In Saudi Arabia, there are three major Arabic dialects . The first, Hijazi is spoken on the western coast, in Jidda, Taif, and the cities of Mecca and Medina.

The Najdi dialect is spoken in and around Riyadh, in the north central part of the country.

The Shargi dialect is spoken in the oil-rich eastern region.

Najdi dialect enjoys prestige by virtue of its closeness to Classical Arabic (i.e. the language of the Quran and other important literary texts from from the Umayyad and Abbasid eras stretching from the 7th to 9th centuries. It remains the dialect of the Saudi royal family,

The Hijazi dialect however, is used throughout the country for government and commercial purposes, and has become the most widely-understood dialect in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Hijazi dialect is not “pure” Saudi Arabic but reflects influence from other dialects, especially Egyptian, Jordanian and Palestinian.

Consequently, sometimes one word or expression was selected from several which may be heard, and sometimes alternative expressions are introduced, since two or even three forms may be in frequent use.

The pronunciation of some sounds in Hijazi is variable. There are three inter dental consonants (variations of ‘th’) which may be pronounced as they are in Classical Arabic and in the Najdi dialect.

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