Beyond the 870 Paradigm Maltese as a Stratified Semitic System: Corpus-Based Evidence from Morphology, Syntax, and Semantic Organisation

This preprint presents a corpus-informed re-evaluation of Maltese linguistic development, arguing that the language is best understood as a stratified Semitic system shaped by retention, convergence, and contact-induced restructuring rather than by a strictly linear model of descent from Siculo-Arabic alone. Drawing on evidence from morphology, phonology, syntax, semantic organisation, and high-retention lexical domains, the study identifies recurrent structural patterns that align Maltese with broader Semitic typologies, including features attested beyond the Maghrebi domain. Particular attention is given to morphophonological behaviour, grammatical persistence, semantic structuring, and the organisation of motion, bodily state, illumination, and temporal expression within the Maltese lexicon. The study does not claim direct historical continuity from any single Semitic source. Instead, it proposes that Maltese preserves layered structural and semantic configurations reflecting long-term processes of continuity, contact, reanalysis, and internal development within the Mediterranean linguistic sphere. This work is published as a preprint to encourage scholarly discussion and further research.