The recent contributions on the Maltese language have obviously been interesting, and, considering the calibre of the contributors, most illuminating too.

I would like to add two points to the ongoing debate.

One. We cannot deny that English words do penetrate the membrane of the Maltese language, and that these words become Maltese. Some even subliminally so – words like parti integrali, applikazzjoni, direttorju, evalwazzjoni have entered the Maltese vocabulary under the guise of Romance entries whereas they come from English.

About this phenomenon, unfortunately very little is said. If you study the way Maltese émigrés speak who spent their lives in Italy and come back, you will notice that they usually can’t bring themselves to say any of these words in the “Anglo-Maltese” sense.

They would rather say application than applikazzjoni. Those are the subliminal entries, which occur probably because we are diglossic not bilingual.

Then there are the conscious entries, which are due to a lax attitude.

In my opinion, linguists have to argue why one ought to spend one’s mental energy to be vigilant against such entries, why to adopt an illiberal attitude toward the acceptance of English words when there are already Maltese ones for the same concept.

And then there are the genuine cases, where a word is taken on loan from English and becomes ours because we lack a word for that particular concept. This is a legitimate phenomenon which should not irk but the most diehard of purists.

Two. To my mind, the energy of the Maltese Language Council could be put to better use. While time is “wasted” on proposing some new spelling for English loanwords, the required attention is not given to more urgent issues.

Those who should know better employ their time debating spelling whereas our language no longer distinguishes between shall and should!

Let me clarify.

To my understanding, priority should not be given to the debate blekbord (or blekbort) vs. blackboard, or rejnkowt vs. raincoat. People should be allowed to write such words as they prefer – in a matter of a few years, popular practice will decide. Just like futbol, tim, kompjuter, etc., have been decided by the users of the language.

In other words, people intuitively feel that football is futbol but other words remain spelled in English. In a matter of years, more cases will be solved, just as we have definitively solved karta, familja, kampanja but still write sopra corna bastonate (even if this phrase does not exist in Italian!). We have similarly solved bonswa, bonġu, portmoni, trabuxù, xufier, xafunier, etc.

Since language is one of many systems of rules and law, and it would seem that human beings intuitively seek to regulate their interpersonal behaviour by creating rules, it would follow that if left to their own devices, native speakers of Maltese will find ways and means how to accept certain English words as forming part of their language, while rejecting others as mere loanwords, to be written in italics.

Linguists should allow the people to decide on these matters, and devote the time and energy used on spelling to solve other, more pressing issues.

One such issue is the problem that while we are discussing the spelling of individual words, we have allowed an almost imperceptible practice to creep in. In Maltese, we no longer distinguish between shall and should!

How we managed to get to this situation is beyond me!

Those who should know better employ their time debating spelling whereas our language no longer distinguishes between shall and should! Both concepts are referred to as għandu!

So, in Maltese, when we say Il-kerrej għandu jħallas il-kera we can never really be sure what we mean! Should or shall the tenant pay the rent?

I have published an in-depth study on this issue, quoting Maltese and EU laws in Maltese in which it becomes exceedingly clear that, from this particular point of view, our language has become messy.

In that study, I compared “old” articles in our Civil Code with “new” ones. The “old” articles – translated literally from the Italian – use(d) the present tense to express shall, whereas the “new” articles use għandu to express shall.

Now that is an issue which, to my mind, requires urgent debate. Not whether Maltese English words should be spelled phonetically or otherwise.

Mark Sammut studied law and translation at the universities of Malta and London.