Afrikaans was first introduced in Namibia’s current territory by migrant Oorlam and Baster
groups who imposed it in its Cape Dutch form as a prestige language and inter-ethnic medium
of communication. The status of Afrikaans in Namibia was consolidated during the South
African regime which systematically promoted it while preventing indigenous languages from
spreading out of their intra-ethnic contexts of use. A linguistic consequence of independence,
which Namibia gained in 1990, was that English suddenly became the country’s only official
language, as well as the dominant language in education. Despite the hegemonic status that
English acquired in Namibia, Afrikaans is today still popularly represented as the main lingua
franca in Namibia, or at least as an important one. However, the position of Afrikaans in
urban areas could nowadays be under threat from the sustained influx of migrants from
Namibia’s northern districts, including those that constitute the traditional homeland of the
Ovambo, the country’s numerically dominant group, where English is better known than
Afrikaans. An indication of the pressure that Afrikaans might be subject to in Windhoek,
Namibia’s capital city, is the demographic preponderance that the Ovambo group has locally
acquired within the last three decades. Based on a qualitative survey conducted among an
ethnoracially representative sample of young Namibians, this article provides a description
of the status and use of Afrikaans in contemporary Windhoek, as well as a reflection on its
potential for locally maintaining itself as a lingua franca. It generally shows that Afrikaans
has to compete with English in that function, while indigenous languages are still largely
restricted to intra-ethnic contexts of use. Afrikaans is clearly perceived as the lingua franca
with more “covert prestige” in that it is associated with informality and a sense of local identity. By contrast, English is generally associated with overt prestige and formal functions,
and it is characteristically used as a lingua franca within groups that do not understand
Afrikaans, such as among particular Ovambo migrants. It is not enough, however, to give an
account of Windhoek’s sociolinguistic profile in which English and Afrikaans are presented
as the two main lingua francas without specifying which form of Afrikaans is used in which
contexts as a lingua franca. Standard varieties of Afrikaans do not seem to possess enough
neutrality to function as a medium of inter-ethnic interaction as they are perceptually
amalgamated with “White Afrikaans”, that is, the linguistic marker of an ethnoracial group,
namely, the Afrikaners, that is still largely seen as self-insulating in the context of Windhoek.
Those varieties of Afrikaans perceived as more neutral for the purpose of inter-ethnic
communication are Coloured varieties of Afrikaans, with which various Non-Coloured ethnic groups seem to identify. However, there are indications that English rather than those varieties
tends to be used by Non-Whites in communication with Whites, even when Afrikaans is
notionally shared as a native language. Where Standard Afrikaans is used in inter-ethnic
communication, it is mostly unilaterally by Afrikaners, as it is apparently not widely used in
informal contexts outside of that group. Also relevant to a description of the uses of Afrikaans
as a lingua franca in the context of Windhoek is the practice among Non-Whites of combining
it with English in the form of Afrikaans-English mixed codes. As regards the long-term prospects
of Afrikaans in Windhoek, the data suggest that Afrikaans in its local Coloured varieties has
potential for spreading as an attribute of a local urban identity among migrant groups, as it
already has done among Ovambo born in the city or in the southern districts in general, to
the point that language shift might be taking place among them from Oshiwambo to
combinations of Afrikaans and English.
Die geskiedenis van Afrikaans in Namibië begin in die laat 18de eeu, toe Kaap-Hollands oor
die Oranjerivier heen versprei is deur noordwaarts-migrerende Oorlams uit die Kaapkolonie.
Kaap-Hollands, en later Afrikaans, het van dié tyd af ontwikkel tot ’n medium vir interetniese
kommunikasie, waarvan die oorwig verder versterk is onder die Suid-Afrikaanse bewind (ca.
1920–1990). Vandag moet Afrikaans wedywer met Engels, wat Namibië se enigste amptelike
taal geword het ná die land se onafhanklikheid in 1990. Op grond van perseptuele gegewens
wat verkry is by ’n steekproef van jong Windhoekse inwoners, wys hierdie artikel dat Afrikaans
in die stedelike konteks aansienlike bedekte prestige besit as ’n medium vir interetniese
kommunikasie, terwyl Engels tipies gebruik word binne formele kontekste en vir kommunikasie
met onlangse migrante uit die noordelike distrikte, waar Afrikaans histories minder sigbaar is.
Die artikel toon ook aan dat die Kleurlingvariant van Afrikaans groter potensiaal het as
Standaardafrikaans om as ’n neutrale taalkeuse te fungeer binne die interetniese konteks van
kommunikasie tussen “nie-wit” etniese groepe omdat Standaardafrikaans gesien word as ’n
kenmerk van lidmaatskap van die wit groep. Die posisie van Afrikaans as ’n lingua franca kan
in die toekoms bedreig word deur ononderbroke migrasiestrome uit die noorde. Maar aanduidings
dat taalverskuiwing dikwels plaasvind na Afrikaans (en Engels) onder lank reeds verstedelikte
lede van noordelike etniese groepe, dui daarop dat daar nog ruimte is vir die status quo.
