South Africa is the fifth largest native English-speaking country in the world, with a diverse range of English speakers. South African English (SAE) is different from other kinds of English. But how did SAE become what it is today? Let’s take a look at the brief history of South African English.
| 1795 | The British first introduced English to Southern Africa when they set up a military base in what was, at the time, called the Cape Colony (开普殖民地). At that point, they were not intending to create an ever-lasting settlement. |
| 1820 | The first major influx (涌入) of English speakers settled in the Eastern Cape. There were around 5,000 people, mostly, but not entirely, of working class background from Britain. |
| 1822 | The governor of Cape Colony, Lord Charles Somerset, declared English to be the official language of the colony. |
| 1840-1850 | The next wave of English speakers arrived in the colony. They were mostly retired military personnel and aristocrats (贵族) from Britain. |
| 1875-1904 | Another wave of native English speakers arrived at the colony, with more varied accents than those who had come before. They quickly lost their accents, as they assimilated (同化) to the Standard British English that was currently developing in Britain. Missing the home country Britain became part of the colony’s national consciousness (意识). This basically meant that colonial English speakers looked up to British English. As a result, their standard accent became more similar to Standard British English. |
| 1910 | The Union of South Africa was formed. Both English and Dutch(荷兰语) were regarded as its official language. |
【小题1】How long did it take English to become the official language of Cape Colony?
| A．25 years. | B．27 years. | C．55 years. | D．115 years. |
【小题2】What makes the first two major waves of English speakers different from each other?
| A．Their nationality. | B．Their destination. |
| C．Their social background. | D．Their native language. |
【小题3】What might have happened by the year 1904?
| A．More accents of SAE had appeared. |
| B．Many children had lost their national consciousness. |
| C．British English had heavily influenced SAE. |
| D．Dutch had become the official language of South Africa. |
