Back Afrikaans Afrikaans Afrikaans ALS አፍሪካንስ Amharic Idioma afrikaans AN Affricanisc sprǣc ANG अफ्रीकी भाषा ANP اللغة الأفريقانية Arabic ܠܫܢܐ ܐܦܪܝܩܐܢܝܐ ARC لغه افريكانس ARZ Afrikaans AST

Afrikaans

For white Afrikaans speakers, see Afrikaners.
Not to be confused with Africans.

Afrikaans
Pronunciation[afriˈkɑːns]
Native to
  • South Africa
  • Namibia
RegionSouthern Africa
EthnicityBoers
Afrikaners
Coloureds
Native speakers
7.2 million (2016)
10.3 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2011)[1]
Early forms
Dialects
Latin script (Afrikaans alphabet), Arabic script
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
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Colin speaking Afrikaans
Alaric speaking Afrikaans
Rossouw speaking Afrikaans

Afrikaans (/ˌæfrɪˈkɑːns/ AF-rih-KAHNSS, /ˌɑːf-, -ˈkɑːnz/ AHF-, -⁠KAHNZ)[3][4] is a West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular[5][6] of South Holland (Hollandic dialect)[7][8] 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.[9]

Obelisks of the Afrikaans Language Monument near Paarl

Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including German and the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary of Afrikaans is of Dutch origin.[n 1] Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings.[n 2] There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form.[10]

  1. ^ Afrikaans at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Aarons & Reynolds, "South African Sign Language" in Monaghan (ed.), Many Ways to be Deaf: International Variation in Deaf Communities (2003).
  3. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  4. ^ Roach, Peter (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2.
  5. ^ K. Pithouse, C. Mitchell, R. Moletsane, Making Connections: Self-Study & Social Action, p.91
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Herkomst en groei van het Afrikaans – G.G. Kloeke (1950)
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Abel Coetzee (1948). Standaard Afrikaans (PDF). Afrikaner Pers.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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