Languages of Palestine

Languages of Palestine
Official languages Palestinian Arabic
Main foreign languages English
Sign languages Palestinian Sign Language

The languages of Palestine are the languages spoken or once spoken in the territory of the State of Palestine.

Overview

Palestinian Arabic is the primary language spoken by Palestinians that has a unique dialect. It is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup spoken in Palestine, by Arab citizens of Israel (mostly Palestinians) and in most Palestinian populations around the world.[1] However, Palestinian refugees in other parts of the world may have a different dialect to the Palestinian Arabic. In the West Bank, there are many Israeli settlements where since the turn of the 20th century Hebrew has become more common. However, Russian and Amharic has also started to appear resulting from aliyah from Ethiopia. Other Jewish migrants have also brought other European languages.[2]

In premodern and medieval time periods, many other languages had also been spoken in Palestine for ceremonial purposes or otherwise, including Latin, French, Italic languages, Germanic languages, classical Arabic and Greek. However these languages gradually faded away along with geopolitical shifts and disestablishment of feudalism.[3]

See also

References

  1. Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: L-R - Page 1492, James Minahan - 2002
  2. Struggle and Survival in Palestine/Israel - Page 403, Gershon Shafir - 2012
  3. Naming Patterns in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem - Page 42, Iris Shagrir - 2003



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