Maltese

Marie Azzopardi-Alexander, Albert Borg

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136855283
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Focusing primarily on Standard Maltese, the authors clarify many areas which, until now, remain undefined, with emphasis on syntax and intonation. English loanwords continue to find their way into Standard Maltese, especially as the Maltese inhabitants become increasingly bilingual, and the variations are studied, as well as their morphological behavior. The book describes the syntactic, morphological and phonological structure of Maltese as one integrated linguistic system composed of different strands (Arabic, Romance and English).

1.	SYNTAX
1.1.	General Questions
1.1.1.	Sentence Types
1.1.1.1.	Direct and Indirect Speech

In Maltese the direct speech clause in sentence (1) constitutes a separate tone group from that of the main clause and falls from a high pitch at the stressed syllable of ġimgha to a low pitch in the last stressed syllable of the clause. The high pitch at the beginning of this second clause constitutes a sharp contrast to the low pitch at the end of the main clause.

(1) Is-surmast qal: “Il-gimgha d-diehla se tkun vaganza”
‘The headmaster said: “Next week is a holiday”’

There is a continuous stepping down or falling movement from the initial High pitch with slight rises preceding each dip until the final Low pitch reached at the end of the fairly steep fall forming the direct speech tune. Thus each foot constitutes a fall or dip.

However there is no such break between the main clause and the quoted speech clause, which is introduced by the subordinator li as in (2).

In contrast, the same kind of falling movement constitutes the whole of sentence (2) such that it forms one tone group falling from High pitch at the beginning to Low pitch at the end of the sentence:

(2) Is-surmast qal li 1-gimgha d-diehla se tkun vaganza. ‘The headmaster said next week will be a holiday’

Quoted yes-no questions optionally take the complementizer jekk ‘if, whether’ together with an obligatory negative element hux in the embedded quoted clause:

(3) Direct Speech

‘The headmaster asked me: “Is next week a holiday?”’

(4) Quoted Speech

‘The headmaster asked me whether next week was a holiday’

Direct speech questions are also distinguished from quoted speech questions because they are made up of two tone groups whereas quoted speech questions constitute a single tone group. Thus sentence (5) starts on a High pitch on the first stressed and falls to a Low pitch on the last stressed syllable of the main clause; the first syllable of the direct speech clause is said on a High pitch and falls to a Low pitch on the last stressed syllable of the clause:

(5) Direct speech

(5) Is-surmast staqsieni: “ Meta se jigi?”

‘The headmaster asked me: “When is he coming?”

The quoted speech version, on the other hand, is marked by a falling intonation contour that starts at a High pitch on the first stressed syllable of the sentence and continues in a falling pattern to the final stressed syllable.

(6) Quoted Speech

(6) Is-surmast staqsieni meta se jigi

‘The headmaster asked me when was he coming’

For quoted commands, the preference is for the verb in the main clause (with the verb of commanding) to have a suffixed object pronoun (example 7) or suffixed indirect object pronoun (example 8), and no subordinator with the quoted command:

When no suffixed object pronoun occurs with the main verb, the subordinator biex or li is used with the quoted command:

1.1.1.2. Interrogative sentences

1.1.1.2.1. Yes-no questions

1.1.1.2.1.1. Neutral yes...