This essay will explore the South African variety of English and will answer if it is a variety or just an accent.

SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH

This essay will explore the South African variety of English and will answer if it is a variety or just an accent. I have chosen this topic because I have relatives from Johannesburg and Durban. This paper will be organised in five parts. In the first one, I will introduce the subject giving some background on how the English language arrived to the country, following this I will write about the other indigenous languages spoken in South Africa and what impact they have on English. Thirdly, I will expose some differences between the South African variety of English and the Standard British English. I will concentrate on pronunciation, lexis and grammar exposing specific features of the variety. This will explain why South African English is a variety. In the last part I will explain how English interferes with other South African languages and this will be followed bay a conclusion which will answer the formulated question.

Britain occupied South Africa in 1820 for the first time. The settlers, around 4000, were mostly from southern England and from working or lower middle class backgrounds. (Gough, D. H.) That had a great effect on the variety of English that emerged in the region, which was characterised by mainly Cockney accent influenced by features from Dutch, the other main language spoken in the region.

Between 1845 and 1851, another 4000 middle and upper class British people from North England emigrated to South Africa and settled in Natal. The English variety that developed from their usage was latter considered by the immigrants that went to South Africa from 1870 as a local norm, which the middle class wanted to imitate and absorb.

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There are eleven official languages in South Africa (English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, siSwati, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Northern Sotho, Venda, and Tsonga). Several other (over fifteen) are non-official, that means there are many different varieties within the South African English variety. We generally find that the South African English spoken by the white people usually differs from the one spoken by the black population. That is, probably, because many of the white population of South Africa, generally the upper class, have always been very conscious of using the language following the British norm of Received Pronunciation. This is known as Conservative South African English. As a result of many different cultural communities living together in the same country, such as settlers from India, Portugal, Germany, and Greece the English that they speak is influenced by their mother tongue; although the second generations speak English as the first language. Therefore English is shaped by the other indigenous languages being Afrikaans the one with most impact on English as well as by the mother tongue languages of other settlers in the country.

English was indigenizated by the native communities, that is, “the process through which a language is accommodated and adapted to its speakers and their circumstances. ... in South Africa, the indigenization of English reflects particular socio-historical processes” (Gough, D. H.)

Because of its origins South African English has some similarities to the London Cockney accent, but because it is in contact with Afrikaans and other African languages, those give the South African variety other characteristics that makes it differ from the RP. Although the phonology of South African English is very close to the Southeast English varieties, the phonetics are closer to the New Zealand English.

A main feature of the South African variety is the clipped pronunciation, this means that when speaking some word endings or the last syllables of some words are swallowed. (kashan group web site).

The South African English lexis is very wide and comes from various sources. Some of the vocabulary are loan words from African Languages such as “veld” (plain), the Zulu word "yebo” meaning yes, “kopje” (hill). Slang and colloquialisms are as well borrowed from African Languages and from Afrikaans, for example: “Braai” (grill meat) or “howl” (weep). There are also words that come from English but they have a specific meaning in South African, some of these are dirt, which refers to a gravel road, or land, which refers to field. Some words from other varieties of English are as well used in South African English, e.g. “fossick” (to rummage) and “dingus” (what’s it). Adverbs and prepositions are used in a different way to British English. A South African English speaker will use in place of meaning instead of and come there meaning arrive.

There are not many differences between South African English grammar and the Standard English; a few distinct features are the usage of the question is it? as an All-purpose response question (-The game sold one million copies; -Oh, is it?). Another feature is “the non-negative usage of no as an introductory participle” as in “Q: How is your mother? A: No, she is fine, thanks.” (kashangroup web site). South African English speakers do not tend to use the construction of a modal auxiliary followed by do (might do). Another characteristic that differs from the Standard English is the “Occurrence of adjective + infinitive instead of adjective + of + participle e.g. This plastic is capable to withstand heat. (This plastic is capable of withstanding heat.)” (kashangroup web site). Pronoun copying is as well characteristic of the South African English, it “refers to forms such as: “The parents, they supposed to pay ten rands” in which the subject NP (The parents) is immediately followed by a pronoun (they) with the same referent.” (Wade, R. University of Natal web site).

In South Africa English is used specially amongst the educated as a lingua franca. Although South Africa has eleven official languages, English and Afrikaans are the most spread and used. English is spoken as a second language by a large number of the indigenous people. It is taught at schools as a compulsory subject and it is normally the medium of instruction.

English has been synonymous to liberation and black unity while Afrikaans has always been related to the language of the oppressor. In this way, English has always been perceived as the language of prestige and power.

Different native groups show that they have borrowed lexicon and other features from English. Some of them have gone through a language shift to English to some degree. Coloureds are an example; the educated of this group show a complete language shift to English. The South African of Indian origin show as well how they have replaced their traditional languages and now use English as their own.

The influence of English can be noticed in the other African languages and Afrikaans, which have borrowed many English words. Code switching between the native language and English is now a common feature amongst the native languages in South Africa. (Gough, D. H.).

To conclude with, this essay has explored widely the differences of the South African English and has proved why it is a variety and not just an accent by showing differences in grammar, lexis and pronunciation. Although the use of the language by the white community is relatively close to the English from the Southeast of England, when the indigenous population uses the language the differences are more remarkable. That is, as well, because it is not the mother tongue for many of them therefore their native languages will influence their use of the English language by introducing vocabulary from their native language when speaking English. This gives the South African English variety a great individual flavour that distinguishes it from the British English and other varieties of the English language.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

kashangroup website:
University of Natal web site: http://www.und.ac.za/und/ling/archive/wade-01.html
Gough, D. H. “”
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National anthem: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_national_anthem_of_South_Africa