On Woordeboekapartheid [Dictionary Apartheid]: A Critical Archaeological Genealogy of a South African Lexicographic Phenomenon with Reference to Kaaps, Dutch, and Afrikaans

Journal article

The phenomenon of woordeboekapartheid [dictionary apartheid] is investigated in this article in relation to the lexicographic tradition in and on Afrikaans. Woordeboekapartheid is firstly conceptualised within the context of raciolinguistics, taalapartheid [linguistic apartheid] and “critical lexicography”, with the archaeological genealogical orientation to historiography structuring the analysis. The launch of the Drietalige Woordeboek van Kaaps [Trilingual Dictionary of Kaaps] is secondly positioned as key site of problematisation – focusing on the ways that this dictionary project becomes an avenue through which woordeboekapartheid finds expression via an ideological fixation on race (specifically “Colouredness”) and troublesome lexicographic research. These two “problems” of ideology and methodology are thirdly traced back to two preceding periods of Afrikaans lexicography, namely the Dutch-Afrikaans and the Afrikaner-Afrikaans periods. I conclude by noting the implications of the recent developments surrounding Kaaps(e Afrikaans), especially how it represents the fulfilment of woordeboekaparheid ideals along racial and ethnic lines that have characterised Afrikaans lexicography since the 19th century.

Authors: Staphorst, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: International Journal of Lexicography
• Article number: ecaf031
• Publication date: 2025-12-22
• DOI: 10.1093/ijl/ecaf031
• EISSN: 1477-4577
• ISSN: 0950-3846
• Language: English
• Keywords: Linguistic Historiography; Language Ideology; Critical Lexicography; Raciolinguistics; South African Lexicography; Dutch; Dictionary Of The Afrikaans Language; Trilingual Dictionary Of Kaaps; Afrikaans; Kaaps