A Stroll on a Linguistic Tightrope: A Study of Urban Israeli Palestinians’ Language Attitudes and Reported Usage Cecilie Skaaraas Master thesis in Arabic language (60 credits) Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages University of Oslo November 2009 Table of Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................5 Abstract...............................................................................................................................................6 Chapter One: Introduction ...........................................................................................................7 1.1 The project ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Outline of the thesis..................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Transcription of Hebrew and Arabic ........................................................................................ 9 1.3.1 The Arabic varieties............................................................................................................... 9 Table 1. Arabic transcription system - consonants ( EALL) .......................................................... 9 Table 2. Arabic transcription system (vowels, dipthongs) EALL ................................................ 10 1.3.2. The Hebrew varieties .......................................................................................................... 10 Table 3. Hebrew transcription system .......................................................................................... 11 Chapter Two: Background.........................................................................................................12 2.1 A minority in its country, the majority of the region............................................................. 12 2.2 “ My state is at war with my nation”....................................................................................... 13 2.3 “Hebrew as my step-mother-tongue” ...................................................................................... 18 2.4 The speech community.............................................................................................................. 20 2.4.1 Israeli districts and their Israeli Palestinian inhabitants....................................................... 20 2.4.2 In Haifa they work ............................................................................................................... 22 2.4.3 Jaffa - the bride of the sea.................................................................................................... 24 Chapter Three: The theoretical framework. .......................................................................26 3.1 Bilingualism and the choice of code......................................................................................... 26 3.1.1 Domains ............................................................................................................................... 26 3.1.2 Language and identity.......................................................................................................... 28 3.1.3 Code choice as intentional ................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Code-switching and the filling of lexical gaps......................................................................... 30 3.2.1 Cultural borrowing............................................................................................................... 31 3.2.2 Core borrowing .................................................................................................................... 31 3.3 Marked and unmarked choice ................................................................................................. 32 3.3.1 Code-Switching as an unmarked choice .............................................................................. 33 3.4 Diglossia...................................................................................................................................... 34 3.4.1 The Arabic diglossic continuum .......................................................................................... 34 3.4.2 Code-switching as an unmarked choice in Arabic diglossia ............................................... 35 3.5 Language attitudes, prestige and motivation.......................................................................... 36 3.5.1 Prestige................................................................................................................................. 37 3.5.1.1 Prestige in Arabic diglossia .............................................................................................. 37 2 3.5.1.2 Covert prestige.................................................................................................................. 38 3.5.2 Integrative and instrumental motivations............................................................................. 38 3.5.3 Attitudes towards code-switching........................................................................................ 39 3.6 Two varieties of modern Hebrew............................................................................................. 40 3.7 Code choice among Israeli Palestinians .................................................................................. 41 3.7.1 Code-switching or borrowing .............................................................................................. 42 3.7.2 Attitudes, prestige and motivation ....................................................................................... 45 3.7.3 The status of fuṣḥā among Israeli Palestinians .................................................................... 45 3.8 Hypothesis and research questions.......................................................................................... 46 Chapter Four: Methodology ......................................................................................................48 4.1 The choice of methods............................................................................................................... 48 4.2 The fieldwork............................................................................................................................. 48 4.2.1 Participating observation ..................................................................................................... 49 4.2.2 The interviews...................................................................................................................... 49 4.2.3 Critique of qualitative method ............................................................................................. 50 4.2.4 The questionnaire................................................................................................................. 50 4.3 The informants .......................................................................................................................... 52 4.3.1 The informants and myself .................................................................................................. 52 4.3.2 The interviewees .................................................................................................................. 53 4.3.3 The participants of the questionnaire................................................................................... 54 4.4 Ethical questions........................................................................................................................ 54 Chapter Five: Results and discussion ....................................................................................55 5.1 Reported usage and code preference....................................................................................... 56 5.1.1 Questionnaire ....................................................................................................................... 56 5.1.1.1 Reported usage in spoken communication ....................................................................... 56 5.1.1.2 Reported usage in written communication ....................................................................... 57 5.1.2 Interviews............................................................................................................................. 57 5.1.2.1 Reported and preferred usage in spoken communication ................................................. 57 5.1.2.2 Reported and preferred usage in written communication ................................................. 60 5.2 Prestige and covert prestige ..................................................................................................... 61 5.2.1 Questionnaire ....................................................................................................................... 62 5.2.1.1. Arabic, Hebrew and English............................................................................................ 62 5.2.1.2 Hebrew: AH and MH........................................................................................................ 63 5.2.2 Interviews and informal conversations ................................................................................ 64 5.2.2.1 Arabic: fuṣḥā....................................................................................................................