Linguistic Variations as Building Factors of Cultural Identity. Case Study: Students of 1948 Occupied Palestine at the Arab American University-Palestine (AAUP) رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Language is a significant part of cultural identity. That is, people acquire language from being members of a cultural group. At the same time, they express their culture through language. Palestinians living in 1948 occupied Palestine are a minority that have their own cultural identity. This study aimed at investigating the linguistic factors that build their cultural identity and distinguish it from others. The researcher focused on words, pronunciation, and Arabic-Hebrew code switching as factors that label the cultural identity of students from 1948 occupied Palestine at the Arab American University of Palestine. The researcher also focused on the relationship between linguistic variations and prestige and whether students of 1948 occupied Palestine experienced culture shock or faced communicative barriers because of these linguistic variations. Furthermore, the research investigated whether gender and place of residence affected the role of Arabic-Hebrew code switching in characterizing the cultural identity of students from 1948 occupied Palestine. In addition, it explored whether the same variables played a role in the degree that the participants faced communicative barriers or experienced culture shock. The population of the study consisted of all male and female students from 1948 occupied Palestine taking English courses in the English language center at the Arab American University. The researcher employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies to conduct the research. That is, the researcher used quantitative online questionnaires that were distributed to a sample of 283 students from 1948 occupied Palestine who were taking English courses in the English language center at the Arab American University. The sample was chosen randomly. Then, the researcher used SPSS to analyze the questionnaire results statistically and applied independent T tests VI and One Way Anova tests. Moreover, the researcher conducted online interviews with 36 participants to enrich the research. The results showed that word choice and pronunciation played a major role in labelling the cultural identity of students from 1948 occupied Palestine. Moreover, Arabic-Hebrew code switching characterized their cultural identity significantly, as it is an influence of being surrounded by the Israeli culture. Furthermore, the results showed that students of 1948 occupied Palestine experienced culture shock and faced communicative barriers as a result of the linguistic variations between the west bank and 1948 occupied Palestine. Actually, linguistic variations were sometimes used for prestigious purposes. Moreover, the results showed that gender had no effect on the role of Arabic – Hebrew code switching in characterizing the participants‘ cultural identity or on the participants‘ experience of culture shock and communicative barriers. However, the effect of place of residence on the aforementioned domains was significant in favor of the south. In the light of the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that the university develop a strategy to help students of 1948 occupied Palestine strengthen their Arabic language as it is a significant characteristic of their indigenous Palestinian identity. Moreover, the researcher recommended to conduct further researches on the dialects of students from 1948 occupied Palestine.