The Historical Evolution of South African Languages

South African was originally a Dutch dialect used in South Africa, which was basically developed between 1652 and 1705 by Protestant European immigrants and indentured workers and slaves brought to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company. Most of these European immigrants are Dutch immigrants, but there are also many immigrants from Germany and France. In addition, there are some immigrants from Scotland and other European countries. As for these indentured laborers and slaves, in addition to Malays from Indonesia, there are also Hoykoys and Bushmen who belong to African aborigines.

The historical development of South African language and its position in South African society are controversial. When introducing this language, Encyclopedia Britannica said: "Few languages can cause such a big controversy (like South African)." As Barnard(2003) pointed out, to understand the history of South Africa, it is almost inevitable to discuss the history of South Africa (more accurately, it should be "the history after the invasion of South Africa by western colonialism", because there were already aborigines living in South Africa before European immigrants began to enter South Africa in the middle of the17th century. ) Discuss the development history of "South Africa" in five stages. 1652, the Dutch East India Company occupied the Cape Peninsula, the southernmost tip of Africa, as a midway supply station for the Dutch fleet to continue China Eastern Airlines. From 65438 to 0657, the first Dutch immigrants landed in South Africa and began to occupy the land that originally belonged to Hoykoy, which also opened the history of western colonialism in South Africa. With the arrival of Dutch immigrants, Dutch began to be used by this group of European immigrants in South Africa. Soon after, many indentured workers and slaves from Asia were "imported" to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company as helpers. The main language of these Asians is Portuguese mixed with Malay. These different languages-Dutch used by European immigrants (mainly accents belonging to western Dutch provinces) and mixed languages used by Asians (Portuguese and Malay)-began to communicate with each other because of language contact.

In the18th century, the language mixing project became more complicated, and more other elements were gradually added, including the Koi language used by khoikhoi as a nanny and helper, and the French language used by French Protestants who recently moved to South Africa. Due to the stimulation of the new environment and the emergence of new things, these Dutch immigrants have to borrow many sailor miles and new words from other linguistics to adapt to the new life in Africa.

From about 1740, the daily language used in South Africa is no longer pure Dutch. In the discussion about the reasons for the formation of this new language, one of the most convincing theories is that South African developed through interaction with other languages.

Of course, with the formation of a new language, these European descendants whose ancestors came from the Netherlands gradually formed a new identity. They no longer call themselves "Dutch" but "Africans". Therefore, the language they used gradually became known as "Africaansch Afrikaans". 1795, and the British occupied the Cape of Good Hope and became the new owner of this land. With the British in power, English has become the main language of government agencies and educational institutions. In this case, the social status of English is higher than that of South African. Whether it is the upper class, government officials or intellectuals, English is mainly used instead of South African. Therefore, South African is nicknamed "kitchen dialect".

In this case, in order to get rid of the British control, and because they were dissatisfied with the British policy of "liberating slaves", these European immigrants who called themselves "Africans" or "Boers" launched the so-called "grotte Lake" in South African history (1836-660). They began to move eastward and northward from the Cape Pier in the coastal area, and established several small republics of their own, including Transvaal and Orange Free State. In the process of establishing their own country, issues related to language and culture, especially those related to the South African language they use, have become increasingly politicized. South Africa has become the source and symbol of this rising national consciousness.

Although these Boers already have "South African"-their own oral tradition, they still use the so-called "standard Dutch" in their writing. Especially their most important reading, Bible, is written and printed in standard Dutch (Bas 200 1). In this case, a group of priests and teachers launched the so-called "First Afrikaans Movement" around 1870, hoping to upgrade South African from the oral level to the written level. 1875, "genootkap virregte Afrikaners" was formally established in Cape. In the same year, the Association officially published the first grammar book and dictionary with South African as the research object.

After the Second Ying Bu War (1899-1902), although the British won, the Boers were also promised autonomy, and Dutch became another official language in South Africa besides English. 1905, "Afrikaanse Taalgenootschap" and "Afrikaanse Taalvereniging" were formally established, which strongly demanded that South African languages be widely used and studied at different levels. 19 10, the British government merged Cape Province, natal province, transvaal province and Orange Province into the "South African Federation". 1925, with the joint efforts of South African language activists and nationalists, South African replaced Dutch and became the second official language of the South African Federation. 1933, the first complete South African Bible was translated and officially published. From 1948, the "Kuomintang" composed of South Africans came to power until 1994, when the "African National Assembly" composed of South African aborigines came to power. Relevant scholars usually refer to this period as the "apartheid period" in South Africa (1948-1994). This period was the peak of South Africans' administration and the golden age of South African language. However, this is also a stage in which the South African language has changed from an oppressed language to an oppressor language.

After the "Kuomintang" came to power, in order to consolidate the rule based on racism, a series of laws related to apartheid were enacted, such as the Law on Group Residential Areas (1950), the Pass Law (revised and passed in 1952) and the Bantu Education Law (1953). In school history textbooks, the state machine blindly emphasizes the historical view of "South Africans", focusing on the historical relics of South African heroes such as "The Great Migration of Cattle and Horses" and "Ying Bu War", while the historical facts of other races are deliberately ignored. These textbooks even emphasize that blacks are inherently inferior races, at least culturally inferior, as an excuse for their ideology of white domination.

At the same time, South African language is also highly guaranteed and promoted by the state machinery, including script writing, establishment of various literary awards and research in colleges, all of which are centered on South African language. According to the cultural figures in power in South Africa, South African is considered as the youngest Germanic language. These people not only emphasize the purity of South African, but don't like to borrow English words. They also claim that South African is the unique language of South Africans (that is, white South Africans), forgetting that South African itself is the cultural product of the interaction between Dutch and other different languages (including African native languages). More importantly, these South Africans have overlooked an important fact. In South Africa, there are at least 2 million non-whites (mostly mixed-race South Africans) whose mother tongue is South African.

196 1 year, the South African Federation announced its withdrawal from the Great Commonwealth and formally established the "Republic of South Africa", and the status of South African language reached the highest level in history. As Hu Ning (1999) said, "South African language has changed from a' language with lower functions' to a' language with higher functions'", which presents a unique scene in judicial, political, cultural and academic research.

In this case, English is regarded by blacks as a powerful tool to resist South Africans, which fully shows the historical paradox. From 65438 to 0976, the South African government required black schools to use South African as the teaching language instead of English, so a large-scale racial conflict broke out in Soweto. The South African government ordered the police to shoot at the demonstrators, killing more than 600 people and arousing fierce resistance from blacks to whites. Street fighting also took place in Cape Town, and more than 654.38 million black workers went on strike at the same time. 1977, 19000 students held a protest against the shooting of student leaders by the South African government. As a result, the South African government banned 18 anti-apartheid mass organizations in one breath, and social unrest and tension in South Africa became increasingly serious. The Republic of South Africa is extremely isolated in the world, and the South African authorities have to relax some apartheid measures. From 65438 to 0994, the African National Assembly led by Mandela won the first national election in South Africa, officially announcing the end of the "apartheid system". After the "African National Assembly" came to power, it began to amend the South African Constitution, which was promulgated and implemented at the end of 1996. According to the newly published Constitution, although South African is still recognized as one of the official languages, its unique scene is no longer, but it has become one of the official languages of1/kloc-0 together with nine other indigenous languages and English * *. Later, in order to take into account the principle of equality among all ethnic groups, the South African Broadcasting Corporation began to reduce the broadcast time of South African programs on TV. South African Airlines also removed its South African name "Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens" from the plane and replaced it with an English logo.

Nevertheless, South African is still a strong language in South Africa, although English is quite backward. Today, newspapers and magazines in South Africa are still the largest print media in South Africa. In addition, in 1999, another pay TV channel was launched in South Africa.