Comparability of the black-white divide in the American speech community and the coloured-white divide in the Afrikaans speech community

This article attempts to place the discussion on the relationship between African American and European American vernacular Englishes within a broader context involving another speech community split along ethnic lines, namely South Africa’s Afrikaans speakers. It specifically attempts to compare observations on the coloured-white linguistic divide within South Africa’s Afrikaans speech community with those made on the black-white linguistic divide in the United States, with the aim of shedding light on the correlation between ethnicity and language variation. The article first presents ethnicity and its social and linguistic correlates, drawing on literature on AA(V)E and South Africa. It then identifies the social and linguistic specificities of the American English and Afrikaans speech communities. After presenting a range of grammatical variables and their comparability across both speech communities, it provides an overview first of the various trends of grammatical variation from a mainly variationist perspective, then of Afrikaans-English code-switching, which is treated as a phenomenon that correlates with grammatical variation. It finally attempts to answer the general question whether the U.S. black-white linguistic divide in South Africa’s Afrikaans speech community can be referred to as complementary in the study of ethnicity and language variation.http://www.americanspeech.dukejournals.orghb2013gv201

Uses and functions of English in Namibia's multiethnic setting

In a context where new English varieties from the Outer Circle have been receiving increasing attention, I propose to outline a descriptive approach to their uses and functions on the basis of their patterns of co-occurrence with local languages across intra and inter-ethnic boundaries. The case study I offer is Namibia, a multiethnic and multilingual African country where English has been the sole official language since 1990 without having had much local history prior to that date. The general question that I pose is to what extent and how English is used in informal interactions in Namibia. Considering Namibia’s ethnolinguistic diversity as well as the locally widespread practice of code-switching, the questions I more specifically ask are: What are the patterns of code-switching with which English finds itself associated both within and across Namibia’s inter-ethnic boundaries, and how can they be characterized in terms of social function? On the basis of a corpus of intra- and inter-ethnic interactions involving a range of Namibian ethnicities, I show evidence of a continuum of linguistic usage ranging from different patterns of code-switching involving English and local languages to more or less monolingual English varieties. I finally place that evidence within the perspective of new Englishes theory, emphasizing the possible relevance of code-switching patterns to the emergence of indigenized English varieties in general, and of an indigenized Namibian variety in particular.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-971Xhb201

A perceptual account of Afrikaans in Namibia : between lingua franca and socially exclusive language

Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia was consolidated during the South African regime which systematically promoted it while preventing indigenous languages from spreading out of their intra-ethnic contexts of use. A linguistic consequence of independence, which Namibia gained in 1990, was that English suddenly became the country’s only official language, as well as the dominant language in education. Despite the hegemonic status that English acquired in Namibia, Afrikaans is today still popularly represented as the main lingua franca in Namibia, or at least as an important one. However, the position of Afrikaans in urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland of the Ovambo, the country’s numerically dominant group, where English is better known than Afrikaans. An indication of the pressure that Afrikaans might be subject to in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, is the demographic preponderance that the Ovambo group has locally acquired within the last three decades. Based on a qualitative survey conducted among an ethnoracially representative sample of young Namibians, this article provides a description of the status and use of Afrikaans in contemporary Windhoek, as well as a reflection on its potential for locally maintaining itself as a lingua franca. It generally shows that Afrikaans has to compete with English in that function, while indigenous languages are still largely restricted to intra-ethnic contexts of use. Afrikaans is clearly perceived as the lingua franca with more “covert prestige” in that it is associated with informality and a sense of local identity. By contrast, English is generally associated with overt prestige and formal functions, and it is characteristically used as a lingua franca within groups that do not understand Afrikaans, such as among particular Ovambo migrants. It is not enough, however, to give an account of Windhoek’s sociolinguistic profile in which English and Afrikaans are presented as the two main lingua francas without specifying which form of Afrikaans is used in which contexts as a lingua franca. Standard varieties of Afrikaans do not seem to possess enough neutrality to function as a medium of inter-ethnic interaction as they are perceptually amalgamated with “White Afrikaans”, that is, the linguistic marker of an ethnoracial group, namely, the Afrikaners, that is still largely seen as self-insulating in the context of Windhoek. Those varieties of Afrikaans perceived as more neutral for the purpose of inter-ethnic communication are Coloured varieties of Afrikaans, with which various Non-Coloured ethnic groups seem to identify. However, there are indications that English rather than those varieties tends to be used by Non-Whites in communication with Whites, even when Afrikaans is notionally shared as a native language. Where Standard Afrikaans is used in inter-ethnic communication, it is mostly unilaterally by Afrikaners, as it is apparently not widely used in informal contexts outside of that group. Also relevant to a description of the uses of Afrikaans as a lingua franca in the context of Windhoek is the practice among Non-Whites of combining it with English in the form of Afrikaans-English mixed codes. As regards the long-term prospects of Afrikaans in Windhoek, the data suggest that Afrikaans in its local Coloured varieties has potential for spreading as an attribute of a local urban identity among migrant groups, as it already has done among Ovambo born in the city or in the southern districts in general, to the point that language shift might be taking place among them from Oshiwambo to combinations of Afrikaans and English.Die geskiedenis van Afrikaans in Namibië begin in die laat 18de eeu, toe Kaap-Hollands oor die Oranjerivier heen versprei is deur noordwaarts-migrerende Oorlams uit die Kaapkolonie. Kaap-Hollands, en later Afrikaans, het van dié tyd af ontwikkel tot ’n medium vir interetniese kommunikasie, waarvan die oorwig verder versterk is onder die Suid-Afrikaanse bewind (ca. 1920–1990). Vandag moet Afrikaans wedywer met Engels, wat Namibië se enigste amptelike taal geword het ná die land se onafhanklikheid in 1990. Op grond van perseptuele gegewens wat verkry is by ’n steekproef van jong Windhoekse inwoners, wys hierdie artikel dat Afrikaans in die stedelike konteks aansienlike bedekte prestige besit as ’n medium vir interetniese kommunikasie, terwyl Engels tipies gebruik word binne formele kontekste en vir kommunikasie met onlangse migrante uit die noordelike distrikte, waar Afrikaans histories minder sigbaar is. Die artikel toon ook aan dat die Kleurlingvariant van Afrikaans groter potensiaal het as Standaardafrikaans om as ’n neutrale taalkeuse te fungeer binne die interetniese konteks van kommunikasie tussen “nie-wit” etniese groepe omdat Standaardafrikaans gesien word as ’n kenmerk van lidmaatskap van die wit groep. Die posisie van Afrikaans as ’n lingua franca kan in die toekoms bedreig word deur ononderbroke migrasiestrome uit die noorde. Maar aanduidings dat taalverskuiwing dikwels plaasvind na Afrikaans (en Engels) onder lank reeds verstedelikte lede van noordelike etniese groepe, dui daarop dat daar nog ruimte is vir die status quo.http://www.journals.co.za/content/journalhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0041-4751&lng=enam2016Afrikaan

Ethnicity in discourse : the interactional negotiation of ethnic boundaries in post-apartheid Namibia

To what extent can ethnic boundaries be transcended in interethnic interactions? We are tackling this question in reference to Namibia, a post-apartheid society marked by a legacy of ethnic and racial divisions. Relying on discourse as a source of data, we identify the strategies employed by Namibians in a range of interview data and semi-experimental interethnic interactions for either accentuating or attenuating interethnic boundaries. We identify these strategies at the levels of ethnic categorization, language choice/variation and the management of speaker turns, and place them in the perspective of the participants’ perspectives on ethnic Others. Our findings suggest that ethnic categories are salient in our data, although they do not exclude identification with superordinate categories in specific contexts. Our findings also show that patterns of categorization are reflected in language choice and turn management in the interactional context.Research grant awarded in 2012 to the authors by the French Institute of South Africa.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rers202016-09-30hb2016Afrikaan

Interethnic relations and language variation : language use and identity negotiation among Namibian Coloureds and Whites in interactional settings

In this paper we present a case study of interethnic relations through language variation involving two population groups supposedly belonging to one single speech community, namely the White and Coloured Afrikaans speakers of Namibia. The specific question that we wish to tackle in reference to that community is the extent to which Coloured and White identities are differentiable via linguistic means and how those identities are negotiated in intergroup settings where Coloured and White Afrikaans speakers are in mutual contact. The methodology used to answer this question is largely based on Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), which entails the characterization of intergroup language variation in terms of convergence, divergence and maintenance, as well as the characterization of speakers’ group identities in terms of ‘subordinate’ and ‘superordinate’ identities.http://spil.journals.ac.zahb2017Afrikaan

Dutch and colonial expansion: Different contact settings, different linguistic outcomes. Introduction

Stell Gerald. Dutch and colonial expansion: Different contact settings, different linguistic outcomes. Introduction. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 91, fasc. 3, 2013. Langues et littératures modernes Moderne taal en lettrekunde. pp. 689-694

Dutch and colonial expansion: Different contact settings, different linguistic outcomes. Introduction

Stell Gerald. Dutch and colonial expansion: Different contact settings, different linguistic outcomes. Introduction. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 91, fasc. 3, 2013. Langues et littératures modernes Moderne taal en lettrekunde. pp. 689-694

Cape Malay Dutch: The Missing Link Between Cape Dutch Pidgin and Afrikaans?

The ‘ Creolist turn’ in Afrikaans historical linguistics is largely based on interpretations of a collection of sentences uttered by 17th/ 18th century slaves and Khoekhoen, as well as of 20th century Orange River Afrikaans data. A creolist scenario on the emergence of Afrikaans that has come to the fore is that by den Besten (1989, 2001a[ 2012]), who assumes that basilectal Cape Dutch varieties were largely based on what he calls Hottentot Hollands, i. e. a pidginized Dutch variety which seems to bear the marks of partial syntactic transfers from Khoekhoe languages. Khoekhoen being regarded as the founders of the Cape Dutch basilect, historians’ attention has been focused on Orange River Afrikaans – i. e. that Afrikaans variety spoken by the descendants of the Khoekhoen – as a possible source of explanations for the crystallization of Afrikaans linguistic specificities. In the process, the role in the development of Afrikaans of other non– European populations at the Cape – namely the slaves and Free Blacks – has somewhat been neglected. The discovery of a corpus of Cape Malay Dutch literary texts dating back to the 19th century provides a source of information on non– European Cape Dutch varieties likely to refine the existing creolistic reconstructions of the emergence of Afrikaans. In this paper I present the Cape Malay Dutch variety against its general sociolinguistic background, emphasizing its directly recognizable Asian features and its un– Dutch features of indeterminate origin. On the basis of a comparison between the Cape Malay Dutch data and both historical Cape Dutch and synchronic Afrikaans data I argue that Cape Malay Dutch descends from a non– European Cape Dutch variety that is to be distinguished from Hottentot Hollands, as a result of which it presents specificities – including one possible creole feature – which are not present in Orange River Afrikaans.Le ‘ tour créoliste’ dans la linguistique historique de l’afrikaans est largement basée sur l’interprétation d’un corpus de phrases datant du 17e et 18e siècle attribuées à des esclaves et khoekhoen du Cap, ainsi que de données contemporaines sur le dialecte afrikaans de la rivière Orange. Un scenario créoliste sur l’émergence de l’afrikaans qui a vu le jour est celui proposé par den Besten (1989, 2001a[ 2012]), qui spécule que les variétés hollandaises du Cap basilectales étaient largement basées sur ce qu’il dénomme le ‘ hollandais hottentot’, c. à. d. une variété pidginisée du hollandais qui semble porter les marques de transferts syntaxiques partiels en provenance des langues khoekhoe. Les khoekhoen étant considérés comme les fondateurs du basilecte hollandais du Cap, l’attention des historiens s’est fixée sur le dialecte afrikaans de la rivière Orange, c. à. d. cette variété parlée par les descendants des khoekhoen, qu’ils ont présentée comme source possible d’explications des spécificités de la langue afrikaans. Ce faisant, le rôle joué dans le développement de l’afrikaans par les autres populations non– européennes du Cap – c. à. d. les esclaves et les ‘ affranchis’ – a quelque peu été négligé. La découverte de textes littéraires en malayo– hollandais du Cap datant du 19e siècle fournit une source d’information sur les variétés non– européennes du Cap qui est en position de raffiner les scenarios créolistes formulés sur l’émergence de l’afrikaans. Dans cet article, je présente tout d’abord la variété malayo– hollandaise tout en référant au contexte sociolinguistique de son émergence. Je présente ensuite ses traits asiatiques directement reconnaissables ainsi que ses caractéristiques d’origine indéterminée qui ne peuvent être imputées au hollandais d’Europe. Sur la base d’une comparaison historique entre le malayo– hollandais et les autres variétés du hollandais/ afrikaans, je conclue que le malayo– hollandais représente le point d’aboutissement d’une variété hollandaise du Cap qui doit être distinguée de ce que den Besten dénommait le hollandais hottentot, ce qui entre autres explique pourquoi le malayo– hollandais exhibe des caractéristiques qui le différentient du dialecte afrikaans de la rivière Orange.De ‘ creolistische wending’ in de historische Afrikaanse taalkunde berust in hoge mate op interpretaties van, enerzijds, een verzameling zinnen uit de 17de en 18de eeuw die aan slaven en Khoekhoen toegeschreven worden, en anderzijds, van hedendaagse gevevens over het Oranje Rivier Afrikaans. Den Besten (1989, 2001a[ 2012]) stelde een ‚ creolistisch scenario’ over het ontstaan van het Afrikaans voor, en veronderstelde dat basilectale Kaap– Hollandse variëteiten tot op hoge mate afgeleid waren uit wat hij Hottentot Hollands noemt, d. w. z. een gepidginiseerde Nederlandse variëteit die de sporen van gedeeltelijke syntactische transfers uit Khoekhoen-talen lijkt te vertonen. Doordat de Khoekhoen beschouwd worden als de ‚ stichters’ van het Kaap– Hollandse basilect, ging de aandacht van taalhistorici naar het Oranje Rivier Afrikaans – d. w. z. die Afrikaanse variëteit die door de afstammelingen van de Khoekhoen gesproken wordt ; in die variëteit worden verklaringen gezocht wordt voor het ontstaan van de kenmerken van het Afrikaans. De rol die andere Kaapse niet– Europese bevolkingsgroepen speelden bij de ontwikkeling van het Afrikaans (met name de slaven en ‘ Vrije Zwarten‘) werd hierdoor over het hoofd gezien. De ontdekking van een corpus 19de eeuwse Kaapmaleis– Hollandse literaire teksten geeft ons een bron aan informatie over niet– Europese Kaap– Hollandse variëteiten ; die gegevens kunnen creolistiche reconstructies van het ontstaan van het Afrikaans verfijnen. In dit artikel bespreek ik de Kaapmaleis– Hollandse variëteit, in de brede algemene sociolinguïstische context van zijn ontstaan. Ik beschrijf hierbij zijn direct herkenbare Aziatische kenmerken alsmede zijn‚ on-nederlandse’ kenmerken van onbepaalde herkomst. Op basis van een vergelijking tussen het Kaapmaleis– Hollands en andere variëteiten van het Kaap– Hollands en Afrikaans toon ik aan dat Kaapmaleis– Hollands het resultaat is van een niet– Europese variëteit die onderscheiden moet worden van het Hottentot Hollands. Dit verklaart waarom deze variëteit kenmerken heeft die niet in het Oranje Rivier Afrikaans voorkomen.Stell Gerald. Cape Malay Dutch: The Missing Link Between Cape Dutch Pidgin and Afrikaans?. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 91, fasc. 3, 2013. Langues et littératures modernes Moderne taal en lettrekunde. pp. 763-786

’n Perseptuele verslag van Afrikaans in Namibië : tussen lingua franca en sosiaal-ekslusiewe taal

Abstract: A perceptual account of Afrikaans in Namibia: Between lingua franca and socially exclusive language. Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia was consolidated during the South African regime which systematically promoted it while preventing indigenous languages from spreading out of their intra-ethnic contexts of use. A linguistic consequence of independence, which Namibia gained in 1990, was that English suddenly became the country’s only official language, as well as the dominant language in education. Despite the hegemonic status that English acquired in Namibia, Afrikaans is today still popularly represented as the main lingua franca in Namibia, or at least as an important one. However, the position of Afrikaans in urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland of the Ovambo, the country’s numerically dominant group, where English is better known than Afrikaans. An indication of the pressure that Afrikaans might be subject to in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, is the demographic preponderance that the Ovambo group has locally acquired within the last three decades. Based on a qualitative survey conducted among an ethnoracially representative sample of young Namibians, this article provides a description of the status and use of Afrikaans in contemporary Windhoek, as well as a reflection on its potential for locally maintaining itself as a lingua franca. It generally shows that Afrikaans has to compete with English in that function, while indigenous languages are still largely restricted to intra-ethnic contexts of use. Afrikaans is clearly perceived as the lingua franca with more “covert prestige” in that it is associated with informality and a sense of local identity. By contrast, English is generally associated with overt prestige and formal functions, and it is characteristically used as a lingua franca within groups that do not understand Afrikaans, such as among particular Ovambo migrants..