Maltese, the national language of Malta, is, without doubt, the dominant language of most Maltese in most domains of language use in Malta. It however shares official status with English, which is also in regular use. Most Maltese can, in fact, be said to be bilingual to differing degrees. This article begins by providing some background…

This paper provides a sociolinguistic description of English language use in Malta at present in terms of who speaks what language, where and when. Some observations on English language contact with Maltese are made. Finally a brief discussion is taken up as to whether and to what extent it would be appropriate to consider Maltese English as a new…