Rooting for Maltese

This volume brings together eleven contributions exploring the structures of Maltese and the conditions that sustain its use. Spanning sound patterns, grammar, meaning, and language in society, it connects detailed linguistic analysis with questions of wider theoretical and social significance. Drawing on corpora, acoustic recordings, comparative data, and institutional documents, the chapters revisit established analyses and open new avenues for research. Topics range from syllable structure and spontaneous speech to verbal morphology, motion events, compounding, and superlatives. Comparative work on babytalk, studies of education and language policy, and an overview of Maltese Sign Language extend the discussion to language contact, community life, and transmission. The collection is intended for researchers and students of Maltese, as well as readers interested in broader questions of linguistic diversity and language use.