DEBATES: What is a Language? : Review of Bernard Comrie, Ray Fabri, Elizabeth Hume, Manwel Mifsud, Thomas Stolz & Martine Vanhove (eds.), ‘Introducing Maltese Linguistics. Selected papers from the 1st International Conference on Maltese Linguistics, Bremen, 18–20 October. 2007, 2009. XI, 422 pages. Studies in Language Companion Series 113. Amsterdam - Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

摘要

The notion of ‘language’ is a surprisingly fuzzy concept even among the community of linguistic scholars. This is despite the fact that concepts and methodologies exist to give fairly explicit characterizations of the notion. In the context of a general review of a book on Maltese Linguistics, this article will address definitional issues arising out of the interesting historical and socio-political reality of present-day Maltese, particularly as they relate to comparative and language contact problems.