Opinion: "The daily news is flooded with reports and commentary on the upcoming Brexit referendum. There are pros & cons for Britain seceding from the European Union, but most people tell me that the British are too reasonable to actually take a leap into the unknown and secede from the European Union. The status quo has great appeal.

But a referendum is a blunt instrument in that it attempts to distill a very complex issue into a simplistic 'yes/no' question. Elected governments usually resort to this mechanism when they are afraid to take the decision themselves.

At best a referendum is just another opinion poll, subject to all the flaws of any measurement of public attitudes. People's response will be emotional and subjective; logic and sound reasoning don't come into sway on such oversimplified questions. Therefore, it is worthwhile to consider the possibility of the British electorate actually voting in favour of secession.

Language politics . . .

Let's consider the linguistic aspect of a European Union without Britain. There are currently 24 'official and working languages' in the EU. These include inter alia English and Maltese. According to EU statistics German is the native tongue of 16% of EU citizens, while English and French speakers account for 13% each, with Italian close behind with 12%. However, 51% of Europeans understand English (even if it is not their native tongue) while German, French and Italian are understood by 27, 24 and 16% respectively. The recognition of Maltese as a European language is a sovereign right within the EU, but the Maltese people have the advantage of using English to communicate directly with other Europeans who don't understand Maltese.

But if Britain exits the European Union there will be no native English speakers within the EU, so the English language should lose its status as an 'official and working language.' This would be a logical result of British exit, and it will also be a clear expression of acrimony caused by Brexit.

So where does this leave us? Maltese is the 'national language' of the Maltese people, but English is also considered an 'official language.' But is this enough to keep English on the list of European official and working languages? Somehow, I doubt it.

Maltese has come a long way since the days when it was considered a peasant language of no real importance. Grammar and spelling have been standardised; they are taught throughout the school systems, and because of this the Maltese language is universal and highly consistent among the local population. It is a cultural resource and bulwark, an impressive symbol of the people's desire to remain themselves.

The English language came to Malta with the arrival of Admiral Lord Nelson in 1800, but Italian had been the language of culture in Malta since the Italian Renaissance, and it was an 'official language' until 1943. (Three groups still make liberal use of Italian: jurists, the clergy and football fans).

An Eurobarometer poll indicated that 98% of Maltese people understand Maltese, 88%-English, 66%-Italian and 17%-French. Linguists estimate that 50-60% of the Maltese vocabulary is derived from Italian & Sicilian, but this does not change the fact of the Maltese language's Semitic structure and base vocabulary. English borrow-words account for 6-20% of the Maltese vocabulary; and while 'standard English' is also an 'official language.' the 'common parlance' is heavily influenced by Franco-Latin pronunciation and heavily accented phonology.

Even under the Hospitaller Knights of St. John, English was not in currency. When The Religion was given control of these islands in 1530 the Langue Anglaise was a constituent part of the Order. (The original Auberge d'Angleterre still stands in Birgu.) However, when King Henry VIII confiscated church property in 1540 the Langue Anglaise went into abeyance, having lost its source of income. A few knights in Scotland remained in communication with the Langue Fancaise, but at the time of the Great Siege here was only one English knight on Malta, Oliver Starkey. Interestingly, he served as Grand Master Jean de Valette's Latin Secretary, and he was the only Knight who was not himself a Grand Master to be buried in the crypt of St. John's Co-Cathedral. (There is no Auberge d'Angleterre in the city of Valletta because there were no knights of the English tongue to built and inhabit it.) It wasn't until Nelson's arrival that English returned to these islands.

While the Maltese diaspora is spread throughout the English-speaking world (Australia, Canada, Britain and the USA) Malta's relationships to these nations has been supplanted by its membership in the European Union. Bilateral links to Britain have been maintained through the EU's multilateral mechanisms, but Brexit will break whatever remains of these ties. Malta is fully integrated in the EU (including Schengen and Euro zones) so it is impossible to imagine the Republic of Malta following Britain into an uncertain future.

The British electorate will render their opinion on their place in the European Union, but it they decide to exit the EU, so be it. The Irish Republicans are well out of the debate, and the Scots seem uncertain whether they belong in Britain and/or Europe. Each nation must plan its own future, and so must Malta.

It may take some time for Malta to reassign its loyalties, especially as regards official languages. English is certainly of some use to the Maltese (just as it is to people around the world), so its use will probably continue for a long time, but the loss of its 'official language' status in the EU will require that Malta find another 'lingua franca' for European affairs.

Italian is the obvious choice. While everyone knows that il Duce was wrong to consider Maltese an Italian dialect, Italian is still in common use in Malta. It is one of the European Union's original four languages (Italian, French, German and Dutch). Italian is widely understood among the Maltese population; one source estimates that 8% of the population use Italian in day-to-day conversation.

It is easy to envisage a resurgence of the Italian language in Malta, perhaps punctuated by a declaration replacing English with Italian as an 'official language' within the Republic of Malta.

So where does that leave those of us who understand neither the Maltese nor Italian?

. . . on the way to our next Italian lesson. Ciao!"

George Bruce,

Gozo.

Permalink: The language politics of Brexit – Opinion piece by George Bruce