Afrikaans

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Afrikaans

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Afrikaans , member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages ). Although its classification is still disputed, it is generally considered an independent language rather than a dialect or variant of Dutch (see Dutch language ). Afrikaans is spoken by close to 8 million people in the Republic of South Africa, where it is an official language, and by about 1.5 million people in Namibia, where it is the common language of most of the population. At least half of its native speakers in South Africa are not white. It arose from the Dutch spoken by the Boers, who emigrated from the Netherlands to South Africa in the 17th cent., but in its written form it dates only from 1861. The grammar has been considerably simplified. Its vocabulary is essentially similar to that of Dutch; Afrikaans has absorbed quite a few words from the Khoisan languages, Bantu (such as words designating local flora and fauna), and English.

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Afrikaans

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Afrikaans One of 11 official languages of the Republic of South Africa. Derived from the language spoken by the original Dutch settlers of the 17th century, it quickly evolved its own forms to become a distinct language. Afrikaans is regarded as a cultural focal point by South Africans of Dutch origin. It is the everyday means of communication for some three million speakers of European, African, and mixed descent.

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AFRIKAANS

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | | © Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press 1998. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

AFRIKAANS. A LANGUAGE related to DUTCH, the mother tongue of about 6m people in Southern Africa and a second language for millions of South Africans and Namibians. It is the source of many hundreds of loanwords in SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH, including such internationally known words as apartheid, boer, laager, trek, veld, and has in turn borrowed extensively from English.

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TOM McARTHUR. "AFRIKAANS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "AFRIKAANS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (November 26, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-AFRIKAANS.html

TOM McARTHUR. "AFRIKAANS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved November 26, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-AFRIKAANS.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Hear the word of God in Afrikaans.
Newspaper article from: Matlock Mercury (Matlock, England); 8/9/2006
Free Article The time of the trickster: identity in selected contemporary Afrikaans prose texts/Die tyd van die triekster: identiteit in enkele hedendaagse Afrikaanse prosatekste.(Essay)
Magazine article from: Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, comparative linguistics and literary studies; 12/1/2008
Free Article Antjie Krog's role as translator: a case study of strategic positioning in the current South African literary poly-system.
Magazine article from: Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa; 7/1/2007

Facts and information from other sites

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Afrikaans struggles to shake off the taint of apartheid
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 12/22/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...journalist at Radio Pretoria, a private Afrikaans station which still flies the old South...pour out Nationalist propaganda in Afrikaans, is now slowly strangling his mother tongue, he says. When Afrikaans-speakers dominated South Africa...
Afrikaans as voertaal en wetenskapstaal aan Suid-Afrikaanse universiteite.('n Vaste plek vir Afrikaans: taaluitdagings op kampus)(Book review)
Magazine article from: Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, comparative linguistics and literary studies; 12/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...Schlemmer, L. 2006. 'n Vaste plek vir Afrikaans: taaluitdagings op kampus. Stellenbosch...in die hand te werk nie. Die lot van Afrikaans aan histories Afrikaanse universiteite...grootliks oorheers. 'n Vaste plek vir Afrikaans: taaluitdagings op kampus verskyn in...
Afrikaans-only paper raises ire; Policy criticised at Stellenbosch.(News)
Newspaper article from: Cape Argus (South Africa); 10/23/2007; 700+ words ; ...Until late yesterday afternoon only an Afrikaans version of the draft document, released...that the document was released first in Afrikaans. She said the institution's lack of...dissenting voices who don't read academic Afrikaans . She added that many of those waiting...
Afrikaans ads are plesierig; Fresh campaigns 'some of the best in 14 years'.(News)
Newspaper article from: The Saturday Star (South Africa); 9/27/2008; 700+ words ; ...enough reason to celebrate when the best Afrikaans advertising recently strutted its stuff...creative excellence has blown through the Afrikaans advertising landscape, Jacobs enthused...environment increasingly dominated by English, Afrikaans-speaking creatives not only have to...
FW takes up cudgels for Afrikaans.(News)
Newspaper article from: Pretoria News (South Africa); 2/24/2007; 505 words ; BYLINE: Cornelia du Plooy Afrikaans is a language of liberation, not...Klerk, who spoke about the role of Afrikaans in a multi-cultural South Africa...summit of the Nasionale Forum vir Afrikaans. The real question is: where should...
Displacement in the literary texts of black Afrikaans writers in South Africa.
Magazine article from: Journal of Literary Studies; 6/1/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...displacements in literary texts by black Afrikaans writers. These representations can be...On the one hand the relatively young Afrikaans literature tells of the way in which...and mythologising; on the other hand Afrikaans literature also represents the various...
School tries to keep Afrikaans-only status.(FEATURES)(LEARNING)
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor; 7/12/2005; 700+ words ; ...straightforward reason for forcing the Afrikaans-language Mikro Primary School to enroll...for them elsewhere. But to the white, Afrikaans-speaking parents and officials at Mikro...11 national languages - in this case, Afrikaans - can be forced to accommodate speakers...
Arabic-Afrikaans literature at the Cape.
Magazine article from: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde; 9/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; Arabic-Afrikaans Literature at the Cape Tuan Guru...literature which came to be known as Arabic-Afrikaans, comments on manuscripts that were...the daunting challenge of transcribing Afrikaans phonetically in the Arabic script...
The ABCs of post-apartheid South Africa: 25 years ago, forced use of Afrikaans in black township schools sparked unrest. Now the language struggles.(World)
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor; 6/18/2001; 700+ words ; ...the National Party ruled, new private Afrikaans-language schools like the two-year...catering to a growing group of well-off Afrikaans families concerned about the decline...government efforts to force the use of Afrikaans, the language of white Dutch settlers...
Medea praat Afrikaans (1).(Medea speaks Afrikaans)
Magazine article from: Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, comparative linguistics and literary studies; 11/1/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...is daar al verskeie Medea-dramas in Afrikaans opgevoer. Hierdie artikel ondersoek...deur Antjie Krog. Abstract Medea speaks Afrikaans Euripides' "Medea" is one of the Greek...languages and countries. Although no Afrikaans translation of this tragedy has been...
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Afrikaans. Other (Public Domain)

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