Resumen

SCHUTTE, GJ (Gerrtt). A forgotten participant in the triangular battle between Dutch, Afrikaans and English, early 20th Century: CJ van Rijn. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2025, vol.65, n.3, pp.776-798. ISSN 2224-7912.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2025/v65n3a2.

After 31 May 1902, English was the language of government throughout South Africa. However, large parts of the (white) population spoke and wrote Dutch, and (like among others also the so-called Cape Coloureds) spoke informal Afrikaans. The politically important language issue divided education into proponents and opponents of free and public education, of English, Dutch or Afrikaans as a medium. In that context, CJ van Rijn (1863-1944) - a Dutch teacher, recruited by Dr. Mansvelt for Transvaal education (1898), working in Cape Town from 1901 - fulfilled a not unimportant if controversial role as a teacher, writer and publisher of educational material and as a linguist. He was a propagandist of the Dutch language, after 1905 in simplified spelling, and finally of Afrikaans, which according to him was purely Dutch and not a Malay-Portuguese galley language. Although his work and views may have been forgotten, he is part of a broader history of language formation and political-cultural development and therefore deserves a place in a historiography that has the task of doing justice to the people of that time. This justifies therefore, a study of the correspondence and publications of the forgotten Van Rijn. Van Rijn was born into a strict Roman Catholic farming family in Bleiswijk, near Rotterdam. His youth was difficult: he stuttered, felt rejected and his marriage was not happy. As a teacher he developed well, obtained certificates for all modern languages and became head of a village school. However, his criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and clergy brought him into conflict with the Church and in 1898 he was dismissed as headmaster. A lawsuit later refuted all false accusations of misconduct. He left the Roman Catholic church, attended catechism classes with the Reformed minister of Arnhem and made a confession of faith. This also meant a break with his wife and children. Through the Study Fund for Dutch Education in South Africa he emigrated to the Transvaal Republic in December 1898, where Superintendent of Education Dr. N Mansvelt attracted Dutch orthodox Protestant teachers. This background is not just biographically important, but it forms the breeding ground for Van Rijn's intense commitment to the idea of spiritual and cultural freedom. In Transvaal, Van Rijn knew, he would be free to practice his faith and his profession without oppression. He finds peace in Wonderfontein, but the Anglo-Boer War brought him to Cape Town in 1901. The English domination provided Van Rijn with another conflict ground. His work as a teacher was undermined by English and pro-British authorities; he lost his position, his house, even his books - but not his urge to write and teach. From 1906 Van Rijn started an impressive publishing project. He published reading books, grammar books, dictionaries and exercise books, school and adults, often self-funded or annotated. He was a strong supporter of the simplified Kollewijn spelling of Dutch and his goal was to make the reading of Dutch (through the sound method) attractive to South African users - this was his response to the rise of English and Afrikaans. Van Rijn's work was therefore not just linguistic or educational, but a form of cultural resistance. As part of what he regarded as "mother tongue rights" he fought for Dutch education, and against the loss of a cultural language. His view of Dutch as culturally superior and his opposition to English was not just a personal view; the Greater Netherlands vision was embedded in a European cultural-imperialist world view. Van Rijn's most typical, but also most controversial argument is expressed in his book The very close connection between Afrikaans and Dutch (1914). In this linguistic argument he argued that Afrikaans is not a Creole or a mixed language, but a more simplified continuation of Dutch colloquialism. He rejects the influence of Malay-Portuguese or other languages on Afrikaans and interprets grammatical and phonological simplification as a sign of continuity, not degeneracy. The book is polemical in tone, has unorthodox typography, and is full of conviction. This is precisely why it is an important document of its time. Linguists dismissed Van Rijn's theory as unfounded and unscientific. Others, such as the writer, poet and influential editor Herman Robbers, praised the book's basic statement - that Afrikaans is Dutch. Indeed, Van Rijn's book was not an academic work, his view that Afrikaans is a simplified Dutch spoken language (this view formed part of GG Kloeke's research area) was not based on an academic study but was a militant plea with a clear political and cultural agenda. In his book Van Rijn rejected the view that there were any Asian or non-Western influences on Afrikaans and, as such, cannot be separatedf rom the racial undertones ofthe time. However, to simply label Van Rijn as an "apartheid thinker" is reductive, historically inaccurate, and disregards both his personal context and the idealism of the era. Van Rijn never received recognition from academic institutions. His request to be awarded an MA degree on the basis of years of work was rejected. What makes Van Rijn unique is not just his impressive production, but his position as a pivotal figure: he helped Dutch teachers to establish themselves, provided practical advice, and acted as a mediator between Dutch and Afrikaans educational interests. His influence was far-reaching and his legacy lives on in the students and teachers who learned through his books, even though these eventually became outdated due to socio-cultural developments. He opposed the official recognition of Afrikaans, but ironically his work contributed to the strengthening of Afrikaner self-awareness and ultimately the official recognition of Afrikaans. Despite his shortcomings, Van Rijn, in a time when language is an area of struggle, identity and power, shows how language, education and ideology are inextricably intertwined.

Palabras clave : South Africa; identity and mother tongue law; cultural imperialism; language ideology; language continuity Afrikaans-Dutch; language education; simplified spelling of Dutch language; educational materials; historiographic forgetfulness; CJ van Rijn.

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