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Maltese language
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A diagram shows the family tree of Semitic languages, branching into West Semitic and East Semitic. West Semitic includes Ethiopic, Modern and Old South Arabian, Arabic and its dialects, Maltese, and Northwest Semitic languages like Amorite, Ugaritic, Canaanite, Aramaic, and Modern Hebrew. East Semitic includes Akkadian, Old Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian.
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Maltese:
Malti
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Maltese language

Also known as: Malti language
Written and fact-checked by
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History

Maltese language, Semitic language of the Southern Central group spoken on the island of Malta. Maltese developed from a dialect of Arabic and is closely related to the western Arabic dialects of Algeria and Tunisia. Strongly influenced by the Sicilian language (spoken in Sicily), Maltese is the only form of Arabic to be written in the Latin alphabet.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.