vergelykings

Vergelykings is a figure of speech in Afrikaans that expresses a comparison between two different things in order to highlight a particular quality or attribute. The aim is to make an idea more vivid or easier to understand by linking something familiar to something new or abstract. In practice, vergelykings often involve a tenor (the thing being described) and a vehicle (the image used to describe it), with a ground that explains the basis of the comparison.

They are common in everyday speech as well as in poetry and prose. Vergelykings help readers and listeners imagine scenes or emotions more clearly by drawing on familiar experiences. They can create rhythm, emphasis, and emotional effect, and they are a staple of Afrikaans idioms and literary language.

There are two main forms: duidelike vergelyking (explicit simile) and indirekte vergelyking (indirect or implicit simile). A duidelike vergelyking uses a linking word such as soos, net soos, or soos wat to connect the tenor and the vehicle, for example: “Sy oë blink soos sterre in die nag.” An indirekte vergelyking presents the comparison without an explicit linking word, still conveying a simile through juxtaposition or context.

Vergelyking is distinct from metafore, where the vehicle replaces the tenor without an explicit basis of comparison. In Afrikaans literature, both forms enrich description and imagery, while maintaining a clear distinction between comparing elements and substituting one image for another.