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Maltese language

Maltese is the national language of Malta. It is derived from and most closely related to Arabic, but in the course of its history it has adopted many loans and even phonetic and phonological features from (Southern) Italian and English. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. There are a significant number of Maltese expatriates in Australia who still use the language.

Below is the Maltese alphabet, with the SAMPA equivalents and approximate English pronunciation:

letterSAMPApronunciation
Aaare
Bbbar, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "P"
ĊtSchurch
Ddday, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "T"
EEend
Fffar
Gggame, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "K"
ĠdZjump
has the effect of lengthening associated vowels, except when immediately followed by a "H", in which case it has the sound of a double "Ħ".
H Not pronounced unless it is at the end of a word, in which case it has the sound of "Ħ".
Ħhhard
IIinside
IEieerie
Jjyard
Kkcave
Llline
Mmmarch
Nnnext
OQore
Pppart
Qqguttural sound, occasionally found in the Cockney pronunciation of "that"
Rrroar
Sssand
Tttired
Uuput
Vvvast, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "F"
Wwwire
XSshade
Z let's
Żzmaze, but at the end of a word it is pronounced as "S"

External Links

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump