L’italiano lingua coloniale e veicolare fuori d’Italia. L’italiano a Malta: una lingua non del tutto straniera

Abstract

Italian was the official language in Malta up to 1936, and it therefore can not be defined simply as a foreign language. The Tuscan variety was introduced by the Order of St. John, better known as the Knights of Malta, in 1530, and coincided with the spread of Tuscan in the various regions of Italy following its codification by Pietro Bembo. Before the Knights Malta belonged to Sicily under its various administrators: Normans, Swabians, Anjevins, Aragonese and Castillians and therefore its high language, together with Latin, was Chancery Sicilian. When the British took over in 1814, they attempted to enforce anglicization, but the islanders resisted, stressing that their high language was even more prestigious than English. Stronger efforts for anglicization were made in the 1880s but Italian remained the language of the Maltese courts, of the Catholic Diocese and of instruction in the schools. English and Italian were both official languages up to 1934 when Maltese was raised to official status and then Italian was dropped in 1936. Maltese and English remain the official languages, but Italian made a strong comeback with the introduction of television, which was received from Italy, since 1957. Its role, however, is now more as a tool of entertainment and information, passively understood rather than actively spoken, and rarely written.