A Patois Revival: Jamaica Weighs Language Change as Ties to Britain Fray

[get these nets]

​

@Mega @DaRealness @Caca-faat @WIA20XX

 

[WIA20XX]

"is about as different from English as English is from German."

... Uh I dunno about that. Yiddish (what the Hasidic's speak) is very close to German. Germans perfectly understand what them folks is saying.
And once people understand the different words, I feel the same about Patois.

"Most Jamaicans have not mastered English?

... Uh I dunno about that.

Like to me and my ears, someone like Mutabaruka is a statesmen with few peers.



A regular person can watch this without the subtitles imo



Would I want to see a car rental contract written in Patois?

I don't know, I'd have to think on it.

But in African countries, I'd prefer to see the contract written in Wolof, Twi, etc.

 

[MajesticLion]

Indulgent uptowner navel-gazing mischief.

 

[CashmereThoughts]

what is Jamaica going to do to advance its standings in global economics an how does it choices regarding language impact those goals?

Whatever improves the standard of living and independence from its colonizers is what they should do.

 

[get these nets]

@WIA20XX

1)I agree with you about the line in the article about "Patois is as different from English, as English is from German." I am not a linguist, but I'd like to know who the unnamed linguists are that the NYT claims have said/written this.


The Yiddish to German comparison is a better one.Though, I am not sure that the two languages are mutually intelligible. Also not sure this is the case between the languages being discussed here.

I can make out/understand Patois if it's not too fast, but I grew up with and know plenty of Jamaicans. I understand words, but not always context and connotations.
A non-Jamaican(non Caribbean) English speaker would struggle to make out what they are hearing.

I heard an interview of pioneering BBC Radio DJ Herdle White earlier this year. And he said when he first had young Bob Marley on his program, that the station managers told him that white Brits wouldn't understand what he was saying. The show never aired.


2)This is the OP-ED that the 2nd quote (from Andrew Tucker) was taken from. Interesting that you mention West African languages, he makes a comment about those language speakers.

*4th and 5th paragraphs from the end

Jamaica at 60: Our people deserve better - Jamaica Observer

On a peaceful and electrifying August morning — sixth of the same — Jamaica, in a spectacular and momentous celebration, finally obtained its Independence from Great Britain. For our people, this...

www.jamaicaobserver.com

 

[UncleTomFord15]

Patois should've been the official language a long time ago. Clown shyt that it's taken this long.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

 

[Low End Derrick]

Might as well make Chinese the official language. They do own most of the infrastructure down there, after all..

 

[WIA20XX]

*4th and 5th paragraphs from the end

Jamaica at 60: Our people deserve better - Jamaica Observer

On a peaceful and electrifying August morning — sixth of the same — Jamaica, in a spectacular and momentous celebration, finally obtained its Independence from Great Britain. For our people, this...

www.jamaicaobserver.com

lemme bookmark this comment for a different discussion

Marcus Garvey, pan-Africanists, political activist, and philosopher, posits elegantly: "A race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existence sooner or later dies."

If I ever went back to school, it'd be to study developmental economics.

In addition, we have a profound aversion to any Western values or tools that may be used to elevate our socio-economic standard of living. For instance, we cling to our local dialect, with all its plantation idiosyncrasies, intimating that we are Africans and African languages must be respected. Yet, when we travel throughout the world, a large number of our African brothers and sisters are competent in many of their native tongues, including Western ones, for example, French, Portuguese, and English. That said, Jamaica needs to reclaim its linguistic identity as an English-speaking nation. If we do not begin to value the importance of formal language acquisition — English in particular — to national development, we will continue to go down the slippery slope of poverty and social destitution. No serious foreign investor wants to communicate with someone in the Jamaican dialect. Correspondingly, our tourism industry will yield greater profits if foreigners can communicate successfully with Jamaicans in English as they can walk the streets and interact freely and intelligently with locals without any communication barrier. True, our local vernacular can be used as a tool of entertainment, which it is. However, the victimisation card concerning slavery and colonialism will not magically make us English speakers. We must exert some effort.

The irony is that the "21 families" and the Government speak "The Queen's English" - and it's those "western values and tools" that have brough in the foreign direct "investment".

It's the adoption of "Western Values and tools" that have most of post colonial countries looking the way they do, in my opinion.

 

[Givethanks]

Cool idea, I get where they're going but..

Why make patois the official language... It's basically English, and English is basically the language of global trade.

There isn't even a standard way to write patois.

Different islands don't even speak the same patois/creole.