The ‘Coloured’ connection of Namibian English

Abstract

AbstractAmong the earliest Afrikaans‐English bilinguals in Namibia, South African Coloureds formed an essential part of an ethnically fluid intermediate social class during the country's colonial period. Using phonetic and perceptual data from a young multi‐ethnic urban sample, this study investigates the contribution of Coloured English to Namibian English. The study finds that, in terms of vowel realization patterns, Coloured Namibian English varieties sit in between White and Black Namibian English varieties, forming part of a continuum in which one extremity tends towards White South African English. The less ‘Afrikaans‐accented’ Coloured English varieties—associated with women—are developing middle‐class indexicalities and are targeted by young Black women. Quantitative and qualitative perceptual data show that these varieties enjoy high status across Namibia's ethnolinguistic spectrum. The study concludes that Namibian English is norm‐developing, as befits any Outer Circle variety, and that Nambian Coloureds exert a prominent normative influence on it.