2. Spelling and Word Usage

Regional Standard

South African English is the default for spelling, lexical choices, and grammatical conventions.

Spelling Conventions

Use -ise rather than -ize.
Retain British forms such as colour, harbour, and behaviour.
Avoid Americanised variants.

Naturalised Loanwords

Words that have become established in English, such as café, naïve, fiancé, and schadenfreude, do not receive italics.

Non-English Words in Prose

All non-English words embedded in prose are italicised every time they appear.
See also: Typography and Symbols → Bold and Italics.

Capitalisation

Follow APA 7th for title case except that all prepositions remain lowercase, regardless of length.
Use capitalisation to distinguish proper names of disciplines (Psychology) from general subjects (psychology).
Standard capitalisation rules apply to all proper nouns.

Capitalising “The” in Names

“The” is capitalised only when it forms part of the official name.

Examples:
• the Republic of South Africa
• The Gambia
• the Netherlands
• The Hague

Century Formatting

Use forms such as 19th century and 19th-century theorists. Superscript ordinal suffixes may be used if accessibility is not impaired.

Currency Usage

Use international currency codes rather than symbols.
Examples: 100,000 ZAR instead of R100,000; 30 USD instead of $30; 400 EUR.

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