Cape English and its Future [1890-91]

The short article here reprinted from the Cape Illustrated Magazine 1 (1890-91), 94-96, draws our attention to an early stage of language contact in South Africa. Well before the Boer War, and with Pettman's scathing remarks on the English spoken in the country still to come, the author of the article points out with some concern that the local English is likely to drift away from BrE, an attitude which was of course common in British colonies of the time — when normativity and the belief in correct English (including RP pronunciation) were at a peak in Britain.