Lakhasly

This article documents a recent sociolinguistic phenomenon
at work in the Arabian Peninsula. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century,
some young people of Badu origin (also known as Bedouin) have been using
numeric codes to refer to their tribes in digital media, such as social networks,
and in public areas, such as bumper stickers on cars and graffiti.1
These codes
express pride in their heritage and are used and discussed openly. The epicenter
of this phenomenon is probably the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), but these
codes also exist in the State of Kuwait (henceforth Kuwait) and the State of
Qatar (henceforth Qatar). Our focus is on Kuwait but we make occasional references
to KSA. Numeric codes are also present in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) but to such a minor extent that even young Emiratis tend not to be aware
of them.
This article is structured as follows. We first explain what a Badu tribe is in
the context of Kuwait. We then present the system of numeric codes, their formal
properties, their pronunciation, and their distribution. Finally, we discuss
the genesis and uses of the codes, drawing upon theories of social identity and of
computer-mediated communication.
2. Tribes and families in Kuwait. Prior to 1960, the population of Kuwait
was distributed over two areas. The sedentary population lived within the walls
2015 AMIN ALMUHANNA AND JEAN-FRANÇOIS PRUNET 315
of densely populated Kuwait City (KA madinat li¤kweet), while the nomadic
population moved in search of pastures in the sparsely populated remainder of
the country. Kuwait City originates from population settlements going back
three hundred years. Its urban dwellers are called Hadhar (KA sg. Rðö
iriy, pl.
Raðö
ar, MSA sg. Radö
ariyy, pl. Radö
ar). The Hadhar earned a living from maritime
activities, handicraft, and commerce. They were of Arab or Persian origin,
and were either Sunni or Shia Muslims. They lived in the walled city of Kuwait
City, which was divided into four districts called jibla ‘prayer direction’ (MSA
qibla), òarg ‘East’ (MSA òarq), il¤wasö
atö
‘the center’ (MSA al¤wasatö
), and il¤
mirgaab ‘the observation post’ (MSA al¤mirqaab). The nomadic population of
Kuwait, on the other hand, was concentrated in and around the town of Jahra
(KA il¤jahraa, MSA al¤jahraaý), about thirty-two kilometers from Kuwait City,
but it moved freely within Kuwait as well as between Kuwait and KSA, Iraq,
Qatar, or Iran. Members of this group are known as Badu (KA sg. bduwiy, pl.
badu, MSA sg. badawiyy, pl. badw). They raised camels and were mostly Sunni
Arabs (though some were Shia Arabs). Different Badu groups embraced nomadism
to different degrees–some of them being quite sedentary–but all practiced
pastoralism, an activity that, in dry areas, requires mobility to find water and
grass. There were also Badu residents of Kuwait City, notably from the ir¤
riòiidiy and il¤öaazmiy tribes.
The discovery of oil in the 1930s led to major demographic changes. In the
late 1950s the government of Kuwait turned the whole of intramuros Kuwait
City into a business district, which we may call downtown. The urban (i.e.,
Hadhar) population moved to new areas outside the city walls. Today, there
seems to be no inhabited houses left downtown, and the people who still live
there do so in newly built apartment buildings. Only four gates of the city wall
were preserved as historical relics. Well-to-do urban dwellers built houses right
outside the wall, while less wealthy ones settled down in gradually more distant
suburbs. Some Badu tribes have always lived in Kuwait, but the 1960s and
1970s saw significant Badu immigration from KSA. The Badu gave up
pastoralism and settled down in newly built houses in Jahra or distant suburbs
of Kuwait City. This has led to a situation where the two demographic groups
now tend to live in different neighborhoods, with the Hadhar living closer to
downtown and the Badu further away from it. Mixed neighborhoods are found
between these two urban concentrations. Being Badu used to be associated with
a pastoral lifestyle, but sedentarism turned this lifestyle into an ethnic identity.
In Kuwait, both Hadhar and Badu are now sedentary and, although the Hadhar
dialect and lifestyle define the contours of a national melting pot, dialectal and
social differences remain between these two co-cultures, as we see in the next
section