Jamaican Creole English

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A language of Jamaica

ISO 639-3
jam
Alternate Names
Bongo Talk, Limon Creole English, Patois, Patwa, Quashie Talk
Population

2,670,000 in Jamaica (2001). Population total all countries: 3,205,000.

Location

Also in Canada (Southwestern Caribbean Creole English), Costa Rica (Limón Creole English), Dominican Republic (Southwestern Caribbean Creole English), Panama (Panamanian Creole English), United Kingdom (Southwestern Caribbean Creole English), United States (Southwestern Caribbean Creole English).

Language Maps
Language Status

3 (Wider communication). De facto language of national identity.

Classification
Creole, English based, Atlantic, Western
Dialects

The basilect and standard English mutually inherently unintelligible (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977, Le Page 1960, Adler 1977). May be partly intelligible to speakers of Cameroon Pidgin [wes] and Krio [kri] of Sierra Leone, spoken by descendants of Jamaicans repatriated between 1787 and 1860. Inherently intelligible to creole speakers in Panama and Costa Rica. Reportedly very similar to Belize Creole [bzj], similar to Grenada, Saint Vincent, different from Tobago, very different from Guyana, Barbados, Leeward and Windward islands.

Language Use

Vigorous. Dominant language and gaining in prestige. Post-Creole continuum from distinct Creole to provincial English of town dwellers. Positive attitudes.Most consider that they speak standard English [eng].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: High in English. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2012.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Jamaican Creole English
Other Comments

There is a continuum of variation from basilectal Creole to acrolectal English of the educated. Linguistic influences from Akan [aka] languages in Ghana and Bantu languages (Hancock 1988).

Also spoken in:

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