The Construction of a Homogeneous Standard Afrikaans

Abstract

This contribution deals with the standardisation of Afrikaans, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. After a description of how a language derived from Dutch originated at the southernmost point of Africa, it is emphasised how this standardisation process, which reached its peak in the last quarter of the 19th century, focused exclusively on white Afrikaans varieties. Even non-white varieties that already had a tradition of printed texts, such as Arabic-Afrikaans or Genadendaal-Afrikaans, did not play any role in this standardisation process. This brief overview of the history of Afrikaans shows how the choice and construction of standard Afrikaans is of a political nature.