A grammar guide to Maltese for Italians has been published, some 35 years after a linguist who lived near the port in Catania heard people speaking a strange language and, often, asking to buy “ċikkulata” (chocolate).

Intrigued, the Italian professor soon learnt that these were Maltese people, speaking their native language, and travelling to Sicily for much sought-after chocolates so they could smuggle them back home for family and friends.

Back then, in the early 1980s, former prime minister Dom Mintoff had banned the importation of items not produced in Malta, chocolate included, in an attempt to help local companies enter the market.

Even though four decades passed since then, the professor, Giulio Soravia, remained intrigued by the language and has now published an ebook La Lingua Maltese (The Maltese Language), a grammar of the Maltese language for Italians,  together with Arnold Cassola, a professor of Maltese and Comparative Literature at the University of Malta.

Cassola met Soravia in the 1980s when they both lectured at the University of Catania. Soravia, who is now based at the University of Bologna, is a passionate linguist, with expertise ranging from the Rom languages to Indonesian dialects, the Sinti language to different Arabic variants, including Maltese.

Soravia's book is published by Bonomo Editore.

“This project has been in the making since the 1980s,” Cassola said. “We first spoke about it some 35 years ago but then we went our separate ways. Interest was rekindled some years ago but we never had the time. COVID allowed for that. Now it will be used by scholars as well as the thousands of Italians who come to Malta to work here,” he said.

Apart from explaining the structure of the Maltese language in a simple way, the ebook also provides a short history of the Maltese language, including its connections to Arabic. It includes examples of Maltese literary texts with their Italian translation and a 35-page Maltese-Italian glossary.

It forms part of the series Le Lingue Incatenate (The Enchanted Languages) about lesser-used languages, published by Bonomo Editore, and is available for sale online.