With the rich history of territorial conquest on the island of Malta, each regime has left its mark on the small archipelago, especially with each linguistic conquest, a new language was formed, influenced and fortified to what we know now as Maltese. Within this thesis we will identify the factors of these regimes which have led Malta to become a bilingual nation. This thesis investigates the Maltese language situation along with the status of the social and individual characteristics the theories of bilingualism adhere. In order to address how Malta has become a functional bilingual society, theoretical measures of both societal and individual bilingualism will be explored. The thesis applies research methodology with special participation of University students and staff from the University of Malta. Together they help bring insight in answering just how Maltese and English are encouraged in the Maltese social strata. It shows just how it is maintained individually by understanding the environmental mechanisms put in place by the Maltese government as well as how it is encouraged at home. Furthermore, it explains how the policies help the languages continue to coexist and form a functional bilingual society.

<p>U ovom istraživanju cilj je da na osnovu lične percepcije fenomena individualne vi&scaron;ejezičnosti kod studenata i studentkinja Filozofskog fakulteta, Univerziteta u Novom Sadu, ispitam njihove stavove prema vlastitoj dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti i utvrdim da li se, u kojoj meri i na koji način odvijaju međujezički uticaji u procesu učenja trećeg jezika.<br />U Vojvodini je u službenoj upotrebi srpski jezik i ćirilično pismo, mađarski, slovački, hrvatski, rumunski i rusinski jezik i njihova pisma (Statut AP Vojvodine (&bdquo;Službeni list APV&rdquo; br.17/09)) u skladu sa zakonom i pokrajinskom skup&scaron;tinskom odlukom, a na Filozofskom fakultetu u Novom Sadu postoji duga tradicija istraživanja dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti u odnosu na jezik većinskog naroda (Mike&scaron; 1961, 1964, 1965, 1991; 1998; Mike&scaron; i Vlahović 1966; 1967; Mike&scaron; i Savić 1972, 1973, 1974; Genc 1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1991; Međe&scaron;i 2009; Tir 2002; Horakova 2002; Puja-Badesku 2009).<br />Korpus empirijskih podataka čine dve grupe odgovora: odgovori dvojezičnih studenata (26) i studentkinja (74) prve godine Filozofskog fakulteta u Novom Sadu &scaron;kolske 2011/12. godine (prosečna starost 21;8 godina) za koje su dobijeni podaci pomoću upitnika i odgovori dve trojezične alumnistkinje istog fakulteta (44 godine) za koje su dobijeni podaci audio zapisom njihovih ličnih ispovesti (životnih priča).<br />Upitnik ima sledeće celine: o maternjem jeziku, drugom i trećem jeziku, kao i međujezičkim uticajima; a audio zapisom su zabeleženi odgovori na slična pitanja u polustrukturiranom intervjuu. Prikupljeni podaci su analizirani na osnovu kombinacije mađarskog kao ugro-finskog i slovenskih (srpski/hrvatski, rusinski, slovački, ukrajinski, poljski, ruski), germanskih (nemački, engleski) i romanskih (rumunski, francuski, italijanski, &scaron;panski) kao idoevropskih jezika.<br />Dobijeni rezultati potvrđuju rezultate savremenih istraživanja dvo- i vi&scaron;ejezičnosti i pokazuju sledeće: bez obzira na tipolo&scaron;ke karakteristike jezika dvojezičnost efikasno utiče na usvajanje trećeg jezika (Ringbom 1987; Cenoz 2001; Jessner 2007; Gibbons 2009), &scaron;to je u ovom istraživanju dokumentovano za kombinacije jezika: mađarski kao ugro-finski i slovenski (srpski/hrvatski, rusinski, slovački, ukrajinski, poljski, ruski), germanski (nemački, engleski) i romanski (rumunski, francuski, italijanski, &scaron;panski) kao idoevropski jezici; drugi jezik ima veći uticaj na učenje trećeg jezika od prvonaučenog ili usvojenog jezika (Williams and Hammarberg 1998; Bardel and Falk 2007), ukoliko je kompetencija na visokom nivou, a izloženost drugom jeziku česta i dugotrajna i ukoliko su drugi i treći jezik tipolo&scaron;ki slični; transfer jezičkog znanja sprovodi se na nesvesnom nivou i to če&scaron;će u neformalnim, nego u formalnim situacijama, kao &scaron;to je potvrđeno i u drugim istraživanjima (Hoffmann 2007); komunikativna strategija opisivanja se če&scaron;će primenjuje u procesu stvaranja iskaza na trećem jeziku od strategije pravljenja hibridnih varijanti; kvalitativna analiza odgovora iz životnih priča potvrđuje osnovne rezultate dobijene na osnovu odgovora studenata i studentkinja i otkriva niz nijansi koje nije moguće dobiti upitnikom, a koje se odnose na kontekst, lična iskustva i sposobnosti da se metajezičke sposobnosti stave u funkciju učenja jezika.<br />Iako je trojezičnost po svemu sudeći budućnost civilizacijskog toka i obrazovnog sistema, možda čak i od pred&scaron;kolskog uzrasta, o ovom fenomenu ima jo&scaron; uvek malo literature. Na bazi rezultata dobijenih u ovom istraživanju, iako njihova pouzdanost nije apsolutna, jer zavise od ličnog procenjivanja fenomena, moguće je nanovo razmotriti postojeće teorije i ponovo opisati metalingvističke sposobnosti kada su u pitanju jezici koji nisu srodni u odnosu na jezike koji su srodni kada je u pitanju trojezičnost u Vojvodini.</p> / <p>The aim of this study is to investigate<br />attitudes towards personal bilingualism and<br />multilingualism and to determine if there is a<br />cross-linguistic influence in the third<br />language acquisition process, how and how<br />often it occurs, according to a personal<br />perception of the phenomenon of the<br />individual multilingualism among students at<br />the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi<br />Sad.<br />In Vojvodina, the officially used languages<br />are: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian,<br />Romanian and Ruthenian (AP of Vojvodina<br />Statute (&bdquo;Službeni list APV&rdquo; br.17/09)). At<br />the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad<br />bilingualism, multilingualism and the<br />majority language has been traditionally<br />studied since its foundation (Mike&scaron; 1961,<br />1964, 1965, 1991; 1998; Mike&scaron; i Vlahović<br />1966; 1967; Mike&scaron; i Savić 1972, 1973, 1974;<br />Genc 1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1991; Međe&scaron;i<br />2009; Tir 2002; Horakova 2002; Puja-<br />Badesku 2009).<br />The empirical data include two groups of<br />answers: answers that the first year (2011/12)<br />bilingual female (74) and male (26) students<br />(mean age 21;8) gave to questions about their<br />mother tongue, second and third language and<br />cross-linguistic influence in a questionnaire<br />and answers that the trilingual alumni of the same faculty (44 years old) gave in their oral</p><p>history.<br />The questionnaire includes questions about<br />mother tongue, second and third language, as<br />well as about cross-linguistic influences. The<br />questions in the semi-structured interview for<br />the oral history are about the same topics. The<br />obtained data are analyzed according to the<br />combination of Hungarian as Finno-Ugric<br />language and Slavic (Serbian/Croatian,<br />Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Polish,<br />Russian), Germanic (German, English) and<br />Romance languages (Romanian, French,<br />Italian, Spanish) as Indo-European languages.<br />The obtained results confirm the<br />contemporary findings in bilingualism and<br />multilingualism research and show the<br />following: bilingualism has a positive<br />influence on third language acquisition<br />regardless of their typological characteristics<br />(Cenoz 2001; Jessner 2007) and in this<br />research it is confirmed for combination of<br />languages: Hungarian as Finno-Ugric<br />language and Slavic (Serbian/Croatian,<br />Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Polish,<br />Russian), Germanic (German, English) and<br />Romance languages (Romanian, French,<br />Italian, Spanish) as Indo-European languages;<br />the second language has a greater influence<br />on the third language acquisition process than the first one (Williams and Hammarberg</p><p>1998; Bardel and Falk 2007), if the<br />competence is on the high level, the second<br />language exposure frequent and long, and if<br />the second and the third language are<br />typologically similar; the linguistic<br />knowledge is transferred subconsciously,<br />more often in informal than in formal<br />situations, as it is confirmed in other studies<br />(Hoffmann 2007); description as a<br />communicational strategy is more often used<br />than creation of hybrid forms; qualitative<br />analysis of the obtained answers in oral<br />histories confirm results obtained by the<br />questionnaire, but it also reveals various<br />nuances that cannot be found using<br />questionnaire, about the context, personal<br />experiences and abilities to use metalinguistic<br />awareness in the language learning process.<br />In spite of the fact that trilingualism is the<br />future in the civilization evolution and in the<br />educational system, even starting at the<br />preschool level, there is not enough literature<br />about the phenomenon. According to the<br />results obtained in this research, although<br />they are not absolutely reliable, since they<br />depend on a personal judgment of the<br />phenomenon, it is possible to redefine<br />existing theories and to describe<br />metalinguistic abilities again when</p>