Titkellem bil-Malti? Can you speak Maltese? No? That’s not a great surprise. Although Malta and its language are now part of the European Union, the general public knows very little about things Maltese. Not so at the University of Bremen, where for a long time researchers have had a strong focus on the Maltese language. Their efforts have not been in vain, for the University has now opened a Maltese Center to promote linguistic research on the Maltese language. On 29th June 2012 the Rector of the University of Bremen, Prof.Wilfried Müller, and the Rector of the University of Malta, Prof. Juanito Camilleri, concluded a cooperation agreement for the Center.
The man behind the idea is Prof.Thomas Stolz from the Institute of General and Applied Linguistics (IAAS) in the University’s Faculty of Linguistics and Literature Sciences. He explains his interest in the Maltese language as follows: “About 400,000 people speak Maltese. Although written in the European Latin spelling, it is the only official Arabic language in the European Union. Due to its long exposure to Italian and the later influence of English under Great Britain’s colonial rule, the vocabulary of the Maltese language has been strongly influenced by other languages – an interesting field of research for linguistic studies.” Therefore, on the occasion of the opening of the Center on 30th June, a linguistic colloquium will be held with the participation of researchers from the USA, Malta and Bremen who will present the latest research findings on the Maltese language.
The Bremen Maltese Center will contribute to enhancing the visibility of Maltese linguistic studies as an internationally recognized discipline. The University of Bremen will benefit from being an international hub of research on the Maltese language.
For further information, please contact:
Universität Bremen
Fachbereich Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften
Institut für Allgemeine und Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft (IAAS)
Prof.Dr.Thomas Stolz
Phone: +49 421 218-68300
e-mail: stolzprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
or
Benjamin Saade
e-mail: bsaadeprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
