Om die miskende te laat ken: ’n blik op Adam Small se literêre verrekening van Kaaps

Abstract

This article examines the literary reflection of Kaaps in the oeuvre of Adam Small from the perspective of an egalitarian approach to linguistic diversity. According to this approach the standard and non-standardised varieties of a particular language, such as Afrikaans, should be regarded as linguistically equipollent and equally valid codes of communication. Alongside reflections on the dialectological and sociolinguistic nature of Kaaps as well as the contextualisation of Small’s choice of Kaaps as literary medium, it is shown how Small’s personal views on this variety of Afrikaans, the ways in which it is textually integrated and the portrayal of it’s linguistic nature implicitly serve as demarginalising and destigmatising mechanisms. It is emphasised how Small’s groundwork regarding the illumination of the intrinsic linguistic nature and functional sufficiency of Kaaps, have paved the way for Kaaps to be recognised as a potential feeder source in the re-standardisation of Afrikaans which appears to be imminent. This is viewed as one of Small’s great historical contributions.