Known for its intelligence, disease-resistance and excellent adaptation to harsh African conditions, the breed evolved in association with humans, instead of being artificially bred in the manner of European breeds. From the Khoisan.Īccrual – noun – South African legal principle whereby a person going through a divorce may, if the value of their property has increased less than that of their spouse, claim at half of the difference in the accumulated value of their joint property.Īfricanis – noun – Indigenous breed of African dog, thought to be distantly related to other landrace dogs such as the dingo. From the isiXhosa umkwetha, plural abakwetha.Ībba – verb – Carry a child secured to one’s back with a blanket.
From the Afrikaans aard (earth) and wolf (wolf)Ībakwetha (a-ba-kwe-ta) – noun, plural – Young Xhosa men being initiated into manhood at initiation school. From the Afrikaans aard (earth) and vark (pig).Īardwolf (aard-volf) – noun – African burrowing mammal Proteles cristatus, a member of the hyena family, which feeds mainly on termites. It’s estimated that half the population has a speaking knowledge of the language.īelow is a glossary of the more common words unique to South African English.Ī | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | XYZĪardvark (aard-fark) – noun – African burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, with a tubular snout and long tongue which it uses to feed on ants and termites. Here and there are words imported from other British and Dutch colonies, such as India and Indonesia, as well as from later immigrants – Greeks, Lebanese, Eastern European Jews, Portuguese, and more.Īccording to South Africa’s 2011 census, English is spoken as a home language by 8.2% of the population. The English spoken in South Africa also shows the influence of other local languages – isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, and the languages of the Khoisan and Nama people. The greatest influence is probably from Afrikaans, an African language developed out of Dutch.
Over the decades the language has evolved into a distinct dialect, with a vocabulary strongly influenced by indigenous languages.
English has been spoken in South Africa for over 200 years, at least since the British seized the Cape of Good Hope territory in 1795, and quite possibly long before.
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