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Jamaican English, including Jamaican Standard English, is the variety of English native to Jamaica and is the official language of the country. [1] A distinction exists between Jamaican English and Jamaican Patois (a creole language), though not entirely a sharp distinction so much as a gradual continuum between two extremes. [2]
Female patois speaker saying two sentences A Jamaican Patois speaker discussing the usage of the language. Jamaican Patois (/ ˈ p æ t w ɑː /; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with influences from West African and other languages, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora.
In 2002, the Jamaican Language Unit was set up at the University of the West Indies at Mona to begin standardizing the language, with the aim of supporting non-English-speaking Jamaicans according to their constitutional guarantees of equal rights, as services of the state are normally provided in English, which a significant portion of the ...
Jamaica (/ dʒ ə ˈ m eɪ k ə / ⓘ jə-MAY-kə; Jamaican Patois: Jumieka [dʒʌˈmie̯ka]) is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies.At 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi), it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. [9]
Jamaican culture consists of the religion, norms, values, and lifestyle that define the people of Jamaica. The culture is mixed, with an ethnically diverse society, stemming from a history of inhabitants beginning with the original inhabitants of Jamaica (the Taínos ).
The first permanent English colonies were founded at Saint Kitts (1624) and Barbados (1627). The English language is the third most established throughout the Caribbean; however, due to the relatively small populations of the English-speaking territories, only 14% [4] of West Indians are English speakers. English is the official language of ...
The original Indentured labourers arriving in Jamaica during the mid to late 19th century mostly did not have surnames back in India. Once arriving in Jamaica, in order to assimilate easier into Jamaican society, they often took Anglo/British originated family names due to those being the majority in the country.
Jamaica's first political parties emerged in the late 1920s, while workers association and trade unions emerged in the 1930s. The development of a new Constitution in 1944, universal male suffrage, and limited self-government eventually led to Jamaican Independence in 1962 with Alexander Bustamante serving as its first prime minister. The ...