Language Use and Language Attitudes among the Palestinian Arabs of 1948: Sociolinguistic Study

This study aimed at investigating language use and language attitudes among the Palestinian Arabs of 1948. It is based on the domain and attitude analysis proposed by Fishman (1964) and takes into consideration Fishman‘s (1989) resolutions concerning the fate of languages in contact. The current study aimed to answer the following questions: 1- In what domains of language do the Palestinian Arabs of 1948 use Arabic and Hebrew? 2- What are the attitudes of the Palestinian Arabs of 1948 toward Arabic and Hebrew? To achieve the goal of this study, the researchers selected a purposive sample that comprised 70 Palestinian Arabs of 1948. The subjects were chosen from Palestinian Arabs of 1948 in different cities and villages. They covered different ages, genders, educational and professional backgrounds . Data were collected by means of a sociolinguistic questionnaire that included a demographic background, language use and language attitudes toward both Arabic and Hebrew. Results of the study revealed that the Palestinian Arabs of 1948 use both languages in their daily life: Arabic is used at home, mosque, neighbourhood, school, media, and inner speech, while Hebrew is used at work and for business transactions. Furthermore, the results showed that the Palestinian Arabs of 1948 have positive attitudes toward both languages.