Afrikaans Speakers Research Articles

The acquisition of grammatical gender in L2 German by learners with Afrikaans, English or Italian as their L1

In recent years there has been an increase in research on the acquisition of morphological aspects of a second language (L2). Specifically, a number of studies have been conducted on the acquisition of grammatical gender in the L2. The study reported in this paper investigated the adult L2 acquisition of grammatical gender in German by first language (L1) speakers of Afrikaans, English and Italian, respectively. The aim of the study was to determine how similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 in terms of grammatical gender affect the acquisition of this aspect of the target L2. Two experimental tasks – a picture naming task and a sentence completion task – were designed to determine to what extent the grammatical gender of nouns is accurately reflected on determiners and adjectives. Throughout, the L1 Italian group outperformed the other two groups. Since Italian (like German) expresses grammatical gender on determiners and nouns, while neither English nor Afrikaans does, the results indicate that the acquisition of grammatical gender in an L2 is easier for learners whose L1 also expresses grammatical gender. Specifically, the results provide evidence for so-called "deep transfer" (transfer of abstract grammatical properties) from the L1 to the L2 in this area of L2 acquisition: since the grammatical gender systems of Italian and German are not congruent, the Italian speakers' advantage over the other two L1 groups cannot be the result of simple "surface transfer" (transferring knowledge of the grammatical gender of specific nouns in the L1 to the L2) and must be attributed to deep transfer.

Afrikaans in contact with English: endangered language or case of exceptional bilingualism?

At present, discussions about potential language shift from African languages or Afrikaans to English are widespread in South Africa. This article focuses on the position of Afrikaans. Researchers interested in the position of Afrikaans today hold different views and there are some methodological problems with current studies. The main aim of this article is to problematize claims of language shift among Afrikaans speakers by analyzing relevant data from a larger scale survey of the language repertoires of an identified Afrikaans population (n = 244) in the Vaal Triangle region. The research method involved the adaptation of language history or experience questionnaires designed by bilingualism researchers to describe the language repertoires of a large population of multilingual students. The main findings of the study are that: (a) Afrikaans-English bilingualism (and bi-literacy) is prominent among the Afrikaans participants in the study; (b) the position of English as an important language in the bilingual repertoires of the participants is confirmed; and (c) Afrikaans seems firmly set as the language that contributes most to the identity of these participants. A pattern of stable bilingualism and bi-literacy emerges. The value of adding larger scale quantitative studies to complement smaller, qualitative studies in discussions of language shift and maintenance is confirmed by this study. The impact of the omission of Afrikaans-English bilingualism in the debate about Afrikaans is discussed.

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.

Motion event cognition and grammatical aspect: Evidence from Afrikaans

Research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event construal has posited that speakers of non-aspect languages are more prone to encoding event endpoints than are speakers of aspect languages (e.g., von Stutterheim and Carroll 2011). In the present study, we test this hypothesis by extending this line of inquiry to Afrikaans, a non-aspect language which is previously unexplored in this regard. Motion endpoint behavior among Afrikaans speakers was measured by means of a linguistic retelling task and a non-linguistic similarity judgment task, and then compared with the behavior of speakers of a non-aspect language (Swedish) and speakers of an aspect language (English). Results showed the Afrikaans speakers' endpoint patterns aligned with Swedish patterns, but were significantly different from English patterns. It was also found that the variation among the Afrikaans speakers could be partially explained by taking into account their frequency of use of English, such that those who used English more frequently exhibited an endpoint behavior that was more similar to English speakers. The current study thus lends further support to the hypothesis that speakers of different languages attend differently to event endpoints as a function of the grammatical category of aspect.

Woordeboek en gebruik: 'n bose kringloop

<b>Dictionary and Usage: A Vicious Circle</b> This study examines the statement that the practice of compiling Afrikaans explanatory and translating dictionaries by excerpting from published material has created a vicious circle that results in the exclusion from dictionaries of lexical items regarded as standard language by educated mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans. The reason for this is that language in excerpted publications (books, magazines, newspapers) is usually sub-edited to a greater or lesser degree by language practitioners who in turn follow the prescriptions of dictionaries. The result is a vicious circle that is entrenched further by lexicographical standardizing techniques such as exclusion or negative labelling. The three main issues discussed in the study are (a) prescriptions to the prescribers (lexicographers); (b) the treatment of sixteen lexical items in dictionaries and language manuals; (c) results of an empirical investigation of these sixteen cases among five groups of educated mother-tongue speakers (102 respondents in all). The conclusion is that Afrikaans explanatory and translating dictionaries do not yet reflect the usage of these cases (and by implication many others).

Speech-language assessment in a linguistically diverse setting: Preliminary exploration of the possible impact of informal ‘solutions’ within the South African context

Speech-language therapists (SLTs) working in the context of cultural and linguistic diversity face considerable challenges in providing equitable services to all clients. This is complicated by the fact that the majority of SLTs in South Africa are English or Afrikaans speakers, while the majority of the population have a home language other than English/Afrikaans. Consequently, SLTs are often forced to call on untrained personnel to act as interpreters or translators, and to utilise informally translated materials in the assessment and management of clients with communication impairments. However, variations in translation have the potential to considerably alter intervention plans. This study explored whether the linguistic complexity conveyed in translation of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) test changed when translated from English to isiZulu by five different first-language IsiZulu speakers. A qualitative comparative research design was adopted and results were analysed using comparative data analysis. Results revealed notable differences in the translations, with most differences relating to vocabulary and semantics. This finding holds clinical implications for the use of informal translators as well as for the utilisation of translated material in the provision of speech-language therapy services in multilingual contexts. This study highlights the need for cautious use of translators and/or translated materials that are not appropriately and systematically adapted for local usage. Further recommendations include a call for intensified efforts in the transformation of the profession within the country, specifically by attracting greater numbers of students who are fluent in African languages.

Speech-language assessment in a linguistically diverse setting: Preliminary exploration of the possible impact of informal ‘solutions’ within the South African context

Speech-language therapists (SLTs) working in the context of cultural and linguistic diversity face considerable challenges in providing equitable services to all clients. This is complicated by the fact that the majority ofSLTs in South Africa are English or Afrikaans speakers, while the majority of the population have a home language other than English/Afrikaans. Consequently, SLTs are often forced to call on untrained personnel to act as interpreters or translators, and to utilise informally translated materials in the assessment and management of clients with communication impairments. However, variations in translation have the potential to considerably alter intervention plans. This study explored whether the linguistic complexity conveyed in translation of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) test changed when translated from English to isiZulu by five different first-language IsiZulu speakers. A qualitative comparative research design was adopted and results were analysed using comparative data analysis. Results revealed notable differences in the translations, with most differences relating to vocabulary and semantics. This finding holds clinical implications for the use of informal translators as well as for the utilisation of translated material in the provision of speech-language therapy services in multilingual contexts. This study highlights the need for cautious use of translators and/or translated materials that are not appropriately and systematically adapted for local usage. Further recommendations include a call for intensified efforts in the transformation of the profession within the country, specifically by attracting greater numbers of students who are fluent in African languages.

Afrikaner Capital Elites, Neo-Liberalism and Economic Transformation in Post-Apartheid South Africa

In the aftermath of the transition, and with the uneven progression of the liberal democratic project in contemporary South Africa, the profile of Afrikaner capital elites in the key mining and financial sectors has remained prominent. Yet the contribution of these actors, whether as a distinct fraction of capital or as individuals, to the post-apartheid economy is not fully understood. Even whilst they have reformed their local presence and reconstructed their economic power, these strategies are strongly related to the nature of the global and African National Congress (ANC)-led projects of neo-liberalism, and are not necessarily indicative of a persistent or renewed Afrikaner capital bloc. This article seeks to add to the debate on social and economic transformation among Afrikaans speakers in South Africa by examining these shifting patterns of state-capital relations against the context of both the institutional and material legacy of apartheid, and contemporary global restructuring. It emphasises the importance of this context in explaining today what is happening with Afrikaner capital elites, and to what extent they maintain their former influence and success in the post-apartheid and global economies.

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 and the coloured-white linguistic divide in South Africa's Afrikaans speech community can be referred to as complementary in the study of ethnicity and language variation.

Mos as a discourse marker in rural Cape Afrikaans

This article aims to characterise mos as a discourse marker (DM), and to explore its pragmatic functions in the discourse of speakers of non-standard Afrikaans. Through an analysis of the functions of the use of mos in conversational data collected among nine rural speakers of so-called ‘Cape Afrikaans’, it is shown to fulfil a number of criteria drawn from the relevant literature by which an item may be characterised as a DM. Specifically, mos is seen to function in relating segments of discourse, creating coherence in narratives, expressing logical and causal links, indicating a speaker's position with regard to a proposition, constructing an argument, managing shared information, and signalling a comment on a proposition. It is shown that the DM mos has a wide range of functions in the discourse of rural speakers of Cape Afrikaans.

L1 influence in the L2 acquisition of isiXhosa verb placement by English and Afrikaans adolescents

This paper reports on an investigation into the possibility of first language (L1) transfer in the initial stages of the second language (L2) acquisition of isiXhosa by adolescent L1 speakers of Afrikaans and English, respectively. Four hypotheses about the initial state of L2 acquisition are (i) the Full Transfer hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996; White 1989, 2003), (ii) the Minimal Trees hypothesis (Vainikka and Young-Scholten 1994, 1996), (iii) the Initial Hypothesis of Syntax (Platzack 1996) and (iv) the No Transfer hypothesis (Clahsen and Muysken 1986). A study was conducted to test the different predictions made by these hypotheses regarding verb placement by beginner learners of isiXhosa; data were collected by means of both a sentence completion and a grammaticality judgement task. It is argued that the results of the study are only compatible with the Full Transfer hypothesis. The implications of the results of this investigation for L2 teaching in a multilingual environment are also briefly discussed.

First and second language child speakers of Afrikaans’s knowledge of figurative language

This article reports on a study that compared the knowledge of figurative language in first (L1) and second language (L2) speakers of Afrikaans, aged 8 to 10. To assess comprehension of figurative language, 25 idioms were initially presented without context; only if the child gave an incorrect interpretation was the idiom placed in context. There was no statistically significant difference between the comprehension of idioms by the two language groups and they gave comparable numbers of literal interpretations. Providing context was beneficial to both groups. In the simile completion task, the child had to give the last word of a simile read to him by the researcher. This proved easier for both groups than the idiom task, but still no significant differences were found between the two groups. The results imply that the extent to which a child is aware of the existence of figurative language (i.e., that what is said is not always what is meant) possibly has a greater influence on his/her figurative language skills than does the amount of exposure to figurative language used by others. This implies that an awareness of figurative language as well as the specific meaning of idioms and similes needs to be taught explicitly, regardless of whether the child is an L1 or L2 learner.

Bemused / Betrayed / Brazen: An overview of aspects of the current debate about Afrikaans

The current debate about Afrikaans among Afrikaners is characterized by dismissive and engaged attitudes. Those who are dismissive believe that the debate is out of tune with the demands of time and should not be taking place. Those who are engaged believe it is crucial for identity and for giving substance to the spirit of the Constitution. In this article, these perspectives are juxtaposed with those raised during debates about the 'future of Afrikaans' in the I 980s and I 990s. Some 'dismissive' perspectives can be traced back to the Juture' debate: Afrikaans should exist 'naturally'; Afrikaans should be Jreed' from Afrikaner nationalism and be understood as the language of a much larger group of speakers. The 'engaged' debate has, however, brought to the fore significant developments that were largely unforeseen: the generation conflict within Afrikaner ranks (the 'Boetman' debate), and the reappraisal of Afrikaner nationalism (by those who had supported the political changes of the 1990s) as a means of asserting Afrikaans language rights, thereby giving impetus to a new language struggle (taalstryd). While this 'struggle' is ostensibly for multilingualism rather than for Afrikaans per se, many regard it as politically insensitive. Greater participation in the debate by black Afrikaans speakers could change this perception. Meanwhile the very existence of a debate about Afrikaans is an indication of a certain distinctiveness of linguistic experience - and language attitude - on the part of many Afrikaans speakers, which future language policy should be flexible enough to recognize.

The development of an Afrikaans test for sentence recognition thresholds in noise

Objective: The development of a valid and reliable Afrikaans test of sentence recognition thresholds in noise. Design: A collection of sentences was developed, rated for naturalness and grammatical complexity, and digitally recorded using a female speaker. Sentences found to have similar psychometric curve slopes, with equivalent intelligibility at three different noise levels, were arranged into 22 phonemically matched lists of ten sentences each. List equivalence was evaluated in normal-hearing listeners in full and reduced bandwidth conditions. Test-retest reliability of the remaining lists was evaluated in a second group of listeners. Study sample: All listeners were native speakers of Afrikaans with normal hearing. For evaluation of list equivalence, ten listeners were used. Twenty other listeners were used to evaluate test-retest reliability. Results: A collection of eighteen phonemically matched lists was produced. Lists were found to be of equivalent difficulty in full and reduced bandwidth conditions, and to have good test-retest reliability in normal-hearing listeners. The average recognition threshold of these lists was −2.73 dB signal-to-noise ratio (standard deviation = 0.64 dB), and within-subject variability was 1.22 dB. Conclusions: The developed test provides a valid and reliable means of measuring sentence recognition thresholds in noise in Afrikaans.SumarioObjetivo: Desarrollar una prueba válida y confiable de umbrales de reconocimiento de frases en ruido en Afrikaans. Diseño: Se elaboró una colección de oraciones clasificadas segun su naturalidad y complejidad gramatical y registradas digitalmente, usando una voz de locutora femenina. Se observó que las oraciones tenían curvas psicométricas de gradiente similar, con inteligibilidad equivalente a tres diferentes niveles de ruido, que se organizaron en 22 listas pareadas fonéticamente, de diez oraciones cada una. La equivalencia de las listas se evaluó en sujetos normoyentes bajo condiciones de ancho de banda completo o reducido. La confiabilidad test-retest de las restantes listas fue evaluada en un segundo grupo de sujetos. Muestra De Estudio: Todos los sujetos fueron normoyentes y hablantes nativos de Afrikaans. Para la evaluación de la equivalencia de listas, se tomaron diez sujetos y otros veinte para valorar la confiabilidad test-retest. Resultados: Se elaboraron diez y ocho listas fonémicamente pareadas. Se encontró que las listas tuvieron una dificultad equivalente en condiciones de ancho de banda completo o reducido y que fue buena su confiabilidad test-retest en sujetos normooyentes. El umbral promedio de reconocimiento de estas listas fue de -2.73 dB de relación señal-ruido (desviación estándar = 0.64 dB), y la variabilidad por sujeto fue de 1.22 dB. Conclusiones: La prueba desarrollada proporciona un medio válido y confiable para medir los umbrales de reconocimiento de oraciones en ruido en Afrikaans.

University students’ context-dependent conscious attitudes towards the official South African languages

This paper considers the results of an empirical investigation of overt language attitudes held by students attending North-West University, South Africa. Attitudes elicited from 325 students with mainly Setswana, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English as home languages are analysed comparatively. The study explores the relationship between language preferences in an educational environment and language preferences in other domains of students’ daily lives. The study thus indicates how different languages fulfil different roles in a multilingual university environment. The results presented are compared with findings reported in earlier attitudinal investigations from the Eastern Cape. In addition, a comparative analysis of attitudes by Afrikaans speakers is conducted considering students attending classes at two different campuses of the North-West University. At the traditional Afrikaans university campus, Potchefstroom, students show a higher regard for Afrikaans than students who attend classes at the Vaal Triangle. These findings are used in a discussion of context dependency of overt language preferences.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Suitability of the WAIS-III for Afrikaans-Speaking South Africans

The standardised version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) for English-speaking South Africans is currently widely used. Although an Afrikaans translation of the verbal subtests of the WAIS-III is provided in the manual, this translation has not been standardised. This preliminary investigation of the suitability of the translation for use with Afrikaans-speaking South Africans indicated comparability of the performance of an urbanised sample with good quality education and similar groups tested with the English version. The results also revealed significant differences between the urbanised Afrikaans speakers and a relatively non-urbanised group of Afrikaans speakers with inadequate quality education. There were no significant relationships of performance with gender and age. University graduates/students obtained higher scores than college graduates/students and subjects without tertiary education. Multivariate analyses of the contribution of demographic variables to variations in scores confirmed the significant effect of quality of education on test performance. The reliabilities for the verbal subtests ranged from acceptable to good, and inter-subtest correlations were at the expected level. An analysis of item difficulty revealed the expected sequence of progressively more difficult items, but with some exceptions. While some scoring criteria may need to be re-examined, inconsistencies also appear to be related to the role of schooling and social background. Limitations of the study pertain to the design and the small sample size that do not allow for conclusive evidence in terms of construct validity and in terms of measurement equivalence between the Afrikaans and English versions.

Van boekenbonnen en feëverhale - De tussenklank e(n) in Nederlandse en Afrikaanse samenstellingen: vorm of betekenis?

Compounds in Dutch and Afrikaans may contain a linking sound resembling the plural suffix [ə] or [ən]. This linking sound can be spelled in Dutch as e or en, a difference which previous research has shown to affect the interpretation of left hand members of compounds regarding their plurality. Here, we look at the existence of the reverse effect: do semantic clues about number influence preferences for a linking sound in novel compounds? Indeed, contexts in which the left hand member of a compound-to-be is present in its plural form increase the tendency to prefer a linking element (using a seven-point rating scale). In contexts which merely suggest a plural interpretation for the left hand member, this propensity is markedly less for speakers of Dutch, and absent for speakers of Afrikaans. Of interest is the asymmetry with previous research that shows how subtle form differences influence number interpretation.

Om ruim in Afrika te leef

To live abundantly in Africa This article is a revised version of an inaugural lecture delivered at the University of Pretoria on 19 July 2001. The paper considers the future of Departments of Afrikaans following the end of Afrikaner political rule. It is divided into three subsections: a overview of the close affiliation between the Afrikaans language, literature and Afrikaner nationalism, as well as the practice of Afrikaans literary criticism; reactions from the Afrikaans speaking community to the demise of Afrikaner political rule and lastly, tentative proposals for the continued development of Departments of Afrikaans. The association between Afrikaans and Afrikaner nationalism became so ingrained that discursively, the language became the exclusive domain of the Afrikaners. The democratisation of 1994 brought about change and weakened the bond between Afrikaner nationalism and the Afrikaans language. Responses to the new dispensation vary. One such response is an attempt at redefining Afrikaner identity, encompassing those whose roles in the formation of the Afrikaans language were previously undervalued (such as black, principally coloured, Afrikaans speakers). Other responses support an overarching South African identity. These public debates have corollaries in the debates on Afrikaans literature. The author argues that conscious steps must be undertaken to actively develop links with other African, southern and South African literatures; while at the same time institutionalised literary models, approaches and the demands of contemporary cultural practices must be re-evaluated.

Learning a new language

Under apartheid, the mainstream Afrikaans media served as vehicles for the ideology of apartheid. Since democratization, they have attempted to rid themselves of this ideological baggage, and instead embraced a free-market ideology in which race has ostensibly disappeared. This repositioning has seemingly benefited the Afrikaans media sector, with an increase of the number and type of media, operating under the proclaimed banner of non-racialism. The discourse within which this repositioning has taken place, is that of a celebratory consumerism coupled with acknowledgement of majority rule. Yet this apparent move away from ideology towards a market logic where consumers are addressed as individuals rather than racial or ethnic groups, obscured its role within post-apartheid identity politics. Afrikaans media constructed the Afrikaans language as a commodity that can be used to its speakers' economic advantage if they recognize the pragmatic necessity of acknowledging the political transformation in the country. At the same time, the economic status of Afrikaans speakers could provide a bargaining chip in the negotiation of minority language rights. Crucially, Afrikaans media are therefore playing an important role in creating a link between consumption and cultural identity — to their own strategic commercial advantage. •

Codeswitching and ethnicity: grammatical types of codeswitching in the Afrikaans speech community

Codeswitching in its function as a marker of ethnicity within the same speech community has so far mostly been illustrated with case studies involving closely related codes (e.g. dialect/standard) rather than distinct standard languages. The purpose of this article is to show in how far Afrikaans-English codeswitching reflects in its grammatical forms ethnic divisions within the Afrikaans speech community. In order to answer this question, Muysken's threefold taxonomy of insertions, alternations and congruent lexicalization is used to categorize and quantify forms of Afrikaans-English codeswitching in the informal speech of three age cohorts distributed across seven samples of White and Coloured Afrikaans speakers from South Africa and Namibia. The analysis reveals that codeswitching patterns differ across the ethnic divide not only in terms of relative proportions of insertions, alternations and congruent lexicalization, but also in terms of specific grammatical or syntactic characteristics which these codeswitching types may assume. On the basis of some of these specific characteristics the conclusion is drawn that codeswitching practices remain to some degree conditioned by perceptions of ethnic group membership rather than by histories of language contact or typological distance between Afrikaans and English.