Jamaican English
Introduction
Learn more about a variety of English native to Jamaica and the country's official language.
Background
Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole (also known as Patios) are the two major languages spoken in Jamaica today. In fact, Jamaican English has been heavily influenced by Jamaican Creole. Because of this, many Jamaican English speakers exhibit features of Jamaican Creole in their speech. However, the manifestation of these features is not uniform across the speech community in Jamaica. This nuanced relationship can be demonstrated using the post-creole continuum:
Linguists often use the term acrolect to describe the variety of Jamaican English that is most standard and the least creole-like, while the term basilect will describe varieties of Jamaican English that are less standard and exhibit more features of Jamaican Creole. According to Alison Irvine-Sobers, a linguist who has researched Jamaican English and Creole extensively, the Jamaican English acrolect is generally associated with speakers at the top of the social spectrum (white collar workers, educated speakers, etc.).
Not all speakers will exhibit salient features of Jamaican English and Creole (such as nasalization or vowel insertion) at the same rates. Those who exhibit these features more saliently are likely speaking a basilect variety of Jamaican English, influenced heavily by Jamaican Creole. Those who exhibit relatively few or infrequent instances of these features are likely speaking the acrolect of Jamaican English—what is considered the “standard.” Therefore, speech language pathologists who consult this research should consider where Jamaican English speakers might fall on this post-creole continuum, taking into account where speakers’ differences may be the result of a basilect or acrolect variety of Jamaican English.
Creole Definition
Before defining what a creole is, it is important to understand first what a pidgin is. A pidgin is defined as “a type of simplified language which came into existence as a result of contact between two or more languages in order to find a means of communication” and is used in limited domains of contact. When two groups of different languages “from distinct languages are brought together without a shared first language,” a shared communication system is created, “typically under the domination of speakers from one of the languages.” Thus, pidgin becomes a creole when it is then passed down as a first language to the next generation; creole differs from a pidgin with being used in most, if not all, domains of contact. Angela Bartens defines a creole as a “language that has arisen from a language contact situation where speakers of a multitude of languages had to acquire a Means of Interethnic Communication,” or the ability to communicate to people in different cultures.
History of Creole in Jamaica
The origin of Jamaican Creole was very poorly documented, and as such, the research that can be done on its history is extremely limited. Jamaican Creole appears to be influenced by several different languages. The Arawaks—the Jamaican island natives—were initially killed or enslaved, and most of them died by the end of the 1600s, so their language’s effect on the Jamaican Creole is more limited than one might expect, mostly coming up in some lexical features. The creole was also influenced in some ways by the language of the Spanish colonists. However, Jamaican Creole has been mainly influenced by a combination of English and the various languages of African slaves, most notably languages from West Africa. The language spoken by the Kwa played a particularly large role in the formation of Jamaican Creole. The creole changed (as any language does) over the centuries, although it became more individualized and less fluid once slavery was banned in Jamaica. Although the creole appears to exist as early as the mid-1600s, it did not have a written form until the 1800s. Even though it is several hundred years old, speakers of Jamaican Creole are still fighting for it to be recognized and respected as a real language.
Pronunciation
This section describes pronunciation features unique to Jamaican English.
Rhoticity
Jamaican Creole is generally non-rhotic, which means “an /r/ sound is not retained before consonants (as in pronouncing hard and cart) and at the end of a word."
However, an /ɹ/ may be pronounced in some words. Rhoticity is very stigmatized in Jamaican English and is known as “post-vocalic rhoticity.” Rhoticity in Jamaican English occurs “before coronal consonants and after the vowels {a/ as in party, and /ɔ/ as in forty.” There are instances where /a/ is not rhotacized as consistently as /ɔ/ so that [partɪ] can sound like [pa:tɪ].
This is shown in specific ages and genders, with this feature occurring more in the speech of higher-educated speakers. Young men are not typically non-rhotic compared to women and older speakers; however, rhoticity before the /ɔ/ vowel is seen more in women and younger speakers than older speakers of Jamaican English.
Recordings
Nasalization
Vowel Insertion:
S + N/M
(2:52)
In this recording, notice that this speaker pronounces the /ɹ/ in the words urban, are, mixture, and more but not in the word deeper, showing that this feature can vary.
“Urban Jamaican accents are mixed with a mixture of Jamaican Creole and Standard English while urban accents are… is a mixture of… it’s more deeper in sound…”
[ɜɹːbən d͡ʒɐmˈe͡ɪkən ˈæksənts ˈɑː͡ɹ mˈɪkst wˈɪð ˈe͡ɪ mˈɪkst͡ʃɚ ˈʌv d͡ʒɐmˈe͡ɪkən kɹɪˈo͡ʊl ˈænd stˈændɚd ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ wˈa͡ɪl ˈɜɹːbən ˈæksənts ˈɑː͡ɹ… ˈɪz ˈe͡ɪ mˈɪkst͡ʃɚ ˈʌv… ˈɪts mˈoː͡ɹ dˈiːpɚ ˈɪn sˈa͡ʊnd…]
(0:13)
In this recording, notice that this speaker pronounces /ɹ/ in the words story and territory but drops the /ɹ/ in the words nurse, working, and deserted.
“Here’s a story for you. Sarah Parry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory.”
[hˈɪ͡ɹz ˈe͡ɪ stˈoːɹi fˈɔː͡ɹ jˈuː. sˈɛɹə pˈæɹi wˈʌz ˈe͡ɪ vˈɛɾɚɹˌɪnɛɹi nˈɜːs hˈuː hˈæd bˈɪn wˈɜːkɪŋ dˈe͡ɪli ˈæt ˈæn ˈo͡ʊld zˈuː ˈɪn ˈe͡ɪ dᵻzˈɜːɾᵻd dˈɪstɹɪkt ˈʌv ðˈə tˈɛɹɪtˌoːɹi.]
Vowels before nasal consonants /m/ and /n/ are nasalized in Jamaican English, which is also a feature of Standard American English. However, this is especially significant in Jamaican Creole because the nasal consonant can sometimes be dropped, leaving just a nasalized vowel. For example, the word name could be pronounced as [nẽ:] because speakers drop the nasal consonant, leaving only a nasalized vowel.
Jamaican English speakers will occasionally insert a vowel between /s/ and nasal consonants (/n/ and /m/). This process (insertion of vowels between consonants) is called anaptyxis.
When a vowel is inserted, it will usually match the placement (back/front) of the vowel that follows /n/ or /m/. For example, the vowel /i/ may be inserted between /s/ and /m/ in the word smith, to match the /i/ vowel that originally follows the cluster. However, there may be exceptions to this rule, such as with the word smell, where a /u/ (a back vowel) is inserted between /s/ and /m/, but the origins vowel that follows the cluster /ɛ/ is a front vowel. Though there are variations to this feature, the pattern of vowel insertion in consonant cluster /sm/ or /sn/ remains consistent.
TH-fronting and Interdentals
This is a feature characteristic of Jamaican Creole. It will be less common in speakers who speak the acrolect, slightly more common in speakers who speak the mesolect, and most common in speakers who speak the basilect.
In Jamaican English, interdental fricatives, /ð/ (voiced) and /θ/ (voiceless), are replaced by alveolar stops [th] (aspirated) and /d/.
Thick [θɪk] pronounced as [tʰɪk]
Things [θiŋs] pronounced as [thiŋs]
That [ðat] pronounced as [dat]
These [ðiz] pronounced as [diz]
Those [ðoz] pronounced as [doz]
This is most likely to happen when “th” appears at the beginning of a word.
TH-fronting may occasionally, but rarely, result in hypercorrection:
Truth pronounced [θrut] (hypercorrection) instead of [truθ] (standard)
Butter pronounced [bʌtθəɹ] (hypercorrection) instead of [bʌtəɹ] (standard)
Recording
Vowel Length and Quality
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[di:z tʰiŋz] = these things (“th” is pronounced as /d/ instead of /ð/ and /th/ instead of /θ/)
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[faiv thik slɛbz] = five thick slabs (“th” is pronounced as /th/ instead of /θ/)
-
[hɛ bɹʌdə bab] = her brother Bob (the “th” is pronounced as /d/ instead of /ð/)
-
[ɑt dɪ] = at the (the “th” is pronounced as /d/ instead of /ð/)
Jamaican English vowel pronunciation varies from Standard American English, often creating homophonous pairs that aren’t easily distinguished by non-Jamaican English speakers. This includes the raising and lengthening of some vowels, as well as monophthongization of diphthongs. Below is a chart that indicates the difference in vowel quality and quantity in Jamaican English.
Notice that the KIT, FOOT, and DRESS vowels are raised, merging with FLEECE, GOOSE, and FACE (monophthongized), respectively. This would create homophones of minimal pairs such as ship and sheep. However, as indicated in the chart on the right, the distinction between the words is made in vowel length. To summarize, vowels that are raised in Jamaican English are short vowels while vowels whose quality stays the same are lengthened to distinguish between minimal pairs. See examples below. Lengthening of vowels indicated in the chart still occurs when there are no minimal pairs.
Recordings
(3:41 and 4:27)
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Compare the word cooked at 3:41 with food at 4:27 and 4:29; [kuk] vs [fu:d]
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Listen to the lengthening of the FLEECE vowel in feeling at 3:21; [fi:lɪn]
(0:45)
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“plain yellow dress”; [ple:n yelɔː dres]
-
Notice the lengthening and raising of the vowel in plain, as well as the raising of the DRESS vowel in yellow and dress.
Grammar
This section describes pronunciation features unique to Jamaican English.
Negation
Serial Verbs
In Jamaican Creole, negation is primarily communicated with these words: no, duont, and neva. Unlike the standard English word never, neva typically only refers to things that have not happened in the past, not things that will not happen in the future. Additionally, neva can be used for regular negation. A sentence can be made negative by simply adding the word no. No can also be pronounced as na. Duont can also be used to negate a sentence, without regard to tense. No and duont are sometimes used as tag questions. And, as with other varieties of English, negative concord is common and acceptable. Negative concord is commonly known as using a double negative. While it is common in Jamaican Creole, it is also considered perfectly acceptable not to use negative concord.
Examples:
“It no mek no sens” for “It makes no sense.”
“I [neva] see such a big gun in all my life” for “I never saw such a big gun in all my life.”
“He [neva] lack no money” for “He wasn’t poor.”
Recording
(5:15–5:17)
“Mi neva did a go.”
[mi nɛvə dɪd ə go]
Serial Verbs are a Verb + Verb construction with no use of complement, conjunction, or pause between each verb. This construction occurs in various creole languages including Jamaican Creole. In Jamaican Creole, one would mostly likely find only two-verb sequences, although three-verb sequences do occur.
Below are examples of the most common verbs used serially by speakers of Jamaican Creole.
Plurals
Serial verbs have the same object. The first verb in a set expresses tense, but the tense is applied to both verbs. Note that verbal auxiliaries are not the same thing as serial verbs as in the sentence “You should go home now.”
Recording
(5:25)
“Wheyaa go? You no see me I come back, we come check you.” (The serial verbs appear as “come check.”)
[wəyʌ gɔː? Yɔ: no si mi ɑɪ kɔːm bæk, wi kɔːm ʧeɪ:k yɔː]
Unlike Standard English, where plurals are typically shown by adding -s to the end of the words, Jamaican Creole shows plurals by adding -dem as a suffix or following word, a practice that may carry over into Jamaican English. Dem comes from the Jamaican pronunciation of the word them, which is a plural pronoun. So by adding dem after a singular noun like girl, the speaker is effectively saying girl them. Often the pluralized noun will be preceded by the determiner di.
Examples:
I don’t even remember the [musical] notes any more.”
“Afta a no iivn nomba- rimemba di nuots-dem agen.
Some of the women are single women.”
“Some a di woman dem is single woman …
Recording
(0:04–0:07)
“We friend dem [here]” for “Our friends are here.”
[wi: fɹɛn dɛm deə]
Pronouns
Jamaican English pronouns differ from Standard English. Like many other creoles, Jamaican English pronouns do not always specify case or gender. Possessive pronouns are often preceded by fi-.
Lexical Items
Much of Jamaican English vocabulary comes from English, but additional vocabulary has been borrowed from Spanish (maroon), Portuguese (pikni), and Igbo (unu).
Sometimes, English words may take on different, though similar, meanings.
e.g., Belly may be used to refer to 'pregnancy.'
Other English words may not be used at all, and a term with similar meaning will be used.
e.g., Eye water instead of 'tears'
e.g., Foot bottom for the 'sole of the foot'
English words that may mean one thing in a different country and culture may mean something else in Jamaican English.
e.g., Ignorant can mean 'easily angered' or 'very upset'
Words can be created through means of reduplicating base words.
e.g., Friedi friedi meaning 'fearful'
e.g., Chati chati meaning 'to talk a lot or out of turn'
Although Jamaican English shares a large part of its vocabulary with Standard English, some common words have acceptable, nonstandard synonyms.
Baba for 'father'
Boy-boy for 'several boys'
Good-belly for 'kind'
Day-day for 'goodbye' (Note that this one is more common among children.)
References
1. Irvine-Sobers, G. A. (2018). Ideologies of the acrolect and English in Jamaica. The acrolect in Jamaica: The architecture of phonological variation (p. 2). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1306618
2. Irvine-Sobers, 2018, pp. 1–3.
3. Isa, B. Z., Halilu, K. A., & Ahmed, H. K. (2015). The Concept of Pidgin and Creole. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 20(3), pp. 14–21. https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol20-issue3/Version-5/D020351421.pdf
4. Sherriah, A. C., Devonish, H., Thomas, E. A., & Creanza, N. (2018). Using features of a creole language to reconstruct population history and cultural evolution: Tracing the English origins of Sranan. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1743), 20170055.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5812968/pdf/rstb20170055.pdf
5. Bartens, A. (2021). The Making of Languages and New Literacies: San Andrés-Providence Creole With a View on Jamaican and Haitian. Lingüística y Literatura, 42(79), 237–256. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.lyl.n79a13
6. Lalla, B. & D’Costa, J. (2009). Language in exile: Three hundred years of Jamaican Creole. University of Alabama Press. pp. 1–3, 6–7, 31–32.
7. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Non-rhotic definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/non-rhotic
8. Irvine-Sobers, 2018, p. 154.
9. Zorrilla, D., & Beria, J. (2006). Analysis of Jamaican English Vowels and Consonants from Reggae and Dub Music. Saber. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/4277/427739428012.pdf
10. Devonish, H., & Harry, O. G. (2008). Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English: Phonology. Varieties of English, pp. 262–263. DOI: 10.1515/9783110208405.1.256.
11. Devonish, 2008, pp. 262.
12. Irvine-Sobers, 2018, pp. 39–41.
13. Wassink, A. B. (1999). A Sociophonetic Analysis of Jamaican Vowels. The University of Michigan. 24–26. https://depts.washington.edu/sociolab/Wassink/Publications/documents/1999%20Wassink%20PhD.pdf
14. Wassink, A. B. (2001). Theme and Variation in Jamaican Vowels. In R. T. Cacoullos & J. N. Stanford (Ed.) Language Variation and Change, 13. pp. 135–159. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0954394501132023.
15. Patrick, P. L. (1999). Urban Jamaican Creole: Variation in the mesolect. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 199–200.
16. Patrick, P. L. (2004). Jamaican Creole: morphology and syntax. A handbook of varieties of English, 2, pp. 13–14.
17. Auwera, J., & Lisser, T. N. D. (2019). Negative concord in Jamaican. Ampersand, 6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2019.100051.
18. Patrick, 1999, p. 200.
19. Patrick, Peter L. (2007) Jamaican Patwa (Creole English). Creolica, University of Essex. pp. 17–19.
20. Arsenec, N. (2020). Serial Verbs in Jamaican and Martinician. Hal Open Science. pp. 1–3. https://hal.science/hal-02910343/document
21. Benito, M. M. (2004). Jamaican Creole: A Brief Diachronic Study of its Syntax (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de Belgrano-Facultad de Lenguas y Estudios Extranjeros-Traductorado Público, Literario y Científico-Técnico de Inglés). p. 10
22. Patrick, 2004, pp. 33.
23. Patrick, 2004, pp. 33.
24. Patrick, 2004, pp. 34.
25. Patrick, 2007, pp. 24–25.
26. Jamaican creole at York College – A Resource Site. Jamaican Creole at York College A Resource Site. (n.d.). https://jamaicancreole.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-linguistic-features-of-jamaican-creole/.
27. Admin. (2011, August 12). Linguistic features of Jamaican creole (patois). Linguistic Features of Jamaican Creole (Patois).
https://cape-commstudies.blogspot.com/2011/08/linguistic-features-of-jamaican-creole.html/.
28. Cassidy, F. G., & Le Page, R. B. (2002). Dictionary of Jamaican English. University of the West Indies Press. p. 16, 64, 202, 144.
Recordings
Jamaica 11 (2016, April). IDEA [Speech Audio Recording]
Jamaica 4 (2013, February). IDEA. [Speech Audio Recording]
Jamaican Creole English 1 (n.d.). The Speech Accent Archive [Speech Audio Recording]
Jamaican 8 (2016, January 7) IDEA [Speech Audio Recording]
Jamaica 10 (2016, April 2). IDEA [Speech Audio Recording]
Peace Corps Jamaica. (2022, March 7). Introduction to Jamaican language [Video]. YouTube.