Kuwaiti Arabic
| Kuwaiti | |
|---|---|
| كويتي | |
| Pronunciation | [kwe:ti] |
| Native to | Grane, nowadays State of Kuwait |
|
Native speakers
|
1.3 million (L1 only, approx.) (2016) L2 negligible |
| Arabic, with addition of 3 or 4 letters. | |
|
Kuwaiti Sign Language (لغة الاشارة الكويتية) |
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Not official in any country |
| Regulated by | Not recognised as a language |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | None |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | kuwa1251 |
Kuwaiti (in Kuwaiti كويتي, /kwe:ti/) is a Gulf Arabic dialect spoken in Kuwait. Kuwaiti Arabic shares many phonetic features unique to Gulf dialects. Due to Kuwait's soap opera industry, Kuwaiti Arabic spread throughout the Arabic-speaking world and became familiar even to people in countries such as Tunisia and Jordan.
Since Kuwait was a nation of immigrants with no native population, Kuwait has a different sociolinguists structure. Three groups make up the Kuwaiti population: The first being the descendant of Arab tribes, while the second are people originally from Al-Hasa, Bahrain and Iraq, and the third are people originally from Persia (modern-day Iran), known in Kuwait by the name Ayam. Some people believe the third to be of a lower status due to their origins.
Kuwaiti Arabic is rapidly changing due to many factors.
/b/, /f/, /l/, /m/, /n/ and /r/ become the emphatics ḅ, f, ḷ, ṃ, ṇ, and ṛ only when they are in the contiguity of an emphatic, a back vowel, or if they precede /a:/.
Kuwaiti is divided into two varieties: Urban (Sedentary) and Nomadic or Bedouin. The first is believed to have developed due to exposure to the outside world, as well as Kuwait being a country of multi-regional immigrants during its infantry. The Urban dialect is seen as more prestigious than the Bedouin one.
The Urban dialect is divided into four sub-dialects, while the Bedouin is divided into two. The four sedent dialects are:
While the two Bedouin varieties are:
Historians and researchers usually demonstrate differences between the dialects using the Kuwaiti word for Sugar, which has three different pronunciation. It is pronounced Shikar (/ʃɪkɐr/) in Sharg dialect, Shakar (/ʃɐkɐr/) in Fintaas dialect, and Shakir (/ʃɐkɪr/) in Jibla dialect.
Dashti identifies four varieties of Arabic in Kuwait. Classical Arabic (CA), the language of the Quran, the liturgical language of Islam, the religion of the vast majority of Kuwaitis, and old Arabic literature, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is the medium of formal communication and school education. This variety is considered the second language of Kuwaitis as they are only introduced to when they start school. Kuwaiti Arabic (KA), the language of everyday's life and the symbol of the Kuwaiti identity. It is a symbol of prestige in the Kuwaiti society. The last variety is Educated Standard Arabic (ESA), in which the speaker mixes between MSA and KA. This language is used in Radio, TV, and academics' informal discussions. Kuwait is diglossic, like the rest of the Arab world, with the Arabic language being seen us the high variety, while Kuwaiti is seen more like a patois or a low-variety colloquial dialect of Arabic.
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