Far bigger howlers

Joseph Micallef (June 30) wrote about two "howlers" in Maltese he recently heard on one of the local TV stations. This has urged me to write about what seems to me a far bigger and more serious howler, which has unfortunately gained steady ground these last 10 years or so and which has become very widespread particularly among the younger generations. I am referring to the erroneous pronunciation of the silent feminine and plural pronominal suffixes ha and hom after a certain category of verbs like taraha (to see her or to see it) and tarahom (to see them) - wrongly pronounced taraħħa and taraħħom in confusion with another category of verbs like tismagħha and tismagħhom - rightly pronounced tismaħħa and tismaħħom.

I believe that a concerted all-round effort should be launched at the University, in all schools and in the media to remedy the situation in this respect now before it is too late (unless it already is). Maltese language authorities and associations should take the lead. Some may argue that Maltese, like any other language, is a living thing and should therefore be allowed to develop of its own accord without any interference from anybody. Sadly, to me, such a "development" looks more like a corruption of our precious and unique Maltese language.