(in these territories, a considerable part of them are people of color). In addition, many (mostly white) Afrikaans speakers live in some relatively large cities in the center of the country (Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Potchefstroom, Vereeniching, Welkom, Klerksdorp, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg).
Many Afrikaans speakers do not identify as "white" or "colored" and identify as "Afrikaans-speaking South Africans" or "Namibians". Collective name for Afrikaans speakers - Afrikaanses.
Afrikaans is the native language of approximately 6 million people (5,983,426 in South Africa according to the 2001 census); the total number of speakers is about 10 million. Speakers of Afrikaans and Dutch can understand each other without prior preparation (literary Afrikaans differs from literary Dutch less than many Dutch dialects proper).
Story
The specific features of Afrikaans probably developed by the end of the 17th century in the Cape Colony. During the 18th and 1st half of the 19th centuries. Afrikaans functioned only as an oral language, apart from errors made by the Boers in texts in Dutch. The basis for Afrikaans was mainly the dialect of South Holland, but the influence of the Flemish dialect can also be traced: for example, the suffix of adjectives -lijk corresponds not expected -lyk, A -lik, which is also typical for the dialects of Flanders. In addition, there is undoubtedly the influence of the Malay-Portuguese Creole used in the Dutch East Indies (from where slaves were brought to the Cape Colony) and various jargons and pidgins based on Dutch dialects used among sailors. So, from the Malay language came, for example, the words piesang"banana" (Malay pisang, Dutch banaan) or baie"Very".
Probably the earliest record of Afrikaans is songs (like ditties) recorded in 1795. In 1861 J. H. Merant published the story Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar("Conversation between Klaas Warseheer [the Truth-Teller] and Jan Tweifelaar [the Doubter]"), considered to be the first Afrikaans text. In the 1860s, a monument to “Arabic Afrikaans” was also created - an instruction in the Islamic faith of Abu Bakr Effendi, written in Afrikaans in Arabic letters. The first Afrikaans grammar and dictionary were published in 1875 in Cape Town by the True Afrikaners Society ( Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners). With the rise of Boer patriotism, especially in the Transvaal and the Orange Republic, the importance of Afrikaans grew rapidly, and after the Boer War - . he began to receive more and more recognition.
Nevertheless, with the formation of the South African Republic in 1910, Afrikaans has not yet become the official language of the country (at that time, along with English, it was still Dutch) and is only consolidated as the state language of the South African Republic (now South Africa). During the apartheid era, the role of Afrikaans as the only national language of South Africa was emphasized in every possible way, and teaching it was compulsory.
It is now one of the 11 official languages of the Republic of South Africa, although its role in society has been somewhat reduced. However, it occupies an important place, for example in the media: although the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has reduced the number of programs in Afrikaans, in the print media its position is very strong: for example, a magazine for the whole family Huisgenoot has the largest circulation in South Africa. Other newspapers and magazines are published in Afrikaans, quite a few books are published, and there is a pay cable channel KykNet and specialized radio stations. At the same time, greater attention is now being paid to varieties of Afrikaans previously considered "non-standard" and "unliterary", in particular Cape Afrikaans, which is spoken by the majority of speakers of the language.
Linguistic characteristics
From a linguistic point of view, Afrikaans is partly close to other Germanic languages and especially Dutch (it partially retains features inherent in the Middle Dutch language, but lost in the modern literary language of the Netherlands). In Afrikaans, there has been a simplification of the declension and conjugation system (while the syntax remains fundamentally Dutch), but in terms of its scale it is quite comparable to what happened, for example, in English.
Phonetics and phonology
The Afrikaans phonetic system is close to the Dutch one. It is distinguished from the latter by the nasalization of vowels (with compensatory lengthening) before voiceless spirants (cf. Afrikaans , Netherlands ( mens, “person”), deafening of all voiced fricative consonants, including at the beginning of a word (Suid-Afrika, Dutch. Zuid-Afrika). In addition, Afrikaans is characterized by the loss of consonants, primarily g(phonetically [x], in Dutch it is also possible [ɣ]), between vowels: cf. rëel "rule", Dutch. regel. [d] is also subject to this, cf. oud"old", ouer"older". Sometimes [d] transitions between vowels (especially after long ones) into [j]: blad"leaf", plural h. blaaie. Another characteristic feature of Afrikaans is the simplification of consonant clusters, especially at the end of words: cf. pos"mail", Dutch post. With inflection and word formation, etymological combinations can be restored: nag"night", plural h. nagte.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Explosive | |||||||
| Nasal | |||||||
| Affricate | tʃ dʒ | ||||||
| Fricative | |||||||
| Approximant | |||||||
| Smooth |
Italics in the table indicate rare and peripheral sounds. Thus, , , [ʃ] [ʒ] are found almost only in borrowed or onomatopoeic words (cf. sjiek"chic" tjek"check", tjilp"tweet"). The same applies to [g] (cf. rugby"rugby", ghnoe"(antelope) wildebeest"), which sometimes occurs in native words, especially after [r] ( berge"mountains", burger"citizen"); but cf. Also nege"nine". Palatal plosives [c][ɟ] occur mainly in diminutives, e.g. stoeltjie"high chair" hondjie"dog". [c] is also sometimes found as a variant of [k] before front vowels. After dental consonants [v] (spelling w) is realized as [w], cf. twee"two".
Afrikaans in general is characterized by various assimilative processes: for example, [ɦ], depending on the subsequent vowel, can also be realized as [j] (before front vowels) or [w] (before rounded vowels). Similarly, [x] before front vowels can be realized as [ç]; in the area of consonantism, various regressive and progressive assimilations are possible. In addition, Afrikaans, like the Dutch language, is characterized by deafening of consonants at the absolute end of a word, and voicedness is restored before the vowel: held"hero", held in "heroine"
Vowels
The vowel composition of Afrikaans is generally the same as that of Dutch vowels.
| Sound | Example | Notes | ||
| IPA | IPA | Spelling | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ɪ/ə | vɪt | wit | "white" | |
| ɪː/əː | wɪːə | wîe | "wedges" | |
| spis | spies | "a spear" | ||
| iː | fiːr | vier | "four" | |
| spʏx | spug | "spit" | ||
| ʏː | bʏːrə | bure | "neighbours" | Occurs mainly before [r] |
| bɛt | bed | "bed" | ||
| ɛː | sɛː | sê | "speak" | Also occurs as a variant [e] before [r] + consonant |
| eː | beːn | been | "leg" | |
| mɛ̃ːsə | mense | "People" | ||
| son | seun | "son" | ||
| brœx | brug | "bridge" | ||
| œː | brœːə | brûe | "bridges" | Just in a nutshell |
| mɑn | man | "Human" | ||
| aː | plaːs | plaas | "farm" | |
| bɔs | bos | "forest, bush" | ||
| ɔː | mɔːrə | more | "morning" | |
| oː | boːm | boom | "tree" | |
| buk | boek | "book" | ||
| uː | buːr | boer | "peasant, boer" | |
Afrikaans also has a rich system of diphthongs, including true diphthongs and so-called. "double vowels", involving combinations of long vowels with [i], which usually appear followed by diminutive suffixes ( raatjie), but are also found in roots ( waai).
Road sign with inscriptions in Afrikaans and English
Particularly difficult are the issues related to the implementation of the vowel, orthographically represented as i, as well as long, mid-rise vowels. Traditionally it is believed that i corresponds to the IPA symbol [ə], however B. Donaldson points out that this vowel actually has a slightly higher rise than the true [ə], found in Afrikaans in an unstressed position; Donaldson himself refers to it as ï , apparently, in the IPA it most closely corresponds to [ɪ]. As for the “long vowels of the middle rise”, in traditional descriptions they are considered diphthongs, or,: the same Donaldson believes that the transcription would be more correct,.
Among the processes in the vowel area, one should note the frequent reduction of unstressed vowels to [ə], syncopation [ə] ( gisteraand"last night" ), increase e And o in the pre-stressed syllable before [i], [u] ( polisie"police"), demotion e And o in the second pre-stressed syllable before [ɛ], [ɔ] ( energy"energy" [ɛnər"xi]), (non-normative) delabialization [ʏ], [œ], [ø], [œy] to [i], [ə/ɪ], , [əi] ( muur"wall" instead of), lowering [ɛ] to [æ] before [l], [k], [r], [x]. .
Other phonological information
The stress in Afrikaans, as in other Germanic languages, usually falls on the first syllable: cf. speller"player", Onderwys"teach"; exceptions in native words are unstressed prefixes be-, ge-, ver-, er-, her-: bespréek"order". In borrowed words the stress is usually preserved: koepee"coupe".
As in Dutch, combinations [l] + consonant, [r] plus a word-final consonant undergo epenthesis [ə]: melk"milk".
Spelling
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | II | Jj | Kk | Ll | mm |
| [b] | [k] | [d] | , [ɛ] , [ə] | [f] | [x] | [ɦ] | , [ə] | [j] | [k] | [l] | [m] | |
| Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | |
| [n] | , [ɔ] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [ʏ(ː)] , [œ] | [f] | [v], [w] | [əj] | [z] |
The letters Cc, Qq, Xx, Zz are used only in borrowings. The most commonly used diacritic is the circumflex: ê [ɛː] , ô [ɔː] , û [œː] (the last one is just two words), î [əː]. Dieresis is used to indicate two-syllable writing ( reen"rain", cf. Netherlands regen). Very common digraphs: ie , oe , ch [ʃ] , , tj, [c] , dj, [ɟ]. When adapting foreign words, the spelling is sometimes preserved ( genius"genius"), but more often adapts ( annexeer"annex").
An important principle of Afrikaans orthography is the consistent reflection of vowel length. Short vowels in a closed syllable are written with one letter, but if the syllable becomes open, then the single consonant after the short vowel is doubled, which does not affect the pronunciation: cf. mat"rug", plural h. matte. On the contrary, long vowels in a closed syllable are indicated by digraphs, and if the syllable is open, they are written with one letter: boom"tree", plural h. bome. Long is traditionally written doubled and at the end of the word: see"lake".
Sometimes, as in Dutch, the acute sign is used to indicate the stress of a word or semantic emphasis: sometimes it has a semantic meaning, e.g. die"definite article", die"this".
Words are written with a capital letter if they are proper names, and at the beginning of a sentence. Also, if there is an indefinite article at the beginning of a sentence "n, then the next word is written with a capital letter: "n Man het met my gepraat.
Morphology
Afrikaans is an analytical language and is characterized by weak morphological structure. The intensive process of inflection decay leads to the complete destruction of the noun declension system and the conjugation system in the verb (loss of personal endings). The opposition between weak and strong verbs, characteristic of all other Germanic languages, has been almost completely destroyed; temporary oppositions are expressed in analytical forms (as in some German dialects).
Nouns and adjectives
Monument to the Afrikaans language in Paarl (Western Cape)
The noun does not distinguish between genders, unlike Dutch, where common and neuter gender are distinguished, case contrasts are completely lost (however, almost destroyed in Dutch). Nevertheless, the contrast in number remains. The most common way to form a plural is a suffix -e (mens"person", plural h. mense; dag"day", plural h. dae), the suffix is less productive -s(although it is more common than in Dutch) ( storm"storm", plural h. storms); Other morphemes are also rare, for example, kind"child", plural h. kinders, ouer"parent", plural h. ours, suppletivism ( seeman"sailor", seeliede"sailors"). As noted above, when forming the plural, consonants that are not present in the singular form can be restored: gas"guest", plural h. gaste.
Adjectives do not agree with nouns. In the predicative function they have a dictionary form ( Hierdie huis grot "This house big"), but when used attributively they sometimes acquire a special form, which goes back to the Dutch weak form of adjectives and is formed using the suffix -e(cf. "n grote huis " Big house". The rules for using this special form are quite variable, but they can be described as follows:
- Join -e polysyllabic adjectives: " n winderige dag"Windy day". The exceptions are:
- Compound adjectives, the second component of which is an adjective that does not join -e: "n wondermooi meisie"amazingly beautiful ( mooi) young woman";
- Adjectives on -er, el(including comparative degree): "n lekker piesang"delicious banana" n langer pad"longer way";
- Join -e monosyllabic adjectives in [x], [d], [u], [f], [s], and the alternations described above can occur:
- Dropping out d ("n wye romp"wide ( wyd) skirt"), with a possible transition to [j] ( "n goeie oes"good ( goed) harvest"). Exceptions: wreed, oud(has a special shape ou);
- Drop [x] : " n lae muur"low ( laag) wall"
- Restoring the final consonant: " n slegte reuk"bad ( sleg) smell", "n vaste reel"solid ( vas) rule";
- Increment [v] (for adjectives on -u): "n ruwe speler"rude ( ru) player"
- Voicing f before w: "n dowwe lig"dim ( dof) light"
- Other monosyllabic adjectives, as a rule, -e not attached.
An adjective has three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative: grot"big", grother"more", ( die) growste“the largest” (the superlative degree is always used with the definite article). Degrees of comparison of adverbs are formed in the same way. The formation of degrees of comparison is regular, with three exceptions ( min - minder - minst"small", goed - beter - beste"good", baie - meer - meest“very, a lot”) and morphonological processes similar to those described above: oud"old", ouer"older" sag"soft", sagter"softer". Besides, d build up before -er all adjectives ending in r: lekker"nice", lekkerder.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns (singular) preserve the distinction between two cases: direct and objective, their distribution is similar to the distribution of pronominal cases in other languages, for example English or Swedish: direct case in the role of the subject and nominal part of the predicate, objective - in the position of the complement, including after prepositions.
Form u used in much the same way as the Russian respectful “you”. Forms sy And hy Usually used only in relation to persons, although there are exceptions: Waar is die train? - Hy is laat"Where is the train? - It's late."
Possessive pronouns generally coincide with the forms of the objective case. The exception is the forms of the 3rd masculine person and inanimate objects, where the form is used sy. Also, possessive (but not personal) julle, hulle allow options jul, hul.
Possessive pronouns also have forms for use in the predicative function and with ellipsis of the main name: cf. hierdie jas is joune. Waar is myne? "This is a coat your. And where my?" These pronouns look like this:
Verb
A sign with inscriptions in Afrikaans, part of the complex at Parle
The Afrikaans verb system is greatly simplified compared to Dutch. Conjugation (change in persons and numbers) has completely disappeared; most verbs have only two forms: the actual verbal and the participle form. There are almost no synthetic forms, their place has been taken by analytical ones, cf.: ek praat Afrikaans"I speak Afrikaans" hulle sal Afrikaans praat"They will speak Afrikaans" u het Afrikaans gepraat"You spoke Afrikaans" ons sou Afrikaans gepraat“We would speak Afrikaans.” The infinitive form is the same as the personal forms; in the sentence the elements are used before it om te(if there is an object with the infinitive, it is placed between om And te): ek hoop om haar weer te sien"I hope ( hoop) her again ( haar) see".
For most non-derivative verbs, the participle form is formed by adding the prefix ge-. In the case of verbs with separable prefixes, this suffix is inserted between the prefix and the root: Ma skep op"Mom is setting the table" Ma het al opgeskep“Mom has already set the table.” For verbs with inseparable prefixes, the participle form does not differ from all other forms: Hy bestuur hierdie firma"He runs this company" Hy het dit altyd bestuur"He always guided her."
The infinitive form, which differs from the finite forms, is preserved in only two verbs; they also retain special participle forms: hê"to have" (personal form het, participle gehad) And wees(personal form is, participle gewees). Slightly more verbs retain special preterite (past tense) forms: the same wees (was), wil"want" ( wou), sal"future tense auxiliary verb" ( sou), moet"should" ( moes), kan"to be able" ( kon). Also rarely used dag(from dink"to think") and wis(from weet"know").
Various aspectual and tense oppositions are expressed in Afrikaans mainly using analytical forms formed with the help of auxiliary verbs het"have", wees"be", sal(And sou) "Future tense", word"passive auxiliary verb":
| Time | Active voice | Passive voice |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ek lees I am reading |
die huis word gebou the house is being built |
| Preterite (perfect) | ek het gelees I read |
die huis is gebou the house was being built |
| Plusquaperfect | die huis was gebou the house was under construction (until a moment in the past) |
|
| Futurum | ek sal lees I will read |
die huis sal gebou word the house will be built |
| Futurum II | ek sal gelees het I will read (at a time in the future) |
die huis sal gebou wees die huis sal gebou geword het the house will be built (by a time in the future) |
| The future is in the past | ek sou lees | die huis sou gebou word |
| Future in the past II | ek sou gelees het | die huis sou gebou wees die huis sou gebou geword het |
| Conditionalis I | ek sou gelees I would read (in the future) |
|
| Conditionalis II | ek sou gelees het I would have read (in the past) |
Syntax
In general, Afrikaans syntax is similar to Dutch syntax and generally has few features that would set it apart from other Germanic languages. As in Dutch or German, the second place in a sentence is occupied by the finite verb form (in the case of the analytical form, its finite part), despite the fact that the first component can be either the subject or another member of the sentence. If the predicate is expressed in an analytical verb form, the participle is placed at the end of the sentence: ek lees "n boek"I am reading a book", ek het "n boek gelees"I read the book." The non-prepositional indirect object comes before the direct object: ek het my broer "n boek gegee"I gave my brother a book"; the prepositional object, on the contrary, is placed after the direct: ek het "n boek vir my broer gegee"Same". Possessive relations are expressed either using a preposition van (die boek van die broer"brother's book"), or using a possessive particle se (die broer se boek"Same"). Particle se(now inconsistent) goes back to a construction with vertex marking of possessiveness using a possessive pronoun: previously there was die broer sy boek, die meisie haar boek(cf. possible in Dutch de broer z'n (zijn) boek, de zuster d'r boek).
Afrikaans is characterized by double negation: the first element can be the actual verb negation nie(comes immediately after the verb) or a negative pronoun ( geen"no one", nêrens"nowhere"), and the second is the element nie which comes at the end: ek heet nie dié boek gelees nie"I haven't read this book" hy het geen boek gelees nie"he didn't read any book."
In the subordinate clause in Afrikaans, as in other Germanic languages, the word order is different from that of the main clause: the subject comes first, and all verb forms come at the end: ek wees dat jou dié boek lees"I know that you are reading this book." If in a subordinate sentence the verb is in the perfect, then in Afrikaans (as in German, but unlike Dutch) the auxiliary verb het comes in last place: ek weet dat jou dié boek gelees het"I know that you have read this book." Moreover, when using forms with sal, sou and modal verbs, the infinitive (as in Dutch, but unlike German) comes after the auxiliary forms: hy het my gesê dat hy môre sou kom"He told me that he would come tomorrow." Widely used as a relative pronoun wat"what", including for persons: die man wat ek ontmoet het is my vriend"the man I met is my friend."
The widespread use of the preposition vir in front of personal direct objects: hy slaan vir Piet"He hits Pete."
In spoken Afrikaans, the use of a non-conjunctional subordinating connection is widespread, in which the word order in the subordinate clause is the same as in the main clause: Karel sê hy sal om tienuur huistoe kom"Karel says (that) he will come home tomorrow at ten o'clock."
Vocabulary
Afrikaans vocabulary reflects the history of the settlement of the Cape Colony: it is basically Dutch, or more precisely Dutch (although there are also lexical doublets, in the Netherlands distributed by dialect, such as, werp And gooi"throw": the first word is common in the south of the Netherlands, the second in the north). There are quite a lot of borrowings from French, but this is mainly international vocabulary ( energy, genius and so on); limited influence of German ( verskaf“to do something,” from German. verschaffen). There are quite a lot of borrowings from the Malay-Portuguese Creole, both of Malay and Portuguese origin: small. baie"so many", piercing"saucer", port. tronk"jail", mielie"corn". There are almost no borrowings from local languages into Afrikaans, and those that exist mainly reflect local realities ( gogga, kamma, kamtig, donga, indaba).
Differences from literary Dutch
In phonetics, the differences between Afrikaans and Dutch come down largely to differences in the dialect basis of Afrikaans and literary Dutch; in a number of cases, Afrikaans “preserves” a norm that is considered outdated in Dutch (for example, open pronunciation e in a word wereld"peace" (in Afrikaans - wêreld)). Among the phonetic differences are the following (some were mentioned earlier):
- Pronunciation of a long nasalized vowel in words like mens;
- Voiceless [f], [s], [x] in place of Dutch spellings v, z, g;
- Dropping of terminals after voiceless spirants: nag"night", plural h. nagte, Wed Netherlands nacht, nachte;
- A fall d And g between vowels: spiel, Netherlands spiegel "mirror";
- Pronunciation sk instead of sch( ) at the beginning of the morpheme: skool"school" instead school, suffix -skap instead of -schap.
- Pronunciation -er([ɛːr]) instead of Dutch -aar (perd"horse", Dutch paard)
In the field of morphology, attention is drawn to the complete collapse of personal inflection, the coincidence of the infinitive and present forms, the regularization of the formation of participles (Dutch participles of strong verbs are preserved only as verbal adjectives: neem"take", ek het "n besluit geneem"I made a decision" n genome besluit"a decision made" (cf. in Dutch ik heb het besluit genomen), disappearance of synthetic
AFRIKAANS(Boer language), a language closely related to Dutch, spoken by Afrikaners living in the Republic of South Africa, or Boers (people of the white race, descendants of Dutch colonists who landed at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century), as well as “colored” people. .e. people of mixed Boer-Negro descent. Afrikaans is one of the two official languages of South Africa (along with English), but it is also understood by many Africans, English-speaking whites and Asians outside South Africa.
The first differences between the Dutch language and the language of the colonists began to be discovered after 1685. At the beginning of the 19th century. the language of the Dutch colonists was called "African-Dutch" or "Cape-Dutch". The first texts in Afrikaans date back to 1795. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. It was believed that the Afrikaans language arose as a result of a mixture of various dialects of the Dutch language of the 17th century, spoken by the first colonists, as well as the influence of Hottentot languages, Creole Malayo-Portuguese and the Dutch language spoken by foreigners in the Cape Province, especially Germans and French people. Currently, on the question of the origin of the Afrikaans language, linguists are inclined to the point of view that the influence of other languages played a secondary role here, and its formation was determined by the own tendencies of the Dutch dialects of the 17th century. to simplify the grammatical system (which is a characteristic feature of the Afrikaans language).
There are significant differences in pronunciation between Dutch and Afrikaans. The consonantism of the Afrikaans language is characterized by the elimination of the final consonant following the fricative (Dutch. kreeft, Afrikaans creef) and loss d, g and other consonants in the position between a stressed and unstressed syllable (Dutch. zadel, African saal). Changes in vocalism: Dutch oo often corresponds to Afrikaans eu (ö ) Dutch a And aa – e(Dutch darm, African derm). Another important difference is that in Afrikaans the vowels are nasalized. The articulation of sounds in Afrikaans is generally the same as in Dutch; the effect of different phonetic appearance arises due to differences in intonation and stress patterns.
The Afrikaans language has greatly simplified its grammatical system. This tendency is characteristic of all Germanic languages, but here it is taken to its logical conclusion. The verb in Afrikaans is not inflected for either person or number. The meaning of time is expressed using auxiliary verbs or adverbs; the number of strong (“irregular”) verbs is small. The past tense is almost always formed by adding a prefix ge-. The morphology of the name in the Afrikaans language is close to the Dutch - in particular, in the formation of plurals. numbers, the use of diminutive suffixes and gender indicators. From the point of view of its morphological structure, Afrikaans is the most analytical of the Germanic languages (and in general of all modern Indo-European languages).
The most significant difference between Afrikaans and Dutch in the area of syntax is the presence of double negation: Hy wil dit nie doen nie(“He doesn’t want to do this”). Other distinctive features are repetition of prepositions and modal adverbs, reduplication and use of prepositions vir before the direct object. There are also discrepancies in word order. Otherwise, the syntax of Afrikaans is similar to Dutch. The Dutch initially experience some difficulties in understanding the Afrikaans language, but usually they overcome them quite quickly and learn to perceive both oral and written speech - which is due to the direct genetic proximity of Afrikaans to Dutch, on the one hand, and the preservation of the Dutch tradition in South Africa - with another.
Despite the obvious close relationship of the Afrikaans language to Dutch, in their lexical composition these two languages differ sharply from each other. Some words that sound like archaisms in modern Dutch are quite common in Afrikaans; modern Dutch developed in cities, while Afrikaans has its roots in rural dialects of the 17th century; some Dutch words acquired new meanings in the Cape Province; In addition, new conditions in a new country required new words. Many such words come from the language of sailors. The lexical composition of the Afrikaans language was also replenished by borrowings from other languages common in South Africa: English, Malay-Portuguese, Hottentot and some African languages. However, the main thing that distinguishes Afrikaans from Dutch is its “African spirit”.
School education and worship in Afrikaans have been carried out since 1914. There are several reasons for this: the initial lack of national identity, the status of Dutch as the language of the church, and the desire of Great Britain to anglicize the Boers. In 1918, the use of Afrikaans in universities was allowed, and in 1925 it was finally recognized as the official language. The heyday of poetry in the Afrikaans language occurred after the publication of a collection of poems by E. Marais in 1904 Winter night. The poetry of such authors as E. Marais, K. Leitpoldt, Totius (J.D. du Toit), J. Celliers, T. van der Heever and others constitute literature that reaches the world level. Poems by “colored” poets S. Petersen, P. Philander, A. Small are devoted to the problems of their ethnic groups and, in particular, their relations with the white population. Afrikaans prose initially had a local significance, but the renewal movement of the 1960s, led by E. Lerub, C. Barnard, A. Brink and D. Schoeman, contributed to its entry into the international arena.
AFRIKAANS(Boer language), a language closely related to Dutch, spoken by Afrikaners living in the Republic of South Africa, or Boers (people of the white race, descendants of Dutch colonists who landed at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century), as well as “colored” people. .e. people of mixed Boer-Negro descent. Afrikaans is one of the two official languages of South Africa (along with English), but it is also understood by many Africans, English-speaking whites and Asians outside South Africa.
The first differences between the Dutch language and the language of the colonists began to be discovered after 1685. At the beginning of the 19th century. the language of the Dutch colonists was called "African-Dutch" or "Cape-Dutch". The first texts in Afrikaans date back to 1795. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. It was believed that the Afrikaans language arose as a result of a mixture of various dialects of the Dutch language of the 17th century, spoken by the first colonists, as well as the influence of Hottentot languages, Creole Malayo-Portuguese and the Dutch language spoken by foreigners in the Cape Province, especially Germans and French people. Currently, on the question of the origin of the Afrikaans language, linguists are inclined to the point of view that the influence of other languages played a secondary role here, and its formation was determined by the own tendencies of the Dutch dialects of the 17th century. to simplify the grammatical system (which is a characteristic feature of the Afrikaans language).
There are significant differences in pronunciation between Dutch and Afrikaans. The consonantism of the Afrikaans language is characterized by the elimination of the final consonant following the fricative (Dutch. kreeft, Afrikaans creef) and loss d, g and other consonants in the position between a stressed and unstressed syllable (Dutch. zadel, African saal). Changes in vocalism: Dutch oo often corresponds to Afrikaans eu (ö ) Dutch a And aa – e(Dutch darm, African derm). Another important difference is that in Afrikaans the vowels are nasalized. The articulation of sounds in Afrikaans is generally the same as in Dutch; the effect of different phonetic appearance arises due to differences in intonation and stress patterns.
The Afrikaans language has greatly simplified its grammatical system. This tendency is characteristic of all Germanic languages, but here it is taken to its logical conclusion. The verb in Afrikaans is not inflected for either person or number. The meaning of time is expressed using auxiliary verbs or adverbs; the number of strong (“irregular”) verbs is small. The past tense is almost always formed by adding a prefix ge-. The morphology of the name in the Afrikaans language is close to the Dutch - in particular, in the formation of plurals. numbers, the use of diminutive suffixes and gender indicators. From the point of view of its morphological structure, Afrikaans is the most analytical of the Germanic languages (and in general of all modern Indo-European languages).
The most significant difference between Afrikaans and Dutch in the area of syntax is the presence of double negation: Hy wil dit nie doen nie(“He doesn’t want to do this”). Other distinctive features are repetition of prepositions and modal adverbs, reduplication and use of prepositions vir before the direct object. There are also discrepancies in word order. Otherwise, the syntax of Afrikaans is similar to Dutch. The Dutch initially experience some difficulties in understanding the Afrikaans language, but usually they overcome them quite quickly and learn to perceive both oral and written speech - which is due to the direct genetic proximity of Afrikaans to Dutch, on the one hand, and the preservation of the Dutch tradition in South Africa - with another.
Despite the obvious close relationship of the Afrikaans language to Dutch, in their lexical composition these two languages differ sharply from each other. Some words that sound like archaisms in modern Dutch are quite common in Afrikaans; modern Dutch developed in cities, while Afrikaans has its roots in rural dialects of the 17th century; some Dutch words acquired new meanings in the Cape Province; In addition, new conditions in a new country required new words. Many such words come from the language of sailors. The lexical composition of the Afrikaans language was also replenished by borrowings from other languages common in South Africa: English, Malay-Portuguese, Hottentot and some African languages. However, the main thing that distinguishes Afrikaans from Dutch is its “African spirit”.
School education and worship in Afrikaans have been carried out since 1914. There are several reasons for this: the initial lack of national identity, the status of Dutch as the language of the church, and the desire of Great Britain to anglicize the Boers. In 1918, the use of Afrikaans in universities was allowed, and in 1925 it was finally recognized as the official language. The heyday of poetry in the Afrikaans language occurred after the publication of a collection of poems by E. Marais in 1904 Winter night. The poetry of such authors as E. Marais, K. Leitpoldt, Totius (J.D. du Toit), J. Celliers, T. van der Heever and others constitute literature that reaches the world level. Poems by “colored” poets S. Petersen, P. Philander, A. Small are devoted to the problems of their ethnic groups and, in particular, their relations with the white population. Afrikaans prose initially had a local significance, but the renewal movement of the 1960s, led by E. Lerub, C. Barnard, A. Brink and D. Schoeman, contributed to its entry into the international arena.
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Meaning of the word Afrikaans
Afrikaans in the crossword dictionary
Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998
Afrikaans
AFRIKAANS (Boer language) is the language of the Afrikaners (Boers), belongs to the Indo-European family of languages (Germanic group). One of the two official languages of South Africa. It arose through the process of integration and mixing of Dutch dialects with German and English, as well as with some local languages. Writing based on the Latin alphabet.
Afrikaans
Boer language, one of the official languages (along with English) of the Republic of South Africa; belongs to the group of West Germanic languages. It is spoken by St. 3.5 million people (1967). A. is distributed over a large territory of South Africa, but mainly in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. A. arose in the 17th century. in the process of integration and mixing of various Dutch (mainly Dutch) dialects with closely related languages (German and English), as well as with the languages of the local indigenous population (Hottentot, Bushman, Bantu) and the Creole Malay-Portuguese language of sailors, traders and slaves. The specific features of A. developed by the end of the 17th century. still in the Cape Province. A characteristic feature is the absence of territorial dialects. During the 18th and 1st half of the 19th centuries. A. functioned only as an oral spoken language. The first attempt to consolidate a written norm was made in 1875 by the Society of True Afrikaners. Written monuments on A. appeared only in the 70s. 19th century With the formation of the South African Republic (1910), Arabic did not yet become the official language of the country and only in 1925 was it established as the state language of the South African Republic.
The phonetic system of Armenia is close to the Dutch one. Characteristic features are nasalization of vowels in certain positions and deafening of voiced fricative consonants at the beginning of a word. Spelling is constructed primarily on a phonetic basis. The vocabulary retains its Dutch basis; borrowings from local African languages are insignificant. A. is an analytical language and is characterized by weak morphological formation. The intensive process of inflection decay leads to the complete destruction of the noun declension system and the verb conjugation system (loss of personal endings). To express syntactic relations, function words (prepositions and auxiliary verbs appearing in a frozen form) and the technique of adjacency are used, and therefore the order of words in a sentence and phrase acquires grammatical meaning.
Lit.: Mironov S. A., Afrikaans Language, M., 1969; Botha M. S., Burger J. F., Maskew Miller se Afrikaanse grammatika, 5 druk, Kaapstad, 1923; Bouman A. C. en Pienaar E. C., Afrikaanse spraakkuns, Stellenbosch; 1924; Kloeke G. G., Herkornst en groei van het Africanans, Leiden, 1950; Villiers M. d e, Afrikaanse Klankleer, Kaapstad ≈ Amsterdam, 1958; Bosman D. B., Merwe J. W. van den, Tweetalige woordeboek, Afrikaans-Engels, Engels-Afrikaans, Kaapstad, 1962.
S. A. Mironov.
Wikipedia
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (Afrikaans, was previously also known as Afrikaans) - German language(until the beginning of the 20th century dialect Dutch), one of the 11 official languages of the Republic of South Africa, is also spoken in Namibia. In addition, small communities of Afrikaans speakers live in other countries of Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia. Many Afrikaans-speaking emigrants from South Africa settled in Great Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Examples of the use of the word Afrikaans in literature.
But knowing Afrikaans, I understood some words in German, the aliens spoke a different language.
She said something to Afrikaans into the telephone receiver, they were immediately brought into the office of Mr. Benson - a friendly and ruddy man in a beige suit.
Viljoen, who spoke to him in Afrikaans, covered the receiver with his hand and whispered: “He says he was in Stalag 344.”
Therefore, at home, English and Dutch take turns, at school - intersystem, and also Portuguese, Tagalog, Bengali, Swedish, Afrikaans, Finnish.
Zell on Afrikaans to his comrade, who was frantically rummaging in his pockets, looking for a syringe with a drug.
Kuyper on Afrikaans, when the area where tape B ended appeared on the right screen.
I understood a little Afrikaans and, listening to their conversation, I realized that the bushman introduced himself to the girl as a resident of Johannesburg.
The Coates family did not forbid themselves to speak Afrikaans and would start a conversation bubbling in her throat with those she met, and Daphne would calm down, understanding only fragments of it.
