General Infromation
South Africa is located on the southern tip of the African continent.
It has a population of around 44 million, and has 11 offical lanuages. They are:
*Afrikaans
*English
*IsiNdebele
*IsiXhosa
*IsiZulu
*Northern Sotho
*Sesotho
*Setswana
*SiSwati
*Tshivenda
*Xitsonga
This graph shows what percentage of the population speak which language.
This is a map of what regions that each language is most commonly spoken.
Around 3,457,467 people use English as their home language in South Africa. It is predominatly spoken in the regions around East London and Port Elizabeth. This region is called the Eastern Cape. This is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. However, the cities of East London and Port Elizabeth have well developed economies because of the booming automotive industries.
"South African English has always existed in a complex multilingual and multi-cultural environment. Since 1994 English has been one of eleven official languages, and mother-tongue English-speakers number just three and a half million in a population of over forty million people – under 9%. So the position of SAE is markedly different from that in multi-lingual but predominantly English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. There is the potential for influence by many more languages than in other English-speaking communities, and these languages have widely divergent origins and structures. From the beginning English was in "extensive and intimate" contact with another language, Afrikaans, a descendant of Dutch which was influenced by Malayo-Javanese and Khoi languages. The South African Bantu languages are divided into two major groups, Nguni in the east (Zulu, Xhosa, Siswati, Ndebele) and Sotho in the central and northern areas (Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi). Two far-northern languages, Xitsonga and Tshivenda, are unrelated to the Nguni and Sotho groups. Among the languages not recognized as official are the vanishing Indian languages, particularly Gujarati and Hindi, formerly influential in the province of Kwazulu-Natal; community languages like Portuguese, German, and Greek; and religious languages such as Arabic and Hebrew."
"While English-speakers are certainly out-numbered, they are at the same time a larger, more permanent, and more influential body of mother-tongue speakers in South Africa than is the case, for instance, in India, Nigeria, or Kenya. There is in other words a greater ‘standard’ mother-tongue English presence in South Africa than in some countries which have opted for English as the language of communication."
English Speakers
Blacks 5.5 million
Coloureds 0.5 million
Afrikaans 1.7 million
British 2 million
Indian 0.3 million
Language & Social Class
Afrikaans Upper 30.6% Middle 41.9% Lower 28.3%
English Upper 42.9% Middle 39.9% Lower 17.2%
History
"The History of the English language in South Africa can be traced back to the first British occupation in 1795. English was considered to be the civilized language and the upper classes, even those from the Dutch stock used it in their everyday life. A number of British settlers also came to the Cape in 1820. The early South African academics who did not study in The Netherlands, studied in England (Oxford or Cambridge). During the early occupation days, especially after the second occupation when British rule became more permanent, the language of the government, schools, legal system and business was English."
The following is a timeline of the arrival of languages in South Africa.
History
Dutch Arrived 1652
British Arrived 1795
English official lg. 1806
British settlement I 1820
British settlement II 1848-1862
British settlement III 1860-1904
Official Bilingualism 1910
Equal Official Language 1994
Pronunciation
South African English spoken by whites bears some resemblances in pronunciation to British English. Afrikaans has heavily influenced only those living in Afrikaans areas.
The most noticeable difference in Afrikaans pronunciation is probably the flat "i". This is a part of the vowel shift that has occurred in South Africa as well as New Zealand. However, the population possessing English as their mother tongue pronounce words in much the same way as the British upper class.
One difference between British South African English and New Zealand English is in the pronunciation of 'ar' and 'ow', as in the pronunciation of the sentence 'park the car downtown'.
South African English Consonants
• non-rhotic
no linking r's
• clear /l/
• unaspirated stops
• intervocalic flapping (less than NAm)
• /tj/ & /dj/ in 'tune, dune'
South African Vowels
• /a/ in 'dance'
• very low back vowel (:
• /I/ centralisation not
o before/after velars
o word initally
o after /h/
o before / s, z/
• diphthong weakening
South African Vowel Shift
bit bet bat
Grammatical Features
• Invariant Tag ----'is it?'
• Object Deletion -----'Have you got?'
• Infinitives -------'is capable to withstand heat'
• No-------- 'How are you?'
'No. I'm fine thanks'.
• Reduplication------'now-now'
• Associative Plural--------'Mary and them'
• Cover preposition 'by'
• 'I'm busy relaxing'
The following links will redirect you to a page that will demonstrate the South African English accent and it also gives a great example of the dialect.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/accent.htm
List of lexical differences in South African English
This is a list of words used in mainstream South African English but not usually found in other other dialects of the English language. (For a list of slang words unique to South Africa see List of South African slang words.)
bakkie - a utility truck, pick-up truck
cubby hole - car glove compartment
dagga - marijuana
flat - as in Britain this is used for an apartment
garden boy - a black male gardener (of any age) (derogatory, although commonly used by older white South Africans without meaning to be)
koki, koki pen, a fibre tip coloured art pen (from a local brand name)
samoosa - Indian samosa
shebeen - illegal drinking establishment (also used in Scotland)
toasted cheese - a grilled cheese sandwich, in contrast cheese on toast refers to unmelted cheese on toasted bread.
torch - used for a modern battery operated flashlight as well as a traditional torch
township - large residential suburb lacking city infrastructure, in particular the areas allocated to non-white South Africans under apartheid
veld - wide open rural spaces
List of South African slang words
Afrikanerisms
These are slang borrowings influenced by Afrikaans. They are typically used by people whose first language is Afrikaans but who speak English as a second language and by people living in areas where both English and Afrikaans are spoken. Unless otherwise noted, these terms are not used in formal South African English.
Afkop - Unattracive female, commonly used in cape flats area.
ag man - oh man, the ag is the Afrikaans cognate of oh while the man is pronounced as the English word
applesammy - ???
baas - boss
babbelas - hangover (originally from Zulu)
bossies - crazy, whacko, mad
Bantuisms
These are slang borrowings from the Bantu languages. They are typically used in South Africa's townships but some have become increasingly popular amongst white youth. Unless otherwise noted these words are not used in formal South African English.
jova - injection, to inject (from Zulu)
laduma! - popular cheer at soccer matches, 'he scores!' (lit. 'it thunders' in Zulu)
lekgotla - planning session, or strategy (used mostly in official government papers, but even if the papers are in English)
muti - medicine (from Zulu umuthi), typically traditional African
yebo - yes
Original South African English coinages
bra - male friend (shortening of brother, see also bru above)
cozzie - a swimsuit, short for swimming costume
sarmie - a sandwich
Slang originating from other Commonwealth countries
These are slang words used in South African that originated in other parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and subsequently brought to South Africa.
buck - refers to the main unit of currency, in South Africa this being the rand
china - friend, mate (from Cockney rhyming slang china plate = mate) Long discusion on the origin of China and use in the Monday 25 September Guardian (London, UK) ombudsman column Open door Guardian Open Door
chow - to eat
dinkum - genuine, honest, true, as an interjection "really?" (from Australian English)
Slang terms originating from ethnic minorities
South African Greek slang
skollie - a gangster, to steal (from Greek skolios crooked), widely used in Cape Town, originally applied by Greek convenience store owners to street youth who shoplifted.
South African Indian slang
Many of these terms are used in the Durban area, and few in Indian areas in Gauteng.
Laanie - From the afrikaans word meaning fancy, but used by Indian people to mean 'smart guy' (Smart as in 'well to do'), or to refer to White people in general, and English speaking whites in particular.
Jaaver - An Afrikaner person.
Onetime - Meaning 'of course', with out delay, often used as a positive reply to a question.
South African Jewish slang
chattis, plural chatteisim - more or less equivalent to white trash (Yiddish: a sinner) referring particularly to poor white Afrikaans speaking communities with endemic social problems, sometimes used as an ethnic slur against Afrikaners in general
kugel - an overly groomed materialistic young woman (from Yiddish for a plain pudding garnished as a delicacy, originally a very derogatory term used by older generation Jews for Jewish women who aspired to be part of the privileged English speaking white community, now used more in jest), bagel is used by some for the male counterpart of a kugel.
schwarzer, a black African (Yiddish translation of "Black")
shiksa, as in other Jewish communities refers to a non-Jewish girl but in South Africa it has the additional meaning of a female domestic worker
weisser, a Caucasian (Yiddish translation of "White")
South African Lebanese slang
gee - a tinted-windows, lots of jewellery kinda guy (pronounced like 'gay' but with a guttural g, like the ch in loch)
The following link is to the website where I found all of this "vocabulary".
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-south-african-slang-words
Literature
South Africa has had a rich history of literary output. Until relatively recently, realism dominated the production of fiction in South Africa - perhaps authors felt an overriding concern to capture the country's turbulent history and the experiences of its people.
Fiction has been written in all of South Africa's 11 official languages - with a large body of work in Afrikaans, in particular - but this overview focuses primarily on English fiction, though it also touches on major poetic developments.
The first fictional works to emerge from South Africa were produced by immigrants who often felt alienated from the South African landscape - at the same time as they were fascinated by its often harsh beauty. These colonial writers were unsettled and intrigued by what they perceived to be exotic elements of indigenous cultures.
"Their attitude to indigenous South Africans was, at best, ambivalent, if not outright hostile. This is especially true of the writers of adventure-type stories, in which colonial heroes are romanticised and the role of black South Africans was reduced to that of enemy or servant."
"One such writer was Rider Haggard, who wrote many mythical and adventure stories, beginning in the early 1880s. His most famous book is King Solomon's Mines (1886), a bestseller in its day (and filmed several times up to the 1980s). Like subsequent novels such as Allan Quartermain and She (both 1887), its central character is the hunter Allan Quartermain, Haggard's ideal of the colonial gentleman."
"These novels follow his various adventures in the "darkest Africa" of the European imagination, fixated on mysterious white queens and hidden treasures in ancient cities (built, of course, by someone other than black people). The point of view is that of the heroic Englishman, and indigenous peoples are portrayed either as dangerous savages or given the role of the faithful servant, (Quartermain's Zulu retainer eventually gives his life for his master)."
Although Haggard wrote many other adventures and fantasies, it is his highly coloured African works that are still read today.
The following link is to website that lists 25 classic South African Books.
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/culture/bestbooks.htm
Bibilography
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/culture/literature.htm
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/language.htm
http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/online/index.cfm?P=6431
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-lexical-differences-in-south-african-english
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-south-african-slang-words
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa
http://www.answers.com/topic/languages-of-south-africa
This Wiki was created by Ashley Fain, Sonja Patin, Candace Miracle, and Amanda Collingsworth for their History of the English Language class at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennesee.
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