From the Dutch for “African”.Īfrikaner (noun) – Afrikaans-speaking South African. Afrikaans was considered a dialect of Dutch – known as “Cape Dutch” – until recognised as a language in the late 19th century. The name was coined by University of KwaZulu-Natal Africanis expert Johan Gallant, from “Africa” and “canis”, the Latin for dog.Īfrikaans (noun) – South African language, developed out of the Dutch spoken in the country since the first Dutch East India Company settlement in the Cape, established in 1652. Known for its intelligence, disease-resistance and excellent adaptation to harsh African conditions, the breed evolved in association with humans, instead of being artificially bred in the manner of European breeds. From the Khoisan.Īccrual (noun) – South African legal principle whereby a person going through a divorce may, if the value of their property has increased less than that of their spouse, claim at half of the difference in the accumulated value of their joint property.Īfricanis (noun) – Indigenous breed of African dog, thought to be distantly related to other landrace dogs such as the dingo. Ībba (verb) – Carry a child secured to one’s back with a blanket. From the isiXhosa umkwetha, plural abakwetha. ( Spencer Wright / CC BY 2.0)Ībakwetha (noun, plural) – Young Xhosa men being initiated into manhood at initiation school. This glossary explains some of the words often used when English is spoken in South Africa.Īn aardwolf in the Hamerton Zoo in the UK. It’s estimated that half of South Africa’s people have a speaking knowledge of the language. Later immigrants – Greeks, Lebanese, Eastern European Jews and others – added new words to local English.Īccording to the 2011 census, English is the home language of 9.6% of South Africans – a third of them not white.Įnglish is the language of public life: government, business and the media. Here and there are words imported from British, Portuguese and Dutch colonies, such as India, Mozambique, Malaysia and Indonesia. South African English also borrows from African languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho and Setswana, and the indigenous languages of the Khoesan and Nama people. These influences include Afrikaans, a South African language that grew out of a variety of Dutch spoken in the 1500s. Since then South Africa’s everyday English has gradually absorbed many words from African languages. By Mary Alexander on 2 September 2021 Mixed with over a dozen African languages for over two centuries, spiced by imports from British, Dutch and Portuguese colonies, South African English has its own rich, varied and sometimes weird flavour.Įnglish has been spoken in South Africa for over 200 years, at least since the British military seized the Cape of Good Hope settlement from the Dutch in 1795 to keep the Cape out of the hands of revolutionary France, then a Dutch ally.
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