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7.28 Word order
Ostyn (1972: VI) concluded that ‘syntax is no more immune to the influence of the source language than the lexicon.’ But the syntax of Afrikaans, in the narrow sense of word order, does not yet seem to have been nearly as affected as one might have expected, given the very substantial differences that exist between Diets and English in this respect.
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7.28.1 Verb not in final position
In contexts where Diets and German require the order SOV, Dutch applies the rule less strictly than German and spoken Afrikaans less strictly than Dutch. In Dutch a final finite verb, infinitive, past participle or separable verbal prefix is not required to stand at the end of its clause if what follows is an adverbial phrase introduced by a preposition, for example: hij heeft altijd een dagtocht willen maken naar Antwerpen. Standard Afrikaans has the same rule. The following deviations from that rule in spoken Afrikaans coincide with English practice and presumably English is the cause. (cf. Steyn 1976: 45-6)
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7.28.1.1
Examples one and two below illustrate the verb occurring before adverbial expressions without a preposition and example three is too short an utterance for final positioning of van haar to be warranted:
| Donderbuie sal voorkom vanmiddag. |
| Het u verskaffingsprobleme gehad sover? |
| Ek het gehoor van haar. |
| Also: Vul in 'n vorm. |
Steyn (1976: 45-6) states:
‘In die spreektaal, en al hoe meer in die skryftaal, bestaan die neiging om die “agterste lid” van die werkwoordgroep (die voltooide deelwoord of infinitief dus) so gou as moontlik na die persoonsvorm (die hulpwerkwoord) uit te spreek/neer te skryf.’
Steyn makes no direct reference to English influence, however.
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7.28.1.2 No SOV after dat
Examples one and two below are clear-cut cases of omission to apply SOV
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where grammar requires it - although Steyn (1978) presents a case with Dutch precedents to justify the first example - but the next two examples illustrate a difference between Afrikaans and Dutch in this regard which has not necessarily arisen because of the contact with English although the end result is an English type construction. Afrikaans has a greater tendency than Dutch to leave nominal, verbal and adverbial particles together with the verbs to which they apply, treating them in much the same way as separable verbal prefixes where tangconstructies are also less commonly applied in Afrikaans than Dutch, i.e. Hij wist dat ik haar op had gebeld/dat ik mee wou gaan. Compare also the origin of verbs such as beeldhouwen and raadplegen:
| Dan moet ons sê dat hierdie is net die eerste stap |
| Mama werk omdat sy is 'n onderwyser |
| ...omdat dit kan lig werp op die saak |
| Elf persent het gesê dat dit moet verstaanbaarder gemaak word |
Constructions akin to the above lig werp and verstaanbaar maak are more frequent in Belgium than in Holland.
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7.28.1.3 Omission of dat
Whereas SVO constructions with dat are relatively rare, SVO constructions without dat are very common in Afrikaans and after verbs such as beweer, dink, glo, hoop, sê, vertel, vertrou, voel, vrees, weet and wil hê they can be said to be the general rule, although dat + SOV remains possible (cf. Steyn 1976: 48; Lubbe 1983: 74-84). It is well-known that dat-less clauses occurred in Middle Dutch (cf. Steyn 1978: 81) and Van der Horst (Onze Taal 1984, 7, p. 122), remarking on the frequency of such structures in letters written by Multatuli's wife, postulates that it was much more common in nineteenth century Dutch. In both cases, however, dat-less clauses were accompanied by SOV word order. Steyn (1978) presents a convincing argument to support the following tenet:
‘Terwyl die gebruik van dat in elk geval verskillend verloop het in die twee tale [Afrikaans and English], lê dit voor die hand om te vra of die a - variant [dat + SOV] nie maar van oudsher af in Suid-Afrika bestaan het nie?’ (p. 83)
But Steyn admits that ‘Dis moontlik dat die invloed van Engels bygedra het tot die afstomping van die taalgevoeligheid vir die onderskikkende woordorde.’ (p. 89) Ostyn (1972: 69) noted the same tendency in American Flemish.
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7.28.1.4 Repercussions of preposition stranding for the final position of verbs
In Ponelis' (1985) article on preposition stranding in Afrikaans, where he sees English as having probably played the role of a contributing factor (cf. 7.27.1), Ponelis concludes with some examples where English influence is undeniable and where the English pattern has consequences for the position of the verb, for example: drie acre wat hulle boer in, wat het die ou mense altyd vertel van? etc.
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7.28.2 No inversion of subject and verb
Transgression of the rule for the inversion of subject and verb after adverbs (e.g. Môre kom ek terug) and subordinate clauses (e.g. Voordat jy gaan moet jy dit doen) is something which I seldom observed even in very colloquial Afrikaans. However, inversion is never applied after so (an ingeburgerde anglicism), despite the fact that it is after dus, for example: So jy kan vergeet wat ek gesê het - Dus kan jy vergeet wat ek gesê het. Apparently the anglicism extends beyond the mere homophony of English and Afrikaans so (cf. p. 231) to the syntax associated with English ‘so’.
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7.28.3 STOMP: subject - time - object - manner - place
Steyn (1976: 44-5) states:
‘Met allerlei voorbehoude kan 'n mens sê dat die bywoordelike bepaling van tyd 'n bywoordelike bepaling van plek voorafgaan in 'n sin met die “normale” sinsdeelvolgorde onderwerp + persoonsvorm + ander sinsdele... en dat albei bywoordelike bepalinge voor die laaste lid van die werkwoordgroep sal staan as dié meer as een werkwoordelement bevat.’
Exceptions to the latter part of this statement are discussed under 7.28.1. As far as the first part is concerned, however, I think it is correct to say that STOMP, a rule for the priority of adverbs and the direct object - presuming that the object is a noun - which is traditional in German grammar, also applies to Afrikaans, for example:
| S |
Ek |
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het |
| T |
gisteraand |
| O |
die koerant |
| M |
lekker |
| P |
in die tuin |
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gesit en lees |
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Steyn comments in particular on the occurrence of place before time: ‘In die spreektaal is daar baie keer volgordes wat ons in “versorgde” taal sal vermy’, but once again he refrains from attributing non-observance of the TMP rule to English influence. No-one has commented on the less frequent occurrence of time before a nominal object in Afrikaans compared with German and Dutch. As OT, like PMT (e.g. I go to town by bus every day), coincides with English practice, English influence cannot be discounted.
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7.28.4 Preposition stranding
The ramifications of preposition stranding for the use of pronouns (i.e. dit instead of daar, wat instead of waar) are discussed under 7.27.1. Where only nouns are involved and no pronominal substitution is required, preposition stranding simply has syntactical consequences (cf. Ponelis 1979: 178-9 and 1985: 106-7), for example:
| Watter boom praat jy van? |
| Die miljeu waarin ons nou lewe voel ons heeltemal tuis in. |
Despite the fact that precedents for this have been found in Dutch, Ponelis (1979: 122) concludes ‘Desnieteenstaande is die getuienis vir ontlening aan Engels baie sterk.’
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7.28.5 Position of alleen(lik)
It is very common to find the adverb alleen placed after the noun it qualifies, in imitation of English, instead of before it (i.e. as in slegs Blankes):
| Die rook van sigarette alleen is/word toegestaan |
| Parkering vir kliënte alleen |
| Busse alleenlik (cf. 7.8.5 on -lik) |
The following example follows a similar English syntactical pattern: belasting eksklusief. Note: Dié myn alleen lewer meer goud as Kanada, where alleen is presumably in imitation of English ‘alone’, although alleen al would be possible here in Dutch.
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7.28.6
The following examples all show syntactical divergences from Diets syntax which are the result of contact with English:
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| meer of min(der) |
| hulle almal breek |
| hulle het vier meer setels gewen |
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7.28.7 Prenominal phrases
Ostyn (1972: 251) noticed in American Flemish how ‘frequent is the use of elements which would not be used in prenominal position in Flemish. Some of them are transfers from English, others seem to be relaxations of the rules governing the attributive use of lexical items’; he then gives the example deze twee uur lange uitzending. This type of construction is extremely common in Afrikaans and yet mention of it in the literature on anglicisms is rare. Ostyn's observations of immigrant Flemish may be of just as much relevance to Afrikaans as there is currently also a tendency in Dutch to relax these rules, although English influence on Dutch in this regard cannot be completely discarded either; het acht uur journaal (compare die sewe uur nuus) is now established TV language but een drie-tonner is still preferable to een drie ton vrachtwagen. A couple of the following Afrikaans examples do have similar indigenous parallels in Dutch but only where the noun in the prenominal phrase has its own adjectival form, for example: een vierbaanse weg ('n vier laan/baan pad) and een vijfdaagse werkweek ('n vyf dag werksweek) but over een vijfjarige tijdperk (oor 'n vyf jaar tydperk) is questionable. The issue is clearly closely related to word formation. (cf. p. 205) I believe, however, that one can safely assume English influence in all the following examples:
| die jaar ou diere |
| 'n drie jaar waglys |
| oor 'n vyf jaar tydperk |
| 'n vier-en-twintig uur tydperk (cf. Hiemstra 1980: 84 where he makes a plea for etmaal) |
| 'n drie maande lang kursus |
| langtermynvoordele |
| 'n drie miljoen rand hospitaal |
| 'n drie stuk pak (Dt. driedelig) |
| 'n vyf stuk eetkamerstel |
| 'n vier slaapkamer huis |
| 'n vier laan pad |
| 'n agt-en-sewentig plaat |
| die half nege trein |
| daar is 'n sewe uur vliegtuig |
| die 1983 begroting |
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It is difficult in such cases to know what to join and what to hyphenate. (cf. p. 205)
The following compound adjectives are also translated English:
| 'n leergebinde boek |
| die Russiesgebore kunstenaar B.D. |
| 'n staatsgefinansierde maatskappy |
Dutch would either rephrase by means of a relative clause (e.g. de kunstenaar R.M.., die in Rusland geboren is) or use an adjectival adjunct, a possibility that does not exist in Afrikaans, for example:
| een in leer gebonden boek |
| de in Rusland geboren kunstenaar R.M. |
| een door de staat gefinancierde maatschappij |
The following prenominal constructions are also translated English: beste gehalte plante, hoë gehalte gebruikte motors, gehalte vars vleis and 'n groot genoeg pot.
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