Cover not available

Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 41:2 (2020) ► pp.193–224

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Ethnic variation in the phonology of Namibian English

A first approach to Baster English

 | Bielefeld University
 | Bielefeld University
 | University of Regensburg
Published online: 9 June 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00046.sch
Abstract
Studies on the pronunciation of Namibian English (NamE) have shown strong evidence for ethnically conditioned variation within the NamE vowel system. Thus, NamE should not be seen as a monolithic entity but rather as a group of ethnically and/or socially conditioned varieties. In this paper, we undertake a first approach to Baster English, a potential ethnic variety of NamE. The Rehoboth Basters constitute a unique ethnically mixed Afrikaans-speaking group from South Africa, who settled in Namibia in the 19th century and are known for their strong sense of a separate local and ethnic identity. Triangulating the results of a quantitative questionnaire on language attitudes and acoustic analyses of vocalic features in informants’ pronunciation, we demonstrate how the Basters’ unique identity translates into linguistic practice in a multi-ethnic and multilingual environment.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Historical background
  • 3.Language use(s) and attitudes
  • 4.Approaching some phonological features of Baster English
    • 4.1Previous research on ethnic variation in the phonology of NamE
    • 4.2Data collection, processing and analysis
    • 4.3Results
      • 4.3.1 kit vowels
      • 4.3.2 nurse vowel
      • 4.3.3 trap and dress vowels
      • 4.3.4 kit and dress vowels
      • 4.3.5Summary
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Summary, conclusions, and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
References (70)
References
Bekker, Ian. 2009. “The Vowels of South African English”. Ph.D. Dissertation, North-West University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “The kit-Split in South African English: A Critical Review”. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 321: 113–131. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bekker, Ian and Bertus Van Rooy. 2015. “The Pronunciation of English in South Africa”. In Marnie Reed, and John M. Levis, eds. The Handbook of English Pronunciation. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 286–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul, and David Weenink. 2018. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer (version 6.0.40) <[URL]> (accessed June 13, 2018).
Bowerman, Sean. 2008. “White South African English: Phonology”. In Rajend Mesthrie, ed. Varieties of English. Vol. 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: De Gruyter, 164–176.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Britz, Rudolf G., Hartmut Lang, and Cornelia Limpricht. 1999. Kurze Geschichte der Rehobother Baster bis 1990. Göttingen: Klaus Hess Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buschfeld, Sarah. 2014. “English in Cyprus and Namibia: A Critical Approach to Taxonomies and Models of World English and Second Language Acquisition Research”. In Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber, and Alexander Kautzsch, eds. The Evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 181–202.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buschfeld, Sarah and Alexander Kautzsch. 2014. “English in Namibia: A First Approach”. English World-Wide 351: 121–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Towards an Integrated Approach to Postcolonial and Non-Postcolonial Englishes”. World Englishes 361: 104–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buschfeld, Sarah and Anne Schröder. 2020. “English and German in Namibia”. In Raymond Hickey, ed. English in the German-Speaking World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 334–361.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carstens, Peter, ed. 1984. The Rehoboth Baster Nation of Namibia. [Translation of Maximilian Beyer. 1906. Die Nation der Bastards]. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Decker, Paul. 2016. “An Evaluation of Noise on LPC-Based Vowel Formant Estimates: Implications for Sociolinguistic Data Collection”. Linguistics Vanguard 21: 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deumert, Ana. 2009. “Namibian Kiche Duits: The Making (and Decline) of a Neo-African Language”. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 211: 349–417. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Di Paolo, Marianna, Malcah Yaeger-Dror, and Alicia B. Wassink. 2011. “Analyzing Vowels”. In Marianna Di Paolo, and Malcah Yaeger-Dror, eds. Sociophonetics: A Student’s Guide. London: Routledge, 87–106.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dierks, Klaus. 2002. Chronology of Namibian History: From pre-Historical Times to Independent Namibia (2nd ed.). Windhoek: Namibia Scientific Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donaldson, Bruce C. 1993. A Grammar of Afrikaans. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ejikeme, Anene. 2011. Culture and Customs of Namibia. Santa Barbara: Greenwood.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Finn, Peter. 2008. “Cape Flats English: Phonology”. In Rajend Mesthrie, ed. Varieties of English. Vol. 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: De Gruyter, 200–222.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flynn, Nicholas. 2011. “Comparing Vowel Formant Normalization Procedures”. York Papers in Linguistics Series 21: 1–28.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Franz, Kuno and Robert Budack. 2015. Krieg und Frieden im Basterland. Windhoek: Padlangs Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frydman, Jenna. 2011. “A Critical Analysis of Namibia’s English-Only Language Policy”. In Eyamba G. Bokamba, Ryan K. Shosted, and Bezza Tesfaw Ayalew, eds. Selected Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages and Linguistics Today. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 178–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gough, David. 1996. “Black English in South Africa”. In Vivian de Klerk, ed. Focus on South Africa. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 53–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hirst, Daniel. 2012. Praat Script Analyse Tier <[URL]> (accessed June 13, 2018).
“History”. n.d. Rehoboth Basters <[URL]> (accessed October 1, 2018).
Honorof, Douglas N., Jill McCullough, and Barbara Somerville. 2000. “Comma Gets a Cure” <[URL]> (accessed December 15, 2018).
Kachru, Braj B., Yamuna Kachru, and Cecil L. Nelson, eds. 2009. The Handbook of World Englishes. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Katjavivi, Peter H. 1988. A History of Resistance in Namibia. Paris: Unesco Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaulich, Udo. 2003. Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Kolonie Deutsch-Südwestafrika (1884–1914): Eine Gesamtdarstellung (2nd ed.). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kautzsch, Alexander and Anne Schröder. 2016. “English in Multilingual and Multiethnic Namibia: Some Evidence on Language Attitudes and on the Pronunciation of Vowels”. In Christoph Ehland, Ilka Mindt, and Merle Tönnies, eds. Anglistentag 2015 Paderborn: Proceedings. Trier: WVT, 277–288.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kautzsch, Alexander, Anne Schröder, and Frederic Zähres. 2017. “The Phonetics of Namibian English: Investigating Local Features in a Global Context”. Paper presented at the IAWE Conference, Syracuse University.
Kendall, Tyler and Erik R. Thomas. 2018. Vowels: Vowel Manipulation, Normalization, and Plotting in R (version 1.2–2) <[URL]> (accessed June 13, 2018).
Kirkpatrick, Andy, ed. 2010. The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kisler, Thomas, Florian Schiel, and Han Sloetjes. 2012. “Signal Processing via Web Services: The Use Case WebMAUS”. Talk presented at Digital Humanities Conference 2012, Hamburg University.
Kjæret, Kristin and Kristian Stokke. 2003. “Rehoboth Baster, Namibian or Namibian Baster? An Analysis of National Discourses in Rehoboth, Namibia”. Nations and Nationalism 91: 579–600. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, Bernd, and Edgar Schneider, eds. 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of English. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Limpricht, Cornelia. 2012a. “Families and Farms: ‘Mixed’ Marriages in Rehoboth during German Colonial Times”. In Cornelia Limpricht, ed. Rehoboth, Namibia: Past and Present. Windhoek: Solitaire Press, 146–196.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012b. “Out of Rehoboth – Her Story: Johanna-Susanna Mouton-Wahl and her Entanglement in German History.” In Cornelia Limpricht, ed. Rehoboth, Namibia: Past and Present. Windhoek: Solitaire Press, 198–244.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012c. “Preface”. In Cornelia Limpricht, ed. Rehoboth, Namibia: Past and Present. Windhoek: Solitaire Press, 6–7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Limpricht, Cornelia and Hartmut Lang. 2012. “The Trek of the Rehoboth Basters”. In Cornelia Limpricht, ed. Rehoboth, Namibia: Past and Present. Windhoek: Solitaire Press, 8–21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Louw, Anna M. 2010. “Language Maintenance and Shift among the Rehoboth Basters of Namibia ca. 1868–2008”. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maho, Jouni F. 1998. Few People, Many Tongues: The Languages of Namibia. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melchers, Gunnel, and Philip Shaw. 2011. World Englishes (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Hodder Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mesthrie, Rajend, ed. 2008. Varieties of English. Vol. 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Second-Language Varieties: English in Africa – A Diachronic Typology”. In Alexander Bergs, and Laurel Brinton, eds. English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook. Vol. 21. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2092–2106.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Namibia”. n.d. The World Factbook. Washington: Central Intelligence Agency <[URL]> (accessed November 19, 2018).
Pütz, Martin. 1995. “Attitudes and Language: An Empirical Investigation into the Status and Use of English in Namibia”. In Martin Pütz, ed. Discimination through Language in Africa? Perspectives on the Namibian Experience. Berlin: De Gruyter, 245–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiel, Florian. 1999. “Automatic Phonetic Transcription of Non-Prompted Speech”. In Ohala, John J., ed. Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 99). San Francisco, 607–610.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, Edgar. 2011. English around the World: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schreier, Daniel, Peter Trudgill, Edgar W. Schneider, and Jeffrey P. Williams, eds. 2010a. The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010b. “Introduction”. In Daniel Schreier, Peter Trudgill, Edgar W. Schneider, and Jeffrey P. Williams, eds. The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schröder, Anne and Klaus P. Schneider. 2018. “Variational Pragmatics, Responses to Thanks, and the Specificity of English in Namibia”. English World-Wide 391: 338–363. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schröder, Anne and Frederic Zähres. fc. “English in Namibia: Multilingualism and Ethnic Variation in the EIF-Model”. In Sarah Buschfeld, and Alexander Kautzsch, eds. Modelling World Englishes: A Joint Approach towards Postcolonial and Non-Postcolonial Varieties. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Schröder, Anne, Frederic Zähres, and Alexander Kautzsch. fc. “The Phonetics of Namibian English: Investigating Vowels as Local Features in a Global Context”. In Anne Schröder, ed. The Dynamics of English in Namibia. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Simo Bobda, Augustin. 2000. “The Uniqueness of Ghanaian English Pronunciation in West Africa”. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 301: 185–198.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stell, Gerald. 2014a. “Social Identities in Post-Apartheid Intergroup Communication Patterns: Linguistic Evidence of an Emergent Nonwhite Pan-Ethnicity in Namibia?” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2301: 91–114.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014b. “Uses and Functions of English in Namibia’s Multiethnic Settings”. World Englishes 331: 223–241. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “Trends in Linguistic Diversity in Post-Independence Windhoek: A Qualitative Appraisal”. Language Matters 471: 326–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. 2011. Sociophonetics: An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tonchi, Victor L., William A. Lindeke, and John J. Grotpeter. 2012. Historical Dictionary of Namibia (2nd ed.). Lanham: The Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter and Jean Hannah. 2017. International English: A Guide to Varieties of English Around the World (6th ed.). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus. 2008. “Black South African English: Phonology”. In Rajend Mesthrie, ed. Varieties of English. Vol. 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: De Gruyter, 177–187.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus and Gerhard van Huyssteen. 2000. “The Vowels of BSAE: Current Knowledge and Future Prospects”. South African Journal of Linguistics 181: 15–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wallace, Marion. 2011. A History of Namibia. London: C. Hurst & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watermeyer, Susan. 1996. “Afrikaans English.” In Vivian De Klerk, ed. Focus on South Africa. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 99–124. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, Jeffrey P., Edgar W. Schneider, Peter Trudgill, and Daniel Schreier. 2015. Further Studies in Lesser-Known Varieties of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wissing, Daan. 2018. “Afrikaans Phonology: The Rounded and Unrounded Mid-Central Vowels”. Taalportaal <[URL]> (accessed August 31, 2018).
Wolf, Hans-Georg. 2010. “East and West African Englishes: Differences and Commonalities”. In Andy Kirkpatrick, ed. The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes. London: Routledge, 197–211.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zähres, Frederic. 2016a. “Vowels in Namibian English: Investigating the nurse-work Vowel Split”. M.A. Thesis, Bielefeld University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016b. “A Case of Code-Switching in Namibian Keyboard-to-Screen Communication”. 10plus1: Living Linguistics 21: 31–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (12)

Cited by 12 other publications

Schneider, Edgar W.
2025.  English World‐Wide (Journal) . In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Seepheephe, Ntšoeu
2024. Consonants of Lesotho English: Features and Comparison with South African Varieties. Language Matters 55:3 ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Bohmann, Axel & Adesoji Babalola
2023. Verbal past inflection in Nigerian English. In New Englishes, New Methods [Varieties of English Around the World, G68], ► pp. 16 ff. DOI logo
Buschfeld, Sarah
2021. The question of structural nativization in Namibian English. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
Buschfeld, Sarah
2025. The pluricentricity vs. pluriareality debate. In Pluricentricity and Pluriareality [Studies in Language Variation, 32], ► pp. 118 ff. DOI logo
Schneider, Edgar W. & Anne Schröder
2021. The dynamics of English in Namibia. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 275 ff. DOI logo
Schröder, Anne
2021. The dynamics of English in Namibia. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Schröder, Anne
2025. Namibian English. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Schröder, Anne, Frederic Zähres & Alexander Kautzsch
2021. The phonetics of Namibian English. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 111 ff. DOI logo
Stell, Gerald
2021. English in Namibia. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo
Stell, Gerald
2023. Afrikaans English as a Southern Hemisphere English. English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English 44:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Zähres, Frederic
2021. Broadcasting your variety. In The dynamics of English in Namibia [Varieties of English Around the World, G65], ► pp. 135 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue