Joseph (Ġużè) Aquilina (7 April 1911 – 8 August 1997) was a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

author and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

born in

Munxar Munxar ( mt, Il-Munxar) is an administrative unit of Malta, which lies on the southern side of island of Gozo. As of March 2014, its population was 1,454 people. Close by to this village, there is Xlendi Bay, a popular tourist resort engulfed ...

Education

Aquilina graduated first as

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and later as a lawyer from the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

. Between 1937 and 1940 he read

comparative semitic philology general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as well ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

where he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. In 1937 Ġużè Aquilina was appointed as the first profesor of Maltese and oriental languages at the

, where he contributed in a significant manner towards the study and strengthening of the

Maltese language Maltese ( mt, Malti, links=no, also ''L-Ilsien Malti'' or '), is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata spoken by the Maltese people. It is the national language of Malta and the only offici ...

. It was only in 1934, three years before his appointment, that the Maltese language was declared the official language of Malta.

Career

Among the prominent posts which Aquilina held as a full-time professor at the University of Malta, was that as Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Aquilina's numerous works include novels, philosophical essays, critical studies, drama, linguistic papers and religious books, his ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' being a ''Maltese–English Dictionary''.

Partial bibliography

* ''Teach Yourself Maltese''. Teach Yourself Books, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1965; 6th impression 1985 * ''A Comparative Dictionary of Maltese Proverbs'', 1972 * ''Papers in Maltese Linguistics''. University of Malta * ''A Survey of Contemporary Dialectal Maltese'' (jointly with B.S. Isserlin), Gozo/Leeds 1981 * ''Twemmin u Ħajja'' Faith and Life" 1984 * ''Maltese–English Dictionary'', I-II, Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, 1987–1990, 1,673 pages

External links

allmalta article
* Biography in Maltese Place of death missing 1911 births 1997 deaths 20th-century linguists 20th-century Maltese novelists Alumni of the University of London University of Malta alumni Deans (academic) English-language writers from Malta Linguists from Malta Male essayists Maltese male novelists Maltese essayists Maltese lexicographers People from Munxar University of Malta academic personnel 20th-century essayists Maltese academic administrators 20th-century male writers 20th-century lexicographers {{europe-linguist-stub

Education

Career

Partial bibliography

See also

External links