"Nederlandismes" in HAT

Abstract

Although there is concensus among linguists that Afrikaans and Dutch are related languages, and that Afrikaans originated from 17th century Dutch, the differences between present-day varieties of Afrikaans and Dutch serve as proof that we are dealing with two separate languages. These differences should be clearly visible in descriptive as well as normative sources of the two languages. However, the third edition of Verklarende Handewoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT) one of the leading Afrikaans standard monolingual dictionaries, contains headwords as well as microstructural information that do not agree with the reality of the Afrikaans of today. An empirical investigation conducted among Afrikaans-speaking dictionary users has proven that a significant Dutch influence is still prominent - in the micro- as well as the macrostructure of the dictionary. It is believed that the Dutch "thread" of many Afrikaans dictionaries has indirectly contributed towards the creation of a super-standard norm, which is partially responsible for the estrangement between the cultural language and the vernacular.