‘We don’t need another Afrikaans’. Adequation and distinction in South-African and Flemish language policies

Authors

  • Jürgen Jaspers Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Author
  • Michael Meeuwis Ghent University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.32703

Keywords:

adequation, distinction, Afrikaans, Dutch, Flemish, language ideology

Abstract

It has long been recognised that the similarity or difference between ways of speaking and their possible institutionalisation as ‘languages’ is an ideological matter, a matter of social opinions, rather than one of objective systemic relatedness. This paper emphasises that such language ideologies in any society are always to some extent competitive, that such lack of consensus is not a temporary stage in between moments of shared opinion but a fundamental aspect of the social life of language, and that the expansion or decline of particular sociolinguistic opinions is interactive with cultural changes, metacultural discourses, as well as political agendas. We argue this through a discussion of the valorisation and countervalorisation of linguistic practices in Flanders (Belgium) and South Africa. Drawing attention to discrepancies between articulated and embodied ideologies, we suggest it is the complex interaction of language ideologies with other factors, rather than the mechanical outcome of linguistic conditions, that drove the eventual recognition of Afrikaans in South Africa and the continuing absence of such a process with respect to ‘Flemish’ in Flanders.

Author Biographies

  • Jürgen Jaspers, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

    Jürgen Jaspers is associate professor of Dutch linguistics at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. His research interests are in ethnographic sociolinguistics and linguistic standardisation processes in Belgium. Recent publications include articles in AILA Review, Annual Review of Anthropology, Language & Communication and various chapters in edited volumes.

  • Michael Meeuwis, Ghent University

    Michael Meeuwis is Professor at the Department of African Languages and Cultures at Ghent University. He is the author of various works on the history of language politics in African colonial settings, as well as on contemporary sociolinguistic issues in both Central and Southern Africa. His updated bibliography can be consulted at https://biblio. ugent.be/person/801001653606.

References

Absillis, K. and Jaspers, J. (2016) Beware of the weeds: Understanding Flemish linguistic purism as a utopian discourse. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 242: 1–24. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2016-0031.

Agha, A. (2007) Language and Social Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Auer, P. (2005) Europe’s sociolinguistic unity. In N. Delbecque, J. van der Auwera and D. Geeraerts (eds) Perspectives on Variation 7–42. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Bauman, Z. (1987) Legislators and Interpreters. Cambridge: Polity.

Britain, D. (2009) One foot in the grave? Dialect death, dialect contact, and dialect birth in England. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196: 121–155. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2009.019.

Bucholtz, M. and Hall, K. (2004) Language and identity. In A. Duranti (ed.) A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology 369–394. Malden: Blackwell.

Coupland, N. and Kristiansen, T. (2011) Critical perspectives on language (de)standardisation. In T. Kristiansen and N. Coupland (eds) Standard Languages and Language Standards in a Changing Europe 11–35. Oslo: Novus.

de Vooys, C. G. N. (1970) Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Taal. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff.

Delarue, S. (2016) Bridging the Policy-Practice Gap. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Ghent University.

Delarue, S. and De Caluwe, J. (2015) Eliminating social inequality by reinforcing Standard Language Ideology? Current Issues in Language Planning 16: 8–25. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2014.947012.

Deprez, K. (1999) De taal van de Vlamingen. In K. Deprez and L. Vos (eds) Nationalisme in België 103–116. Antwerp: Houtekiet.

Deumert, A. (2004) Language Standardization and Language Change: The Dynamics of Cape Dutch. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.19.

Deumert, A. and Vandenbussche, W. (eds) (2003) Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.18.

du Plessis, T. (1986) Afrikaans in Beweging. Bloemfontein: Patmos.

Giliomee, H. (2010) The Afrikaners: Biography of a People. Charlottesville: University of Virginia.

Grebe, H. P. (2009) De taal is gans het volk: Taalstandaardisatie en de constructie van identiteit. Internationale Neerlandistiek 47: 21–34.

Grondelaers, S. and van Hout, R. (2011) The standard language situation in the Low Countries. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 23: 199–243. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542711000110.

Grondelaers, S. and Speelman, D. (2013) Can speaker evaluation return private attitudes towards stigmatised varieties? In T. Kristiansen and S. Grondelaers (eds) Language (De)standardisation in Late Modern Europe 171–192. Oslo: Novus.

Grondelaers, S., van Hout, R., and van Gent, P. (2016) Destandardization is not destandardization. Taal en Tongval 68: 119–149. Doi: https://doi.org/10.5117/TET2016.2.GRON.

Haas, W. (2002) Comment. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 157: 109–115. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2002.032.

Hendricks, F. (2012). The potential advantage of an egalitarian view of the varieties of Afrikaans. In K. K. Prah (ed.) Mainstreaming Afrikaans Regional Varieties 43–62. Cape Town: CASAS.

Hendricks, F. and Dyers, C. (eds) (2016) Kaaps in Fokus. Stellenbosch: Sunmedia. Doi: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928314165.

Jaffe, A. M. (2009) Indeterminacy and regularization: A process-based approach to the study of sociolinguistic variation and language ideologies. Sociolinguistic Studies 3(2): 229–251. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v3.i2.229.

Jaspers, J. (2011) Talking like a zero-lingual: Ambiguous linguistic caricatures at an urban secondary school. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1264–1278. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.05.012.

Jaspers, J. (2014) From unwanted to so-called expertise: Ideologising sociolinguistics in contemporary mainstream media. Science Communication 36: 570–592. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547014547160.

Jaspers, J. (2015) Modelling linguistic diversity at school. Language Policy 14: 109–129. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-014-9332-0.

Jaspers, J. and Van Hoof, S. (2013) Hyperstandardization in Flanders. Pragmatics 23: 331–359. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.23.2.06jas.

Jaspers, J. and Van Hoof, S. (2015) Ceci n’est pas une tussentaal. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 27: 1–44. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542714000154.

Kannemeyer, J. C. (1974) Die Afrikaanse Bewegings. Pretoria: Academica.

Kermode, F. (2000) [1965]. The Sense of an Ending. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kriel, M. (2013) Loose Continuity. The Post-Apartheid Afrikaans Language Movement in Historical Perspective. Unpublished PhD dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Kristiansen, T. and Grondelaers, S. (eds) (2013) Language (De)standardisation in Late Modern Europe. Oslo: Novus.

Kroskrity, P.V. (2004) Language ideologies. In A. Duranti (ed.) A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology 496–517. Malden: Blackwell.

McCormick, K. (2002) Language in Cape Town’s District Six. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Meiring, B. and Saal, E. O. (2006) Afrikaans als funktionele variëteit. In H. J. Pieterse (ed.) Taalvariasie en taalpolitiek 221–230. Pretoria: UNISA.

Meeuwis, M. (2015) From the Cape to the Congo and back: Afrikaners and Flemings in the struggle for Dutch in Africa. Language Matters 46: 325–343. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2015.1045013.

Meeuwis, M. and Brisard, F. (1993) Time and the diagnosis of language change. Antwerp Papers in Linguistics 72. Antwerp: UIA-GER.

Nienaber, G. S. (1994) Die ontstaan van Khoekhoe-Afrikaans. In G. Olivier and A. Coetzee (eds) Nuwe Perspektiewe op die Geskiedenis van Afrikaans 139–152. Halfweghuis: Southern.

Odendaal, G. (2014) Moet Afrikaans geherstandaardiseer word? Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 54: 656–674.

Pienaar, E. C. (1943) Die Triomf van Afrikaans. Kaapstad: Nasionale.

Plevoets, K. (2012) Van hetzelfde laken een pak. In K. Absillis, J. Jaspers and S. Van Hoof (eds) De Manke Usurpator 189–224. Gent: Academia.

Ponelis, F. A. (1993) The Development of Afrikaans. Frankfurt: Lang.

Ponelis, F. A. (2005) Nederlands in Afrika. In N. van der Sijs (ed.) Wereldnederlands 15–30. Den Haag: Standaard.

Roberge, P. T. (2002) Afrikaans: Considering origins. In R. Mesthrie (ed.) Language in South Africa 79–103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stell, G. (2007) From Kitaab-Hollandsch to Kitaab-Afrikaans: The evolution of a non-white literary variety at the Cape. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 37: 89–127.

Stell, G., Luffin, X., and Rakiep, M. (2007) Religious and secular Cape Malay Afrikaans. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 163: 319–353.

Steyn, J. C. (1980) Tuiste in Eie Taal: Die Behoud en Bestaan van Afrikaans. Kaapstad: Tafelberg.

Steyn, J. C. (1996) Afrikaner nationalism and choosing between Afrikaans and Dutch as cultural language. South African Journal of Linguistics 14: 7–24.

Steyn, J. C. (1998) Taalboek sal skerp reaksie uitlok. Die Burger, 2 September: 2.

Steyn, J.C. (2009) Die Afrikaans van die Bijbelvertaling van 1933. Acta Theologica Supplementum 12: 130–156.

Steyn, J.C. (2014) ‘Ons Gaan ? Taal Maak’: Afrikaans Sedert Die Patriot-Jare. Pretoria: Kraal.

Uys, M. (1983) Die Vernederlandsing van Afrikaans. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Pretoria.

van den Berg, Ria (2005) Standard Afrikaans and the different faces of ‘Pure Afrikaans’ in the twentieth century. In N. Langer and W. Davies (eds) Linguistic Purism in the Germanic Languages 144–165. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Van der Horst, J. (2008) Het Einde van de Standaardtaal. Amsterdam: Prometheus.

van Eeden, P. (1998) Afrikaans Hoort by Nederlands. Howick: Brevitas.

van Eeden, P. (2015) Nederlands wás taal van Afrikaners. Rapport Weekliks, 19 July.

van Heerden, M. (2016) Afrikaaps: A Celebratory Protest against the Racialised Hegemony of ‘Pure’ Afrikaans. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch University.

Van Hoof, S. (2015) Feiten en Fictie: Een Sociolinguïstische Analyse van het Taalgebruik in Fictiereeksen op de Vlaamse Openbare Omroep. Ghent: Academia.

Van Keymeulen, J. (2010) Standaardisatie en destandaardisatie bij Vlamingen en Afrikaners. In M. van der Wal and E. Francken (eds) Standaardtalen in Beweging 135–152. Amsterdam: Stichting Neerlandistiek.

Van Lancker, I. (2016) The reflexive imperative among high-achieving adolescents. AILA Review 29: 114–140. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.29.05van.

van Rensburg, C. (2015) Creating a standardised version of Afrikaans, the first 50 years. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 55: 319–342. Doi: https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2015/v55n3a1.

van Rensburg, C. (2016) The earliest Khoi Afrikaans. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 56: 1–23. Doi: https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2016/V56N2-1a10.

van Sluijs, R. (2013) Afrikaans. In S. M. Michaelis, P. Maurer, M. Haspelmath and M. Huber (eds) English-based and Dutch-based Languages 285–296. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Vandenbussche, W., Willemyns, R., De Groof, J. and Vanhecke, E. (2005) Taming thistles and weeds amidst the wheat. In N. Langer and W. Davies (eds) Linguistic Purism in the Germanic Languages 46–61. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Vosters, R. (2013) Dutch, Flemish or Hollandic? In E. Barát and P. Studer (eds) Ideological Conceptualisations of Language 35–54. Frankfurt: Lang.

Webb, V. (2010) Constructing an inclusive speech community from two mutually excluding ones: The third Afrikaans language movement. Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 47: 106–120. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4314/tvl.v47i1.50495.

Willemyns, R. (2013) Dutch: Biography of a Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Williams, Q. E. (2016) Youth multilingualism in South Africa’s Hip-Hop culture: A metapragmatic analysis. Sociolinguistic Studies 10(1–2): 109–133. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i1-2.27797.

Williams, Q. E. and Stroud, C. (2013) Multilingualism in transformative spaces. Language Policy 12: 289–311. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-012-9265-4.

Williams, R. (1977) Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Woolard, K. (2004) Is the past a foreign country? Time, language origins, and the nation in Early Modern Spain. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 14: 57–80. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2004.14.1.57.

Published

2019-05-02

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Jaspers, J., & Meeuwis, M. (2019). ‘We don’t need another Afrikaans’. Adequation and distinction in South-African and Flemish language policies. Sociolinguistic Studies, 12(3-4), 419-438. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.32703

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >>