3 definitions by adals
The southernmost point of the African continent, and the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is located at co-ordinates 34°50′00″S 20°00′09.15″E, about 105 miles southeast of the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
People think the oceans meet at Cape Point just south of Cape Town, but they actually meet at Cape Agulhas.
by adals September 13, 2009
The international abbreviation and internet top level domain for South Africa. The "Z" derives from "Zuid-Afrika", which is the Dutch name for the country, as Dutch was (with English) the official language of South Africa until Afrikaans superseded it in the 1920s. (The Afrikaans word is "Suid-Afrika", and .sa would seem far more logical, however, this abbreviation has subsequently been used for Saudi Arabia).
by adals October 11, 2009
A Western Germanic language that developed in South Africa as a semi-creolised form of Dutch after Dutch colonists settled at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th Century. It is spoken by over 6 million people as a first language and by a further 6 million as a second language.
The language's name Afrikaans simply means "African" and features a highly regularised, simplified grammar (there are fewer than 5 irregular verbs in the language), double negation (as in French) and pronounciation that is softer and less guttural than modern Dutch. Like English, it has only one gender for nouns (as opposed to two in Dutch).
Afrikaans and Dutch remain mutually intelligible and although the majority of its vocabulary derives from 17th Century Dutch, it has incorporated many words from indigenous and aboriginal Southern African languages (especially KhoiSan, Xhosa and Zulu), as well as Malaysian, French and German, reflecting the phenomenon of South Africa as a melting pot of cultures.
Cut off from Europe, the fledgeling language rapidly evolved unique features. There is strong evidence to suggest that proto-Afrikaans developed as a creole form of Dutch among slaves and servants; indeed, it was known (disparigingly) as "Kitchen Dutch" or "Kombuistaal" (Kitchen Language).
By the 19th Century Afrikaans had developed into a separate language and in the 1920s was formally recognised as an official language (co-equal in status with English) of the Union of South Africa.
As the preferred language of the Apartheid state, the language has been stigmatised in the past as the vehicle of an oppressive regime, most infamously as the cause of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where several youths died protesting Afrikaans being enforced as the language of instruction in schools (as opposed to English). Today, however, the language has been largely depoliticised and proudly spoken by South Africans of all backgrounds.
Afrikaans has greatly influenced South African English and has contributed several words to modern international English - most famously perhaps "trek" (as in epic journey, as in Star Trek) and "veld" for grassland/savannah.
Following the advent of democracy in 1994, Afrikaans retained its official status along with 10 other languages.
The language's name Afrikaans simply means "African" and features a highly regularised, simplified grammar (there are fewer than 5 irregular verbs in the language), double negation (as in French) and pronounciation that is softer and less guttural than modern Dutch. Like English, it has only one gender for nouns (as opposed to two in Dutch).
Afrikaans and Dutch remain mutually intelligible and although the majority of its vocabulary derives from 17th Century Dutch, it has incorporated many words from indigenous and aboriginal Southern African languages (especially KhoiSan, Xhosa and Zulu), as well as Malaysian, French and German, reflecting the phenomenon of South Africa as a melting pot of cultures.
Cut off from Europe, the fledgeling language rapidly evolved unique features. There is strong evidence to suggest that proto-Afrikaans developed as a creole form of Dutch among slaves and servants; indeed, it was known (disparigingly) as "Kitchen Dutch" or "Kombuistaal" (Kitchen Language).
By the 19th Century Afrikaans had developed into a separate language and in the 1920s was formally recognised as an official language (co-equal in status with English) of the Union of South Africa.
As the preferred language of the Apartheid state, the language has been stigmatised in the past as the vehicle of an oppressive regime, most infamously as the cause of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where several youths died protesting Afrikaans being enforced as the language of instruction in schools (as opposed to English). Today, however, the language has been largely depoliticised and proudly spoken by South Africans of all backgrounds.
Afrikaans has greatly influenced South African English and has contributed several words to modern international English - most famously perhaps "trek" (as in epic journey, as in Star Trek) and "veld" for grassland/savannah.
Following the advent of democracy in 1994, Afrikaans retained its official status along with 10 other languages.
My hand is in warm water - this sentence could be in either English or Afrikaans, means exactly the same and simply differs in pronounciation.
by adals September 6, 2009