You don’t often think of languages as having a ‘birthday’ or even a set beginning. People learn their native language from a very early age, and to most people, it seems like something that has always been there. Even those who learn second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc) languages later in life don’t typically think of themselves as learning a language that is new, but rather learning a new language.

Languages do evolve, however, and sometimes they become so different from the original language that it must be considered something entirely new. That is what happened with the language known as Afrikaans.

This language can be traced back to around the 17th century when the Dutch East India Company established a new station located at the Cape of Good Hope, which is in South Africa. Settlers in the area interacted with natives, soldiers, and others in the region and over time, the Dutch they spoke evolved to something entirely new.

Of course, this doesn’t happen all at once.

First, it was a contact language, which is what it is called when a specific method of communication develops because people speaking multiple different tongues come together in one area and make contact.

From there, all the languages contribute something to become a contact language that everyone can understand, even if not perfectly. If that continues long enough, the language will evolve until it is entirely distinct from any of the original languages that contributed to it.

Then, In 1875, the Society of True Afrikaners (Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners in the Afrikaans language) began with the goal of making Afrikaans a unique and official language. This group also worked on promoting a distinct Afrikaner cultural identity.

It took 50 years, but in 1925, Afrikaans was officially recognized as a language by the South African Government. Today, Afrikaans is spoken by 9-10 million people around the world as either a first or second language. So, while it is now 100 years old officially, it has been around a lot longer than that.

It is the youngest official language, but there are other languages that are developing in various parts of the world, some of which will likely attain official recognition at some point in the future, taking the title of youngest.

The evolution of languages is festinating.

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