Aims and objectives

The Malta Centre is jointly supported by the University of Bremen and the Università ta' Malta through a cooperation agreement.

The Malta Centre, which is unique as an academic institution outside Malta, places Maltese at the centre of all its activities. The central tasks of the Malta Centre are the research, description and communication of Maltese using adequate scientific methods and instruments as well as the organizational and logistical support of corresponding projects. With its help, Maltese is established as a subject of research and teaching at the university level, even beyond the national borders of Malta.

The Malta Centre is in the broadest sense and exclusively a linguistic institution and consequently assigned to the Faculty 10 Linguistics and Literary Studies at the University of Bremen, where it is integrated into the course of studies in Linguistics / Language Sciences (BA/MA). There, the Malta Centre functions, among other things, as a clearinghouse of the Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija / International Association of Maltese Linguistics (GĦiLM), which is the association of all linguistic researchers concerned with Maltese.

Together with and on behalf of GĦiLM, the Malta Centre prepares the biennial conferences (Lingwistika Maltija) held at different locations in Europe, accompanies their implementation and follow-up, and is actively involved in the documentation of the conference papers and results in the form of anthology publications by the internationally renowned publishing house De Gruyter.

One of the ways in which the Malta Centre supports research projects is by providing sustainable resources. On the one hand, this is the Maltese Library with its well over 1,000 printed works of various genres in Maltese, which can be consulted on-site for research purposes. On the other hand, a continuously expanding bibliography of Maltese linguistics is accessible online, through which all linguistically relevant literature on Maltese can be traced. The Malta Centre also offers visiting scholars the opportunity to work on projects in the field of Maltese linguistics on its premises and to exchange ideas with other experts.

Through the Malta Centre, Maltese is integrated into the curriculum of the two linguistics programs at the University of Bremen by regularly offering courses related to the Maltese language at both Bachelor's and Master's level and by supervising theses on topics related to Maltese linguistics. In addition, guest lectures, colloquia, workshops, study days, field trips, and field research visits are organized to bring topics in Maltese linguistics to the student audience and other interested parties. In addition to these strictly linguistic offerings, the Malta Centre hosts annual summer courses in the practical acquisition of Maltese, led by a native Maltese speaker, which are frequently attended by people interested in Maltese from other countries in Europe and the United States.

In direct connection with the Malta Centre, research focused on Maltese is also carried out by the Bremen Linguistics Department, among which the following are particularly noteworthy from recent times: (a) the productivity of Italian derivational morphology adopted into Maltese by borrowing, investigated by Benjamin Saade in 2020 until his successful doctorate, and (b) the project Prepositions and their Grammar in Maltese, approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 2018 and carried out by Maike Vorholt in a lead role and with the goal of a doctorate since fall 2019.

Iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti huwa mmexxi, b'mod konġunt, mill-Università ta' Bremen u l-Università ta' Malta permezz ta' ftehim ta' kooperazzjoni.

Iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti, istituzzjoni akkademika unika li tinsab barra minn Malta, ipoġġi l-Malti fiċ-ċentru tal-attivitajiet kollha tiegħu. L-għanijiet ċentrali taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti huma r-riċerka, id-deskrizzjoni tal-lingwa u l-komunikazzjoni bil-Malti bl-użu ta’ metodi u strumenti xjentifiċi adegwati kif ukoll joffri l-appoġġ organizzattiv u loġistiku fuq proġetti korrispondenti. Bl-għajnuna taċ-Ċentru, il-Malti huwa suġġett ta’ riċerka u ta’ tagħlim f’livell universitarju, anke lil hinn mill-fruntieri nazzjonali ta’ Malta.

Iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti huwa, fl-aktar sens wiesa’ u esklussiv, istituzzjoni lingwistika, u għalhekk, jaqa’ taħt ir-responsabbiltà ta’ Fakultà 10 tal-Lingwistika u Studji Letterarji fl-Università ta’ Bremen, fejn huwa integrat fil-kors ta’ studji fil-Lingwistika/Xjenzi tal-Lingwi (BA/MA). Hemmhekk, iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti jiffunzjona, fost affarijiet oħra, bħala clearinghouse tal-Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija / International Association of Maltese Linguistics (GĦiLM), li hija l-assoċjazzjoni tar-riċerkaturi lingwistiċi li jaħdmu fuq il-Malti.

Flimkien ma’ u f’isem l-GĦiLM, iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti jipprepara l-konferenzi biennali (Lingwistika Maltija) li jsiru f’postijiet differenti fl-Ewropa, jieħu ħsieb l-implimentazzjoni u s-segwitu tagħhom, u huwa involut b’mod attiv fid-dokumentazzjoni tad-dokumenti u r-riżultati tal-konferenzi fil-forma ta’ pubblikazzjonijiet ta’ antoloġija mid-dar tal-pubblikazzjonijiet ta’ fama internazzjonali De Gruyter.

Wieħed mill-modi kif iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti jappoġġja proġetti ta’ riċerka huwa billi jipprovdi riżorsi sostenibbli. Minn naħa, hemm il-Librerija Maltija li fiha aktar minn 1,000 xogħol stampat ta’ diversi ġeneri bil-Malti, li jistgħu jiġu kkonsultati fuq il-post għal skopijiet ta’ riċerka. Min-naħa l-oħra, teżisti bibljografija tal-lingwistika Maltija li qed tespandi kontinwament u hija aċċessibbli onlajn. Permezz tagħha, l-utenti jistgħu jfittxu l-letteratura lingwistika rilevanti dwar il-Malti. Iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti joffri wkoll l-opportunità biex l-istudjużi viżitaturi jaħdmu fuq proġetti fil-qasam tal-lingwistika Maltija u biex jiddiskutu l-ideat tagħhom ma’ esperti oħra.

Permezz taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti, il-Malti ġie integrat fil-kurrikulu taż-żewġ programmi lingwistiċi fl-Università ta’ Bremen u joffri regolarment korsijiet relatati mal-lingwa Maltija, kemm fil-livell ta’ Baċellerat kif ukoll ta’ Masters, kif ukoll imexxi teżijiet dwar suġġetti relatati mal-lingwistika Maltija. Barra minn hekk, jiġu organizzati lekċers, colloquia, workshops, ġranet ta’ studju, vjaġġi lejn Malta, u żjarat ta’ riċerka f’Malta biex iqarrbu suġġetti fil-lingwistika Maltija lejn l-udjenza studenteska u lejn dawk kollha interessati. Minbarra dawn l-offerti strettament lingwistiċi, iċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti jospita korsijiet annwali fis-sajf li jiffukaw fuq l-akkwist prattiku tal-Malti, immexxija minn kelliema nattiva tal-Malti, li għalihom spiss jattendu nies interessati fil-Malti minn pajjiżi oħra fl-Ewropa u l-Istati Uniti.

B’rabta diretta maċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti, issir ukoll riċerka ffukata fuq il-Malti mid-Dipartiment tal-Lingwistika ta’ Bremen. Dawn li ġejjin huma proġetti notevoli li saru fi żminijiet riċenti: (a) il-produttività tal-morfoloġija derivattiva Taljana li l-Malti ssellef, proġett li fuqu ħadem Benjamin Saade sa ma kiseb id-dottorat b’suċċess fl-2020, u (b) il-proġett Prepositions and their Grammar in Maltese, approvat mill-German Research Foundation (DFG) fl-2018. Dan il-proġett bdiet taħdem fuqu Maike Vorholt fil-ħarifa tal-2019 bil-għan li tikseb dottorat.

Updated by: Maike Vorholt

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Aims and objectives

Għanijiet

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