Afrikaans
Afrikaans is the language of the Afrikaners (and Cape Coloureds) of South Africa, who form about 56% of that country's white population. It is derived from the South-Hollandic dialect of Dutch, brought to southern Africa in the 17th century. It double negative structure acquired from French, (the double negative was absent in both German and modern Dutch, but present in Middle Dutch).
It has also borrowed words from Malay.
Orthography
In 1925, when Afrikaans replaced Dutch as one of the official languages of South Africa, a spelling system drafted by Roeland Anthonie Kollewijn was immediately adopted . De spelling Kollewijn did not get government approval in the Netherlands, but many of his recommendations were implemented in later spelling reforms.
