2.2 Kaaps

2.2 Kaaps

(© 4th September 2020 by Peter Snyders) 

Both Buddhism and Western Science rely solely on Perception and Inference, two of the six means of obtaining true knowledge (facts or truth). We do not have to use a lot of hair-splitting. We go directly to the inquiry.

Using Perception of the present, how would an Afrikaner with no knowledge of isiXhosa communicate if the Xhosa person has also never heard of Afrikaans? By using this present-day situation, we can apply the particular to the universal if the approach of our characters is the same worldwide. Having said this, we can expect that Jan van Riebeeck would be the one to approach the Khoikhoi pastoral farmer because he was in need. 

Note that, for the sake of simplicity and to avoid ornamentation, we use a closed system in which we assume there was no prior contact. All this may have happened before Van Riebeeck’s arrival, but they would have had to take the same course. Our present-day perception (as per our example/analogy) supports our reasoning.

Since Jan would customarily be the first one to speak, he would most likely greet and say: “Goede morgen” (Good morning), “Goede middag” (Good afternoon), or less likely (unless the meeting happened after the flock had returned home from grazing), “Goeden avond.” (Good evening.) These Dutch words are not pronounced the way they are written or how the Dutch speak them. Some of the sounds do not resonate with the collection of Kora sounds, so they must be ignored or adapted by the Koraners (Kora-speaking natives). The innovative word would then go into the new language (Pidgin Kaaps), which is about to be formed.

The Khoikhoi livestock farmer would not understand the Hollander, but he would guess that the visitor was greeting him, especially if the stranger also made a greeting gesture. Whereupon the Khoikhoi would reply: ǃãi ǁoab (Good morning), ǃãi ǃ’uri (Good afternoon), or ǃãi ǃ’uib (Good evening). From the examples given above, can you write down the word for “good” in Dutch and Kora?

These two languages have no rational ground for communication. We will discover more estrangement when we look at the phonetics (the system of speech sounds of a language or group of languages) of the expressions. Kora is a complex language, ǃ, |, ǁ, and ǂ being clicks, ã is nasalised, and ’ indicates that the sound is ejected by some force.

Next Van Riebeeck, intuitively knowing that he too was greeted, especially if the Khoikhoi person made the same gesture, would probably ask, “Spreek je Hollands?” or more formally “Spreekt u Hollands?” 

When the Indigenous man is still confused, Van Riebeeck may try, “Ik heet Jan” (My name is Jan.) or “Ik ben Jan.” (I am Jan.) 

Of the three vowels in the latter, two (ê and a) correspond to two of the five vowels in the Kora sound list (inventory). The uh sound of ik (I) is not in Kora. This latter sound is called a schwa. The Khoikhoi would probably adapt the schwa to ê whenever they had to use it, and express ik as ek. As we go deeper into Kora and Pidgin Kaaps, we will be able to account for many Dutch words that had been modified by the Kora speaker and so become part of Pidgin-Kaaps. 

The Indigene would not utter the Dutch words because, as with any child, the meaning of these sounds evades the Khoi man. Then Van Riebeeck may use the point system of a child who is beginning to talk. He would point to himself and say, “Jan.” 

This is the way a child learns words. She points at something concrete (a noun), and the family member gives the name. This is also the way that all pidgins (trading languages) begin. 

Eventually, the Khoikhoi will understand the sounds he did not understand at first, but if any sound is foreign to him, he would use a sound from his own collection of sounds. To give an example, in Kora, there is no uh or e(r), (schwa), as in words like this, the, learn, family, member. 

In our older language versions of Kaaps, e.g., Bokaap-Kaaps and Rehoboth Baster- Kaaps, we find a very ingenious substitution in the word gesig (face); it is pronounced gaseg. (Notice that the choice of an alternative sound from the language that makes the adaptations is not always predictable. Here, two vowels from the same inventory (collection of sounds) from Kora are used to replace the two schwas.

At last, the Khoikhoi man understands, but when he repeats Van Riebeeck’s name, it isn’t quite the same. It is more likely to be Djã. Why can’t the Khoikhoi say Jan with a j like the y as in you? And why omit the n or why not substitute another phoneme (sound of a letter)? This is because the rules of the two languages differ. Every language has its own rules, and it is these rules of Kora that have survived in Kaaps.