Van Huyssteen 2017c

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Abstract

Since 2006; the Language Commission (“Taalkommissie”; TK) endeavoured to compile formal guidelines for the inclusion or elimination of lemmas in the Afrikaanse woordelys en spelreëls (AWS); these guidelines have been formalised as an operationalisation framework by Van Huyssteen (2017b – see Part 1 in this edition). The purpose of this article is to illustrate the application of this framework; using the lexical item emeritus as a case study. The history of emeritus in the various editions of the AWS is discussed; and it is illustrated that its lexicographic treatment in AWS10 does not provide the end-user with any clear answers as to how emeritus should be used in combination with other nouns (titles). Moreover; its treatment in several other Afrikaans dictionaries varies considerably; leaving end-users with even more uncertainty. It therefore necessitates a systematic analysis of this lexical item; using various macro- and microstructural criteria. In the first eleven steps; questions regarding the macrostructural status of the lemma emeritus in the word-list part of the AWS are considered; with the overarching question being whether emeritus should be included in the AWS or not. Based on data from various corpora and dictionaries; eight of the questions are answered positively; and it is demonstrated that emeritus occurs frequently enough in written Standard Afrikaans to justify its inclusion as a lemma in the AWS. Even though the plural form emeritusse (introduced in AWS4 as a variant plural form of emeriti) occurs in various Afrikaans dictionaries (but not in dictionaries of any other Germanic languages); it is shown that it does not occur at all in any of the corpora; and could therefore be excluded as a word-form in contemporary written Standard Afrikaans. In the six last steps of the operationalisation framework questions regarding the microstructural treatment of a lemma are considered; with the overarching question being how emeritus should be treated in the AWS. Data from a few other Germanic languages show that emeritus functions both as noun (with the possible exception of Frisian) and adjective in these languages. As an adjective; it occurs mostly postpositively in English; German; Swedish; Danish; and Norse; while occurring mostly prepositively in Dutch and Frisian. An analysis of Afrikaans corpus data clearly shows that emeritus occurs statistically significantly as a prepositive adjective (e.g. emeritus aartsbiskop “emeritus archbishop”) in written Standard Afrikaans; and that its postpositive occurrence is rather improbable. In combination with other nouns (titles) the only probable competing construction is a coordinating compound with emeritus as left-hand constituent (e.g. emeritus-aartsbiskop). The article concludes with a summative table of all criteria considered; and gives reasons why and how the entries of emeritus in AWS10 were changed in AWS11 to reflect its usage in contemporary written Standard Afrikaans more accurately.

Keywords

Afrikaans, Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS), elimination criteria, inclusion criteria, lexicography, normative linguistics, orthography, Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK), Taalkommissie (TK)

Afrikaans keywords

Afrikaans, Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS), eliminerings-kriteria, leksikografie, normatiewe taalkunde, opnamekriteria, ortografie, Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK), Taalkommissie (TK)