ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

Khoisan and Black languages have from early times provided an important input to South African English. The Black press and Black literature are growth points for all English-speaking South Africans. The South African accent, though its phonology contains elements traceable to particular dialects of English and contact languages, is clearly distinguishable from that of other 'transplanted' Englishes and reflects a unique system. In 1820 the English-speaking population was roughly doubled when between four and five thousand 'settlers' were helped by the British government to establish themselves in the Eastern Cape. This chapter samples some key areas of the vocabularies of human relationships and human types. The syntax of formal South African English approximates to that of formal standard British English. The importance of British models for South African English may relate in the first place to the minority status of English-speaking South Africans and secondly to the rather conservative political outlook of most whites among these.

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