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Maltese is considered a separate language because they are Christian and identify more with Italy. I have seen some Lebanese try to say Lebanese Arabic isn't Arabic, and there was once a push to write it in the Latin alphabet, which actually made it look very similar to Maltese.
I've also seen some people say Moroccan Arabic is more divergent from the standard than Maltese is.
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@Sikeliot
Do you know around which time period western Sicilians mmigrated to Malta?
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Their Christianity is the reason why Maltese people are not considered ethnic Arab and has no bearing on linguistics. Its the standardization of their dialect that gives them the status of having a separate language. Its like how Turkish and Azeri are considered separate languages despite being mutually intelligible (I've read that South Azeri is actually closer Turkish than it is to North Azeri). If Moroccan or Lebanese Arabic were standardized tomorrow, then they'd be considered a separate language. At the moment, the different Arabic dialects (not including Maltese) are just considered localized crude forms so that's why they aren't considered a separate language. Alemannic isn't either officially considered a separate language from German since its not standardized. Some Germans and Swiss-Germans told me that Swiss-German can't be understood by someone that knows only Standard German yet its considered the same language.
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