Talk:Jamaican Creole

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Revision as of 03:40, 7 May 2008 by imported>John Stephenson (not 'language' in title)
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 Definition:  Several varieties of a full language spoken in Jamaica that developed from a pidgin and remained in some contact with English, created as a conseqence of enslaved speakers of many African languages requiring a means to communicate; also known as Patois. [d] [e]
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I called this 'Jamaican creole' rather than 'Jamaican patois' or ('patwa') because even though the latter is very common, including in Jamaica, it can be used derogatorily, especially by people outside a creole speech community. 'Creole' is certainly how it is referred to by linguists as well. I should also add that because the creole is actually a range of varieties at one end of a continuum in opposition to standard English, we can't really call it 'Jamaican creole language', as we would with other creoles. That would imply that there are two languages spoken in Jamaica, which is not really the case because they are connected. John Stephenson 04:40, 7 May 2008 (CDT)

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