The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1903-08-07
BOER LANGUAGES.
The Different Kinds of Dutch Spoken
In south Africa.

In south Africa.
1t seems q strange thing 10 say, Dut
there are three Dutch languages in
South Africa. The earliest Dutch set
tiers at the Cape were largely Dutch
sailors and others belonging to the low
er orders of Amsterdam, Rotterdam
and other Dutch seaports. Their Ian
guage was 2 low Dutch dialect TO be-
gin with, and although tie 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
duial patoiS. Its degeneration was
doubtless largely brought about by do
nestle Servants and slaves-HOtten-
tots. Malays and Mozambique Kattirs-
who spoke It very imperfectly and in
PRODUCED into il 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
TaaI." 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 a lit
erary atrocity, and he cannot away
with it. but 10 the Afrikander it 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 10 the lOwland Scot,
| ana vet II is not language, for il has
! no literature.
The second Of the three Dutch lam
! g1IaocS referred to might be called "ec-
! cicsia-ticui Dutch" OF. if you like. AZ
| ricau Dutch. 1t is the language OF Hol-
| land rs that language was written
! about POO years ago. 1t is the language
! Of the Dutch Bible and very much re
! spmblps our own authorized version in
| its simplicity and directHcSS Of style.
1t is the language OF the Dutch psalm
| and Ge-aTG books and Of the devotion
| al works of old Dutch divines, which
| make uD the balance of the Dutch
! farmers literature. In it are also writ
| ten many tracts and IA few devotional
works by living ministers Of the Dutch
Reformed church. TO the Boer WHEREBY
! or YOU lind him il 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
terIuincd 10 preserve. 1t is never Spo
ken by Afriknndcrs among themselves
| however. ana il is never written gram
matically by them in their correspond
! encc. The B0er has no fear that hi:
"UuiS,taaL" Cape Dutch, viii die out
but fears that his children will forge
or neglect to learn the language of hit
church and of his fOrefathers.
The third Dutch language might ht
called modern literary or high Dutch
that is, the language written anC
spoken by educated HollanderS Of to
day. II is ford. involved in cOnStruC
ton ana very artificial in style IA com
pared with the laugual of the DutCl
Bible. Its pronunciation has ais
changed considerably in the interval
and even an educated Dutch speaking
| Afrikander listening to ii voluble Hol
lander can hardly make head or tai
of what he is saying SCOTSMAN