Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/542972
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JULY 2015 Opinion 25 Albert Borg Cold 'xawer' for the language P ity the Minister of Education when an individual "broadly representative of proven, well- established and recognised scholarship and credentials in related disciplines – sociolinguistic, literary, historical and philosophical", such as the transparently anonymous author of a public consultation document recently published by the ministry, manages to write two and a half pages with over 40 spelling mistakes, thus necessitating the document's withdrawal and re- presentation after the necessary corrections were made. Pity the same minister when both our anonymous author and Henry Frendo (MaltaToday, July 12) insist on distinguishing skont "discount" and skond "according to" while referring to Prof. Aq- uilina's lifework as "a priceless six-volume dictionary", when the same dictionary treats the two as normal homonyms, as it should, and uses the same spelling for both (Aquilina 1990, page 1331)! Pity the same minister, intent on promoting equal opportuni- ties for all in education, when both our anonymous author and Henry Frendo persuade him to publish a document which would require children, even those with disadvantaged backgrounds, to know Italian (and to a certain extent, Sicilian, cf. for instance the controversy over the correct spelling of 'induna/nduna' "to re- alise") to be able to write Maltese correctly, as implied by the fixa- tion on "etymology". Perhaps it is because both au- thors are "established scholars" in a related discipline rather than in the core discipline of linguistics that they promote "etymology and semantics" as a criterion for orthography, without realising that etymology is the scholar's preserve, while a writing system should be a democratic tool ac- cessible to the largest number of individuals possible. Should Frendo's concern about "the preservation of Maltese as a recognised literary genre" (who challenges that I wonder; could it be the notorious National Coun- cil for Maltese?) be allowed to convince us that "equating the spoken with the written" should result in the "descent (of Mal- tese) into a pidgin"? Hopefully both writers are not urging the minister to make us talk in lit- erary Maltese, or to advocate a situation where, as someone put it, one can say "nurse" but write "infermiera"! Indeed this has certainly not stopped Frendo himself in his book Storja ta' Malta (2004) from writ- ing 'assemblea għall-għalliema' (p231: why not 'ġemgħa'?), 'im- antnu l-lingwa Taljana' (p233: 'iżommu'?), 'lingwa frustiera' (p234: 'ilsien barrani'?), 'teachers' (p234: 'għalliema'?) and 'l-insen- janti' for "teachers" (p240). It seems our two authors have also convinced the minister that the National Council for Maltese is advocating the ("phonetic") writing of words like 'sordfixx' (for 'swordfish') and 'xawer' (for 'shower') when the council has not yet published its document on the writing of English loan- words in Maltese. Believe it or not, the council is revising the 1984 rules which had sanctioned the writing of English loanwords "phonetically". Indeed, the council has not yet published its recommendations about the spelling of English loanwords be- cause it has felt the need to have a wide consultation process and a diligent assessment of the issues at stake. Incidentally, the com- mittee discussing the matter was about to make its recommenda- tions to the council and the min- ister. Frendo concludes his piece with a quotation from Wittgenstein, who also said, "Whereof you do not know, thereof you should not speak". Albert Borg is Professor of Mal- tese Linguistics (Department of Maltese, Faculty of Arts) and was (founding) chairman of the Insti- tute of Linguistics at the Univer- sity of Malta Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: maltatoday@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Fearing language change Unacceptable dictation THE Akkademja tal-Malti disa- grees with Henry Frendo's ar- guments published last Sunday. When the Council for the Maltese Language was set up in 2005, the orthography became its responsi- bility. The current council is made up of 11 members, and five of them are highly qualified linguists. This guarantees that decisions are made after the issues involved are carefully evaluated. Frendo's reaction is a demon- stration of the fear many people experience in the face of language change. Many are afraid Maltese will die out. The members of the Council for Maltese are doing their utmost to counter such tendencies and allay irrational fears. The Council for Maltese needs to make every effort to publicise each initiative it has taken, includ- ing nursery rhymes for Maltese primary schools (available online), the publication of the football reg- ister in Maltese (Ballun Pinġut, 2012, 90pp., 930 technical words) in association with the Għaqda Ġurnalisti Sports, bilingual way- finding signage at the Oncology Centre (next to Mater Dei) and the establishment of hugely successful proofreading courses co-organised with the Department of Maltese at the University. If the council's work is adver- tised adequately, public support for the council will not be very dif- ferent from that displayed by the Akkademja tal-Malti towards the same council. Joseph P. Borg Akkademja tal-Malti I refer to the contribution by Prof. Henry Frendo (Sunday, 12 July). The work carried out by the National Council for the Maltese Language has been of enormous benefit to the sector. Besides the vast amount of other work, it strengthened spell- ing standardisation and is revising the spelling of English loanwords in Maltese. This exercise is taking into account all opinions, contrary to what was stated by Prof. Frendo. This exercise is being carried out by people highly qualified in Maltese and is taking considerable time as it will impact teaching and writing. It is being done following a well-attended public seminar and numerous con- sultative meetings with various sec- tors. It is not acceptable that a per- son who is a historian, rather than a linguist, should dictate how Maltese can be written. In Maltese circles, technical discus- sion regarding the spelling expanded when the council, together with the University of Malta's Department of Maltese, commenced holding a course for proof readers in Maltese. At present, the 10th course is under way and, in addition to the 56 per- sons attending the Tal-Qroqq and Xewkija campuses, the number of certified proof readers in Maltese now is 309. Every year, the course is eagerly sought by teachers, students, broadcasters, civil servants, employ- ees in the private sector and others. This means that knowledge of good Maltese orthography is spreading as never before. Apart from the technical skills of proof reading, the course also teaches the history and roots of Mal- tese and imparts a love of our native tongue which will last a lifetime and be passed on. Our association was born out of this course and we will participate fully in the public consultation launched by the minister. Karl Scicluna Ghaqda Qarrejja tal-Provi tal-Malti