Northwest Arabian Arabic (also calledLevantine Bedawi Arabic orEastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic) is a proposed^[2]subfamily ofArabic encompassing the traditionalBedouin dialects of theSinai Peninsula, theNegev,Gaza Strip, southernJordan, and the northwestern corner ofSaudi Arabia.^[2]

The dialect of the Maʿāzah in the Egyptian Eastern Desert borders the dialect of theʿAbābdah, 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 theBili to the south is not closely related.^[4]

The Northwest Arabian Arabic dialects display several innovations fromProto-Arabic:^[2]

1. The voiced reflex of *q ([g])
2. Thegaháwah 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 articleal- and the relative pronounalli 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 oftanwīn 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. formshaḏalla,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).

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 theWadi Araba.^[2] Several dialects of the eastern branch, such as that of the Zalabiah and Zawaidih ofWadi Ramm,^[5] and that of the Bdul,^[6] have been argued to be closely related to the western branch.

• 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 occur in both long and short positions:^[7]

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

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]

Some of the western dialects of Northwest Arabian Arabic (Central Sinai and Negev in particular) are characterized by anImala 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-finalimala typically results in /iʾ/. Some examples areíštiʾ “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 thisimala. Like the dialects of central Sinai and Negev, theimala of feminine adjectives of color and defect on the pattern CaCCāʾ results in stressed /íy/:sōdíy “black; bad”.^[3]

The following are some archaic features retained fromProto-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 articleal- and the relative pronounalli.
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 prepositionfi (fiy).
7. The invariable pronominal suffix -ki of the 2nd person feminine singular.

• Varieties of Arabic
• Peninsular Arabic

• 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.