Palestinian Arabic - Definition and Overview

Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup. Palestinian rural dialects have some very distinctive features (particularly the pronunctiation of qaf as kaf) which set them off from other Arabic varieties, but Palestinian urban dialects are much more similar to the northern Levantine dialects of Syria and Lebanon.

The pronunciation of qaf serves as a shibboleth to distinguish its three main dialects: it becomes a glottal stop in most cities, a uvular k in the countryside, and g in the far South or among Bedouin. In addition, a feminine suffix -a rather than commoner Levantine -i or -é is fairly widespread, particularly in the south of the area.

External links:

• The Arabic dialect of central Palestine (http://semitistik.uni-hd.de/seeger/english/ramalla_e.htm)
• Arabic in Jordan (Palestinian dialect) (http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/collection/lm_jordan/joIndex.html)
• Phonological change and variation in Palestinian Arabic as spoken inside Israel (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~urih/Horesh_proposal.pdf)

Books

• Palestinian Rural Arabic (Abu Shusha dialect), 2nd ed.. Kimary N. Shahin, University of British Columbia. LINCOM Europa, 2000.
• A Practical Dictionary of the Standard Dialect Spoken in Palestine, Moin Halloun. Bethlehem University, 2000.