The Afrikaans Orthographic Rules as Guide for Other South African Languages*

Abstract: The spelling and orthographic rules of a language are very important for compilers of general and technical dictionaries. When compiling a dictionary, the lexicographers and termino-graphers should adhere to these rules. The word-forming principles of a language form part of these rules, and new terms can only be coined in a given language if the spelling and orthographic rules of the language are followed. In this article work on the rules of Afrikaans spelling and orthography, by and large, is reported. It is hoped that some of the lessons learned in the process could serve as guidelines for parallel processes of the standardisation of the spelling and orthographies of the other South Afri-can languages. With the establishment of the National Language Body for Afrikaans (NLBA) of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), it was decided that the members of the Taalkommissie (Language Commission) of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) (South African Academy for Science and the Arts) would become members of the NLBA. These members then became the Technical Committee for Standardisation (TC Standardisation). Since its establishment, the members of the Taalkommissie cum TC for Standardisation (Commission) con