Maltese is spoken in the Maltese Islands and there are few varieties/dialects. Maltese phonology is characterized by 22 consonantal phonemes, 23 when /dz/ is given phonemic status (Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander, 1997). Many cluster combinations can exist. Maltese has 11 monophthongs (5 short vowels and 6 long vowels); it also includes 7 diphthongs. Stress is generally on the penultimate syllable. Maltese is the only Semitic language written with a Roman alphabet. There are a few studies of children’s acquisition of Maltese that demonstrate typical development between 2;0–6;0 years of age. Phonetic and phonemic inventories of Maltese children have been compiled as well as typical developmental processes of Maltese and Maltese-English bilingual children. The only standardized speech assessment is the Maltese-English Speech Assessment: MESA (Grech et al., 2011).

Key words:
Maltese, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Grech, H. (2025). Maltese speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Grech, H. (2024). Maltese: Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages
• PowerPoint: Maltese [English version] – Children’s Speech Development (pdf)

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals