White South African English: phonology

The term ‘White South African English’ is applied to the first language varieties of English spoken by White South Africans, with the L1 English variety spoken by Zimbabweans and Namibians, mainly of British descent, being recognized as offshoots. There is some social and regional variation within the variety. Social variation within White South African English (henceforth WSAfE) has been classified into three groupings (termed ‘The Great Trichotomy’ by Lass (2002: 109ff)): Cultivated, closely approximating RP and associated with upper class; General, a social indicator of the middle class, and Broad, associated with the working class and/or Afrikaans descent, and closely approximating the second-language Afrikaans English variety.

An historical overview of the origins of English in South Africa will place these variations into perspective.