Languages of Palestine
| Languages of Palestine | |
|---|---|
| Official languages | Palestinian Arabic |
| Main foreign languages | English |
| Sign languages | Palestinian Sign Language |
The languages of Palestine are the languages spoken or once spoken in the territory of the State of Palestine.
Overview
Palestinian Arabic is the primary language spoken by Palestinians that has a unique dialect. It is a Levantine Arabic dialect subgroup spoken in Palestine, by Arab citizens of Israel (mostly Palestinians) and in most Palestinian populations around the world.[1] However, Palestinian refugees in other parts of the world may have a different dialect to the Palestinian Arabic. In the West Bank, there are many Israeli settlements where since the turn of the 20th century Hebrew has become more common. However, Russian and Amharic has also started to appear resulting from aliyah from Ethiopia. Other Jewish migrants have also brought other European languages.[2]
In premodern and medieval time periods, many other languages had also been spoken in Palestine for ceremonial purposes or otherwise, including Latin, French, Italic languages, Germanic languages, classical Arabic and Greek. However these languages gradually faded away along with geopolitical shifts and disestablishment of feudalism.[3]