palestinian Arabic 279 Tunis Arabic 303 Caribbean Spanish 137 Cottonera 25, 26 Dialect of Birkirkara 20 Dingli 23 Fontana 17 Gudja 23 Għarb 17, 23 Għasri 17 Kerċem 17 Magħtab 20 Munxar 17 Qala 17 Qrendi 23 San Lawrenz 17 Sannat 17 St Julians 20 Xagħra 17 Xewkija 17, 26, 27 Żejtun 23, 240 English 7, 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, 37, 40, 48–50, 66, 68, 69, 74, 76–82, 84, 85, 91–93, 97, 100, 103–105, 109, 110, 112–115, 117– 123, 160, 163, 166, 168, 170, 171, 176, 186, 188, 192, 195–199, 209, 212, 246, 247, 252, 256, 257, 266, 277, 278, 288

American English 49, 266 Australian English 48, 50 British English 50, 97 Maltese English 24, 91, 93, 247 South African English 49 Standard English 69, 74, 76 Finnish 163 French 37, 77, 79, 85, 109, 114, 120, 163, 185, 192, 195–197, 208–210, 256, 269 Gaelic 35 German 37, 98, 174, 186, 192, 195–197 Gozitan 14, 15, 23, 24, 247, 248, 306 Greek 170 Hebrew 141, 278 Italian 7, 33–40, 42, 77–79, 91, 100, 104, 105, 109, 110, 112–123, 163, 166, 168, 170, 174, 185, 192, 196, 197, 277, 278 Latin 37, 90, 91, 114, 117, 278 Maltese 7, 8, 11–27, 29, 33–36, 39–42, 45– 48, 50, 57–59, 63, 65, 66, 73–85, 89, 91– 94, 98–103, 105, 109–126, 131–142, 144– 153, 157–168, 170, 171, 173, 175–178, 183, 185, 186, 188–190, 192, 194–198, 203, 207–209, 221, 222, 228, 229, 235– 243, 245–248, 250–252, 255–259, 261, 265, 267–270, 272, 273, 277–279, 281– 284, 286–288, 290, 292, 294–296, 298, 302–306, 309, 313 Rural Maltese 12, 15, 295

Index of languages

324 Standard Maltese 11, 13–22, 24–27, 35, 41, 65, 73, 74, 79–81, 134, 235, 236, 238– 242, 245–248, 250–252, 278, 281, 284, 295, 296, 306, 309 Mellieħi 16, 22 Mġarri 13, 15, 16, 21 Mosti 22

Samoan 48 Sanskrit 90, 170 Sicilian 37, 40, 278, 287 Siġġiewi 16, 306 Spanish 37, 91, 137, 171, 173 Swedish 77, 163, 256

Naduri 8, 13, 15, 235, 239, 242, 245, 246, 247, 252 Naxxari 22

Taiwanese Chinese 49 Thai 48, 49 Tsez 163

Portuguese 91, 256, 267

Vietnamese 48, 50

Qormi 11, 16, 22

Xlukkajr 8, 13, 15, 19, 24, 235, 239–247, 252

Rabti 25 Russian 163, 257

Zebbuġi 22

Index of subjects

animacy hierarchy 139, 140 argument alternation 156, 165, 168 argument structure 131, 162, 170, 174 attitude 39, 70, 92, 93, 97, 111, 120, 233

European Commission 108, 112 European Parliament 112 Europeanisation 114 finite verbs 292

borrowing 92, 93, 113, 115, 286, 311 causative 8, 156–162, 165–170, 172–176 causativization 169, 174 Case Marker 129, 132 chat conversations 65, 66, 72 classroom 62, 66, 69, 78, 85 clitic doubling 145, 147 code-switching 25, 29, 77, 82, 92, 248 codification 34, 35, 258 compliments 8, 45–49, 53–63 compounds 108, 116, 117, 120, 207 concordances 33, 36, 37 consonantal root 162 construct state 185, 189, 217, 218, 219, 226 contrastive focus 188, 206, 220, 225 Dative Shift 140 definiteness 146, 185, 188, 189, 200, 201, 204 derivation 8, 15, 99, 100, 118, 156, 157, 159– 165, 169–171, 173–176, 279–283, 290, 296, 299, 308, 309 dialectal 7, 11, 23, 27, 132, 234, 235, 245, 248, 249, 275, 276, 295, 305 diglossia 111, 113 education 34, 35, 62, 65, 72, 79, 85, 109–111, 120, 248–250, 256 enclitic 8, 24, 55, 129, 133–138, 140, 141, 143–151, 260, 280, 290, 293, 308, 309 epenthesis 282–284

gender 20, 22, 45, 49, 52, 59, 63, 94, 100, 103, 161, 163, 243, 260, 265, 292 gender assignment 100 Gozo 12–14, 16, 17, 20, 22–25, 35, 104, 233, 234, 243, 245, 249, 256, 275, 276 hypercorrection 19, 248 imperfective 163, 164, 280–282, 289, 293, 295, 296, 304 inchoative 8, 155–162, 165–171, 173–176 intercalation 224, 225 interference 11, 18, 111, 112 intonation 12-14, 56, 74, 136, 199, 254, 258, 266 intonation break 199, 303 iterative 162 language change 8, 89–97, 99, 105, 134, 148, 168 language contact 7, 108, 111, 161, 168, 169 language degeneration 90 language policy 68, 90, 92–94, 110 legal Maltese 108, 109, 111–120, 123, 124 lexical sharing 138, 151 loanword 27, 28, 111, 113–118, 120 Maltese linguistics 7, 8, 155, 181 multilingual policy 110 multilingualism 111, 112

326 negation 74, 85, 136, 171, 172, 280, 293, 308 perfective 56, 163, 164, 187, 280–282, 288, 290, 293–296, 299 phonological variation 96 possession 8, 181–188, 190, 191, 195–197, 202, 203, 206, 209, 210, 225–227 inalienable possession 182, 184–187, 190 permanent possession 191 physical possession 8, 191, 209 temporary possession 8, 191, 226 possession split 182 prestige 34, 35, 105 prosody 136, 148, 227 pseudo-verb 21, 22, 149, 186, 187, 196 relative clause 8, 144–146, 181, 183, 191– 193, 196, 199, 227 root-and-pattern morphology 275 root-based 276 school 24, 34, 50, 59, 60, 62, 78, 79, 82, 84, 91, 99, 110, 183 sound 95, 96, 100, 238, 247, 248, 255, 302 stress 8, 138, 188, 225, 256, 275–289, 294, 299, 301, 305–311 suffix 77, 100, 101, 116, 118, 133, 149, 163, 164, 187, 188, 190, 191, 196, 201, 217, 278, 280, 281, 287, 290, 293, 297, 299, 300, 305, 307, 308, 310 pronominal suffix 187, 191, 196 suppletive 135, 160, 186 syllable 8, 16, 240, 242, 243, 256, 259, 275– 278, 280,283–291, 294, 301, 305, 306, 308–310

Index of subjects teachers 58, 59, 60, 62, 65, 66, 68, 78, 79, 82– 85, 249 topicalisation 131, 144, 145, 148 typological shift 155, 168, 176 variation 7, 8, 11–16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 29, 66, 75, 90, 93, 94, 96–98, 105, 108, 109, 111, 113, 119, 120, 123, 124, 130, 138, 142, 162, 170, 242, 245, 265, 270, 276, 288 lexical variation 23, 119 linguistic variation 11, 108, 119, 124, 170 geographical variation 12 verb 8, 11, 19, 21, 22, 29, 36, 37, 39, 40, 45, 71, 74, 77, 80, 81, 85, 93, 99, 102, 108, 113, 116, 118, 120, 131, 135, 137, 140– 144, 148–151, 155–176, 183, 190, 225, 227, 276, 281, 284, 286, 291–296, 299, 307, 308 verbal pattern 161, 162, 165 vitality 84, 110 vowel 14–17, 19, 26, 77, 96, 98, 99, 100, 115, 131, 161–164, 184, 233, 237–250, 258, 265, 275, 276, 278–281, 283–297, 299– 305, 307–310 vowel harmony 14, 16, 304, 310 vowel length 17, 300, 305 vowel system 14, 15, 30, 233 237, 238, 243, 248, 250 prosthetic vowel 164