The Influence of English on Afrikaans
(1991)–Bruce Donaldson–
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd7.17 Plural formation7.17.1The following nouns can be used in the plural in Dutch too but only when more than one item is referred to, for example: one set of ‘headphones’ in Dutch is een koptelefoon whereas two sets are koptelefoons; oorfone on the other hand, like ‘headphones’, has both meanings in Afrikaans:
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7.17.2The following nouns cannot be quantified in Dutch, in as far as they exist in that language, and thus their use in the plural in Afrikaans is most probably English inspired:
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[pagina 238]
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7.17.3The following proper nouns occur in the plural because they have a plural form in English:
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7.17.4The following are individual cases of English inspired plurals:
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7.17.5It is not usual in European languages other than English for plurals such as the following to be used (i.e. those in bold print):
In such cases those languages regard each house as having only one roof, each person as lying in only one grave, each baby as having only one life etc. In Afrikaans there is a choice between the singular and the plural; the two compete with each other in free variation. Presumably the plural forms have arisen under the influence of English, although such plurals are occasionally heard in Dutch too. | ||||||||||||||
7.17.6As a result of parallel development in Afrikaans and English, -s plurals are more common in Afrikaans than in Dutch, although not as common as in English. Although the plural arms (< Dutch dialect) is not the result of English influence, dwelms (a shortened form of dwelmmiddels) is most probably modelled on ‘drugs’. Although bioskoop and masjien officially take -e in the plural, one occasionally hears -s, presumably because the speaker regards them as loanwords; kleims, sardiens, tjeks and tjops, on the other hand, officially take -s because they are still regarded as loanwords, despite the graphical assimilation they have undergone. Trems/tremme and pêls/pêlle would seem to indicate that these loanwords have progressed a little further along the road to complete | ||||||||||||||
[pagina 239]
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assimilation, whereas hotelle, plotte (plotjie) and tamponne have gone even further - or is an -s plural in trems and pêls just as indigenously Afrikaans as an -e plural? | ||||||||||||||
7.17.7Weights, measures, currencies and expressions of time (i.e. uur, jaar) which are usually in the singular after numerals in Dutch, are found in the plural much more frequently in Afrikaans than is the case in Dutch. Nevertheless, ik heb vyf uren staan wachten is possible in Dutch although a certain emphasis on the amount of time one spent waiting is then implied, which is not necessarily the case in Afrikaans. The same applies to the use of jaar. The following are however most probably due to English influence:
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7.17.8It is very common in Afrikaans to see firms referred to as droogskoonmakers, brilmakers, bloemiste, algemene handelaars etc. If the firm were Cloete en seuns algemene handelaars there would be a logical reason for using the plural, but it occurs just as frequently when there is only one proprietor, as in English, although the singular is also quite permissible in such cases, unlike English. The form Serva-Uitgewers is not unknown in Dutch but it is not frequent and would not occur in the Afrikaans cases mentioned above. It is difficult to be categorical here, as a combination of factors may be playing a role, but it seems highly likely that the influence of English cannot be dismissed out of hand. Kruideniers occurs as a collective in imitation of English ‘groceries’, as does droogskoonmakers in the sense of one's ‘drycleaning’, i.e. collection of items. | ||||||||||||||
7.17.9There are instances in Afrikaans where a singular is used, in line with English influence, where a plural occurs in Dutch; it is possible that contact with English has played a role in such cases:
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