Final answer:
National heritage or ethnic identity refers to people who identify with a shared national origin or cultural heritage, often marked by common language, tradition, and religion, and can be expressed in hyphenated forms like Chinese-American.
Step-by-step explanation:
A national heritage or ethnic identity refers to people who identify with a common national origin or cultural heritage. This concept is closely tied to a group's sense of cultural belonging or 'peoplehood', often signified by similarity in language, ancestry, tradition, and religion. Particularly in the United States, individuals may express their ethnicity using hyphenated terms that combine their nation of origin and their American identity, such as Chinese-American or African-American, revealing the multicultural fabric of the nation.
The concept of national heritage and identity is foundational to understanding the nuances of ethnicity and the sense of unity and common purpose that binds a group of people together, regardless of the size of the group or its political status.