Communication One

In this presentation we
will discuss the
Jamaican Language
Continuum and the
features of Jamaican
Creole in terms of the
linguistic components it
possesses in common
with all other
languages.

These linguistic
features are:
1. Phonology
2. Lexicon
3. Grammar
4. syntax

 Each country has its idiosyncrasies regarding the

languages used within its borders and Jamaica is no
exception. The Jamaican Language situation is referred
to as a continuum.
It depicts the range of languages and language dialects
spoken in Jamaica. (Indeed there are a few other
Caribbean territories which are described in a similar
manner.) This range is represented as a continuum
because:
Not every point on the continuum is a separate language
Jamaicans will switch from one to the other continuously
in conversation and in different situations and
According to some linguists, the Creole is continuously
changing and becoming more like English.
(Decreolisation)

Basilect

Mesolect

Acrolect

 BASILECT is the form of Creole with more African

derived features than other forms and is said to be the
first point on the continuum. It is most often spoken in
rural areas and by uneducated persons.

MESOLECT is the form of Creole with more English

derived features than the basilect and is said to be the
point on the continuum next to the basilect. It is most
often spoken by urban and educated persons.

 ACROLECT is the Jamaican Standard English and it is

the last point on the continuum. It is most often spoken in
formal situations.
Undoubtedly this notion that each form is most often
spoken by particular persons is debatable as the
increased accessibility of new technological mediums of
communication throughout the country has enabled
Jamaicans to choose even more freely any variety they
wish to use along the continuum.

 The lexicon of a language refers to its vocabulary. In the

case of Caribbean Creole English the vast majority of
lexical items are derived from English but, there are
many other lexical items that are derived from other
languages (Europe, Africa and Asia). Also, there are
some English words, that the usage and meanings of
which are inconsistent with traditional English usage.
Some creole words are not recognized to be English
words but they do not mean the same thing as they do in
English.

Lexical Item

English Meaning

Creole English
Meaning

Ignorant

Lacking in knowledge or
information

Irritable and lacking in

self control

Miserable

Wretched or unhappy

Fussy or difficult to
please

Salad

A cold dish of raw

vegetables

Tomato/ football
technique

Tea

A beverage or a drink
made from dried leaves
of an evergreen Asian
shrub

Any hot beverage

Belly

A persons stomach

Pregnant/ Resentment

Dark

With little or no light

To be bashful and
introverted.

Corner

A place where two

Street as well as a place

 In Jamaican Creole English, some English words have

been compounded to create nouns, adjectives and verbs
which do not exist in English. Many of these compound
nouns refer to body parts.
For eg., eye-water(tears), hand-middle (palm), nosehole (nostrils), neck-back, (nape), arm-hole (armpit),
head-top (crown), and foot-bottom (sole).
Compound adjectives formed in creole are: hard-ears
(stubborn), sweet-mouth (flatter), bad-mouth (to
discourage by destructive critcism), force-ripe which
means forward or precocious and red-eye (envious).

 Creole words are also formed by reduplication (base

words are repeated to form new words).
For example: freni freni (very friendly), chati-chati (talk
excessively or out of turn)

 The sound system or phonology of Caribbean Creole

English is not identical to that of English. For eg, the
English word this is pronounced as dis, the word with
is pronounced wid and these is pronounced as dese.

 Final consonance
clusters tend to be
devoiced for some
words in Caribbean
Creole English. So
becomes is
pronounced become
and reduced is
pronounced reduce.
Sometimes the final
consonant sound is
deleted.

child pronounced
chil
last pronounced las
respect pronounced
respek

 Colloquial aphesis
(Alleyne, 1980) is a
tendency to omit
unstressed syllables
in pronunciation.

Kaazn- because
Gainst- against
Kaal- call
Dawta- daughter

 In English, possession
is signaled by the
addition of the
apostrophe s to
nouns. In Creole
English this is not so.
Instead the word fi is
used.

Creole English

Standard
English

A fi Jon mango

It is Johns
mango.

A fi mi mango

It is my mango.

 Pluralization
In English, plurals are
signaled by the addition
of a suffix to regular
nouns or by the
changing of the noun
form as is the case with
irregular verbs.
In JC, plurals are
signaled by the
addition of the word
dem to the noun
phrase.

De by dem- the boys

De two book dem- the
two books
Mary dem want to
come- Mary and her
friends want to come.

 Dem is also
Dem a come- They
multifunctional and not
are coming.
soley restricted to
Mi si dem a come- I
marking plurals of
see them come.
count nouns. It can be Dem boy de ready
used as a pronoun.
now- Those boys are
ready now.

Copula Verb
Construction
In English a copula
links the subject of a
sentence to the
predicate. It is derived
from the verb to be.
Creole English, in
contrast, can have a
zero copula structure.

In English you would

say I am happy.
In creole it would be
expressed mi happy
or I happy.

The Past Tense

Verb forms do not
change in Caribbean
Creole to signal the
past tense.

mi drive de van
yesterday
Him did see mi at the
beach las Sunday.

 In Creole English the

ordering and
placemen t of phrases
and sentences are
used to highlight and
emphasize different
aspects of meaning in
a sentence.

Is Pam eat de mango.

In this sentence, the
focus is on the doer.
Is yesterday pam eat
de mango.
Is eat Pam eat de
mango?

 List five compound words that exist in the Creole English

spoken in your territory which are derived from English
words but with non- English meaning.
Identify the feature(s) of Caribbean Creole English that
is/are present in the following sentences.
1. Mi big sister dark yu see but mi younger sister id de
opposite, she have belly aready.
2. Di house ketch fiya an de brigade had to out out it.
3. Mi vex wid de boy dem.
4. Fi wi team play football like dem fool fool.