On reconstructing variation in Cape Dutch (1710-1840)

Abstract

Allar voro af scafilar, prer er voro a ristnar, oc hverfOar vi(\ inn helga mio(\, oc sendar a vi (\a vega (Sigrdrijuma/18) In this essay I shall address some methodological issues concerning the reconstruction of variation in the early history of Afrikaans (roughly 1710-1840), with a view toward theorizing the mechanisms and sociolinguistic forces that underlie the formation of this language. Since discussions of the methodology of evaluating our Cape Dutch source material have been mostly sketchy, and since most scholars have neglected to make their methodology explicit, it is natural that much has been assumed that will not bear up under close scrutiny.I shall not take up the tired question as to whether Afrikaans is a creole or semicreole. The answer to this question is ultimately decisionistic, depending on one's point of view. If one defines a creole on the basis of certain sociohistorical conditions, specifically, as a language variety that developed out of contact between western European languages and non-European languages in an extraterritorial setting and involving people born in the colonies of nonidigenous parents, thenAfrikaans would certainly meet that definition. In this respect, Afrikaans stands apart from extraterritorial varieties of language that developed from contact of diverse metropolitan dialects (and only these), indigenized varieties of western European languages (e.g., Indian and West African