Afrikaans

Afrikaans
Pronunciation[afriˈkɑːns]
Native to
RegionSouthern Africa
EthnicityAfrikaners
Coloureds
Native speakers
7.2 million (2016)
10.3 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2011)[1]
Indo-European
  • Germanic
    • West Germanic
      • Weser–Rhine Germanic
        • Low Franconian
          • Afrikaans
Early forms
Frankish
  • Old Dutch
    • Middle Dutch
      • Modern Dutch
        • 17th-century Dutch
          • Central Dutch
            • Hollandic
Dialects
Latin script (Afrikaans alphabet), Arabic script
Signed forms
Signed Afrikaans[2]
Official status
Official language in
South Africa
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byDie Taalkommissie
Language codes
ISO 639-1af
ISO 639-2afr
ISO 639-3afr
Glottologafri1274
Linguasphere52-ACB-ba
   spoken by a majority
   spoken by a minority
Afrikaans is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[3][4]

Afrikaans[n 1] is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where a group in Sarmiento speaks a Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular[7][8] of South Holland (Hollandic dialect)[9][10] spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the 17th and 18th centuries.[11]

Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages including German, Malay and Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary of Afrikaans is of Dutch origin.[n 2] Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings.[n 3] There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form.[12]

  1. ^ Afrikaans at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
  2. ^ Aarons & Reynolds, "South African Sign Language" in Monaghan (ed.), Many Ways to be Deaf: International Variation in Deaf Communities (2003).
  3. ^ Daniels, Keliah (30 March 2013). "Afrikaans now potentially a 'vulnerable' language – UNESCO".
  4. ^ Mahogo, Princess (29 March 2013). "Afrikaans listed as 'potentially vulnerable' by UNESCO: AfriForum".
  5. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  6. ^ Roach, Peter (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2.
  7. ^ K. Pithouse, C. Mitchell, R. Moletsane, Making Connections: Self-Study & Social Action, p.91
  8. ^ J. A. Heese (1971). Die herkoms van die Afrikaner, 1657–1867 [The origin of the Afrikaner] (in Afrikaans). Cape Town: A. A. Balkema. OCLC 1821706. OL 5361614M.
  9. ^ Herkomst en groei van het Afrikaans – G.G. Kloeke (1950)
  10. ^ Heeringa, Wilbert; de Wet, Febe; van Huyssteen, Gerhard B. (2015). "The origin of Afrikaans pronunciation: a comparison to west Germanic languages and Dutch dialects". Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. 47. doi:10.5842/47-0-649. ISSN 2224-3380.
  11. ^ Abel Coetzee (1948). Standaard Afrikaans (PDF). Afrikaner Pers.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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