What is happening to the Maltese language? A well known broadcaster recently used the word ‘jinnahula’ – a bastardised version of the English word ‘annihilate’, when the appropriate Maltese word is ‘jeqred’.

This is happening all too often. Anyone short of a Maltese word simply borrows an English or Italian word and moulds it into Maltese. Another example is ‘iffolowjani’ or ‘segwini’ (follow me) when the correct words are ‘ejja warajja’.

Another common adjectival use of Maltese is the substitution of a Maltese word by a foreign one such as avvenimenti, serata and tikreja. There can only be one explanation for this. It is not a lack of Maltese but sheer laziness on the part of all those who speak in public.

Some critics may argue that Maltese is a ‘living organism’ and is becoming richer in form and expression. This, however, is not happening. If you substitute a word or phrase for another, what you get is not growth but a loss of the word or phrase substituted, which will be forgotten and no longer used.

This is already happening with the word currently used by broadcasters, ‘avvenimenti’, instead of ‘ġrajjiet’. This latter abandoned word will soon be lost to the language.

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