After more than 300 years, Kaaps - or Afrikaaps, as it’s often called - is finally getting its formal moment.
With words like “djy”, “biesim”, and “klimeid” now captured on paper, the language has taken a major step into recognition with the launch of its first trilingual dictionary.
The Castle of Good Hope hosted the official launch on Thursday, April 23, marking a milestone for a language many consider the true mother tongue of its people.
Kaaps is an everyday language widely spoken across Cape Flats communities, which grew out of the working class in the Western Cape, blending Afrikaans with influences from Khoi, Malay and Portuguese, among other languages.
Compiled by University of the Western Cape (UWC) linguistics professor Quinten Williams, the Kaaps Woordeboek/Wordbook/Dictionary is the first formal effort to document and preserve the language in a way that is both accessible and academically recognised.
Professor Williams said the moment is about far more than language; it is about legitimacy and identity. “After 300 or something years, we've now finally put on the page the rules for how the words are constructed. So we, in a sense, have codified it and classified it according to its word structure, noun structure, and verb structure.
“But it has given a sort of weight and validated the way the speakers actually write and told them that, yes, your language is rule-bound. It's valid; you are not in the wrong that you are able to do the way that you speak. And now that you've written it down, there's a source, a reference source that actually backs up,” he said.
The dictionary doesn’t only define words; it tells stories. Its cover features handwritten letters from an enslaved man, Fortuin of Ceylon, pleading for the freedom of his family. Inside, historical texts sit alongside contemporary Kaaps, creating a bridge between past and present.
“After a brief introduction to the language Kaaps, the fun and games begin."
The words featured are unpacked in ways that make them accessible not just to fluent speakers, but to curious newcomers and academics alike, he said.
Professor Williams is candid about why it took so long.
“For a long time, linguists and dictionary makers weren’t serious about undertaking this particular project. It has taken linguists like myself and others actually, to do it. Since the 1960s, it has mainly been creative artists who have written in the language, while linguists have been asking more serious questions – how do we empower speakers to use it in the classroom, in mathematics, in philosophy, and beyond?”
He said bringing a project like this to life has depended on linguists, especially those with a direct connection to Kaaps as a first or second language.
“There’s also been politics around keeping Kaaps outside institutional spaces, because some interest groups believe it might undermine other standard languages. But that has never been the case.”
He said the dictionary adds to the country’s linguistic repertoire, reflecting the diversity of Kaaps speakers across different communities.
More importantly, he noted, it improves access to the language, making it more widely understood and used, while also preserving its historical context through the inclusion of letters and archival material.
The dictionary itself pushes beyond simple definitions. “In the dictionary, we didn’t want to reproduce colonial language. So instead of calling Table Mountain ‘Table Mountain’ or ‘Tafelberg’ in Kaaps, we use ‘Huriǂoaxa’, from the Khoi language.
"We also addressed racial labels in the dictionary, whereas other dictionaries often leave them in and provide very watered-down definitions or descriptions.”
Looking ahead, he believes the impact could extend into education. “Now we can export it and use it in higher education to develop mathematics materials. Pythagoras can now be learnt through Kaaps if we put the resources and energy into it.”
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