The history of Afrikaans is a curious one. It’s spoken by millions across South Africa, but has developed in isolation from other African languages that have been spoken for centuries. Its origins are unclear, its speakers are divided over who exactly should be credited with creating it, and its status as a mother tongue has been contested throughout its existence. Strangely enough though, this is what makes the language so fascinating—and why we should start taking notice of it again today. By understanding how Afrikaans came to be born out of struggle and oppression we can begin to understand how language itself shapes identity; how it evolves through conflict rather than peaceful co-existence; and why we need more people like Delport Hermanus on our side…
Speaking Afrikaans in apartheid South Africa meant an association with the country’s racist Afrikaner rulers. But in the process, valuable histories of how the language developed were lost.
Speaking Afrikaans in apartheid South Africa meant an association with the country’s racist Afrikaner rulers. But in the process, valuable histories of how the language developed were lost.
Afrikaans was a language of protest, resistance and liberation from its very beginnings. The Dutch settlers who arrived on these shores as part of Jan van Riebeeck's expeditionary party in 1652 were not given permission by their own government to settle here; rather they were encouraged to establish themselves by local Khoekhoen people who hoped that contact would bring an end to conflict between them and other neighbouring groups such as the Xhosa and Zulu peoples. As a result, when the British took control over what is now known as South Africa in 1806, these two groups became known collectively as "Boers". In order to protect their interests against British rule—which saw them losing both land and political power—these Boers developed a culture which revolved around farming (read: apartheid) while rejecting English culture altogether; this included adopting their own language called "Afrikaans".
The earliest written texts in Afrikaans date back to 1857, when two school books were published. In 1875 newspapers started publishing articles in the language and a dictionary was published 10 years later.
Afrikaans is a creole language, which means it evolved from a mixture of local languages and European languages introduced by colonizers. This means that Afrikaans has more African than European roots.
"It is one of the few languages in the world where Arabic script can be found," says Han van der Horst, professor of African linguistics at VU University Amsterdam. "It's interesting to see how many words we have that are related to Arabic."
In fact, one out of every ten people in South Africa speaks some form of Afrikaans—and they're mostly black. In other words: while many people think the language was imposed on black South Africans by white colonialists during apartheid times (1948-1994), it turns out that it was actually used as an everyday spoken language long before then; and despite its name meaning "African" or "of Africa," modern-day speakers tend to be anything but!
It's a misconception that it was invented by white people. The language is more black than white, says Delport Hermanus, emeritus professor at Stellenbosch University.
It's a misconception that Afrikaans was invented by white people. The language is more black than white, says Delport Hermanus, emeritus professor at Stellenbosch University. In fact, he says, "Afrikaners themselves didn't coin the word – the first person to call it 'Afrikaans' was a black Xhosa man."
In his book "Die Geskiedenis van Ons Taal" (The History of Our Language), published in 2012 by Tafelberg Uitgewers (now known as Human & Rousseau), Delport explains that Afrikaans is a creole language with influences from several languages including Dutch and Malayo-Polynesian languages such as Javanese and Indonesian. Because of this mix of influences it has been called various names over time: Cape Dutch; Cape Colony Dutch; Afrikanders; Boere-Afrikanders or Boers for short – which means farmers in English but was used as an insulting term by white English settlers who wanted to separate themselves from the "Boer" culture they thought was uncivilised or backward
Conclusion
It might seem odd to think about a language as black, but in many ways, Afrikaans is more black than white. The majority of the words used in everyday speech come from Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken by slaves who were brought to South Africa from Indonesia and Malaysia during the Dutch colonial era. These words have been incorporated into modern Afrikaans, along with some Dutch terms that were already present when the two languages merged in 1652.
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https://theconversation.com/more-than-an-oppressors-language-reclaiming-the-hidden-history-of-afrikaans-71838
https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/45/willemse_mistra-20151105-2_2.zp80127.pdf