Afrikaans language maintenance in Australia

Abstract

Changes in the political climate in the home country have resulted in the emigration of South Africans to English speaking countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Despite the scale of movement of the South African population, language maintenance in these diasporic contexts has received little consideration. This paper presents a description of an Australian Afrikaans-speaking community in the small Queensland city of Toowoomba. The study shows a high degree of bilingualism amongst the first generation Afrikaans community but also shows incipient signs of language shift within the home and a weak connection between language and identity.