While much attention has been paid to several dialectal Arabic narrative and poetic genres, Negev Arabic (NA) daḥīyah songs (NA diḥḥiyyih, also known as daḥḥa) have received little scholarly attention. I report here eight traditional Negev Bedouin daḥīyah songs, one neo- daḥīyah, and one haǧīn (NA hiǧnih) - recorded during personal meetings with informants from 2017 to 2019 - in transcription and translation with some stylistic and linguistic comments. Background information is provided on the characteristics of this vernacular genre - its performance, contents, and scope - and its evolution. Daḥīyah has profoundly changed in content, language, and form in the transition from traditional Negev Bedouin society - before the establishment of the State of Israel - to the present. Originally a form of martial collective chant and dance mainly performed at wedding celebrations, the daḥīyah has gained popularity in neighboring sedentary Palestinian communities, where it has become an expression of identity, resistance, and revolt on various festive occasions. Today, several closely interconnected daḥīyah types coexist in the Negev, from songs that adhere to traditional models in terms of composition and performance to neo- daḥīyah.

This article offers a local version of the Palestinian folktale of Ǧbēne, audio recorded in 2018 in the town of Bāḳa l-Ġarbiyye in the Muṯallaṯ area. The tale of Ǧbēne represents the feminine passage from infancy to adulthood and marriage. These stages are marked by the opposition of white and black, which symbolically evoke complex cultural values. After a background to folktales in general, and in the Palestinian Arabic speaking area in particular, the tale of Ǧbēne is examined within its sociocultural context, with reference to its contemporary transmission and notes on plot, content, and cultural elements and comparisons of its different versions. The text is provided in transcription and translation, and accompanied by a linguistic analysis that highlights the features of the traditional Arabic variety spoken in Bāḳa l-Ġarbiyye through comparisons with other dialects, especially those spoken in adjacent areas inside the Muṯallaṯ region and outside it.