Maltese (also known as Malti) is the national language of Malta and an official language of the European Union. Maltese is generally accepted to be descended from Siculo-Arabic, the Arabic dialects that developed in Sicily and the rest of Southern Italy, but a few sources also claim it was from Tunisian or Maghrebi Arabic, with substantial borrowing from other languages such as Sicilian and Italian. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet in its standard form.
Today, there are an estimated 500,000 Maltese speakers, of whom 400,000 reside in Malta. Thousands of Maltese emigrants in Australia, the United States, Canada and Gibraltar can still speak the language.
Source - Wikipeadia.comSee also:
bbc.co.uk Country Profile - Malta
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