Abstract
This study looks at the linguistic landscape in Huwwara, a Palestinian town in the north of the West Bank located in Area C, which is, in line with the Oslo II accord, under Israeli control. Two areas on the main street of Huwwara were investigated: Huwwara center and Huwwara outskirts. Bottom-up signs in both areas were classified according to the languages they were written in. The signs were further classified according to language choice on the signs of businesses in each area. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of different languages in the linguistic landscape of a Palestinian town where Arabic, English and Hebrew are in contact. A total of 297 signs were analysed. It was found that Arabic is the most prevalent language in the linguistic landscape in the two investigated areas. In addition, it was found that there is a strong presence of Hebrew on the outskirts of Huwwara, mainly on signs of automotive and household businesses. English, on the other hand, was found to have a moderate presence in Huwwara with no difference between the two areas investigated. These results suggest that the use of Arabic has both an informational and a symbolic function, whilst the use of Hebrew has an informational function, and the use of English has a symbolic function.
Highlights
1 Arabic is the only official language of Palestine
This study looks at the linguistic landscape in Huwwara, a Palestinian town in the north of the West Bank located in Area C, which is, in line with the Oslo II accord, under Israeli control
The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of different languages in the linguistic landscape of a Palestinian town where Arabic, English and Hebrew are in contact
Summary
1 Arabic is the only official language of Palestine. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza speak English which comes second in status which is “reflected in the importance and extensive use of English in many institutions of higher education“ (Amara 2003: 218), and Hebrew, which is “confined predominantly to the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and to some extent, as a component of limited bilingualism among certain Palestinians who have worked in Israeli towns as manual laborers or served time in Israeli jails, usually as political prisoners” (Horesh 2020: 3). Arabic, English, and Hebrew have come to be in a contact situation in Palestine, and this language contact is clearly visible in the public and commercial signage of some Palestinian towns. This paper aims at investigating the languages used in shop signs in Huwwara, a Palestinian town located in Area C, and the significance of multilingual usage in signs in this town
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