The Influence of English on Afrikaans

7.13 Semantic shift

It is difficult, and in fact almost superfluous, to treat semantic shift as a separate entity in this thesis, as the vast majority of the categories dealt with in chapter seven entail semantic shift as a matter of course to a greater or lesser degree. No new category is discussed here which is not mentioned elsewhere in this chapter under another heading.

[p. 224]

7.13.1 Extension of meaning

The most common form of semantic shift caused by the contact with English is an extension of meaning whereby an Afrikaans word, if one compares it with its cognate in Dutch, has assumed new meanings while usually not losing its original Diets meanings; the semantic fields of two words which were only partially synonymous have moved closer together so that the degree of overlapping has increased, for example: prop now covers almost every situation where English uses ‘plug’, whether it be a noun or a verb (cf. p. 233) - prop, muurprop, inprop where Dutch uses stekker, stopcontact, insteken and only rarely does Dutch prop render English ‘plug’. Diagramatically one can represent this difference as follows:

A and B = Dutch prop(pen)
B and C = English plug
D and E = Afrikaans prop
E and F = English plug

A and D represent, for example, contexts such as een/'n prop haar/hare or een/'n prop in de/die keel (meanings Eng. ‘plug’ does not have) and C and F represent to plug a hole (a meaning Afr. prop does not have).

One of the most common forms of extension of meaning is the adoption of figurative meanings by an Afrikaans word which its Dutch cognate does not have, but which the English word of which it is regarded to be the equivalent, does (whether cognate or not), for example: die petrolprys sny, die droogte het gebreek, ryk kos, die alternatiewe uitspel. Homophony with English cognates (cf. 7.14) is often at least partially the cause of such equations of meaning being made in the mind of the speaker as most of the examples given illustrate. But the terrain gained by onthou at the cost of jou herinner, two semantically quite distinct words in Dutch, is the result of English having only one lexeme for two Dutch semantemes which are each designated by a separate word. The semantic functions of Afrikaans bring and vat/neem correspond far more closely to English bring and take than Dutch brengen and nemen do, to quote another case, for example: Eng. I'll take you home, Afr. ek sal jou huis toe vat, Dt. ik breng je naar huis.

[p. 225]

Purism has also been the cause of semantic extension. Whereas the Dutch words plakkaat and poster are not synonymous, plakkaat covers the semantic fields of both in Afrikaans. Other examples of this phenomenon are: Dt. aflandig/off-shore > Afr. aflandig, Dt. draven/joggen > Afr. draf, Dt. fiks/fit > Afr. fiks, Dt. grimering/make-up > Afr. grimering.

7.13.2 Other forms of semantic shift

Sometimes English influence manifests itself in the semantics of Afrikaans by the frequency with which a word is used with a certain meaning. Under schaars Van Dale adds the comment (zelden) to the example ik zag hem schaars whereas ek het hom skaars gesien is quite common in Afrikaans. Artikel in the sense of item is given as definition one in HAT whereas in Van Dale it is definition five.

Another interesting isolated case is spinasie. As South African English (although it is also heard in Australia) ‘erroneously’ refers to the vegetable beta vulgaris as ‘spinach’, Afrikaans spinasie denotes the same plant, whereas in Holland, where beta vulgaris (silver beet) is virtually unknown (snijbiet?), spinazie is the name of spinacea oleracea. HAT gives spinasie as meaning spinacea oleracea, which is incorrect.