Language and Palestinian Identity

In cultural studies, using your own dialect in communication means that you belong to the culture of that dialect, and that you are not compromising any association of that culture, particularly your identity. This paper seeks to study the limits of the relationship between Palestinian dialect and identity. In many cases, especially when the nation doesn't have its own state, it is very important that the people find a unifying power. Palestinians in Jordan are citizens of that country; some of them dream of returning home, and thus they are still proud of their national dialect; others speak the Jordanian dialect, and this raises a multitude of questions. Through a sample stratified on the basis of gender, age and level of educational attainment, the paper found that the percentage of those who used the Jordanian dialect was substantial, and from a linguistic point of view, symbolic and significant. Assuming that external factors are irrelevant, the findings suggest that those who relinquished their Palestinian dialect might have compromised their true national identity.Keywords: Dialect, National Identity, Affiliation, Culture, Right of Return