Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Words across worlds: aspects of language contact and language learning in the Eastern Cape, 1800-1850 |
Author: | Mesthrie, Rajend |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | African Studies |
Volume: | 57 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 5-26 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | language history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00020189808707883 |
Abstract: | The first half of the 19th century was an important phase in the language history of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This period saw the introduction of English and the spread of the already established colonial language, Dutch. It was also the period of the beginnings of literacy in African languages, and the codification of what was to become standard Xhosa in grammars and dictionaries. Small numbers of runaway slaves carried not only Cape Dutch but possibly languages like Malay, and Bengali too. Missionaries brought their own versions of Dutch, German and other European languages. After a short description of how the missionaries communicated with the people they wished to convert, the article describes the kinds of languages that served in a frontier situation when interpreters were absent: sign language, simplified English, simplified Dutch/Afrikaans, simplified Xhosa, and a mixture of English, Cape Dutch and Xhosa. The article then focuses on the role of interpreters, who, although frequently portrayed in the colonial sources as passive intermediaries, were much more than that. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |