Abstract

STAPHORST, Luan. Oranjerivierafrikaans: 'n Argeologiese genealogie. Deel IV: 19992021. SPiL plus (Online) [online]. 2024, vol.68, pp.65-86. ISSN 2224-3380.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5842/68-1-941.

This last part of a four-part article series investigates the history of sociolinguistics relative to Orange River Afrikaans, one of Afrikaans's three main dialect continuas, from the period 1999 to 2021. Grounded in linguistic historiography broadly construed, and Michel Foucault's archaeological and genealogical orientations specifically, this part of the article sketches how the intellectual history of Orange River Afrikaans in this period can be summarised as the Zeitgeist of textuality. This period sees the height of the study of written texts - of both archival and creative writing. A final discussion focuses on the discourse of "romantic curiosa", a discourse that has pervaded the study of Orange River Afrikaans since the onset of Afrikaans sociolinguistics. The writings and research of, amongst others, Sanet du Plessis, Frank Hendricks, Annél Otto, Elvis Saal, Donovan Lawrene, Carla Luijks, Luan Staphorst, Camilla Christie, Daan Wissing, and Hendrik Theys are discussed. Through this, the article series challenges four central and dominant presuppositions on Orange River Afrikaans, namely that there are limited sources available relative to it, that it constitutes an "invisible" language form, that it can be typified as an expression of Black Afrikaans, and that Kaaps (Cape Afrikaans), rather than Orange River Afrikaans, should be regarded as the "oldest" form of Afrikaans.

Keywords : Orange River Afrikaans; ethnolect; geolect; Afrikaans sociolinguistics; linguistic historiography; intellectual history.

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