The 3rd Kaaps Symposium took place on the 15th & 16th August 2024, generously funded by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR), and Departments of Linguistics and Afrikaans and Dutch at UWC, and Comité International Permanent des Linguistes – Permanent International Committee of Linguists (CIPL), and endorsed by the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC). Convened in the historic building of the Centre for Humanities Research, in Woodstock, delegates gathered to hear over 20 speakers presenting papers on topics that covered bilingualism/multilingualism, language contact and change, lexicography, linguistic citizenship, standardisation, general linguistics, translation studies, Kaaps variation study, religion, identity, race, migration, nationalism, decoloniality, language activism, Kaaps food and security, and the intellectualisation of Kaaps.
The Symposium became a forum that accommodated next generation scholars, demonstrating how far we have advanced in the short history of the forum. Presenters reflected on the scientific, epistemic future of Kaaps, including the state-of-the-art of Kaaps studies. The programme was also headlined with keynote speeches by Prof. Michael Le Cordeur (US), Nathan Trantraal (RU), Ronelda Kamfer (RU), Dr. Erin Pretorius (UWC) and Prof. Quentin Williams (UWC).
Importantly, the 3rd Kaaps Symposium is a watershed moment, a catalyst for how we should proceed with the intellectualisation of Kaaps. We recognize Kaaps is a language now used in contexts where scientific knowledge is valued and disseminated. The Symposium highlighted this in more ways than one and now we face the hard truth that it is necessary to develop Kaaps for the teaching of science, technology, mathematics, humanities, engineering, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, and so on, for our schools and university. And how do we do this: we have to invent terminology and learning materials. This is one of the tasks that will be driven by the executive body of the Society virrie Advancement van Kaaps (SAK).
Society virrie Advancement van Kaaps (SAK), Executive Committee
Front Row (left to right): Prof Quentin Williams (UWC) (Chairperson), Prof Theodore Rodrigous (UniSA) (Deputy-Chairperson), Dr Erin Pretorius (UWC) (Treasurer)
Back row (left to right): Prof Adam Haupt (UCT) (Ordinary Member), Mrs Zaib Toyer (UWC) (Assistant Secretary), Mr Chevãn Van Rooi (UWC) (Secretary), Ms Kãmilah Kalidheen (UWC) (Webmaster)
Not in picture: Ms Chànde Van der Westhuizen (UWC) (Ordinary Member), Mrs Gaireyah Fredericks (Kaaps Writer, Translator and Researcher, CMDR, UWC) (Ordinary Member)
(Photo Credit: Jason Richardson, CMDR/SAK)
The Society virrie Advancement van Kaaps (SAK) was established to bring into place linguistic infrastructures that will help to advance the intellectualisation of Kaaps and to secure its place in the knowledge economy of South Africa. SAK will (1) bring into existence the first journal of Kaaps (called Aweh: journal of minoritized languages), (2) advance the general linguistics of Kaaps, (3) establish a Kaaps literacy, literature and education subcommittee, and (4) a subcommittee focused on Kaaps lexicography, orthography and the question of formalisation.
As SAK, we recognize that while it is necessary to codify Kaaps into a dictionary and grammar for the purposes of access and literacy, it is also important to develop Kaaps terminology and bilingual/multilingual learning materials so that Kaaps speakers can know that their language can be used for scientific and technological capacity in the hard sciences, but also rational, logical approaches and analytical techniques in the humanities and social sciences.
Quentin Williams
Chairperson, Society virrie Advancement van Kaaps (SAK), Director, Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR), Full Professor, Linguistics Department, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
