Northwest Arabian Arabic

Northwest Arabian Arabic
Levantine Bedawi Arabic
Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
Native toEgypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria
Native speakers
3.0 million (2021–2023)[1]
Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3avl
Glottologeast2690

Northwest Arabian Arabic (also called Levantine Bedawi Arabic or Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic) is a proposed[2] subfamily of Arabic encompassing the traditional Bedouin dialects of the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev, Gaza Strip, southern Jordan, and the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia.[2]

The dialect of the Maʿāzah in the Egyptian Eastern Desert borders the dialect of the ʿAbābdah, who speak a dialect more closely related to Sudanese Arabic.[3] Research is needed to establish whether the Maʿāzah dialect is the southwestern extremity of Northwest Arabian on the Egyptian mainland.[3]

In Saudi Arabia, the dialects of the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, the Hisma, and the Harrat al-Riha belong to the Northwest Arabian type, but the dialect of the Bili to the south is not closely related.[4]

  1. ^ Northwest Arabian Arabic at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b Palva, Heikki. "Northwest Arabian Arabic". Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. doi:10.1163/1570-6699_eall_EALL_COM_vol3_0233. ISBN 978-90-04-17702-4.
  3. ^ a b de Jong 2011, p. 356.
  4. ^ Palva, Heikki (2004). "Remarks of the Arabic dialect of the Hwetat tribe". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (29): 195–209.