Afrikaans language movement

Afrikaans language movement (Afrikaans: Afrikaanse taalbeweging) refers to a movement to establish Afrikaans as a public language of South Africa.

First language movement

The Afrikaans language movement began in 1875, with the effort by Stephanus Jacobus du Toit to have Afrikaans recognised as a separate language from the Dutch language. Die Patriot, the first Afrikaans newspaper, was first published in 1876.^[1]

Second language movement

The Second Afrikaans Language Movement arose after the defeat of the Boers in the Second Anglo-Boer War, which ended in 1902. The movement, spreading from the Cape Province, led to the ascendancy of Afrikaans over the Dutch language, replacing the latter as the medium of instruction in schools, as the language of the Dutch Reformed churches, and ultimately as the co-official language of South Africa, in 1925.^[2]

Third language movement

After apartheid ended in 1994, the status of Afrikaans within South Africa was much reduced. Afrikaans went from having equal status with English to being just one of 11 official languages, leading to a renewed dominance of English in the public sphere. Attempts to reverse the marginalisation of Afrikaans have been described as a third language movement.^[3]

See also

• Language movement (disambiguation)

References

1. "African literature: Literatures in European and European-derived languages". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
2. "South African literature: In Afrikaans". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
3. Webb, Vic. "Constructing an inclusive speech community from two mutually excluding ones: The third Afrikaans language movement". University of Pretoria. Retrieved 23 September 2014.