Afrikaans and isiZulu linguistic experts weigh in on Mother Language Day

AS International Mother Language Day was commemorated this week, the Berea Mail chatted to lecturers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal to find out more about how mother tongue speakers and second language speakers differ.

Linguistics lecturer, and mother-tongue isiZulu speaker, Muhle Sibisi specialises in sociolinguistics, which considers the connection between language and society.

She noted that while isiZulu is an indigenous languages of South Africa, it was only declared an official language in 1996.

“isiZulu belongs to the Bantu family of languages which is a part of the Niger-Congo phylum of languages. English and Afrikaans are Germanic languages which is a part of the Indo-European phylum of languages. However, due to Dutch settlement in Southern Africa and afterwards the colonisation of South Africa by the British Empire; English and Afrikaans are official languages in South Africa. IsiZulu along, with eight other indigenous languages, were declared official languages in 1996 with the adoption of the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996),”said Sibisi.

Also read: Linguists share language insights for International Mother Language Day

Whilea large percentage of the KZN population speaks isiZulu, English and Afrikaans are used more frequently in formal domains.

“IsiZulu is a widely-spoken language in informal domains throughout South Africa compared to English and Afrikaans. English and, to a lesser extent, Afrikaans, are functional languages for the majority of the population of South Africa. That is, these two languages are used in formal domains such as education, justice, health and economy,” said Sibisi.

While Indo-European languages and Bantu languages derive from opposite ends of the globe, Sibisi notes that there are some similarities in grammar.

“Both English and isiZulu are subject-verb-object (SVO) languages,” she said. Sibisi shared this example: ‘Ngikhuluma isiZulu’ is an isiZulu phrase where Ngi (I) is the subject-marker; khuluma (talk) is the verb; isiZulu is the object. The isiZulu sentence is structured in a similar manner a the English sentence, ‘I (subject) speak (verb) isiZulu (object)’.

Afrikaans, a language if many influences

UKZN Linguistics lecturer nnd mother-tongue Afrikaans speaker, Loraine Prinsloo-Marcus (PhD) said Afrikaans has been influenced by numerous other languages such as Dutch, German, English, French, Portuguese, San, Khoi, Xhosa, Zulu and Asian Malay.

“Although Afrikaans is mainly spoken and studied in South Africa, it is spoken abroad by many ex-pats, especially those living in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. Afrikaans has also been studied in universities in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Russia. Afrikaans spelling is largely phonetic and second language speakers find writing in Afrikaans easier than, for example in English,”said Prinsloo-Marcus.

With so many influences, it is no surprise that several varieties of Afrikaans have emerged. More surprising perhaps is that not only second language speakers, but even mother tongue speakers differ in the way they talk, said Prinsloo Marcus.

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“In South Africa there are many varieties of the standard Afrikaans variety found in school textbooks. Even amongst mother tongue speakers of Afrikaans, differences in pronunciation and expression can be noticed. In terms of mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans and second language speakers, differences are also noticeable in accent, vocabulary and grammar, and the pace of speech. Despite these differences, no one variety should be seen as more important. Second language speakers should not be put off to speak the language because they do not speak the standard Afrikaans variety – very few Afrikaans speakers do,” she said.

Prinsloo-Marcus noted that while English and Afrikaans are both West Germanic languages, English developed from the Anglo-Frisian branch and Afrikaans developed from 17th-century Dutch. “Afrikaans and English are the only Indo-European languages among the 11 official languages of South Africa,” she said.

There are more Afrikaans speakers in South Africa than English speakers.

“In comparison to English, Afrikaans is a much younger language. Afrikaans was recognised as a distinct language in 1925 and according to Census 2011, Afrikaans is the third most spoken language in South Afrika, followed by English,” said Prinsloo Marcus.

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