|History of Patois (wi dialect) princess black |
|[pic] |
|(It long but I think it could give us a brief history of de patois) |
| |
|Creole languages are found all over the world on every continent. When two or more languages come into contact to form a new |
|language a Creole language is born. Some type of human "upheaval" that forces people to find a way to communicate, without using |
|their own languages, stimulates the creation of a Creole language. In the case of Creole languages in the Caribbean, the |
|"upheaval" is the past history of slavery. Most Creole languages are based on one language. In Jamaica the African slaves were |
|thrown into a situation where the only common means of communication was English, or at least broken English, therefor Jamaican |
|Creole has a majority of its roots in English (Sebba 1, 1996). Essential words which people could not find an English name for, |
|such as people, things (like plants and animals) and activities (especially religious ones) were taken from a variety of West |
|African languages. |
|As a result of patois not being an official language, a name for the Jamaican dialect has not been settled to this day. Common |
|names such as Jamaican, Jamaican Creole, Jamaican patwa or patois, Black English, broken English and even baby talk or slang are |
|all used to describe Creole languages. In L. Emilie Adams’ book, Understanding Jamaican Patois, she states that none of these |
|labels are appropriate for the Jamaican dialect. Creole refers to a mixed African/European language as well as Europeans born in |
|the West Indies; therefore it is inappropriate to refer to the language of Africans in Jamaica as Creole. Patois is a term used |
|widely in Jamaica, but patois can refer to any language considered broken or degraded in the world. Pryce (1997) prefers to use |
|the term Jamaican "because it moves toward settling the issue of the status of the language as the legitimate expression of the |
|ethos of the people." Throughout this paper the terms Jamaican Creole or patois, the most popular terms used by linguists and |
|Jamaicans will be used to describe the Jamaican dialect. |
| |
|Language in Jamaica today reflects the history of the country’s interaction with a variety of cultures and languages from many |
|ethnic, linguistic, and social backgrounds. Aside from the Arawaks, the original inhabitants of Jamaica, all people were exiles or|
|children of exiles. Over 90% of the 2.5 million people living in Jamaica today are descendants of slaves brought from western |
|Africa by the British. The local Jamaican language is a reflection of a history of contact with a variety of speakers, but the |
|official language remains to be Standard English (Pryce, 1997). The most influential speakers were immigrants from Africa and |
|Europe. Kwa, Manding, and Kru are amongst the variety of prominent African languages apparent in Jamaican history. Early Modern |
|English was brought to the Caribbean by sailors, soldiers, indentured servants, convicts, and settlers (lower-class whites) in the|
|form of regional and non-standard dialects. For the most part Early Modern English was highly conservative (Lalla and D’Costa, |
|1989). |
| |
|Today in Jamaica, Jamaican patois falls at one extreme of the linguistic spectrum while Standard English lies at the other end of |
|the spectrum. The majority of the population falls in between the two (Adams, 1991). At one end there is the educated model spoken|
|by the elite, which follows the "London Standard". At the other extreme is what linguists call "creolized" English, fragmented |
|English speech and syntax developed during the days of slavery with African influences. This is the speech of the peasant or |
|laborer with little education. In the middle of the language scale there is the inclusion of Jamaican rhythm and intonation of |
|words, which evolved within the country (Cassidy, 1961 and Barrett, 1997). Cassidy (1961) calls this "Jamaicanism", which he |
|classifies into five divisions: |
|Retention, which includes English words now rare or poetic that are still in common use in Jamaica. |
|New formations, which ate in turn subdivided into alterations, compositions, and creations. |
|Borrowings which are French and Portuguese words which came into English as early as the eighteenth century. |
|Onomatopoeic echoisms. |
|Usage of words which, though not exclusively Jamaican, is the preferred term on the island. |
|The Forming of a Language |
| |
|Jamaican history and the making of language are based on the experience of exile. In the early 16th century Spanish settlement |
|began in Jamaica with the Arawaks as their first slave labor force. Within a 100 years very few Arawaks survived due to a deathly |
|epidemic. The only evidence of the Arawak dialect in Jamaica today is a few loan words, place names, food, natural objects, and |
|events (hurricane) (Lalla and D’Costa, 1990). Xaymaca is actually an Arawak word meaning "island of springs", which is where the |
|name Jamaica is derived from (Pryce, 1997). It is possible that the first contact of the Arawaks and the Spaniards may have led to|
|an early pidgin or bilingualism among the first generation of mixed blood. West Africans were brought to Jamaica to work as slaves|
|on plantations for the Spaniards. Throughout Spanish rule, the Arawaks had contact with Spanish colonists, Portuguese Christians, |
|Jews, Amerindians (brought in as slaves from other parts of the Caribbean), and West Africans (Lalla and D’Costa, 1990). |
| |
|In 1655 the English attacked the Spanish colony bringing with them new influences. Arriving with the invaders were soldiers |
|recruited from England, Barbados, and Montserrat; settlers from Surinam, Barbados, Bermuda, New England, and Virginia; Jews from |
|Brazil; indentured servants from Bristol (Southwest England dialect); midland and northern lower-class speakers; convicts from |
|large prisons in England; Romany speakers; and a variety of African speakers. The birth of population centers, such as Port Royal,|
|Passage Fort, and Kingston, served as mixing pot of many different speakers. Africans came to acquire forms of English because of |
|the domination of white dialects (Lalla and D’Costa, 1990). |
| |
|During the heyday of sugar, between 1700-1834, increasing numbers of Africans were imported to work on the large plantations. |
|Conflict of identity emerged in the 18th century when many Creole whites firmly identified with Jamaica and did not want to be |
|called Englishmen. This is the period thought to be most responsible for the forming of Jamaican language, which we now call |
|Jamaican Creole. By the end of the century Africans made up a quarter of the slave population and Creole took precedence over the |
|African past. Increases in written records of Jamaican Creole were seen during the abolitionist movement (1770-1838). English |
|continued to influence Jamaican Creole in the form of biblical language and prayer book language (Lalla and D’Costa, 1990). Today |
|linguists agree that East Indians, Spanish, and Arawaks have contributed a little vocabulary to the Jamaican dialect, but the |
|majority of non-English terms, grammar, and phonology is African (Adams, 1991). |
| |
|Is Jamaican Patois an Official Language? |
| |
|The perception that English-lexicon Creole languages are a form of "bad English" still persists today. Jamaican patois continues |
|to be considered an unacceptable official language and an informal language not to be used for any formal purpose. Creole speakers|
|are often compared to those speakers of Standard English. The similarity of Creole to English has led Creole speakers to be |
|labeled as socially and linguistically inferior, although Jamaica Creole is increasingly showing up in newspapers, once known for |
|their old-fashioned Standard English, on the radio, and in songs (Sebba 1, 1996 and Freed, 1993). |
| |
|Creole is similar to English in terms of vocabulary and most speakers are inferior in socioeconomic terms, so it is easy to assume|
|Creole is a poor form of English. In the past 30 or 40 years linguists have finally begun to recognize Creole as a language in |
|itself. After investigating the history and use of Creole, linguists now believe that Creole languages are their own individual |
|language which have come about through their own histories, with mixed roots from Europe and Africa. Although there has been more |
|and more interest in Creole languages and their identities, Creole is never used in education or for official purposes in the |
|English speaking Caribbean. There is no standard way to write in Creole but this has not stopped writers from publishing and |
|creating poems in written in Creole such as, dub poetry, and dialogue in novels, short stories, and plays. In most written Creole |
|modified Standard English is used. Following is an example of the variance of spelling of Standard English to words in British |
|Creole (Sebba 1, 1996). |
| |
|But Jamaicans know....Patois is de language and sound of Jamaica> |
|Howdy and tenke no bruk no square (according to MS. Lou). [pic] |
|__________________ |
|[pic] |
|I don't feel blessed; I am blessed. |
|[pic][pic][pic] |
|[pic] |
| |
| |