Guess

Welcome to
JAMAICA

But where is Jamaica?...

A little geography
Jamaica is an island country situated in
the Caribbean Sea, comprising the thirdlargest island of the Greater Antilles.
It is located to the southeast of the United
States near Cuba and the island of
Hispaniola. Jamaica has a total coastline of
1,022 kilometers.
Kingston is the capital of Jamaica.
Founded in July 1692, Kingston is the
largest city of the island in terms of both
size and population, covering an area of
480 square kilometers.

A little history
Jamaica was inhabited by Arawak Indians when
Columbus explored it in 1494 and named it St.
Iago. It remained under Spanish rule until 1655,
when it became a British possession.
Jamaica has been an English colonie from 1665
to 1953.
On May 5, 1953, Jamaica gained internal
autonomy, and, in 1958, superheaded the
organization of the West Indies Federation. It
became independent on Aug. 6, 1962.

A little culture
Jamaican culture has become known and loved all over
the world. There are Japanese sporting dreadlocks,
Germans singing reggae, Koreans selling jerk chicken,
and Americans (mostly unsuccessfully) trying to talk like
Jamaicans!

Famous Jamaicans

Bob Marley

Famous Jamaicans

Dawn
Penn

Sean Paul Usain Bolt

Language
Jamaica
TheOfficial
official language
of Jamaica is of
English,
Jamaican
English.
Jamaican (Jimiekn/Patwa/Jamaican) is an Englishbased Creole with influences from languages of West
and Central Africa. It developed during the 17th
century and includes significant influences from
various dialects of English, especially those of Scotland
and Ireland. Typically, they use British English spellings
but do not reject American English spellings.
By the way, "Patois" or Patwa is a French term referring
to regional languages of France, which include some
Creole languages, but in Jamaica it refers to Jamaican
Creole, which Jamaicans have traditionally seen as
"broken", "bad", or incorrect Standard English.
There are 6,2 million native speakers of Jamaican

Jamaican English

The most noticeable aspect of Jamaican English for

speakers of other varieties of English is the pronunciation
or "accent".
In many ways, the accent bears great resemblance to that
of southern Ireland, particularly Cork, possibly a remnant
of Jamaica's former colonial ties. Jamaican Standard
pronunciation, while it differs greatly from Jamaican Patois
pronunciation, is nevertheless recognizably Caribbean.
Jamaican is used mainly as a spoken language, though has
been used to some extent as a literary language for over a
century. The is no written standard, though increased use of
the language in writing, especially in schools, has led to a
partial standardisation. Some schools in Jamaica use both
English and Jamaican as mediums of instruction and have
found that children taught in this way tend to achieve

The following are some of the ways to greet

people in Jamaican:
whaapm? - what's happening?
eg: suh whaapm breddrin -so what's happening brother?
whaa gwaan? - what's going on?
eg: whaa gwaan sah? - what's going on sir?
yuh cris? - are you okay?
ebryting cris? - is everything okay?
rispeck - sometimes used as a greeting (it means: respect or I
respect you)

Sample text
Origins of Jamaican speech

[hArijin a Jumieka Taak]

Linguists have identified "pure"

Jamaican, now spoken mostly in
rural areas, with regional
differences, as an amalgam of
seventeenth century English and
West African, mostly Twi,
constructions and vocabulary,
with some Spanish and
Portuguese thrown in for good
measure. The accents and
cadences have been derived from
Scottish and Irish. Considering
the history of Jamaica, this should
not be surprising as the bulk of
the population are descendants of
slaves brought from West Africa,
first by the Spanish, then taught

[Linggwis dem aidentifai "pior"

Jumiekan, fain muosli a
konchri, wid riijanal difrans,
laka wahn mixcho a sebntiin
sentri hIngglish ahn Wes
Afrikan, muosli Shwi,
kanschrokshan ahn vokiabileri,
wid som Panish ahn Puotigiis
iin de tu fi a gud mixop. Di
haxent ahn kiedens kohn frahn
Sikatish ahn hAirish. Kansda di
ischri a Jumieka, dis shudn
sopraizn sens di bolk a di
papiulieshan dem a disendant
frahn slieb kiaa kom frahn Wes
Afrika, fos bai di Panish, den
dem laan hIngglish frahn dehn

A
little
grammar
The tense/aspect system of Jamaican Patois is fundamentally
unlike that of English. There are no morphological marked past
tense forms corresponding to English -ed -t. There are two
preverbial particles: en and a. These are not verbs, they are
simply invariant particles that cannot stand alone like the English
to be. Their function also differs from the English.
For the present tense, an uninflected verb combining with an
iterative adverb marks habitual meaning as in /tam aawez nuo
kieti tel pan im/ ('Tom always knows when Katy tells/has told
about him').
- en is a tense indicator
- a is an aspect marker
(a) go is used to indicate the future
/mi on/ = I run (habitually); I ran
/mi a on/ or /mi de on/ = I am running
/a on mi dida on/ or /a on mi ben(w)en a on/ = I was
running
/mi did on/ or /mi ben(w)en on/ = I have run; I had run
/mi a o on/ = I am going to run; I will run

Funny sayings in Jamaican

patois
"Mi mouth a mi market"
I'm free to say what I want.
"Weh no kill, fatten"
If you eat something that doesnt kill you, it nourishes your body.
"Yu too fenkay, fenkay"
The person is too slight
"When Eskimo have money him buy fridge."
When Some people find themselves with a little extra cash, they spend
it on things that they dont even need.
"Every poppy show have them own a gang."
You tend to stick to people of the same nature.
"No trouble trouble, until trouble trouble yu."
Dont go looking for trouble.
"Yu spread yu bed hard yu afe lie down in it"
You make bad decisions therefore you have to live with the
consequences.
"Tek kin teeth kiba heart bun
Show your teeth to cover a heart-ache (Smile to cover a problem)

A lesson in Jamaican patois

Bibliography
Jamaican Creole Morphology and
Syntax Peter L. Patrick
www.wikipedia.org
www.youtube.com
www.learnjamaican.com
www.jumieka.com

Our team:

Andra Picu
Veronica Pun
Eduard
Drghici