Afrikaans

The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective.

As a Noun

As a noun is refers to the language Afrikaans (literally "the language of Africa"). It is one of the 12 official languages in South Africa and is derived from 17th century Dutch, English, French and many of the indigenous African languages, as well as words languages brought to the Cape by workers from the Dutch East Indies. Initially considered an inferior slagn or creole type language, scathingly referred to as "Kitchen Dutch", it gradually became accepted and in 1925 became an official language of the country. (See the Afrikaanse Taalstryd ("Afrikaans Language Struggle".)

It is today spoken to some degree by an estimated total of 15 to 23 million people in South Africa and Namibia, and is the mother tongue of at least 4 million.

Though it is often considered one of the key identifying markers used to identify the so-called "Afrikaners", but is not no means exclusively spoken by that group, but is widely used in the country and has a strong literature and is used for all purposes, including the academic, artistic, publishing, economic, political, religious, sporting, and other spheres.

The issue of enforced study of Afrikaans in schools under the Nationalist Government was of course one of the catalysts for the initial uprisings of 1976.

As an adjective

When used in conjunction with a noun it usually refers to work in the language Afrikaans. Thus Afrikaans Theatre (Afrikaanse Teater or Afrikaanse Toneel in Afrikaans) would refer to the large body of work written and/or performed in the language Afrikaans (or at least predominantly in Afrikaans, as the late 20th century saw the rise of multilingual plays). (By the same token, English Theatre would be work created and staged in English.)

The same would apply to terms like Afrikaans music, Afrikaans literature (writing in Afrikaans), Afrikaans university or school (where the language of teaching would be predominantly Afrikaans).