Language
The primary language spoken in Jordan is colloquial Arabic, one of the Arabic dialects of Modern Standard Arabic. The dialects spoken by Jordanians typically fall under one of three categories: urban, rural Palestinian, and rural Jordanian or Bedouin Arabic. The dialects differ on both the phonological and the lexical levels. Phonologically, one of the most prominent distinguishers between the dialects is the sound that each makes as a substitute for the letter /q/ in Classical Arabic. The urban dialect is substitutes a (glottal stop) for the letter, whereas Rural Palestinian dialect substitutes a sound for it, and Bedouin dialect, a . A shift, however, has begun to occur with more Jordanians adopting as the Bedouin dialect does for /q/, often hypothesized to be due to feelings of pride and nationalism relating to a local identity represented by Bedouin culture in rural Jordan. The Bedouin dialect is often noted for its similarities Modern Standard Arabic. All of the Jordanian dialects have borrowed words from a variety of languages, with loanwords coming from such languages as Turkish, Italian, French, and English.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Jordan
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content ... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)