Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-03-17
BOER LANGUAGES.
the Different Kinds of Dutch Spoken
In South Africa.

the Different Kinds OF Dutcn SpokeA
In South Africa.
It seems q strange thing to say, Dut
there are three Dutch languages IN
South Africa. The earliest Dutch set
tiers at the Cape were largely Dutcn
sailors and others belonging to the low
er orders of Amsterdam, Rotterdam
and other Dutch seaports. Their IAN
guage was low Dutch dialect to be-
gin with, and although the sprinkling
of Dutch officers at the Cape did their
best to preserve the language OF the
Netherlands they could not prevent
the dialect of the settlers from still
further degenerating into mere COLO
ouial patois. Its degeneration was
doubtless largely brought about by do
nestle servants and slaves-Hotten-
tots, Malays and Mozambique kaftrs-
who spoke it very imperfectly and In
troduced into it many strange words
and idioms. This, then, is the genesis
of what is variously known as cape
Dutch" Kitchen Dutch" Patriot
Dutch" "Afrikaans" and "Afrikander
Taal." Its basis is Dutch, but the
nouns have lost their declensions and
the verbs their conjugations, while
grammatical gender and syntax gener'
ally have gone by the board. To the
educated Hollander Of today it is lit
erary atrocity, and he cannot away
with It, but to the Afrikander 1t Is his
mother tongue, the language OF his
home and his childhood, the exponent
of all that he knows Of humor and
pathos. 1t is full of expressive idioms,
pithy proverbs and pawky expressions,
like those so dear to the lowland Scot,
and yet it is not language, for 1t has
no literature.
The second of the three Dutch Ian
guages referred to might be called "ec-
clesiastical Dutch" or, if you like, Az
rican Dutch. 1t is the language of Hol-
land as that language was written
about 200 years ago. 1t is the language
of the Dutch Bible and very much re-
sembles our own authorized version In
its simplicity and directness Of style.
It is the language Of the Dutch psalm
and Gesang books and Of the devotion
al works of old Dutch divines, which
make up the balance Of the Dutch
farmers literature. In it are also Writ
ten many tracts and few devotional
works by living ministers Of the Dutch
Reformed church To the Boer wherev-
er you find him 1t is the language OF
his church and of his religion. This Is
| the Dutch language which the leaders
| of the Dutch Afrikander party are de-
termined to preserve. 1t Is never spo-
ken by Afrikanders among themselves,
| however, and it is never written gram
matically by them in their correspond
ence. The Boer has no fear that his
"Huis-taal," Cape Dutch, will die out,
but fears that his children will forget
or neglect to learn the language OF his
church and of his forefathers.
| The third Dutch language might be
called modern literary or high Dutch
that is, the language written and
spoken by educated Hollanders OF to-
day. 1t is ford, involved in construc-
ton and very artificial in style as com
| pared with the language Of the Dutch
Bible. Its pronunciation has also
changed considerably in the interval,
and even an educated Dutch speaking
Afrikander listening to voluble Hol-
lander can hardly make head or tall
Of what he is saying.-Scotsman.