An Introduction to Afrikaans Art Songs: A Guide to Lyric Diction

Abstract

An Introduction to Afrikaans Art Songs: A Guide to Lyric Diction Christian Bester (bio) and Bronwen Forbay (bio) LANGUAGE AND DICTION BASIC AFRIKAANS GRAMMAR The second half of this two-part presentation (see "An Introduction to Afrikaans Art Song Literature: Origins and Repertoire," pp. 471–482) aims to provide singers and teachers with a basic overview of the formation and pronunciation of authentic Afrikaans vowels and consonants. Phonetic transcription rules using the IPA will help guide students and teachers in their correct application. Written Afrikaans utilizes the same twenty-six letters as the English alphabet. Afrikaans sounds closest to Dutch, but uses considerably simpler spellings by comparison, a characteristic that makes it more accessible than many other Germanic languages. Although Afrikaans shares many cognates with English, it is characterized by the frequent use of diminutives (inherited from Dutch), numerous diphthongs, a lack of gender distinction, and simplicity in its verbal system. Verbs are not conjugated, but remain the same within a specific tense regardless of person or number. This particular characteristic makes Afrikaans lyric diction considerably easier to master than other Germanic languages. Afrikaans is predominantly a phonetic language with a limited number of exceptions. Closed syllables are more common than open syllables.1 Where two dissimilar consonants or double consonants separate syllables, the division usually falls between the two consonants, resulting in the first syllable being closed. Exceptions to this rule include the consonant combinations: tr, kw, dr, kl, and kr, which are divided before the initial consonant.2 Word Stress Indigenous Afrikaans words generally receive stress on the first syllable.3 Prefixes and suffixes usually remain unstressed, while the root portion of a word is emphasized.4 Exceptions include either words of foreign origin, borrowed words where stress shifts to the final syllable, or separable compound words where stress shifts to the prefix.5 Since a number of exceptions exist for which no rule can be provided,6 the use of a reliable dictionary such as the Madeline du Plessis et al., Pharos Afrikaans-Engels Woordeboek (Pharos Afrikaans-English Dictionary) published in 2005 is highly recommended. Diacritical Marks The four diacritical marks in Afrikaans are: • Acute accent on é Indicates syllabic stress but does not modify the vowel.7 Example: dié [di] (this/that) [End Page 497] Note: Although the spelling of the example word is almost identical to that of the definite article die (the), the acute accent indicates not only that the syllable is emphasized but also that a different meaning of the word is present. • Grave accent on è Indicates that the vowel is stressed, open, and of long duration.8 It is found mostly over short exclamation words. Incidentally, there are only four indigenous Afrikaans words that are compulsorily written with a grave accent; dè [dɛ:] (take this); hè [ɦɛ:] (really?); nè [nɛ:] (n'est-ce pas?/ isn't it? /not so?/yes?); and appèl [aˈpɛ:l] (appeal).9 • Circumflex accents on ê, î, ô, and û All stress the syllable in which they appear and result in long open vowels pronounced [ɛ:], [ə:], [ɔ:], and [œ:], respectively.10 Examples: sê [sɛ:] (say); wîe [ˈvə:ʱə] (wedge); môre [ˈmɔ:rə] (morning/tomorrow) and brûe [ˈbrœ:ʱə] (bridges). The circumflex accent does not appear above a vowels in Afrikaans.11 • Dieresis This occurs on ë, ï, ö, and ü vowels.12 The accent does not function as a German umlaut as no vowel modification occurs. Called a deelteken [ˈdeᵊlˌteᵊkən] in Afrikaans, it serves as a divisional sign or vowel separator. This diacritical mark ensures that the second vowel in the word is not assimilated into the overall sound, but is sounded separately from the vowel preceding it. Syllabification occurs immediately before the dieresis. As a result, the vowel preceding it is always in an open syllable. Example: oë [ˈo:ᵊǝ] (eyes); haël [ˈɦa:əl] (hail) Note: The dieresis can occur on ä in rare circumstances when "in combination with a preceding a, to indicate the start of a new syllable, such as in lilaägtig, Kanaän, and a number of technical (mostly scientific) terms where a suffix starting with a follows a stem ending on a."13 Example: Aäron [aˈa:ron] Afrikaans Vowel Sounds Afrikaans has five pure vowel sounds...