What is Afrikaans?

The Southern African language Afrikaans (from/belonging to Africa) is spoken by about 7,2 million people as a first language and about 10 million as a second or third language. Because of the diverse speakers and formative influences, also regarding the word order patterns and pronunciations, the sound of this indigenous language is more African than European. At the same time, knowledge of Afrikaans also provides access to Northwest European languages.

It is widely regarded as one of the easiest languages to learn thanks to its streamlined, modern grammar and gender-free nouns. In addition, it is highly descriptive, idiomatic, and resilient with original new words added to the rich vocabulary every year.

THE PAST

Afrikaans’ fascinating history stretches back to the late 1500s when Dutch sailors began trading with the native Khoekhoen. With the establishment of a VOC refreshment post in 1652, this contact language developed further, mainly thanks to indigenous Africans and enslaved people from Southeast Asia and Africa’s efforts to communicate with each other and European settlers. The latter group, who spoke numerous European languages, also increasingly began to use and change this language as a spoken language, while Dutch was the official language.

In the 1700s and 1800s, different Afrikaans varieties/dialects spread to larger parts of southern Africa and were further enriched by other African languages. The colonial languages Dutch, English and German continued as the only official means of communication.

The first written versions of Afrikaans were published in the early 1800s in Khoi Afrikaans in Genadendal (in Roman script), in the mid-1800s in Malay/Moesliem-Afrikaans (in Arabic script) in Cape Town and in the late 1800s in Boere-Afrikaans (in Roman script) in Paarl. In all these cases, religion served as an incentive to further develop the spoken language, but it was geographically and culturally limited.

After the end of the destructive South African War (1899-1902), a burgeoning white Afrikaner nationalism largely hijacked the language and standardised it for short-term political ends. The battle was waged against Dutch and English before Afrikaans was finally accepted as an official language in 1925. Although white Afrikaans mother-tongue speakers have always been (and are) a minority, their political and economic power contributed to the fact that the language’s diverse speakers and their original stories were largely ignored for decades.

In the early 1900s, Afrikaans developed rapidly – literarily, academically and politically – although censorship and racism, especially after the National Party’s victory in 1948, stifled the language’s cultural growth and increasingly alienated Southern Africans from the language. The Soweto uprisings of 1976 were a turning point that eventually led to the end of apartheid and the liberation of South Africans (and Afrikaans).

THE PRESENT

Since 1994, the language has experienced several challenges and successes. On the one hand, Afrikaans as an academic, economic and political language remains under pressure together with the other official, indigenous languages despite the country’s commitment to multilingualism and equality. On the creative front, Afrikaans’ dozens of varieties/dialects are experiencing a reawakening in terms of music, films, the literary canon and arts festivals, while the language also has a large cyber and media presence.

It follows in the footsteps of the “Sestigers” (sixties) movement of the 1960s – an Afrikaans literary resistance movement with, among others, Bartho Smit and Adam Small who embraced secularisation, modernity, racial tolerance and sexual freedom – as well as movements such as Voëlvry and Afrikaaps.

THE FUTURE

Although one of Africa’s youngest languages, leading pan-Africanists see Afrikaans’ growth as a good example of linguistic decolonisation as part of the larger challenge of recognising the continent’s indigenous cultures. What counts in Afrikaans’ (sometimes described as Southern Africa’s Swahili) favour is that it is named after the continent and is Southern Africa’s most multiracial regional mother tongue. Significant progress has been made in the depoliticisation and standardisation of the language – as well as reconciliation among Afrikaans speakers and with fellow citizens. While visible on a social and cultural level, it lacks recognition on a political level.

MORE?
Die Afrikaans van die Kaapse Moslems, Achmat Davids, adapted by Hein Willemse and Suleman Dangor, sbafrikaans.co.za – 2019
Die storie van Afrikaans – uit Europa en van Afrika, WAM Carstens and EH Raidt – Part 1 2017 & Part 2 2018
So kry ons Afrikaans, Christo van Rensburg – 2012
Roots of Afrikaans: Selected writings of Hans den Besten, Edited by Ton van der Wouden – 2012
Die klassifikasie van Afrikaans, Ernst Kotzé, litnet.co.za – 2018
Die algemene demografie van Afrikaans, Afrikaanse Taalraad and Solidariteit Research institute, taalmuseum.co.za – 2022
af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaans