ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that two interrelated trajectories in Afrikanerdom shaped the ideological character of Afrikaans historical linguistics: namely, the symbolic universe defined by civil religion and social philosophy and the comparative/historical paradigm. The salient linguistic attitudes of Afrikaners are indisputably rooted in their struggle to maintain ethno-racial separation. The consensus outside South Africa is that Afrikaans reflects a semicreolized variety of Dutch that traces its roots to language contact between Europeans, the aboriginal Khoikhoi and slaves of African and Asian origin. Afrikaner group consciousness and solidarity find their origin in the 1870s as a reaction to the British imperial factor. Using arguments and evidence of a 'sociological nature, Belcher focuses on the interdependence rather than discreteness of European, African and Asian determinants during the formative periods. The shift in focus lends support to the premise that the ideological character of Afrikaans historical linguistics has been largely congruent with significant developments in culture.
