This article examines the form and function of the apophonic (“internal”) passive (AP) in an Arabic dialect of northern Oman. The AP is one of several features common to all the dialects of Oman, having been retained in dialects of both the “Bedouin” (B) and “sedentary” (S) types. In a study of the AP in dialects of Oman and eastern Arabia, Clive Holes (1998) showed that this category survives as a functioning marker of the passive voice in Omani S dialects mostly in the historically isolated interior of the country, albeit in verbs belonging to a restricted set of syntactic and lexico semantic categories. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether the same process of recession has taken place in a B dialect of the Omani interior. Results of the study reveal that in the B dialect of the Hidyīwī tribe, whose dīra is located in the hinterland of Mudhaybi in northern Oman, the AP is significantly more productive than in the S dialects described by Holes. This contrast corresponds with certain socio-historical factors which distinguish the different speech communities of the interior. In particular, the Hidyīwī community is significantly more isolated from outsider contact and maintains a more homogeneous, tight-knit social structure than towns in which the S dialects are spoken
