Historical story

African benefits from its diversity

During the third Drongo festival for multilingualism in September, there was a special stage for Afrikaans. Adriaan van Dis talked to the African writer Kirby van der Merwe and linguist Pieter Muysken. They looked back at history and looked ahead to the future of Afrikaans. Not entirely coincidentally during the Week of the African Novel.

Although Afrikaans is very similar to Dutch, the speakers have been asked this afternoon to have a conversation in English. That, according to writer Van der Merwe, this is indicative of the current position of Afrikaans will become apparent later in the conversation. But first the history of Afrikaans is discussed. Today, this is considered more nuanced than in the past. But that also has to do with ideology:during the apartheid Afrikaans was mainly seen as a white language.

Van Dis summarizes it in his introduction:“When I started reading Afrikaans, it was considered a mix of Dutch dialects. It had nothing to do with the color richness of Africa. Even the double negation – I don't know – would come from Aarschot in Belgium. Because yes, on the crew list of Jan van Riebeeck – the Dutch founder of the first VOC trading post in South Africa – were two men from Aarschot.”

Different influences

Linguists now think very differently about this, says Pieter Muysken, professor of General Linguistics in Nijmegen. He has done a lot of research on Creole languages. Creole languages ​​arise when population groups with different mother tongues come into contact with each other. Several languages ​​also come together in Afrikaans, says the professor.

The first Dutch linguist who suggested this idea was his friend and colleague Hans den Besten (1948-2010):“He found all kinds of elements in Afrikaans that had no Dutch origin. Instead, they could be traced back to Khoikhoi, the language of the original indigenous people, as well as Portuguese Creole and Cape Malay. These ideas were not popular during the apartheid era.” Yet they can be easily explained from the history of the Western Cape, the cradle of Afrikaans, says Muysken.

European Trading Post

In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck founded the first European trading post at the Cape of Good Hope on behalf of the VOC. Fort de Goede Hoop and Fort Duijnhoop were the first Dutch settlements. Together with 90 settlers, Van Riebeeck laid out gardens to grow vegetables and fruit for the crew of the VOC ships. Small-scale trade was conducted with the local Khoikhoi – referred to by the Dutch as Hottentots.

After the Dutch settlers, French and German immigrants followed. But the population also became more diverse as slaves were imported from different parts of Asia, such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Some of them spoke Portuguese Creole among themselves. Portuguese in this language came from another colonizer:Portugal. Many Creole languages ​​originated during the time of colonization.

Lingua franca

Dutch served as a lingua franca in the Western Cape. For most speakers, it was not the mother tongue, but a second language. That is why Dutch was greatly simplified. You can see this, for example, in the verbs that are not inflected in Afrikaans. Instead of the past tense, the past participle is used:Ek het dit groen means both I broke this if I broke this.

Incidentally, this simplification is less strong than with most Creole languages. Linguists therefore do not usually call Afrikaans a Creole language. Muysken:“African is a form of Dutch, containing a lot of varieties. More than we ever thought.”

White language

Hans den Besten showed that a number of grammatical elements probably go back to the language of the native population. Using the word hulle which is a group designation for a family – Anna-hulle 'she of Anna' - he reduced it to the language of the Khoikhoi. Same for the double negation. But Portuguese Creole and Cape Malay have also left their mark.

When Den Besten came up with his first findings, little was listened to. This was largely due to the prevailing ideology during the apartheid era. After all, Afrikaans was a white language. “It was not until the 1990s, when the apartheid laws came to an end, that his ideas were taken seriously,” says Muysken.

Endangered language?

And what about the future of Afrikaans? Van Dis puts this question to Kirby van der Merwe, who is not too optimistic. “More and more publishers are opting for English. And English-language schools are also advancing. When I went to school, nobody spoke English there. If you can now find a school where people speak Afrikaans, it is an exception.” Van der Merwe fears for the future of the language that is so close to his heart, and in which he still writes.

Muysken doesn't think it will go that fast. Of course, the use of English is increasing worldwide. “But,” says the professor:“These are reciprocating movements. Experience shows that languages ​​other than English are sometimes used less temporarily, but then they are on the rise again.” Muysken also points to the large number of varieties that exist in present-day Afrikaans. “This is a sign of vitality, just look at English. That also benefits from its diversity.”

Read more about African languages ​​at Kennislink