Cultural Geographers have written extensively on Diaspora, heritage, identity and their contributions greatly discuss how these theories integrate. The majority of what is available does not address the Palestinians specifically, hence my study fills a void in that it empirically addresses the Palestinian people and the role of their dialect and how it ties to Palestinian Diaspora, heritage and identity. Most of the literature has not viewed Diaspora, heritage, and identity thru the lens of language or language as a major player, an important one or perhaps vital. To produce these findings will contribute to the knowledge base on the issue to the Palestinians specifically and to the concept itself and its variable elements/components that integrate and act to define it. (Hubbuch, 2004, pp. 138-139). This Thesis will argue, from the historical and cultural record of Palestine, that among the multiple aspects of Palestinian culture, language is the most crucial bearer of identity and group cohesion. In addition to this central claim about the importance of language, the thesis will draw specific conclusions about the role and use of the Levantine dialect of Arabic by analyzing the data gathered in a semi-structured online interview in which thirty nine respondents offered their shared experiences and ideas regarding their Levantine dialect of Arabic. Palestinian relationship to language is deeply associated with place, family, history, heritage, and pride in self and in community. These associations are ones that speakers of the Levantine dialect of Palestine are remarkably self-aware about; that is, the diasporic condition makes language more visible as a pivot of culture and more precious because it is under threat.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06222009-140427 |
| Date | 16 July 2009 |
| Creators | Bitar, Samir Ibrahim |
| Contributors | Kathleen Kane, Khaled Huthaily, Wade Davies |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06222009-140427/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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