The Karaki dialect of christians and muslims in Jordan : social linguistic study

Abstract EN

The goal of this paper is to study the dialect among the Christians and Muslims of the city of Karak in Jordan.

The study is grounded in the literature and methodology of socio-linguistics and aims to answer two central questions: a- Does religion have an impact on the Karaki dialect? and b- Does the geographical location have an impact on the Karaki dialect? In order to answer these questions, the study employed a sample of 50 participants who grew up and acquired their dialects in a single language environment (Karak Governorate, Southern Amman).

The sample was distributed within the city of Karak (The city) and from the three suburbs and villages of Karak.

The most important outcome, however, was that the geographical location had a significant effect on the characteristics of the Karaki dialect.

While there was a clear difference between the dialect of those who live in the city of Karak and those living in villages and suburbs, the results of the sample did not show an effect of religion (Christianity or Islam) on the dialect of the respondents.

However this study aims to explore the influence of religion exemplified Karaki dialect.