Metalanguage

Metalanguage

Copyright 11.2.2024 by Peter Snyders (G)

Before we begin, let us first decide which language we should be using as our metalanguage. A metalanguage is the language used to talk about language. Most modern languages use the same language as their own as a metalanguage. Therefore, we find that English is used to talk about the English language, and Afrikaans is the metalanguage when the Afrikaans language is discussed. 

The use of Kaaps as the metalanguage of Kaaps is not conducive because Kaaps, as a language, is not documented. It will only confuse as one tries to explain an unknown phenomenon with the same language whose values have not yet been identified. It is like explaining that someone who says, “Ek moe∙nou druk” betieken: “Ekke moe∙nou gooi.”

It is worthwhile to keep in mind who the target group is. So, for example, one could use Afrikaans to study Dutch and vice versa because there is only about a fifteen percent difference between the two languages. The speakers of one of these languages would therefore understand the language of the other.

Our target group is:  

1.     Mother-tongue Kaaps speakers

2.     People speaking a variant or daughter language of Kaaps.[1] 

3.     People who have a fascination for Kaaps, irrespective of their cultural differences.

Even though Kaaps originated as a trading language (pidgin) between the indigenous Khoikhoi people and the Dutch colonisers, Dutch is still quite foreign to Kaapsers.[2] 

Many words that we customarily write with an /s/ are written with a /z/, e.g., Zuid-Afrikaans in Dutch. The Dutch language also uses a /c/ where we use a /k/ and a /t/ where we would use an /s/ like in redactie. The /ij/ spelling may also be confusing because sometimes it is pronounced as the schwa as in makkelijk (easy), while at other times it is pronounced as the diphthong /y/ in Kaaps, e.g., vergelijk (compare). Nouns and pronouns have a gender which is preceded by the article de while het is placed in front of the neutral case, e.g., de man; de vrouw; het kind.

The list of reasons for not having Dutch as our metalanguage goes on and gets more complex, especially with respect to verbs. This does not, however, make it impossible to understand a Netherlander. We identify a few words that sound familiar to us and mentally fill in the context.

The use of Afrikaans as a metalanguage to clearly show how Kaaps works is hampered by the numerous clashes between the two languages. Meagan Hammon, together with the invaluable contribution from Emile YX, articulates our experience clearly when they say that “Kaaps was always regarded as lesser than pure Dutch and that this ‘slave tongue’ carried very little status in the social hierarchy.” [3]

After Kaaps having been around for more than two hundred years, “In 1875, the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners made the first attempts at standardising Afrikaans. They distanced themselves from the Kaaps creole by branding it as slang and once again characterised it as a second-class language.” [3] There are many more issues between the two languages, but we are keeping it short because we are merely trying to show that Afrikaans is not a suitable metalanguage.[4] 

Our best choice for a metalanguage is English. Most people in our target group are conversant with English. While all creoles are renowned for their extensive borrowing from other languages, and English is not an exception, the two languages remain distinct, but English also has a much less denigrating and discriminating mental position towards Kaaps.

Please download this free book on Kora,  " Kora: A Lost Khoisan Language of the early Cape and the Gariep by Menán du Plessis" the language spoken by the Khoikhoi and Khoisan before Van Riebeeck came. Only the dictionary is in Kora-English and in English-Kora. The rest of the book is in English.

1. [1] Kaaps, as we will prove, originated here in and around Cape Town, the Cape {Kaap}, and all language variants of Kaaps, such as Namakwalands, Griekwa, Rehoboth Bastertaal, and other regional languages spoken by Coloured people, do not show much deviation from the Kaaps still spoken at the Cape.
2. [2] ‘n Kaapser is someone who speaks Kaaps. We use the rule where –er is added to the language of the individual who speaks it to define him or herself, e.g., Nederlands ~ Nederlander; Afrikaans ~ Afrikaner; Duits ~ Duitser; Hollands ~ Hollander; Italiaans ~ Italianer.
3. [3] Paraphrased to select only the Afrikaners’ marginalising attitude toward Kaaps. From m.capetownmagazine.com.
4. [4] We would like to say from the start that we do not intend to cause anguish or hurt to Afrikaans speakers. We sometimes have no option but to state the facts the way they are.