What does the author use as a symbol of identity in the novel, War and Turpentine?

The uses the Dutch language as a symbol for identity throughout the novel, as the principle characters are from Ghent, a city in Flanders. Urbain has to deal with the discrimination of the Flemish people when he is in military, and his name is constantly mispronounced by his French superiors, asserting social barriers even during the war.