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KHOEKHOE SYNTAX AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR L2 ACQUISITION OF DUTCH AND AFRIKAANS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2002

Hans den Besten
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam

Abstract

A provisional typological comparison demonstrates that Khoekhoe, Dutch, and Afrikaans are highly similar with respect to a couple of minor features. Therefore, Cape Dutch Pidgin (CDP), which came about as a relexified and pidginized version of Khoekhoe, could often develop compromises between Dutch and Khoekhoe syntax. Exceptions were the use of SOV without V2 and (possibly) the use of certain postpositions. Furthermore, there is evidence showing that CDP and Orange River Afrikaans (ORA) are diachronically related. An investigation of the sentential structure of Khoekhoe, however, shows that the second position (P2) phenomenon differs considerably from V2 in Dutch: P2 is symmetric and is applied in all clause types. Yet, except for a temporary pro-drop phenomenon in wh-clauses, P2 did not really affect the pidgin. Once finite verbs were acquired, the picture changed, and new (optional) subordinate V2 and V1 patterns could be introduced into Cape Dutch and Afrikaans under the influence of Khoekhoe Dutch/Afrikaans.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Society for Germanic Linguistics

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