PRONUNCIATION
The Maltese alphabet is composed of 5 vowels and 24 consonants. Diacriticals indicate the pronunciation of certain letters, which may vary depending on their position or their immediate neighbours in a word. ċ is pronounced ‘ch’ as in change ġ is pronounced ‘dge’ as in judge or, at the end of a word, as ‘tch’ as in fetch g is hard, as in go għ when before or after the vowels a, o and e results in a lengthening of the vowel sound, thus qarabagħli is ‘qarabaali’ għ before the vowel i changes the sound to ‘ay’ as in day, thus għira is ‘ay‑ra’ għ before the vowel u changes the sound to ‘ou’ as in soul or ‘ow’ as in bowl; thus bgħuda (meaning distance) becomes ‘bowda’ h is not pronounced, as in heir or hour ħ is pronounced, as in hot or helpful q is expressed gutturally, like a strong glottal stop or a ‘k’ far back in the mouth x is pronounced ‘sh’ as in ship z is pronounced ‘ts’ as in cats ż is pronounced ‘z’ as in freeze j serves as a consonental ‘y’ as in yellow
xiv