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The 9th International Conference on Maltese Linguistics will take place on the 16th and 17th of September 2025 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The conference will be jointly organised by both branches of the Malta Centre (Malta & Bremen) and the local organiser Ruben van de Vijver.

We will send out the call for papers at the beginning of 2025.

We are looking forward to your participation!

The 8th International Conference for Maltese Lingusitics took place between the 18th and 21st of September at the University of Bremen, Germany. Over 30 researchers attended this conference entitled “The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics”. The conference of the International Association for Maltese Linguistics (GĦILM) is held every 2 years and is attended by both Maltese and foreign researchers working on Maltese linguistics.

The conference consisted of 27 talks, including 2 plenary talks by Prof. Andrei Avram (University of Bucharest) and Prof. Dominique Caubet (INALCO, Paris). Presentations covered a range of topics including theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics, stylistics and computational linguistics. An edited volume of linguistic papers will be published in line with previous publications compiled following GĦILM conferences.

The two branches of the Malta Centre in Bremen and Malta were responsible for the organisation and coordination of this event and provided financial support to set up and run the conference. The organising committee consisted of Prof. Thomas Stolz and Maike Vorholt (University of Bremen) and Prof. Ray Fabri, Dr Michael Spagnol, Raffaello Bezzina and Michela Vella (University of Malta). The conference was a great success and both branches of the Malta Centre look forward to organising future events promoting Maltese linguistics on an international level.

It-8 Konferenza tal-Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (GĦILM) saret bejn it-18 u l-21 ta’ Settembru fl-Università ta’ Bremen, il-Ġermanja. Aktar minn 30 riċerkatur u riċerkatriċi attendew il-konferenza “The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics”. Il-konferenza tal-GĦILM, li ssir kull sentejn, tattira riċerkaturi minn Malta u minn madwar id-dinja li jaħdmu fuq il-lingwistika Maltija.

Matul il-konferenza ngħataw 27 taħdita, fosthom żewġ taħditiet plenarji mill-Prof. Andrei Avram (l-Università ta’ Bukarest) u l-Prof. Dominique Caubet (INALCO, Pariġi). Il-preżentazzjonijiet koprew firxa ta’ suġġetti inklużi l-lingwistika teoretika, is-soċjolingwistika, l-istilistika u l-lingwistika komputazzjonali. Se jiġi ppubblikat volum editjat ta’ wħud mix-xogħlijiet ippreżentati bħalma sar wara kull konferenza tal-GĦILM.

Iż-żewġ fergħat taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti fi Bremen u f’Malta kienu responsabbli mill-organizzazzjoni u l-koordinazzjoni ta’ dan l-avveniment u pprovdew appoġġ finanzjarju biex jittella’. Il-kumitat organizzattiv kien jikkonsisti mill-Prof. Thomas Stolz u Maike Vorholt (l-Università ta’ Bremen) u mill-Prof. Ray Fabri, Dr Michael Spagnol, Raffaello Bezzina u Michela Vella (l-Università ta’ Malta). Il-konferenza kienet suċċess u ż-żewġ fergħat taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti huma ħerqanin li jorganizzaw avvenimenti oħrajn li jippromwovu l-lingwistika Maltija fuq livell internazzjonali.

The workshop Triangulation II – a plethora of ideas about language was held on 5th and 6th June 2023 at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst.

Five early career researchers from Cardiff, four from Malta, and four from Bremen presented their research. Additionally, one early career researcher from Trento and one from Helsinki presented their work this year.

A special addition to the programme was the reading Low German poetry by Low German poet Arne Lentföhr the evening of the first day of the workshop.

The online magazine Valletta | Das Journal reports about the launch of the local branch of the Malta Centre in Malta. The article is available here.

It-Tnedija tal-fergħa lokali taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti

Fid-9 ta’ Frar, fil-kampus tal-Belt (UM), ittellgħet attività li matulha saret it-tnedija uffiċjali tal-fergħa lokali taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti. Din l-attività saret fl-isfond tat-tiġdid tal-ftehim bejn l-Università ta’ Malta u l-Università ta’ Bremen li sar f’Ġunju tal-2022 u li fih twaqqfet fergħa lokali ta’ dan iċ-Ċentru. Għal din l-attività ġew mistiedna l-Prof. Thomas Stolz u Maike Vorholt li huma responsabbli mit-tmexxija taċ-Ċentru fl-Università ta’ Bremen, il-Ġermanja.

Fl-ewwel siegħa, saru diskorsi qosra minn Prof. Fabri, Dr Spagnol u Prof. Stolz li tkellmu dwar it-twaqqif, l-istorja u l-għanijiet ta’ dan iċ-Ċentru. Tkellmu wkoll l-amministraturi taż-żewġ fergħat, Maike Vorholt, Michela Vella u Raffaello Bezzina li ddiskutew xi ideat u proġetti għall-futur. Fit-tieni siegħa, il-Prof. Thomas Stolz ta taħdita lingwistika bl-isem ta’ Special Toponymic Grammar in Maltese and beyond.

Fid-dawl tat-tiġdid tal-ftehim bejn iż-żewġ Universitajiet u bħala inizjattiva ta’ kollaborazzjoni, Maike Vorholt, l-amministratriċi tal-fergħa fi Bremen, qattgħet ġimgħa ġewwa Malta. Matul din il-ġimgħa, hi u l-uffiċjali tar-riċerka tal-fergħa lokali fasslu pjan ta’ ħidma għax-xhur li ġejjin u kellhom diversi laqgħat dwar proġetti futuri, fosthom il-konferenza tal-Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (GĦILM) li se ssir fi Bremen, f’Settembru li ġej.

Tista’ tara r-rikording tal-attività hawn.

L-EWWEL PARTI: 0:20 - It-tnedija tal-Fergħa Lokali tal-Malta Centre (Bremen), IT-TIENI PARTI: 30:22 - Thomas Stolz | Special Toponymic Grammar in Maltese and beyond

The Launch of the local branch of the Maltese Language Centre

On the 9th of February, the official launch of the local branch of the Malta Centre was held at the Valletta Campus (UM). This event was organised in light of the renewal of the agreement between the University of Malta and the University of Bremen which was signed in June 2022 and through which, a local branch of this Centre was established. Prof. Thomas Stolz and Maike Vorholt, who are responsible for managing the Malta Centre at the University of Bremen, Germany, were invited for this event.

In the first hour, Prof. Fabri, Dr. Spagnol and Prof. Stolz gave short speeches about the establishment, history and objectives of this Centre. Additionally, the administrators of the two branches, Maike Vorholt, Michela Vella and Raffaello Bezzina presented a number of future projects and ideas. In the second hour, Prof. Thomas Stolz gave a linguistic talk entitled Special Toponymic Grammar in Maltese and beyond.

In view of the renewal of the agreement, and as an initiative to strengthen the collaboration between the two branches, Maike Vorholt, the administrator of the branch in Bremen, spent a week in Malta. During this week, she and the research officers of the local branch drew up a work plan for the coming months and had several meetings about future projects, including the conference of the International Association of Maltese Linguistics (GĦILM ) which will take place in Bremen, coming September.

You can watch the recording of the activity here.

FIRST PART: 0:20 - The launch of the local branch of the Malta Centre, SECOND PART: 30:22 - Thomas Stolz | Special Toponymic Grammar in Maltese and beyond

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Two research support officers from the University of Malta, Michela Vella and Raffello Bezzina, visited the Malta Centre to discuss future projects of the centre and to participate in the Linguistics Week.

The Malta Centre will be presented to local students as part of the Linguistics Week on November 24th.

The Journal of Maltese Living Abroad from Australia wrote in its 341st Newsletter about the International Association of Maltese Linguistics and the visit of The Ambassador of the Republic of Malta SE Dr. Giovanni Xuereb to the Malta Centre (S. 5-7).

An article on the Maltese library at the Malta Centre was published by the University's online magazine up2date:

Have You Heard of… the Maltese Library?

The workshop Triangulation - linguistic topics from three different perspectives (Wales, Malta, Northwest Germany) took place on the 13th and 14th June 2022 at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst. A total of five young scientists from Cardiff, three from Malta and six from Northwest Germany presented their research. A special contribution was the reading of Welsh poetry by the Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn.

Die Teilnehmer:innen des Triangulation-Workshops am 14.06.2022

On the 31st of May 2022, the Ambassador of the Republic of Malta HE Dr. Giovanni Xuereb along with Deputy Head of Mission Mark Anthony Abela and Honorary Consul General Dr. Thomas Stöcker visited the Malta Center at the University of Bremen. Together with the Vice President for Research and Teaching Prof. Dr Jutta Günther, the Dean of Faculty 10 Prof. Dr. Marcus Callies and the Director of the Malta Center Prof. Dr.Thomas Stolz, an exchange took place, among other things, about the history of the Malta Center, its continued existence, the Maltese library it contains and linguistic research on the Maltese language.