Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 3. What a little word can do for you
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 3. What a little word can do for you

Wat in Afrikaans possessive relatives
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Roots of Afrikaans
This chapter is in the book Roots of Afrikaans

Abstract

This paper is meant as an appendix to den Besten (1981, 1998a), in which the idea is defended that the Afrikaans relative marker wat ‘WHAT’ is a complementizer. Now invariant wat can also be used in possessive relatives in colloquial Afrikaans, which seems to argue for a pronominal status of wat (at least in so fas as the pertinent environment is concerned). However, I will show that there are good reasons to stick to a unitary analysis for invariant relative wat.

Abstract

This paper is meant as an appendix to den Besten (1981, 1998a), in which the idea is defended that the Afrikaans relative marker wat ‘WHAT’ is a complementizer. Now invariant wat can also be used in possessive relatives in colloquial Afrikaans, which seems to argue for a pronominal status of wat (at least in so fas as the pertinent environment is concerned). However, I will show that there are good reasons to stick to a unitary analysis for invariant relative wat.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 1. The origins of the Afrikaans pre-nominal possessive system(s) 7
  5. Chapter 2. The complex ancestry of the Afrikaans associative constructions 25
  6. Chapter 3. What a little word can do for you 35
  7. Chapter 4. Afrikaans relative ‘wat’ and West-Germanic relativization systems 41
  8. Chapter 5. Demonstratives in Afrikaans and Cape Dutch Pidgin 61
  9. Chapter 6. Speculations on [χ]-elision and intersonorantic [υ] in Afrikaans 79
  10. Chapter 7. The Dutch pidgins of the Old Cape colony 95
  11. Chapter 8. On the “verbal suffix” - UM of Cape Dutch Pidgin 123
  12. Chapter 9. Relexification and pidgin development 133
  13. Chapter 10. Khoekhoe syntax and its implications for L2 acquisition of Dutch and Afrikaans 153
  14. Chapter 11. Reduplication in Afrikaans 195
  15. Chapter 12. Double negation and the genesis of Afrikaans 221
  16. Chapter 13. From Khoekhoe foreigner talk via Hottentot Dutch to Afrikaans 257
  17. Chapter 14. Creole Portuguese in South Africa 289
  18. Chapter 15. The slaves’ languages in the Dutch Cape colony and Afrikaans vir 313
  19. Chapter 16. A badly harvested field 333
  20. Chapter 17. Desiderata for Afrikaans historical linguistics 355
  21. Appreciations
  22. Giving voice 377
  23. Afrikaans 389
  24. Partial restructuring 399
  25. Bibliography of Hans den Besten’s writings on Afrikaans 419
  26. References 423
  27. Language index 447
  28. Place index 449
  29. Author index 451
  30. Subject index 455
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.44.04ch3

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 1. The origins of the Afrikaans pre-nominal possessive system(s) 7
  5. Chapter 2. The complex ancestry of the Afrikaans associative constructions 25
  6. Chapter 3. What a little word can do for you 35
  7. Chapter 4. Afrikaans relative ‘wat’ and West-Germanic relativization systems 41
  8. Chapter 5. Demonstratives in Afrikaans and Cape Dutch Pidgin 61
  9. Chapter 6. Speculations on [χ]-elision and intersonorantic [υ] in Afrikaans 79
  10. Chapter 7. The Dutch pidgins of the Old Cape colony 95
  11. Chapter 8. On the “verbal suffix” - UM of Cape Dutch Pidgin 123
  12. Chapter 9. Relexification and pidgin development 133
  13. Chapter 10. Khoekhoe syntax and its implications for L2 acquisition of Dutch and Afrikaans 153
  14. Chapter 11. Reduplication in Afrikaans 195
  15. Chapter 12. Double negation and the genesis of Afrikaans 221
  16. Chapter 13. From Khoekhoe foreigner talk via Hottentot Dutch to Afrikaans 257
  17. Chapter 14. Creole Portuguese in South Africa 289
  18. Chapter 15. The slaves’ languages in the Dutch Cape colony and Afrikaans vir 313
  19. Chapter 16. A badly harvested field 333
  20. Chapter 17. Desiderata for Afrikaans historical linguistics 355
  21. Appreciations
  22. Giving voice 377
  23. Afrikaans 389
  24. Partial restructuring 399
  25. Bibliography of Hans den Besten’s writings on Afrikaans 419
  26. References 423
  27. Language index 447
  28. Place index 449
  29. Author index 451
  30. Subject index 455
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 30.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/cll.44.04ch3/html
Scroll to top button