Written Kaaps: The morphological (in-)dependence of het

Abstract

Kaaps is a relatively understudied variety of Afrikaans, spoken predominantly on the Cape Peninsula, though not restricted to this region, and is characterised by distinctive linguistic features. This study examines the morphological status of the auxiliary het (‘have’), which, as suggested by the work of Nathan Trantraal, may display morphological (in-)dependence in Kaaps.1 The investigation focuses on the morphological (in-)dependence of the Kaaps auxiliary het (‘have’) through the intuitions of home-language speaker-writers, and how these intuitions reflect its morphological status. Particular attention is given to how het functions as an auxiliary compared to a lexical verb in both second and final positions within a clause. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study analyses transcriptions of voice notes and written texts, obtained via WhatsApp, produced by these Kaaps speaker-writers. Tests developed by Zwicky and Pullum (1983) and Conradie (2007) are applied to assess the status of het. The findings of the study reveal that het has undergone positional specialisation. Auxiliary het in final position appears to have grammaticalised further, potentially as an affix, compared to auxiliary het and lexical het in second position. Supported by the grammaticalization theory (Hopper and Traugott 2003), this contributes to evidence that het’s grammaticalisation is not uniform. The study further seeks to contribute to wider discussions on the behaviour of the auxiliary het within Kaaps and Afrikaans more generally, to advance understanding of Kaaps morphosyntax. Beyond advancing our understanding of Kaaps morphosyntax, the findings challenge traditional views of Afrikaans and highlight the importance of data generated by Kaaps speakers in shaping emerging orthographic norms and theoretical debates.