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:
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“I invented the colors of the vowels!—A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green—I made rules for the form and movement of each consonant, and, and with instinctive rhythms, I flattered myself that I had created a poetic language accessible, some day, to all the senses.”
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891)
“Repeat thy song, till the familiar lines
Are footpaths for the thought of Italy!
Thy flame is blown abroad from all the heights,
Through all the nations, and a sound is heard,
As of a mighty wind, and men devout,
Strangers of Rome, and the new proselytes,
In their own language hear thy wondrous word,
And many are amazed and many doubt.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)