LL-L "Afrikaans" 2004.04.13 (06) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 13.APR.2004 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: marco [evenhuiscommunicatie] <marco at evenhuiscommunicatie.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Afrikaans" 2004.04.13 (02) [E]

Uilleam wrote:

> Today on NPR I heard a story about South African elections and it got me
to
> thinking about Afrikaans and the Afrikaaners. How are Afrikaaners treated
in
> present-day, post-Apartheid South Africa? Are they looked down upon by the
> majority for being European-descended and white skinned? How is the
language
> treated? I believe I saw a picture of a large classroom of Afrikaaner
youth
> learning Afrikaans in this month's National Geographic, so I don't think
the
> language is languishing among the Boers; but is its usage widespread?
> So, basically, what's the situation with Afrikaaners and their language in
> South Africa today?

I think there are enough Afrikaans-speaking people on this list to answer
this question better than me, but a few comments by someone who spend quite
some time in SA:

1. there are still more first language speakers of Afrikaans in SA than of
English (appr. 16% vs 9% of the population - Afrikaans is the 3rd language
of SA -after Zulu & Xhosa- English only the 6th);
2. there are roughly just as mucht coloured people speaking Afrikaans as
there are white people;
3. although it's only a fraction of the total of black people in SA, over
80,000 use Afrikaans as their home language against only 50,000 who use
English;
4. I believe that only a part of white people who speak Afrikaans consider
themselves Afrikaner or Boer;
5. Afrikaans is still widely used as a contact language between (white,
coloured and black) speakers of other languages, including a lot of African
languages, although it is in this language domain where English is getting
more and more important;
6. English is the trade-language of SA and it's also more and more becoming
the language of radio, tv and politics, but Afrikaans plays a very important
role in printed media, litterature and leisure;
7. As for the way people look at European descended South Africans: I think
that is impossible to answer that question because that depends on the
social & cultural situation & history of the area, the local economical
situation, etc., and even more on the individual.

Again: I think there are enough South-Africans on the list who can answer
your question better than me.

Regards,

Marco Evenhuis

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