Northwest Arabian Arabic
Levantine Bedawi Arabic
Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
Native toEgypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria
Native speakers
2.8 million (2021)[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]

Classification

The Northwest Arabian Arabic dialects display several innovations from Proto-Arabic:[2]

  1. The voiced reflex of *q ([g])
  2. The gaháwah syndrome: insertion of /a/ after X in (C)aXC(V) sequences where X is /h/, /ʿ/, /ḥ/, /ġ/, or /ḫ/, e.g. gahwa(h) > gaháwa(h) "coffee", baġl > baġal "mule".
  3. The definite article al- and the relative pronoun alli are stressable as an integral part of the word, e.g. álwalad, áljabal. The initial /a/ is stable enough to be preserved after -ī (-iy), which is dropped: f-albēt, rāʿ-álġanam.
  4. A number of typical Bedouin lexical items (gōṭar "to go", sōlaf "to tell, narrate", ṭabb "to arrive", nišad ~ nišád "to ask").
  5. Absence of tanwīn and its residues.
  6. Absence of final /n/ in the imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular, 2nd person masculine plural, and 3rd person masculine plural.
  7. The pronominal suffix of the 2nd person masculine plural is -ku (-kuw).
  8. Stressed variants -ī and -nī of the pronominal suffix in the 1st person singular.
  9. Plural comm. forms haḏalla, haḏallāk, etc.
  10. Initial /a/ in Forms VII, VIII, and X in the perfect, and stressed when in stressable position.
  11. Initial /a/ in a number of irregular nouns (amm, aḫt, aḫwan, adēn, afám).

Varieties

Northwest Arabian Arabic can be divided into a western branch spoken in Sinai and the Negev, and an eastern branch spoken to the east of the Wadi Araba.[2] Several dialects of the eastern branch, such as that of the Zalabiah and Zawaidih of Wadi Ramm,[5] and that of the Bdul,[6] have been argued to be closely related to the western branch.

Differences between western and eastern branches:[2]
Western branch Eastern branch
b- imperfect in regular use does not occur in plain colloquial
analytic genitive šuġl, šuġlah, šuġlīn, šuġlāt as genitive markers
Form I imperfect performative vowel harmony generalized /a/
reflexes of *aw and *ay partially monophthongized; monophthongs fluctuate with long phonemes /ō/ ~ /ū/, /ē/ ~/ī/. well-established monophthongs /ō/ and /ē/
gawaha syndrome gaháwa only ghawa ~ gaháwa
I-w imperfect yawṣal ~ yōṣal yāṣal
3fsg object suffix -ha/-hiy in Negev -ha
3msg object suffix phonetically conditioned C-ih/-ah, C-u(h) in southern Sinai C-ah
1cpl subject pronoun iḥna, aḥna ḥinna, iḥna
reflex of -ā(ʾ) in neutral environments -iy -a

    Phonology

    Consonants

    Labial Interdental Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
    plainemph. plainemph. plainemph.
    Nasal m n
    Plosive voiceless t tˤ k kˤ (q) (ʔ)
    voiced b d ɡ
    Affricate d͡ʒ
    Fricative voiceless f θ s sˤ ʃ x ħ h
    voiced ð ðˤ z (zˤ) (ʒ) ɣ ʕ
    Trill r (rˤ)
    Approximant l lˤ j w
    • Phonemes in parentheses occur either marginally or across different dialects
    • [ʒ] can be heard as an allophone of /d͡ʒ/.
    • /rˤ/ is mostly heard in the Hindiy and Ṭuwara dialects

    Vowels

    Vowels occur in both long and short positions:[7]

    Front Back
    Close i iː u uː
    Mid eː oː
    Open a aː

    Vowels are recognized as allophones in the following positions:[8]

    Phoneme/Sound Allophone Notes
    i [i] [ɪ] in lax position
    u [u] [ʊ] in lax position
    [o] when preceding emphatic sounds
    a [a] [ɐ] in lax position
    [ɑ] when preceding or following emphatics
    eː [eː] [ɛː] when following emphatic or back fricatives
    oː [oː] [ɔː] when preceding velar consonants
    aː [aː] [ɑː] in velarized environments
    [ɐː] when following pharyngeal consonants
    [ɛː ~ æː] in neutral position in the Tarabin dialect

    Imala

    Word-internal imala of */-ā-/

    Some varieties of Negev Arabic are characterized by word-internal imala of *-ā- to /ē/ in patterns where /i/ historically occurred in an adjacent syllable. It does not occur when one of the adjacent consonants is emphatic or a back consonant. Some of the patterns where it is found include the following:[9]

    • Reflexes of *CāCiC: šēyib “elder, old man”, ḥēmiy “hot”, gēyil “having said”, bēkir “morning”, wēḥid “one”, ṯēniy “second”
    • Reflexes of *CiCāC(ah): srēǧ “oil lamp”, ktēbih “writing”
    • Reflexes of *miCCāC(ah): miftēḥ “key”, miknēsih “broom”
    • Broken plurals *CaCāCiC: gibēyil “tribes”, šinētiy “bags”
    • Imperfect *yuCāCiC: ysēwiy “it equals”, yǧēwib “he replies”

    Similar raising is found in the Bdul dialect of Jordan: minǣsif “mansaf (pl.)”, hǣḏi “this (f.)”, ḏ̣aygǣt “narrow (pl.)”, iblǣdna “our land”.[6]

    Word-final imala of */-ā(ʾ)/

    Some of the western dialects of Northwest Arabian Arabic (Central Sinai and Negev in particular) are characterized by an Imala of Old Arabic word-final *-ā(ʾ) to /iy/ in certain patterns of nouns and adjectives. Emphatics seem to block the shift. The following examples are from Negev Arabic:[10]

    • Reflexes of *CiCāʾ, *CuCāʾ: štiy “rainy season”, ḥḏiy “footwear”, dʿiy “cursing”, ndiy “call”, zniy “adultery”, ġniy “song”, ʿšiy “evening prayer”, dliy “pails (pl.)”, mliy “full (pl.)”, rwiy “well-watered (pl.)”, miy “water”
    • Reflexes of *CiCā, *CuCā: lḥiy “beards”, griy “hospitality”, hdiy “right guidance”, hniy “here”
    • Reflexes of *CiCCā(ʾ), *CuCCā(ʾ): yimniy “right side”, yisriy “left side”, sifliy “nether millstone”, ʿilyiy “upper millstone”, miʿziy “goats”, ḥimmiy “fever”, ḥinniy “henna”, juwwiy “inside”, ḥiffiy “barefoot (pl.)”, mūsiy “Moses”, ʿīsiy “Jesus”
    • Feminine adjective *CaCCāʾ: sawdíy “black”, ṭaršíy “deaf”, tarjíy “sloping downwards (ground)”, šahabíy “grey, light blue”, ḥawwíy “salt-and-pepper, black with white spots (animal)”, zargíy “blue”, ʿawjíy “crooked”, šadfíy “left-handed, left”, ḥawlíy “cross-eyed”, safʿíy “black-eared (goat)”
    • Broken plural *CaCCā:[9] nōmiy “asleep (pl.)”, mōtiy ~ máwtiy “dead (pl.)”

    In the dialects of southern Sinai, word-final imala typically results in /iʾ/. Some examples are íštiʾ “winter”, ǧiʾ “he came”, ḏiʾ “this, these”, tižibhiʾ “you get it”, ifṭarniʾ “we had breakfast”. In some, but not all groups, /a/ in a previous syllable blocks this imala. Like the dialects of central Sinai and Negev, the imala of feminine adjectives of color and defect on the pattern CaCCāʾ results in stressed /íy/: sōdíy “black; bad”.[3]

    Characteristics

    The following are some archaic features retained from Proto-Arabic:[2]

    1. Gender distinction in the 2nd and 3rd person plural pronouns, pronominal suffixes, and finite verbal forms.
    2. Productivity of Form IV (aC1C2aC3, yiC1C2iC3).
    3. The initial /a/ in the definite article al- and the relative pronoun alli.
    4. Frequent and productive use of diminutives (glayyil "a little", ḫbayz "bread").
    5. Absence of affricated variants of /g/ (< */q/) and /k/.
    6. The use of the locative preposition fi (fiy).
    7. The invariable pronominal suffix -ki of the 2nd person feminine singular.

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ Northwest Arabian Arabic at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. 1 2 3 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.
    5. ↑ Bassil Mohammad, Al Mashaqba (April 2015). The phonology and morphology of Wadi Ramm Arabic (Thesis). OCLC 1065303726.
    6. 1 2 Yasin, Raslan Bani; Owens, Jonathan (1984). "The Bduul Dialect of Jordan". Anthropological Linguistics. 26 (2): 202–232. JSTOR 30027504.
    7. ↑ de Jong 2011, pp. 27–39.
    8. ↑ de Jong, R. E. (1999). The Bedouin Dialects of the Northern Sinai Littoral. Bridging the Gap between the Eastern and the Western Arab World (Thesis). hdl:11245/1.154881.
    9. 1 2 Shawarbah, Musa (2012). A Grammar of Negev Arabic: Comparative Studies, Texts, and Glossary in the Bedouin Dialect of the ʻAzāzmih Tribe. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-06647-1.
    10. ↑ Blanc 1970.

    Sources

    • Gordon, Raymond G.. Jr., ed. (2005), "Bedawi Arabic", Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.), Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics
    • Blanc, Haim (1970). "The Arabic Dialect of the Negev Bedouins". Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 4 (7): 112–150. OCLC 963504406.
    • Piamenta, Moshe (1996). "More on the Arabic Dialect of the Negev Bedouins". Quaderni di Studi Arabi. 14: 123–136. JSTOR 25802794.
    • De Jong, Rudolf Erik (2000). A Grammar of the Bedouin Dialects of the Northern Sinai Littoral. doi:10.1163/9789004491229. ISBN 978-90-04-49122-9.
    • de Jong, Rudolf (2011). A Grammar of the Bedouin Dialects of Central and Southern Sinai. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004201019.i-440. ISBN 978-90-04-20101-9.
    • Judith Rosenhouse. 1984. The Bedouin Arabic Dialects: General Problems and Close Analysis of North Israel Bedouin Dialects. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
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