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Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance

META-NET White Paper Series: Maltese

The Maltese Language in the Digital Age / Il-Lingwa Maltija Fl-Era Diġitali

Series editors: Georg Rehm, Hans Uszkoreit

Authors

Contributors

  • Ritianne Stanyer, Roberta Abela, Ray Fabri

Quotes

  • His Excellency Dr. George Abela (President of Malta): “The Maltese language traces its roots to the arrival of the Arabs in Malta over 1000 years ago. Originally Siculo-Arabic, Maltese later followed its own path to linguistics development, evolving and adapting itself in response to political events in our islands that left their mark not only on the language but also on the Maltese People. In our language, we can perceive a reflection of our history and a confirmation of the tenacity of our People to hold on to their own identity in spite of having been ruled by different foreign powers. Today, Maltese is more alive than ever before and will again adapt itself, this time in response to the technological developments of the present. In this way, it will guarantee its own survival in the future.”
  • L-Onor. Dolores Cristina (Ministru tal-Edukazzjoni u x-Xogħol): “Tkun verament ħasra jekk ma nisfruttawx l-iżviluppi fit-teknoloġija biex napplikawhom għall-qasam lingwistiku. Is-sinerġija bejn dawn iż-żewġ xjenzi għandha titpoġġa għas-servizz tal-bniedem biex jiffaċilitalna ħajjitna u jgħinha nkissru l-barrieri f’dinja globalizzata. Għalhekk l-appoġġ tat-teknoloġija lingwistika għall-Malti għandu jservi biex ilsienna jibqa’ jkun kultivat, użat u mpoġġi fuq l-istess livell ta’ lingwi oħra.”
  • The Hon. Dolores Cristina (Minister for Education and Employment): “It will be really unfortunate if we do not exploit the developments in technology to apply them to the linguistic field. The synergy between these two sciences has to be brought to the service of the people so that it makes our life easier and helps to break the barriers in a globalised world. Thus the technology support for the Maltese language should serve our language to be continuously cultivated, used and placed on the same level as other languages.”
  • Prof. Ray Fabri (Ċermen tal-Institut tal-Lingwistika, Università ta' Malta): “Lejn mappa tal-Malti fl-era diġitali.”
  • Prof. Ray Fabri (Chairman of the Institute of Linguistics, University of Malta): “Mapping out the territory of Maltese in a digital age.”

This Volume

The Series

Preface

This white paper is part of a series that promotes knowledge about language technology and its potential. It addresses journalists, politicians, language communities, educators and others. The availability and use of language technology in Europe varies between languages. Consequently, the actions that are required to further support research and development of language technologies also differs. The required actions depend on many factors, such as the complexity of a given language and the size of its community.

META-NET, a Network of Excellence funded by the European Commission, has conducted an analysis of current language resources and technologies in this white paper series. The analysis focused on the 23 official European languages as well as other important national and regional languages in Europe. The results of this analysis suggest that there are tremendous deficits in technology support and significant research gaps for each language. The given detailed expert analysis and assessment of the current situation will help maximise the impact of additional research.

META-NET consists of 54 research centres from 33 European countries. META-NET is working with stakeholders from economy (software companies, technology providers, users), government agencies, research organisations, non-governmental organisations, language communities and European universities. Together with these communities, META-NET is creating a common technology vision and strategic research agenda for multilingual Europe 2020.

Daħla

Din il-White Paper hija għall-edukaturi, ġurnalisti, politikanti, kommunitajiet ta’ lingwi u oħrajn, li jixtiequ jistabbilixxu Ewropa tabilħaqq multilingwali.

Din hija parti minn serje White Papers li jippromwovu għarfien dwar it-teknoloġija lingwistika u l-potenzjal tagħha. Id-disponibiltà u l-użu tat-teknoloġija lingwistika fl-Ewropa tvarja bejn lingwa u oħra. Konsegwentement, l-azzjonijiet li huma meħtieġa sabiex jiġu appoġġjati r-riċerka u l-iżvilupp tat-teknoloġiji lingwistiċi ivarjaw ukoll f’kull lingwa. L-azzjonijiet meħtieġa jiddependu fuq bosta fatturi, bħal kumplessità ta’ lingwa partikolari u d-daqs tal-komunità tagħha.

META-NET, Netwerk ta’ Eċċellenza tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea, wettaq analiżi dwar ir-riżorsi u t-teknoloġiji lingwistiċi kurrenti f’din is-serje ta’ white papers. Din l-analiżi kienet ibbażata fuq 23 lingwa uffiċjali Ewropeja, kif ukoll lingwi reġjonali oħra importanti fl-Ewropa. Ir-riżultati ta’ dan l-analiżi jissuġġerixxu li hemm bosta nuqqasijiet fir-riċerka għal kull lingwa. Analiżi aktar dettaljata u esperta u assessjar tas-sitwazzjoni kurrenti għandha tgħin sabiex timmassimizza l-impatt ta’ riċerka addizzjonali.

Minn Novembru 2011 META-NET tikkonsisti f’54 ċentru ta’ riċerka minn 33 pajjiż li qed jaħdmu ma’ partijiet interessati minn negozji kummerċjali, aġenziji governattivi, industriji, organizzazzjonijiet ta’ riċerka, kumpaniji ta’ software, fornituri ta’ teknoloġija u universitajiet Ewropej. Flimkien, dawn qed joħolqu viżjoni teknoloġika komuni filwaqt li jiżviluppaw aġenda ta’ riċerka strateġika li turi kif applikazzjonijiet teknoloġiċi lingwistiċi jistgħu jindirizzaw xi nuqqasijiet ta’ riċerka sal-2020.