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Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory
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Afrikaans Language,
Literature and Identity
Johan van Wyk
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80 Theoria
[The languag
laws, no prin
of the thoug
consciousnes
It is during
synonymou
the Afrikan
part of the
The furtherance of an own literature became one of the main
objectives of the second language movement (1905-1925). Litera-
ture, at the second congress of the Afrikaans Language Society in
December 1908 was seen as one of the chief means by which the volk
could be reconciled with the language. A people without a literature, a
people that did not read, was described by Preller as a deaf-and-dumb
people. Preller concluded his article 'Laat 't ons toch ernst wezen' by
quoting Eugène Marais' poem 'Winternag', proving that 'sublime
feelings' could be expressed in an Afrikaans literature.
Although the language and the literature came to be seen as
essential elements of the character of the people or the volk , the
coincidence of language and national identity was not complete as is
shown by General Hertzog's view that Afrikaans and English
speakers who believe in the dictum 'South Africa first' are Afrikaners.
This was the dominant view until 1934 when D.F. Malan broke away
from Hertzog and Smuts' s United Party to form the Purified National
Party.
In the early years of this century many 'Afrikaners' maintained that
Dutch and not Afrikaans was the language of the Afrikaner. In the
Geref. Maandblad of Sept. 1905 a Prof. Marais said referring to
Afrikaans:
The kitchen language which is glorified in Pretoria ... is not the language
of the cultured Afrikaner. (Pienaar, p. 33)
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Afrikaans Language , Literature and Identity 81
II
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82 Theoria
... we speak o
leave at twen
day, yet eve
different. Or
street even t
remains. (De
Applying th
identity also
are constant
point to th
continuous flux.
The linguistic sign according to De Saussure is in essence a 4 value',
the same is true of a group name. The word 'Afrikaner' evokes a
reality not in that it refers to a material or a fixed conceptual entity, but
because it functions as a value. De Saussure explains the relationship
between identity, value and material entity with the example of a
chess game. Answering the question whether the knight in itself is an
element in the game, he says:
Certainly not, for by its material make-up - outside the square and the
other conditions of the game - it means nothing to the player; it becomes a
real, concrete element only when endowed with value and wedded to it.
Suppose that the piece happens to be destroyed or lost during the game.
Can it be replaced by an equivalent piece? Certainly. Not only another
knight but even a figure shorn of any resemblance to a knight can be
declared identical provided the same value is attributed to it. We see then
that in semiological systems like language, where elements hold each other
in equilibrium in accordance with fixed rules, the notion of identity blends
with that of value and vice versa. (De Saussure, p. 1 10)
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Afrikaans Language . Literature and Identity 83
This passage brings out the artificial nature of the identity; iden
not something that people have within themselves, that they are
with, but something they have to be taught. It has no reality o
history, outside the discursive system in which the particular re
between the values constituting the game of national ident
shaped and developed.
Value when ascribed to the term Afrikaner implies (a) a co
tional and arbitrary relation between the sound-image 4 Afrikan
the concept of the 'Afrikaner' at a particular point in history;
relation between the concept and other similar concepts like En
or Zulu. Value then is governed by the principles of 4 a dissimilar
that can be exchanged for the thing of which the value is
determined' (De Saussure, p. 115), and a relationship with si
constructs of identity which are compared differentially wi
another. Identity therefore presupposes a relationship with the
identities or values within a world system of identities, a syste
which relationships are continuously changing and which are di
gically and dialectically defined by the conflicting economi
ideological forces underlying the different identities. The ideol
and economic struggles define the value or values evoked b
identity.
Because of this continuously changing nature of the system of
national identities in the world it is necessary to look at identity from
the point of view of diachrony and synchrony. Diachrony would for
instance refer to the succession of definitions of the Afrikaner in
history. Herman Giliomee in 'The Beginnings of Afrikaner Ethnic
Consciousness, 1850-1912' (Vail 1989) gives a list of such a
succession of definitions. According to him the term Afrikaner was
used
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84 Theoria
within the
structure of
One of the
time implie
became dom
to a racial a
formed Pur
This defini
definitive f
saw Afrik
Afrikaner a
he said:
(Afrikaans) is our most splendid glory, our highest possession: the one and
only white man's language, which was made in South Africa and did not
come ready-made from overseas ... it is the one bond which unites us as a
nation: the expressed soul of our people. (Pienaar, p. 63)
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Afrikaans Language , Literature and Identity 85
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86 Theoria
standard lang
and the Afri
Preller Afri
Afrikaans is
process the e
an essential r
Ill
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Afrikaans Language , Literature and Identity 87
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88 Theoria
These proje
languages: J
became the editor of the Imvo Zabantsundu which was launched in
November 1884. The Xhosa grammar A systematic vocabulary of the
Kaffrarian language in two parts ; to which is prefixed an introduction
to Kaffrarian grammar of 1826 predated by a few decades the first
grammars in Afrikaans such as the Eerste Beginsels van die
Afrikaanse taal of 1876 and Fergelykende Taalkunde Fan Afrikaans
en Engels of 1882. In the editorial of the first Die Afrikaanse Patriot
Afrikaners were urged to write Afrikaans because of the fact that other
African languages were in the process of becoming written langu-
ages:
Write your language! They are writing Kaffir languages and Bushmen
clicks presently. Why should we then smother our language? (p. 3)
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Afrikaans Language, Literature and Identity 89
University of Durban-WestviUe
Durban
NOTES
REFERENCES
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