Maltese language maintenance in Australia (based on the 1996 Census)Author: Sandra Kipp Concentration of Maltese speakers within Victoria and NSWMacedonian and Maltese are the two most highly concentrated languages in Victoria, with concentration factors of 4.1 and 4.0 respectively over the 'top' three Local Govenunent Areas (or LGAS). This means, for example, that Maltese is four times as concentrated in a particular area as one would expect, given the number of Maltese speakers in Melbourne in proportion to the total population of the metropolitan area. The concentration factor in Brimbank, the LGA with the largest numbers of Maltese speakers, is even higher (6.6). The other important LGAs for Maltese (Hobsons Bay and Hume) are adjacent to Brimbank, one to the north and one to the south. As can be seen from this information, concentration of community language speakers does not necessarily go hand in hand with overall successful maintenance of a language. Although Macedonian is indeed very well maintained, Maltese is, as we have seen, one of the high shift languages, with a particularly high intergenerational shift. In Sydney, Maltese is less concentrated, with a factor of 2.2 over the top five LGAS, and a 'highest' factor of 4.6 in Holroyd. In both Melbourne and Sydney there appears to have been very little movement from the areas of first settlement. Source: Maltese Background Youth - Editors Cauchi M, Borland H, Adams R, 1999, [Europe Australia Institute], p 9
   
|
.