Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index '\Major English dialects': American English Australian English British English Canadian English Caribbean English Hiberno-English Indian English Jamaican English Liberian English Malaysian English New Zealand English Singapore English South African English South African English is the dialect of English spoken in South Africa and surrounding countries, notably Namibia and Zimbabwe. South African English is not unified in its pronunciation: this can be attributed to the fact that English is the mother tongue for only 40% of the Caucasian (white) inhabitants (the remainder having Afrikaans as their mother tongue) and only a tiny minority of black inhabitants of the region. The dialect can be, however, identified by many loanwords, mostly from Afrikaans, but increasingly also from isiZulu and other African languages. Some of these words, like "trek", have seeped into general English usage. Traditionally, South African English has been spoken by white South Africans, but a distinct Indian South African form of English has long existed, and an equally distinctive black South African English is developing very rapidly. Convergence between these sub-dialects can be observed, but it is a slow process. Table of contents 1 Pronunciation 2 Vocabulary 3 Idioms Pronunciation South African English spoken by whites bears some resemblances in pronunciation to Australian and New Zealand English, but has also been heavily influenced by Afrikaans. The most noticeable difference in pronunciation is probably the flat "i", so that "six" is pronounced in a way sounding like "sucks", and "today" like "to die". This is a part of the vowel shift that has occurred in South Africa as well as New Zealand. Below; the latter word is how the former word sounds-like to the ears of a non-South African: pan --> pen pen --> pin pin --> pun pun --> pan One difference between South African English and New Zealand English is in the pronunication of 'ar' and 'ow', as in the pronunciation of the sentence 'park the car downtown'. New Zealand: pahk the kah dehwn tehwn South Africa: pawk the kaw dahwn tahwn Those with Afrikaans as a mother tongue will pronounce 'k' or 'c' as 'g', and 't' as 'd'. The back-trilled "R", also found in Scottish speech patterns, also features strongly. Cape Town --> guyp-down Pretoria --> bri-dorr-ya English as spoken by black South Africans is influenced by intonation and pronunciation of African languages: work --> weck win --> ween car --> kah book --> boook fast -- fust Vocabulary There are words that do not exist in British or American English, usually derived from Afrikaans or African languages. ag - oh baas - boss bioscope - cinema, movie theatre (now dated) biltong - dried meat, similar to jerky boerwors - spicy sausage braai - a barbecue, to barbecue bakkie - a utility truck, pick-up truck doos - idiot (can also mean female genitalia) impi - horde of warriors ja - yes jislaaik! - wow! jol - to have fun, to party kaffir - very derogatory term for black person kak - shit, crap kiff - (adj.) cool, neat, great, wonderful kugel - Jewish woman, usually affluent lekker - nice, good, well, OK mealie - millet corn, staple diet moffie - male homosexual (derogatory) ou (plural ouens) man, guy, bloke rand currency, divided in to 100 cents, also used in plural 'ten rand'. rooinek (literally 'red neck') derogatory term for English person sies - expression of disappointment, annoyance - ag, sies, man sadza - Zimbabwean term for mealie sarmie - sandwich soutpiel - (literally 'salt dick') derogatory term for English-speaking white South African* shebeen - illegal drinking establishment in black township sommer - for no particular reason, just because trek - to move, to wander tsotsi - thug, criminal, bandit yebo - yes *On account of his supposed divided loyalties- one foot in South Africa, the other in England, and genitals in the sea. There are also a few unique constructions in South African English, where common English words take on new meanings: ablutions block - outside toilet, washroom also in Australian English boney - motorcycle (from the Triumph Bonneville) book of life - national identity document bunny - loaf of bread filled with curry, speciality of Durban (also bunny chow) cafe - grocery shop china - mate, pal (from rhyming slang 'china plate'= mate) coloured - mixed race cool drink - soft drink, fizzy drink dam - reservoir goose - girl, young woman, girlfriend hang - heck, hell (a hang of a lot) hey? - eh? is/isn't that so? homeland - separate state for black South Africans under apartheid howzit - hello, how are you, good morning just now - A short time from now matric - school certificate now now - later on (later than "just now") I beg yours? - I beg your pardon?, Sorry?, Please explain? ''also in Australian English izzit (is it) - an all purpose exclamative, equivalent to "really?" robot - traffic light sharp - good, well, OK shame! - interjection; used when speaker believes something is unfortunate. tackies - sneakers, plimsolls, sports shoes; also car tyres. township - urban area for black South Africans under apartheid Idioms The influence of Afrikaans accounts for idioms in South African English like "are you coming with?" (are you coming with us?), and the ubiquitous "hey?" instead of "isn't it?", "aren't you"?). He's not coming with, hey? He's not coming with us, is he? She'll be here just now. She'll be here soon. Ja well, no fine. Things are okay, so-so. Another influence is the use of the word 'comma' as in decimal comma, instead of 'point' as in decimal point. The rand closed at 7,25 [seven comma two five] against the US dollar. The rand closed at 7.25 [seven point two five] against the US dollar. Speakers of African languages may confuse 'he' and 'she', as the third person singular is often the same. "Madam is not here. He is in England." This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.