South African Englishn.adj.
/ˌsaʊθ ˌafrᵻk(ə)n ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/, U.S. /ˌsaʊθ ˌæfrək(ə)n ˈɪŋ(ɡ)lɪʃ/ A. n.
1. Any of several varieties of English spoken in South Africa, especially as a first language.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > other varieties of English
French English1553
Black English1734
Rock English1843
South African English1855
Canadian English1857
Canadian1910
Bermudian English1933
Ozarkian1949
World English1957
Japlish1960
White English1969
Konglish1970
Singlish1984
World English-
1855 Bristol Mercury 1 Sept. 6/3 South African English. By men, language of Cape Colony, whites are meant—people is applied solely to blacks.
1868 R. C. Trench Eng. Past & Present (rev. ed.) ii. 47 In quite recent times, South African English, spoken in the presence of a large Dutch population at the Cape, has acquired such words as ‘to treck’, ‘to inspan’, ‘to outspan’, ‘spoor’, [etc.].
1911 Jrnl. Race Devel. 2 138 The addition of Dutch and of native words is already causing South African English to depart from the mother-tongue.
1979 L. W. Lanham & C. A. Macdonald Standard in S. Afr. Eng. & its Social Hist. Pref. 3 The ‘explanation’ we offer of formal speech behaviour in present-day South African English is based on empirical and circumstantial evidence.
1994 Times 1 Apr. 9 One perennial feature of South African English,..its almost omnivorous capacity to absorb words from other cultures.
2004 R. Lass in R. Hickey Legacies Colonial Eng. xiii. 363 The phrase ‘cluster of varieties’ is important; ‘South African English’ (henceforth SAE) is no more monolithic than any other English.
2. South Africans of English descent, considered collectively. Also in later use: English-speaking South Africans. Now rare.
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1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 18 Dec. 1/2 We cannot allow the Boers to be encouraged in the belief that they will ever be able to drive the South African English into the sea.
1889 Times of India 5 June 6 No one thinks yet of the South African English as a nation.
1896 Guardian 1 July 1015/1 The South African English are loyal to the core.
1900 Contemp. Rev. Feb. 197 Few of us in England knew how deep the iron had entered into the soul of the South African English in those days.
1903 Sat. Rev. 17 Jan. 69/2 Mr. Chamberlain will doubtless exhibit as generous a confidence in the sane humanity of the South African English as he has already exhibited in their patriotism.
1973 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 25 Feb. (Mag. section) 10 It has been said that the South African English agree with the Progs, vote United Party, and thank God for the Nats.
B. adj.
Of or relating to South African English-speakers or the variety of English spoken by them. Also: that is written or spoken in South African English; (of a person) that speaks or writes South African English.
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1876 S. Afr.: Further Corr. Proposed Bill (1877) 14 in Parl. Papers (C. 1732) LX. 25 Gentlemen, this is a great duty, to which I am satisfied the South African English communities are fully alive.
1892 J. E. Ritchie Brighter S. Afr. 114 The traveller is disappointed when he takes up a South African English newspaper.
1899 Times 5 July 15/1 A view which may be described as the South African English view of the situation.
1929 D. Hopwood S. Afr. Eng. Pronunc. Introd. 1 It has been said..that the English language in Australia is developing on lines of its own... The same criticism..could be made of South African English pronunciation.
1947 S. Afr. Jrnl. Sci. 43 112 I refer to the pronunciation of cultured South African English speakers and not..to an extreme pronunciation of the uneducated.
1960 Our First Half-cent., 1910–60 i. iii. 207/1 The development of South African English writing since Union must be seen against a background of intense social and economic change.
1987 S. Afr. Jrnl. Afr. Lang. July 97/1 In 1895 three stories by the South African English author, Olive Schreiner, appeared in Leselinyana under the general title of Tsomo (Tale).
2015 L. Siebers in A. Auer et al. Let. Writing & Lang. Change 256 Singular were is not unknown; it also occurs in..early South African English writing and Northern Irish English.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1855