Home Featured Nearly 500 years since inception, the Kaaps language gets its first dictionary
FeaturedJulie AlliLifestyleNewsSouth Africa

Nearly 500 years since inception, the Kaaps language gets its first dictionary

by Zahid Jadwat
written by Zahid Jadwat

CAPE TOWN – It is a historic moment for Kaaps, often referred to as the ‘language of the Cape Flats working class’, as the language gets its first dictionary.

 

 The Trilingual Dictionary of Kaaps has been launched in the Kaaps, Afrikaans and English languages; by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) along with community NGO Heal the Hood Project. 

 

Kaaps, also known as Afrikaaps, was developed in settler colonial South Africa by the 1500s. The language formed during encounters between indigenous Khoi and San, South-East Asian, Dutch, Portuguese and English people.

 

Language, not a dialect

 

Quentin Williams, Director of CMDR and an Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Linguistics Department at UWC, explained why it is important to understand that Kaaps is a language, not a dialect.

 

“It is a language and not a dialect because a dialect is seems to suggest that it’s a variety of a language. When, you talk about empowerment issues of speakers today, when you refer to a dialect all talk about empowerment stops, but if it’s a language you know that this is a system of signs. It is governed by rules and it’s used by a community of speakers,” he said.
 
“Appropriation”
 
 
Whilst the language was first taught in madrassahs (Islamic schools) and was written in Arabic script, it is argued that Kaaps was deprived of the ‘standardisation process’ when it was “appropriated” by Afrikaners.
 
Williams said that the development of the dictionary is “the first real step towards the empowerment of the speakers of Kaaps”.
 
 

 
Julie Alli spoke to Quentin Williams, Director of the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) and an Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), on News & Views. Watch the full discussion here.
 

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