The phonological system of the Hejazi Arabic consists of approximately 26 to 28 native consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes: /a, u, i, aː, uː, oː, iː, eː/.[1][2] Consonant length and vowel length are both distinctive in Hejazi.
Strictly speaking, there are two main groups of dialects spoken in the Hejaz region,[3][4] one by the urban population originally spoken in the cities of Jeddah, Medina and Mecca where they constitute the majority and partially in Ta'if, and another dialect spoken by the rural or Bedouin populations which is also currently spoken as well in the mentioned cities. However, the term most often applies to the urban variety which is discussed in this article.