D.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans) / Today linguists generally accept that languages change continuously and that variation characterizes language. lt appears from sociolinguistic research done since 1964 that there is a connection between linguistic and social or non-linguistic variables. Even an initial acquaintance with Rehoboth Afrikaans will indicate the general occurrence of variation; yet little research has been done in this area. The only noteworthy study in this field was carried out by J.H. Rademeyer in 1938. Variation, more specifically phonetic variation, is the object of study of this thesis ...