Afrikaans in the New World (for lack of a better title)

MacCaulay

Banned
you're not talking about the New World or anything related to the OP, thanks for playing.

Well, Afrikaans was kind of tangential to the subject. I could've just named the thread "Speaking American" but I really don't want to make it sound like I'm the most nationalistic guy on this board.
I also knew that of all the countries in the world, America might not be the best candidate for it's own language.

From the way it's looking, Argentina and Australia are the two top candidates.
 
From the way it's looking, Argentina and Australia are the two top candidates.

But why stop there? There are many more places that could benefit from their own language. Uruguay, for example (to an extent, they were subject to the same influences as Argentina, but Uruguay could also have a stronger Brazilian Portuguese influence on their speech, as exhibited by Riverense Portuñol).
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
I think that to get an American "Afrikaans", you'd need:

B) Make the speakers of the language willing to consider their tongue a language and to validate it, instead of considering it a dialect and to prefer the motrherland's language as the standart form of language (at least for writting).

.

This was done as late as the turn of the century with the reason being Boer nationalism.
 
I completely agree with you. That's what's so odd about it.

It's very understandable. What I was surprised about with Afrikaans is alot of Dutch speakers in these books I'm reading talking about how they can speak Dutch to a South African who can speak Afrikaans back, and they can both understand each other with no more trouble than one would have with normal dialect problems.


I play rugby with a lot a jaapies and have some dutch friends, Dutchmen can understand Afrikaans, but it sounds like retarded baby talk with most grammar and nuance removed. It's what happens when a language loses its contact with any intelligentsia, it simplifies to the level needed for the society.

for a society of backwoods herders and farmers, you dont need much grammar or vocab.

then after the rise of boer nationalism and a more complicated society it began to develope again, but as a new language
 
It should also be pointed out that Afrikaans was seen as the poor cousin to Afrikaans until quite late. Afrikaans only replaced Dutch as a co-official language with English in about 1929, I think.

Afrikaans is basically a Dutch creole with influences from English, African languages, and Malay.
 
It should also be pointed out that Afrikaans was seen as the poor cousin to Afrikaans until quite late. Afrikaans only replaced Dutch as a co-official language with English in about 1929, I think.

Afrikaans is basically a Dutch creole with influences from English, African languages, and Malay.
My (younger) brother spent a semester in South Africa while in Med School, and has a diploma/certificate that uses the word "Tahnart" (sp?) for Dentist or dentistry ('College of Medicine and Dentistry' may have been what the English said). When I saw that a light went on - as I knew the English "tooth" and German "Zahn", but hadn't realized they were connected. But referring to a dentist as a 'tooth doctor' is a rural simplication that doesn't appear in standard Dutch.

As for North American French, there are multiple dialects/accents. Montréal 'Joual' is VERY different from what they speak in Québec which is, again, different from the Ottawa valley (Ottawa valley accent is ...amazing). And all of those are different from Acadian. I imagine one reason that 'Parisian' French is kept as the standard is because the differing local speeches are often as distinct from each other as they are from 'standard' French. Also, French is a 'high class' language, and the élite (lawyers, priests, etc), probably liked to have that edge in dealing with the English (OK, Scots:)) merchants and government types.

It's interesting watching interviews on SRC - I can usually make out the questions (spoken in a 'standard' French with a distinct Québecois flavour), but the answers in local dialect. Well.. I get a few words, maybe!

Orson Scott Card had an 'American' variant of English in his 'Alvin the maker' works, IIRC, and I certainly believe it could have happened. Again, of course, whose English would be the basis? Boston, Brooklyn, Virginia, back country Tennessee?
 
My (younger) brother spent a semester in South Africa while in Med School, and has a diploma/certificate that uses the word "Tahnart" (sp?) for Dentist or dentistry ('College of Medicine and Dentistry' may have been what the English said). When I saw that a light went on - as I knew the English "tooth" and German "Zahn", but hadn't realized they were connected. But referring to a dentist as a 'tooth doctor' is a rural simplication that doesn't appear in standard Dutch.

Tandarts, is the word you are looking for.

A vet is also a veearts, vee meaning livestock.

But the word arts is no longer used in Afrikaans to speak of a doctor, the correct translation is dokter.
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
My (younger) brother spent a semester in South Africa while in Med School, and has a diploma/certificate that uses the word "Tahnart" (sp?) for Dentist or dentistry ('College of Medicine and Dentistry' may have been what the English said). When I saw that a light went on - as I knew the English "tooth" and German "Zahn", but hadn't realized they were connected. But referring to a dentist as a 'tooth doctor' is a rural simplication that doesn't appear in standard Dutch.

Actually, Tandarts could be translated into Toothdoctor and it's a normal Dutch word :D
 
Actually, Tandarts could be translated into Toothdoctor and it's a normal Dutch word :D

OK, I stand corrected, again! I could have sworn I checked a Dutch dictionary at one point and it didn't have that word. Well, that was probably 2 decades ago anyway, so my 'forgetory' has had lots of time to work.
 
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