Title PageName: Brooke Jordan

School: Signal Hill Secondary

Class: 6b

Subject: Communication Studies

Teacher: MS John-Baptiste

INTRODUCTION

The country I choose for this project is Jamaica. Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea comprising the third largest island of the Greater Antilles. By definition, language is the human ability to acquire and use complex system of communication and a language is any specific example of such a system. The population of Jamaica mainly speaks two types of languages:

1. Jamaican patois/patwa (creole) - English based creoles with West African influences.

2. Jamaican English- the official language spoken

DREAD TALK

Out of this Jamaican creole language arises the ‘dread talk language. Created by a Rastafarians of this Caribbean island, these Jamaican Rastafarians developed this language to resists societal oppression. Created by the Rasta man, a member of a group with specific history that began in 1930’s. This man saw himself as being at the bottom of the Jamaican social and economic ladder and as having a particular religion and philosophy. Dread talk was a conscious attempt to speak in a way that could accurately describe his socio economic position as the man looking up from under his religious position as a man who worshipped Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and his rites, including a taboo on meat. The adjustment was made to the Jamaican creole the major change being the lexicon with minor changes in the grammar. Today dread talk is used for identifying one youth man with another.

Some if not most Rastafarians choose not to use certain words in the English language as they have Babylonian and devil-like connotations, for example the word "Hello" is not used because it contains the word "hell" and "lo" referring to "low". Instead words such as 'Wa Gwaan', 'Yes I' 'Cool Nuh Iyah' are used because they are words that uplift people. If at a Rastafarian Church, they would use their formal church greetings. For instance, the Rastafarian branch known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel would say, "Greetings in the Divine Name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who revealed Himself in the personality of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie the first"

JAMAICAN PATOIS/PATWA

Jamaican patwa/patois sometimes referred to as Jamaican creole, was originally developed as a pidgin. A pidgin or pidgin language, is a simplified version of a language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups. Patois comes from French origin meaning “rough speech” and usually carries a negative connotation. The Jamaican language was developed in the 1600’s during the Jamaican slave trade. The slave trade however consisted of a mix of European cultures and African created creoles. The slaves were divided into groups deliberately without a common language to prevent revolt. The slaves began to learn pidgin in order to communicate with each other and their masters. The children grew up in this life, learned pidgin from their parents as their first language and it evolved from pidgin to creole.

STANDARD ENGLISH JAMAICAN PATWA

How are you? Wat a gwan

I have not eaten Me nuh nyam

Since this morning A frah mawning

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THESE JAMAICAN LANGUAGES

Standard Jamaican English is the official language of Jamaica and is the first

language of the man at the top if the language. According to surveys from

the University of the West Indies, most people felt that that the English

speaker was the more intelligent, educated and wealthy. One of the reasons

being while speaking standard Jamaican English the correct grammar,

vocabulary and the proper structure of sentence is used while in creole,

because of the use of incorrect grammar, vocabulary and structure of

sentences, people display negative attitudes towards Jamaican

creoles/patois. Reason being, people see patois as an inferior language that

is often considered to be unbecoming or crude. Social attitudes and

misconception about Jamaican creoles had their genesis in the fact that the

creole is linked with slavery. Jamaican (Creole/Patois) is used by most people

for every day, informal situations - it is the language most Jamaicans use at

home and are most familiar with, as well as the language of most local

popular music. Standard English, on the other and is used in formal

situations and some people however uses this to mask the creole to prevent

alienation and marginalization. Most Creole-dominant speakers have a fair

command of English and Standard English, through schooling and exposure

to official culture and mass media; their receptive skills (understanding of

Standard English) are typically much better than their productive skills (their

own intended Standard English statements often show signs of Jamaican

Creole interference).

Most writing in Jamaica is done in English (including private notes and

correspondence). Jamaican Patois has a standardized orthography, and has

only recently been taught in some schools. As a result, the majority of

Jamaicans can read and write Standard English only, and have trouble

deciphering written Patois (in which the writer tries to reflect characteristic

structures and pronunciations to differing degrees, without compromising

readability). Written Patois appears mostly in literature, especially in

folkloristic "dialect poems"; in humoristic newspaper columns; and most

recently, on internet chat sites frequented by younger Jamaicans, who seem

to have a more positive attitude toward their own language use than their

parents.