i would like to make a comment for those of us who are posting on this message board , i would suggest that we use proper grammar because this website is visited by people all over the world. in other words eliminate the bad Patois. All though it was intended for us Jamaicans living over seas to keep up with what is happening in our community.

[note: this post was moved into this thread since it was off topic in its original thread. -TBNet]

Patois is the spoken language of the country this website represents. Therefore, it will always be accepted.

In addition, maybe by reading patois on this site folks will be able to understand it better when hearing it spoken. I know I learned a great deal of patois by reading Dr. Honeyghan's books.

I am a borned Jamaican who loves my country, culture and people. An integral part of culture is language. Jamaica's language is a beautiful blend of various African language groups with french, spanish, indigenious Taino, and english. It is as legitimate as any other language that is spoken in the world because it is a vehicle of communication that binds people. To paraphrase Marley, we must free ourselves from mental slavery. There is nothing bad about the Jamaican language(also referred to a patois). It is a testament to the resilience and strengh of our people. It is important, especially as we move through the diaspora, that we keep it alive and recognize it's legitimacy and shed "archaic colonial views".

Well said Alice. I have always thought of Patois as a language, and have often tell people were ever I go that it is my language. I am a proud Jamaican as well. The main reason it is not reconized as a language is due to the fact that it is only spoken in the Carribbean, and it is derived from several different languages, which makes it not being able to stand on its own or teach to anyone as a whole language.

On Ragga Shanti this morning, my favorite talk show, the discussion was had about the perception of patois. This was a discussion held over from The Breakfast Club, a news talk show. Both shows mentioned how Jamaicans are the hardest on each other than anyone else when it comes to patois. It was pointed out that other foreigners living abroad do not look down on someone due to a foreign accent.

Ragga stated that whenever he goes abroad, everyone always wants to hear him speak patios and encourages it. In his humorous way, he further stated that the patois has more than one time impressed certain female persuasions . . .

I am always amazed at how many movies I see where you have an actor attempting the Jamaican accent. (Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark for Death, Stella
Getting her Groove Back, etc. etc.) What do they say about imitation is the best form of flattery ?

proud jamaican, my personal view/opinion is that many old fashioned thinking Jamaicans fail to recognize it as a language. We as a people must recognize it and stop thinking of it as inferior, "bad language, uneducated tongue". Once we are able to do so, we can begin to promote it. We only need to look at Haitian Creole which is a recognized language and not much more different, Haitan Creole's romance language base is French while Jamaican is English. Both are a synthesis of many languages. I just want to see us(Jamaicans)being proud of all that makes us Jamaicans.

I cannot believe that people in this day and age are ashamed of their native tongue. How can any patriotic Jamaican call our language "bad patois"? I am so proud of my country , its people and culture. When I meet with people from other lands I am never ashamed to tell them about my country and how in days gone by we use to carry water and fire wood on our heads and not to mention how we use to survive in the days of lamp light and the use of outhouses. I guess some of us would be ashamed when we saw the CHIMMY being featured on the net? May God have mercy on those who are ashame of their culture. Amen

SPEAKING PATIOS DOES NOT SHOW IGNORANCE, IT SHOWS PRIDE. PRIDE FOR THE JAMAICAN CULTURE, INCLUDING THE FOODS WE EAT, PRIDE FOR THE PEOPLE OF JAMAICA. THE LINGO IS SWEEEETT SO TILL. We must really free ourselves from mental slavery and love ourselves. Walk good yaw, mi love yuh still.

Amen! to that.

Nutin swee'ta dan fi heere fi mi langwich, english caan gemi dhem same feelin.

The Queen speakes a patois of old german, latin, etc and she does so with precision.

I would not use Jamaican patois for a scientific or technical article. I would use it to express myself to another patois speaker especially when the emotional content of the discussion cannot be expressed as well in english.

Being clearly understood is for me the important issue. As english is so widely used I would encourage all to learn to use it well.

Bad english is the product of laziness or poor teaching, well spoken patois is our ancestral gift. Remember too that the structure and words of patois vary throughout the island.

Cassidy and LePage have published a dictionary that is a great source of the history and use of Jamaican patois.

I for one,love to hear Patois wherever I go.I am married to a Jamaican who speaks perfect English but changes totally when he goes 'home'.It's like having 2 husbands! Be proud of your language. I am picking up a bit more each time we come over but I am not confident enough to speak yet...the best thing is getting texts from my Jamaican friends in Patois so I can learn a little more.

I am happy to see so many folks standing up for what is simple a part of our heritage "our patois language". I live in a society where I barely speak patois because the people I speak to would not understand me but I feel a sense of loss, incomplete without my native language and so every opportuinity I get to speak it I speak it with pride. English is no doubt a vital language as it is a more common language but it is by no means better than our native language. I have seen folks lose who they really are because they try so hard to shun the language that is innately them. forgetting or refusing to speak your language will not make you better or perceived to be better or more sophisticated, it just makes you lose the comfort and joy of being the real you and forfeit in the process the words that echo so true "Out Of Many One People." I intend to offend noone so please read with an open mind and be proud of what we have and who we are, Jamaicans, and our langauge is patois.

""forgetting or refusing to speak your language will not make you better or perceived to be better or more sophisticated, it just makes you lose the comfort and joy of being the real you and forfeit in the process the words that echo so true "Out Of Many One People." I intend to offend noone so please read with an open mind and be proud of what we have and who we are, Jamaicans, and our langauge is patois."quote by rohan" this is the reason why so many foreigners, like me - are thrilled to HEAR Patois. It is as beautiful,proud and even maybe the biggest next to the art and music, pillar of this great country.
I cannot speak it - don't even try - but it makes me warm to hear it ,the reason why lots of foreigners are coming and living in this country is among other reason as well, the vibe of ""proud to be a jamaican"" Even in my native language are so many dialects ( german born) that it is wonderful to hear the southern german in Bavaria or the great ""high German"" as we call it in the area of Hamburg. this means proud to be what you are and where you from. Please keep the patois coming to this forum.

We are a multi-talented people, very versatile, i.e. It's identifiable by my offspring who was not born on the soil and who enjoys speaking it. And yes, he is college educated, and dat ha fi duh wid no-ting, that is why I say we are versatile, gifted, smart and proud. Di sweetest music to my ear is to hear and bless my sight, to see my fellow Jamaicans, professional and non-professional come together as one, and enjoy the dialect thru song, dance and food. It irie, it sweet suh till. (By the way, some of us dont want to wear a Jamaican T-shirt because we are afraid of ourselves -- that's another topic).

There is a place and time for everything,
those of us living in the US find that effective
communication is often advantageous to ones career objectives, after all, english is the language of business in the western world, and
communicative skills are considered as a measure of ones intellegence, "it is therefore imperative
that the younger generations be encouraged to master it!!!".


HOWEVER if you are learning it to mask your true identity! SHAME ON YOU !!!

born yardman

Treasure Beach Native.
Does your post apply to the correct us of punctuation and capital letters? That grates on people more than the beauty and lyricism of patois.

Is Jamaica Patois a Language ?
By Karl Folkes

Wednesday, March 24, 2004


I am a Jamaican educator and linguist and a frequent user of Jamaicans.com website, which I find fascinating, necessary, and culturally uplifting. I am particularly interested in the use of patois (qua patwa) as an active and vibrant medium of communication by a number of Jamaicans; and even by other friends of Jamaica. From a linguist's perspective the language referred to as "Patois/Patwa" is officially labeled as "Jamaican Creole", or even better as simply "Jamaican". This designation is understandable in the larger context in which languages are usually named -- after the country in which the language initially evolved and developed. Thus, as examples, we have the following: England/English; Germany/German; Sweden/Swedish; France/French; Spain/Spanish; China/Chinese; Russia/Russian. Occasionally languages are named after an ethnocultural grouping or region, thus: Arabia/Arabic; Judisch=Jewish/Yiddish. Even when there appears to be no direct connection between a nation or country and the designation of its language we can trace some historic connection that can provide a logical explanation for the current name of the language. The United States (America) is a typical example. We do not normally refer to the language as "American" (although some people may do so), but simply as "English". The rational explanation for this is that the original 'American' speakers and users of "English" were actually English men and women during the colonial and pre-independence era in the first half of the 18th century -- and certainly before that -- under King George III. Thus 'American' English bears the colonial legacy as an indelible imprint in the naming of the language.

Back to the case of Patois/Patwa/Jamaican Creole/Jamaican! From linguistic experience we know that creole languages worldwide developed out of earlier forms, described as a 'Pidgin' as a result of the contact (e.g., from trading, commerce, bartering, even slavery) betwen and among speakers of mutually incomprehensible languages: French and African languages; English and African languages; Dutch and African languages; Some European language and Chinese, Native American, or African languages, etc.

In the case of Jamaica (during an extended period of slavery and colonialism) the mutually incomprehensible languages were English (and Spanish prior to English) and a combination of several West African languages primarily from West Africa and pertaining to the Niger-Congo family of languages. Out of this fertile linguistic soup a common 'primitive' or pseudolanguage ('pseudosprache') emerged -- spoken by our Jamaican ancestors from Africa who, themselves, possessed such native languages as Twi, Fante, Ibo, Yoruba -- which, under harsh and severe penalty, they were forbidden to speak in the presence of their European masters. However, this 'convenient' pseudotalk by our African ancestors in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean, in time was developed by the children of our African ancestors into a full-fledged language with its autonomous grammar bearing strong African roots and stocked with the lexicon of English words and those from Spanish, French, Native American, and, of course, African sources.

This new language became known generically as 'Creole' to identify its genesis from multilinguistic sources (involving, as a requirement, three or more languages to contribute to the development of the new language. Today we have creole languages all over the world. Some better known ones are Jamaican, Haitian, Sranan Tongo, Garifuna (in the Caribbean) , Tok Psin (in the Malaysian Peninsula), Afrikaans (in South Africa), Yiddish (in Germany and around the world). Interestingly, many of these languages now enjoy official recognition and status; and encourage literacy development in these various languages. I believe that Jamaican is moving steadily in that direction.

The ultimate question as to whether these Creole languages are indeed "languages" or "dialects" is moot and in fact a distraction. Again, from a linguistic perspective, all "languages" are comprised of "dialects", which are the distinct variations in form, utterance, meaning, and syntax of a particular language. What we sometimes describe as 'standard' English is itself a variant form of the family of dialects we refer to collectively as "English". Some dialects of "English" are: 'Bostonian', 'Southern', 'New England', 'Australian', 'Yorkshire', 'Cockney ', 'Canadian', etc. Some of these dialects of English will be arbitrarily assigned more 'prestige' than others; but this is a sociological choice rather than a linguistic choice. When, however, a dialect 'shift' is so great that the differences from the 'uniform' language family make communication difficult or perhaps even impossible, we recognize, at least psychologically, culturally, and socially that this 'strange', 'crude', 'vulgar' dialect has indeed become another language, yet bearing historic connection with the language that it -- way in the past -- had membership.

Again classical examples are Latin and Italian; Latin and Spanish; Latin and French; Latin and Portuguese; Germanic and English; Germanic and Dutch; Germanic and Swedish; Germanic and Germanic; Germanic and Norwegian/Danish, etc. The point to all of this is to recognize that Jamaican is distinct enough to be recognized as a language of African origins that has sufficiently evolved to become an autonomous language. What has not quite happened so far is to have a uniform orthographic representation of the language; and therefore to give it the respect it fully deserves. As linguists we note that all human languages started out in oral form (Sign Language is an exception); and many of these languages were later ascribed written phonetic representations in order to preserve some written consistency of the language, recognizing at the same time that (again largely because of dialect distinctions), in their oral expression, there would always be a degree of variation that demonstrated the vibrancy of the language in different linguistic communities. Literacy (and perhaps in relation to the development of movable type and the Printing Press) soon developed and became a widespread phenomenon among those languages that employed a uniform written form. These languages even gained prestige and a 'standard' associated with them. Unfortunately, those languages which are quite capable of being represented orthographically in a uniform way, but have not done so for a number of reasons (repression by the 'prestige' languages that they are in contact with; discouragement by 'those in power' to see these languages orthographically represented; social, cultural, historical, political, economic clashes, etc) are criticized, frowned on, scorned -- in a similar way in which we regard the speakers of these languages as societal 'outcasts' or 'rejects'.

Let's examine briefly some structures in Jamaican and compare them with English:

JAMAICAN ENGLISH

Dem a fi mi
They're mine

Kuyaman, awara?
Say, what's up?
Unu a fi nuo seh a soh wi tan
You must know that's the way we are

A wan dege sinting smadi a gi mi
It's a measly thing that someone is giving me

A nyam im nyamop di breshi! He(she) really ate up the breadfruit!

Of course, I could go on. But the point I wish to make here is that Jamaican is quite distinct from English, is rule-governed (has a grammar of its own); has its own 'standard', has a community of native speakers, is capable of expressing in writing any concept that can be expressed in English or any other language; and certainly can be expressed orthographically in a uniform way that can -- and should-- encourage literacy development.

To contact Karl Folkes please use the following email address but remove EMAIL BLOCK from the address - kfolkesEMAIL@BLOCKnycboe.net


E-mail this page Printer-friendly page discuss this article
Browse the latest articles
Latest articles in Patois Articles

Socio-historical Background of Patwa in Jamaica
Now a wey disya langwij come fram: · I would like to say that Patwa developed under the auspices of colonialism and conquest; (much like the rest of the world). But out of a contact situation between languages that were mutually unintelligible. During period of slavery the Africans were forbidden to speak their native tongues but not only that they were deliberately mixed up on the plantations to hinder communication (to plan rebellion or plotting to run away).

"In A People House" by Dr Suess read in Jamaican Patois
Teach yourself Jamaican patois/patwa with children stories. Listen and watch the video of " In A People House" by Dr. Seuss read in Jamaican patois/patwa.

Dr Seuss Green Eggs and Ham in Jamaican Patois
Teach yourself Jamaican patois/patwa with children stories. Listen and watch the video of " Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss read in Jamaican patois/patwa.

Who seh wi chat patwa (patois)?
Ras Dennis Jabari Reynolds author of the
Jabari Authentic Jamaican Dictionary of the Jamic Language argues that we do not we do not speak broken English, or patois, we speak Jamic.

Patois Sound Clips
Patois Sound Clips. You will need to download the Real Audio Player to listen the clips live.

Is Jamaica Patois a Language ?
Jamaican educator and linguist Karl Folkes gives his perspective why the language referred to as "Patois/Patwa" should be officially labeled as "Jamaican Creole", or even better as simply "Jamaican".

15 Reasons why Jamaican Patois is a Language ?
Jamaican educator

Great, thanks Alice.

Turey, I hope many will read the article and pass it on. Hopefully, we will take pride in using our language(Jamaican/ Jamaican Creole/Patwa or patois to use the french spelling) and never again think of it as inferior to any other tongue.

Thank you Alice for that beautiful response. You could not have come across any better. Proud of my heritage.

I spoke patois to my children from they were born
i wanted them to appreciate where there mother came from and what a lot of there relatives sound like.our patois is part of what makes us unique as jamaicans. be proud of it

I'll certainly pass it on Alice.

Power 106 is presently broadcasting a wonderful program on the topic of Jamaican creole featuring a number of professors speaking on the topic. You can access via the web www.go-jamaica.com