Language had been an indelible part of the human race since communication was made many hundreds of years ago. Even though early types of these exchanges were characterized by sign language and animal-like sounds that may be deemed unintelligible today, mankind had the inclination to share ideas and advance the human course. Simply put, language played a key role in human civilization. Through the development of speech, many systems of words would later be born and form many codes of communication. Among these codes would be a South African language called Afrikaans, whose birth was preceded by other codes with different systems from the native community.
Some versions of history say that, even though Afrikaans origins owe much to the European colonizers that took over Africa, it borrowed many words from African languages to forge its identity. However, its journey to become a formidable communication medium was never an easy one when it started. English and Dutch were more popular and established languages among European settlers of that era.
By the time the newspaper business took off, not much had changed in terms of the dominant languages. Nevertheless, this mass media product would play a vital role in positioning Afrikaans as a formidable means of communication that would maintain this strength to modern times.
The editor of the first Afrikaans newspaper (Die Afrikaanse Patriot), S.J. Du Toit, is credited for his contribution to the rise of Afrikaans. This he’s said to have done through encouraging people to read and write in the new language, as Afrikaans was perceived to be towards the end of the 1800s. Around this time, Imvo Zabantsundu, the first black newspaper written in Isixhosa, would also be introduced under the editorship of John Tengo Jabavu. This was also an important milestone for the Xhosa-speaking people, whose language would also enjoy the status of being one of the limited codes used to write the stories of that period in spite the prevailing inequalities.
With the change in the political landscape, Afrikaans would later wear an ugly face selected and glorified by the oppressive regime of Apartheid. This was achieved through forcing the language on to the black masses whose own languages were not afforded the same status as the Eurocentric ones. This move was not only insensitive towards the existence of black languages, but was extremely contemptuous too.
Soweto would ignite a flame that would engulf South Africa in a fight to claim identity and preserve black heritage. The results of such protests would leave behind many wounds that South Africa is still battling to heal even today.
One attempt in dealing with these wounds, at least for other less recognized Afrikaans-speaking community is Afrikaaps, a documentary addressing the distorted or omitted parts of language history. This project is a result of a request Catherine Henegan proposed to film-maker, Dylan Valley, to document the journey the theatre piece she directed took in telling the unknown side of Afrikaans.
The release of this documentary saw sold-out screenings at this year’s Encounters Film festival held in Cape Town. One of the underlying lessons the film seems to be driving across is the power that a language has if nurtured well. It certainly encourages the mind to look deeper into other aspects of language that may help with the understanding needed when the dynamics of cultural evolution become complex.
Of the motivation behind this work and through narration in the film, Valleys says: “Afrikaaps, the theatre production seeks to affirm this language as an important language like others. In modern South Africa, Afrikaans is generally seen as a European language. However, there is a side to this language, the creole birth of Afrikaans which has been suppressed and overlooked for centuries. Afrikaaps, the theatre production was a step towards finding that history.’
From the opening sequences of the film, whose name refers to the Cape Town variation of Afrikaans, one observes how the dialect used by the coloured people is presented.
“The Kaaps dialect of Afrikaans is spoken mostly by the coloured community in Cape Town, a people with diverse cultural heritage. Kaaps is always represented in the media as laughable and somehow lower than the official Afrikaans,” Valley narrates on as the Afrikaaps story unfolds.
The ability to empower or dis-empower people, as with the past events, is shown through the use of newspaper clippings that depict how language is presented at times. One remembers the taunts about the language that are prevalent in streets; they range from attacks for grammar use to what may be termed proper accent.
The shots that follow focus on the language’s history. They are records which tell an intriguing story backed by startling findings. The first is told by Dr Neville Alexander, an Educationalist and Political Activist with The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa:
‘If the Khoi, the san and particularly the slaves, were not forced to learn Dutch, or to speak it, then the Afrikaans language would not have existed,” he says.
Images of three prominent indigenous people in Autshumoa, Krotoa and Doman, whose respective roles are seen as important in moulding Afrikaans in its infancy stages, are shown as researchers that include Patrick Mellet (Cape Slavery Heritage) and Saarah Jappie (Timbouctou Manuscripts Project) explore the genesis of this language.
“Until about the 1870s, or there about Afrikaans was seen as a kitchen, a Hottentots language, a language that no one took seriously. Afrikaans was the language of the servants, the lower class and so on. Dutch was a language of aspiration,” Dr Alexander adds more detail broadening the scope of involvement of the indigenous people to the development of Afrikaans.
It’s clear even from these early stages of development that the dynamics around languages were thorny issues as demonstrated by the contrasting versions of the recorded past.
Dr Alexander goes on to say: “But from 1875, the society of true Afrikaaners wanted to spread the bible and Christianity, amongst other Afrikaans speakers, the so-called brown people. They began to standardize Afrikaans. All the words that originated form Malay, or Khoi or whatever, with a few exceptions, those words were left out of the lexicon. If you consult an Afrikaans dictionary now, you’ll see “dankie” (thank you) and what it means. But you won’t see ‘tramakassie’ as a synonym. So that’s the kind of thing that needs to change.’
It emerges as a great surprise that the first written form of Afrikaans was in Arabic text. It’s an interesting aspect of this language that Saarah Jappie shares. She goes further to mention that she had met a mainstream scholar who did not know of the Arabic-text side of Afrikaans.
In light of these revelations, the descendents of the Khoi, Malay and the San people have a legitimate claim to this language too.
One of the moving parts of the film is when Emile, a cast member, suggests that some of the cast and crew members visit Lavender Hill High School in Cape Flats, to get a sense of how kids who speak Afrikaaps feel about the language.
“How would you guys feel if Afrikaans was legal language, or official language, the language you speak at home?” Moenier asks the class of enthused pupils.
“All children would pass Afrikaans so well,” one of them replies, to which they all laugh merrily.
“It’s almost like some people think it’s a bastard language. Pure Afrikaans is at the top, and Cape Afrikaans is at the bottom,” another pupil adds somberly.
The evidence of prejudice doesn’t get clearer as with these children’s experience of the language.
In another moving collaborative performance with Kyle Shepherd, Jitsvinger accompany the tinkling on the keys with poetic lament that says:
”…We are now classified as poor, voiceless, stupid. Who is going to bring us the rain?”
As the film nears to the end, the cast together with the two directors appear in succession that epitomizes what ownership of language could be about as illustrated by their work. Some take vows while others put their joint work into context:
* “I can’t believe I sang this my whole life, and no one told me, listen, this is where it comes from,” ~ Moenier
* “I would make excuse when I spoke Afrikaans. I’d say, listen, excuse me, my Afrikaans is a little messed up. But now I make no excuses. This is how I speak, take it or leave it,” ~ Emile.
* “If you don’t know where you come from, or where the language that you speak comes from, then you’ll always feel lost, because you won’t know where you’re going, where you’re headed,” ~ Blaq pearl
* “The message that Afrikaaps is, is essential bigger than the show and that needs to spread,” ~ Kyle Shepherd.
* “You’re not lesser than someone who speaks Afrikaans, you who speaks Afrikaaps,” ~ Bliksemsatraal
* “I’m just amazed that you can make work like this and it has real historical consequences,” ~ Catherine Henegan.
* “I hope that all our hard-work will be fruitful,” ~ Jethro Louw.
* “Your forefathers, they are in your blood, right? So speak in your mother tongue! If you do that, you keep them alive,” ~ jitsvinger
* “Even though I didn’t speak Afrikaans growing up, I’m now proud of the language, and I see it as part of who I am, even if my conversation is a bit messed up,” ~ Dylan Valley.
Black linguists and cultural activists are fighting for the ownership and revival of their languages on many levels. Afrikaaps, which is doing this impressively well, is certainly woelag/kwaai/duidelik as the ending glossary feed echoes.
© Deon Simphiwe Skade
