Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa and Namibia. It was originally the dialect that developed among the Afrikaner Calvinist settlers brought to the Cape area in southwestern South Africa by the Dutch East India Company (nl: Neederlandse Oostindische Compagnie) between 1652 and 1705. A relative majority of these settlers were from the Netherlands, though there were also many from Germany, a considerable number from France, a few from Scotland, and various other countries.

Research by J. A. Heese indicates that until 1807, 36.8% of the forefathers of the "white" Afrikaans speaking population were Dutch, 35% were German, 14.6% were French and 7.2% "Non White". Their dialect became known as "Cape Dutch". Later, Afrikaans was sometimes also referred to as "African Dutch". Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect until the early 20th century, when it began to be widely recognized as a distinct language.

History

Besides vocabulary, the most striking difference from Dutch is its much more regular grammar, which is likely the result of mutual interference with a Creole language based on the Dutch language spoken by the relatively large mumber of non-Dutch speakers (Khoisan, German, French, Malay, and speakers of different African languages) during the formation period of the language in the second half of the 17th century. In 1710, slaves outnumbered free settlers.

Although much of the vocabulary of Afrikaans reflects its origins in 17th century Dutch, it also contains words loaned from Indonesian languages, Malay, Portuguese, French, Khoi and San dialects, English, isiXhosa and many other languages. Consequently, many words in Afrikaans are very different from Dutch, as demonstrated by the names of different fruits:

ENGLISH	DUTCH	AFRIKAANS
orange	sinaasappel	lemoen
lemon	citroen	suurlemoen
banana	banaan	piesang

Grammar

Grammatically, Afrikaans is very analytical, being the most analytical Indo-European language. Unlike most other Indo-European languages, verbs do not conjugate differently depending on the subject: Ek is, "I am"; Jy is, "you are"; Hy is, "he is", Ons is, "we are"; etc. There are no grammatical cases and nouns do not have gender. A particular feature of Afrikaans is its use of the double negative, something that is absent from the other West Germanic languages, e.g:Hy kan nie Afrikaans praat nie. (literally 'he cannot Afrikaans speak not'). Both French and San origins for this have been suggested. More likely, as can still be heard in isolated villages in the center of Holland (i.e. Garderen), the double negative was part of the local dialect exported from Holland to South-Africa.

Orthography

Written Afrikaans differs from Dutch in that spelling is simplified, and many consonants are dropped. A notable feature is the indefinite article, which is "'n", not "een" as in Dutch. "A book" is "'n Boek", whereas in Dutch it would be "Een boek". Other features include the use of 's' instead of 'z', hence South Africa in Afrikaans is written as Suid Afrika, whereas in Dutch it is Zuid Afrika. (This accounts for ZA being used as South Africa's internet top level domain.) The Dutch letter combination 'ij' is replaced with 'y'.

AFRIKAANS	DUTCH	ENGLISH
vir	voor	for
vry	vrij	free
my	mijn	my
lughawe	luchthaven	airport
skool	school	school
sleg	slecht	bad
eggenoot	echtgenoot	husband
saam	samen	together
aksie	actie	action
voël	vogel	bird
asseblief	alstublieft	please
goeienaand	goedenavond	good evening
oop	open	open

Sociolinguistics

Afrikaans is the first language of approximately 60% of South Africa's whites, and over 90% of the "coloured" (mixed-race) population. Large numbers of black, Indian, and English South Africans also speak it as a second language.

Afrikaans has been influential in the development of South African English. Many Afrikaans loanwords have found their way into South African English, such as "veld", "braai", "boomslang", and "lekker". A few words in standard English are derived from Afrikaans, such as "trek", "spoor", and, of course, apartheid.

In 1976, rioting broke out in Soweto as the result of the apartheid government's requirement that Afrikaans rather than English be used as the medium of instruction in black schools. See History of South Africa.

An Afrikaans wikipedia has been started, but is in the very early stages of development: Die Afrikaanse Wikipedia.

Afrikaans Phrases

• Hallo! Hoe gaan dit? (/hallo! who CHGAAN dit?/) Hello! How are you?
• Baie goed, dankie. (/buy-a chgood, dunkey/) Very good, thanks.
• Praat jy Afrikaans? (/praat yay Afrikaans?/) Do you speak Afrikaans?
• Praat jy Engels? (/praat yay anchgels?/) Do you speak English?
• Ja. (/yaa/) Yes.
• Nee. (/knee-a/) No.
• n Bietjie. (/a bikkie/) A little.
• Wat is jou naam? (/vat is yau naam/) What is your name?

A phrase that is written the same in Afrikaans as in English is:

• Was my pen in my hand? (/vahz my pin un my hund/) Was my pen in my hand?

External links

• List of free online resources for learners
• The Ethnologue: Afrikaans

Referenced By