Afrikaans

Afrikaans (/ˌæfrɪˈkɑːns/ AF-rih-KAHNSS, /ˌɑːf-, -ˈkɑːnz/ AHF-, -⁠KAHNZ) is a West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

For peoples and persons from Africa, see Africans. For white Afrikaans speakers, see Afrikaners.

Afrikaans
Pronunciation[afriˈkɑːns]
Native to
  • South Africa
  • Namibia
  • Botswana
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
Native speakers
7.2 million (2016)
10.3 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2011)
Indo-European
  • Germanic
    • West Germanic
      • Weser–Rhine Germanic
        • Low Franconian
          • Dutch
            • African Dutch
              • Afrikaans
Early forms
Writing system
Latin script (Afrikaans alphabet), Arabic script
Signed forms
Signed Afrikaans
Official status
Official language in
 South Africa
Recognised minority
language in
 Namibia
Regulated byDie Taalkommissie
Language codes
ISO 639-1af
ISO 639-2afr
ISO 639-3afr
Glottologafri1274
Linguasphere52-ACB-ba
   spoken by a majority
   spoken by a minority

Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including German and the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary of Afrikaans is of Dutch origin. Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form.

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