Language maintenance and language shift among Maltese migrants in Ontario and British Columbia

Abstract

This paper investigates the levels of language maintenance and language shift among Maltese-Canadian immigrants living in Ontario and British Columbia. The results of this study show that the Maltese language is used widely among ®rst-generation migrants, but the majority of secondgeneration respondents do not use Maltese in many domains, if at all. Although most respondents believe that it is important to maintain the Maltese language and to pass it on to their children, few actually speak Maltese to their children or otherwise seek to promote Maltese language use by subsequent generations. As shown by Sciriha (1989), the process of the shift from Maltese to English is well underway for the Maltese living in Canada. The paper concludes by o€ering several hypotheses to account for the rapid loss of Maltese language by Maltese migrants in Canada.

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