The government’s consultation process on the Maltese language is not transparent, a number of organisations have charged, also expressing concern that the recent moves will weaken the language.

“We are not objecting to the Education Minister’s concern about the Maltese language but rather the way that he chose to express this concern. Instead of first doing so with the National Council for the Maltese Language, the council got to know of the minister’s concern from the media,” Olvin Vella told this newspaper on behalf of six Maltese language bodies.

“This was even more surprising since the council forms part of the Education Ministry, and secondly there was never any bad blood between the council and the minister.”

One of the council’s roles is to promote a suitable language policy and strategy for the Maltese islands. The six organisations Mr Vella represents are the Akkademja tal-Malti, the Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, the Għaqda tal-Qarrejja tal-Provi, the Institute of Linguistics (University of Malta), the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta and the Department of Maltese at the Junior College.

Earlier this summer, the council was caught by surprise when the Education Minister announced in the media that he was going to launch a consultation document. It would question the existence of the council itself.

The document, containing 28 spelling errors (which have since been corrected) also questions the council’s composition and whether its decisions should be binding or simply consultative.

The news caught the council off guard at a time when it was concluding its discussions on words borrowed from English such as kejk and roundabout. According to rules established in 1984 any such word is to be written phonetically, as in swiċċ. Since the adoption of new words has increased significantly over the years, the council is discussing whether this rule needs revision in the light of general reluctance to write or read English loanwords phonetically.

This discussion is the second since the council’s establishment in 2005, following another, concluded in 2008, when it issued a list of words in which a final decision was taken on orthographic variants of the same word.

The council, which is made up of representatives from the Institute for Maltese Journalists, the Education Division, Maltese language bodies, the Office of the Attorney General and the Malta Arts Council, met Mr Bartolo after he announced the public consultation. Following this meeting, the minister launched a National Forum as a consultation exercise.

Mr Vella said some 200 people attended the forum in November and they were presented with a report of the council’s work over the past 10 years. There was general support for the council’s achievements and even the minister acknowledged the work.

However, in his concluding remarks he announced the setting up of a consultative committee that would be scrutinising the council’s composition and work.

The six organisations are concerned that this will only weaken the council’s autonomy and, as a result, weaken the Maltese language. Mr Vella stressed that this was not a political issue.

“We all have different political beliefs but one main love: the Maltese language. A change in the law that weakens the council’s autonomy will weaken it irrespective of who is in government.”

The ministry was asked why the council was not informed of the consultation before it was launched but said only that it was proving to be “quite a spirited debate... a needed one to keep the Maltese language a priority for generations to come”.

It also reiterated its support for the work of the council, which includes doubling its annual budget for the coming year and providing additional human resources.