Language Varieties in the Caribbean

LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN THE CARIBBEAN

In the Caribbean, there is a great deal of variation in the way English is spoken. As a result, many Caribbean people are unsure what to call their own language.


Patwa1 is what we talk
among each other
like
when we don't want you to know
what we're saying!
I didn't know what it was called
until I come here.
A lady I work for ask
what was Jamaica's language,
what I was speaking.
I said English.

Sometimes they say
I speak different from the other
Jamaicans.
Why do I speak different?
It depends on the different area.
There's rural areas
and there's urban areas.
The culture is a bit different
so even though we are all Jamaicans,
people tend to speak different.2


The value system of colonial society has done much to diminish the West African influence in Caribbean language. From the middle of the 19th century, when schooling became more widespread in the Caribbean, British people insisted that creole languages had no place in schools in their colonies. This happened in Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia, Antigua and many others.


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