South African English
South African English is the dialect of English spoken in South Africa and surrounding countries, notably Namibia and Zimbabwe.
South African English is not unified in its pronunciation: this can be attributed to the fact that English is the mother tongue for only 40% of the white inhabitants (the remainder mostly having Afrikaans as their mother tongue) and only a tiny minority of black inhabitants of the region. The dialect can be, however, identified by many loanwords, mostly from Afrikaans, but increasingly also from isiZulu and other African languages. Some of these words, like "trek", have seeped into general English usage.
Traditionally, South African English has been spoken by white South Africans, but a distinct Indian South African form of English has long existed, and an equally distinctive black South African English is developing very rapidly. Convergence between these sub-dialects can be observed, but it is a slow process.
The fourth edition of the Dictionary of South African English was released in 1991.
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2 Vocabulary 3 Idioms 4 South African English Contributions to World English 5 External links |
South African English spoken by whites bears some resemblances in pronunciation to a mix of Australian English and British English, Afrikaans has heavily influenced only those living in Afrikaans areas.
The most noticeable difference in pronunciation is probably the flat "i", so that "six" is pronounced in a way sounding like "sucks", and "today" like "to die". This is a part of the vowel shift that has occurred in South Africa as well as New Zealand. Below; the latter word is how the former word sounds-like to the ears of a non-South African:
Rewrite in IPA
Pronunciation
One difference between (white) South African English and New Zealand English is in the pronunication of 'ar' and 'ow', as in the pronunciation of the sentence 'park the car downtown'.
Those with Afrikaans as a mother tongue will pronounce 'k' or 'c' as 'g', and 't' as 'd'. The back-trilled "R", also found in Scottish speech patterns, also features strongly.
English as spoken by black South Africans is influenced by intonation and pronunciation of African languages:Vocabulary
There are words that do not exist in British or American English, usually derived from Afrikaans or African languages.
There are also a few unique constructions in South African English, where common English words take on new meanings:
The influence of Afrikaans accounts for idioms in South African English like "are you coming with?" (are you coming with us?), and the ubiquitous "hey?" instead of "isn't it?", "aren't you"?).
Examples
*On account of his supposed divided loyalties- one foot in South Africa, the other in England, and genitals in the sea.Idioms
Another influence is the use of the word 'comma' as in decimal comma, instead of 'point' as in decimal point.
Speakers of African languages may confuse 'he' and 'she', as the third person singular is often the same. "Madam is not here. He is in England."