Language contact and Maltese intonation

The development of Maltese English

“…(1968) aptly referred to as ‘orderly heterogeneity’. This understanding was taken up by Vella (1995), in establishing consistent variation at the prosodic level in English as it is used in Malta. This presents an early acknowledgement of an identifiable set of features in one area of linguistic description, which could characterise a homegrown variety of English.…”

“…More recent studies by Bonnici (2010), Grech (2015), Stilon (2018) and Caruana and Mori (2021) delve into either judgements or attitudes towards the emerging variation within Maltese English that others had noted earlier (Borg, 1980; Camilleri, 1992; Vella, 1995). The studies converge on the clear indication that variation is both evident and recognised by Maltese English speakers, regardless of whether the accompanying attitudes are negative or positive.…”

“…Whichever view we consider, it is clear that even without reference to what later became the wellestablished frameworks for analysing emergent varieties (Kachru, 1986), Maltese scholars were well aware of the need to account not only for the use of English in the Maltese islands, but also, for clear patterns of what Weinreich et al (1968) aptly referred to as 'orderly heterogeneity' . This understanding was taken up by Vella (1995), in establishing consistent variation at the prosodic level in English as it is used in Malta. This presents an early acknowledgement of an identifiable set of features in one area of linguistic description, which could characterise a homegrown variety of English.…”

“…The suggestion is that some features are more salient than others in indicating socially meaningful reference points, particularly at the phonetic/phonological level, given the speed with which a Maltese English listener will recognise a speaker as Maltese English or not (Grech & Vella, 2015). Studies on different aspects of the variety of English used in Malta tend to agree that variation is evident across all dimensions of language (Borg, 1980; Bonnici, 2010; Bonnici et al., 2010; Caruana & Mori, 2021; Grech & Vella, 2015; Krug & Sonning, 2018; Vella, 1995, 2013). Inevitably, phonetic characteristics tend to feature most prominently both in anecdotal accounts of variability as well as in scholarly studies, since they are ever present at the surface of speech.…”

“…Perhaps the most evident concentration of phonetic variation involves vowels both as features in their own right, as well as for being a focal point of variability in duration, stress and rhythm. Both vowel length and vowel quality are regularly considered indicative of variation in MaltE in a number of early studies or illustrations of this variety (Azzopardi, 1981; Calleja, 1987; Vella, 1995), with all three authors highlighting the absence of vowel reduction to schwa. Besides the issue of vowel durations, there is also evidence of variation in vowel quality, in the realisation of vowel phonemes such as [e] or [ʌ] or [æ].…”