Dr Joseph Vancell

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary investigation of the status of dialectal Maltese in Gozo, with special reference to the domain of education. The sociolinguistic concept of diglossia was explained in depth by Charles Ferguson in his seminal paper in 1959, and was later amplified by Joshua Fishman in 1967; and again defended and further explained by Fishman in 2002. Maltese dialects and their co-existence with Standard Maltese on the island of Malta are normally considered as presenting a case of diglossia (e.g. Camilleri 1987; Camilleri 1995), and Standard Maltese as enjoying a relationship of bilingualism without diglossia in relation to English.

This paper seeks to explain the peculiar co-existence of dialectal and standard Maltese on the island of Gozo, and claims that it is the Gozitan dialects, normally expected to act as Low varieties, that enjoy the higher social prestige normally associated with the High variety; while standard Maltese speakers are stigmatized. While focussing particularly on the domain of education, and dealing specifically with the two diglossic features of Function and Prestige, I shall (i) provide evidence to show how dialectal and standard Maltese share functions and fight for prestige in school; and (ii) discuss this unusual sociolinguistic context in terms of ethnolinguistic vitality. According to Fishman (2002) a fundamental criterion for describing a society as diglossic is depth in time, and in Gozo the prognosis is encouraging for the survival of dialectal Maltese, and its position as the High variety, given both the etiology, as well as the ehtnolinguistic vitality of the community.