KUWAIT: For much of its history, Kuwait’s people spoke a single dialect, influenced by early settlers from Najd who built their homes in Qibla. Later, according to Kuwaiti dialect expert Khaled Alrashid, that dialect became the voice of Kuwait’s black and white films, which helped establish it as the dominant way of speaking.

As the country grew and welcomed migrants from different regions, new sounds began to fill the air, and distinct dialects started to emerge. Communities in places like Jibla, Sharq, and Al-Qarawiya brought their own languages, and before long, Kuwait had at least six distinct dialects.

This created an intriguing contrast: while Kuwaitis embraced cultural diversity, they remained deeply committed to preserving the original Qibla dialect. “People began pointing fingers at those who spoke in a dialect straying too far from the linguistic norm of Qibla,” said Al-Rashid.

Continuously evolving

Yet, as a country built on migration and trade, linguistic borrowing has always been an organic part of Kuwaiti speech. Kuwait’s dialects have not only influenced each other but also absorbed words from neighboring languages, including Iraqi, Iranian, and even African tongues. Al-Rashid noted that words such as Chandes (borrowed from Swahili, meaning “bend forward”) became part of the local lexicon through cultural exchanges.

Arabic, too, evolves, and even the classical form preserved in the Quran is not static. “Arabic is flexible, capable of generating new words from existing roots,” he explained. However, for foreign terms to be fully assimilated, they must adapt to the language’s structure.

This adaptability is clear in classical poetry, where poets like Imru’ Al-Qais coined new terms to fit their verses. For example, he introduced the word (munjared) to describe a sleek, polished horse. While not widely used at the time, the term was created to meet the rhythm and rhyme of poetry and remains in use today, illustrating how Arabic continuously evolves.

The real threat

Globalization has accelerated the shift in Kuwaiti dialect. Terms like iPhone, microwave, and ice cream have naturally entered everyday conversations, reflecting Kuwait’s global openness. However, Al-Rashid. cautions that while borrowing nouns and expressions can enrich a language, adopting foreign verbs poses a significant threat to its integrity.

Arabic verbs follow strict grammatical patterns, and when foreign verbs are absorbed into the language, they often disrupt these structures. “A language fades the moment it starts replacing its verbs,” Al-Rashid says. Another concern, he says, is the declining mastery of key Arabic letters like Ain, Haa, Dha and Dad. These sounds are integral to Arabic’s identity, and their mispronunciation signals a deeper disconnect from the language’s heritage. “A language is like a nation’s flag — an essential part of its identity,” he says.

Despite language evolution, Al-Rashid believes Kuwaitis still have a clear reference point for their dialect’s original form: old Kuwaiti films. “The key to maintaining the authenticity of the Kuwaiti dialect lies in returning to the pronunciation heard in old Kuwaiti films,” he concludes. This, he argues, is the closest representation of how early Kuwaitis spoke before external influences began reshaping the way people communicate.