Essay about Jamaican Patois

The official language of Jamaica is English, but those who stay in rural areas speak patois. Patois is a creole dialect with West African, Spanish, and French elements. The language today reflects the history of the country and its interaction with diverse mixture of cultures from many ethnic, and social backgrounds. The local language is a reflection of a history of contact with variety of speakers, but the official language remains to be standard English (Pryce, 1997). However many Jamaicans

“The imposition of structural adjustment programs in the Third World since the 1970s has been characterized as a war against the poor, a process of [neo] recolonization” (Turner, 1994: 37). This statement is particularly applicable to the country of Jamaica. The island has been susceptible to a variety of neocolonial acts including the presence of multinational corporations, structural adjustment programs, and loan organizations that have sucked Jamaica’s economy dry. This neocolonial presence has devastated the population in more ways than one. It is apparent that neocolonialism has had and continues to have a large impact on society as a whole in Jamaica. This

Burton (2015) in her Journal, ‘Globalisation and Cultural Identity in Caribbean Society: The Jamaican Case,’ however points out that Jamaica has a unique culture and this has shaped how that countries adapts to the effects of colonialism and even globalisation.

Most Haitians are Christians who practice within the catholic faith, 7th day Adventist, Protestants, Jehovah witnesses and more. In contrast to being Christians, many Haitians practices Voodoo. Within this belief, they practice rituals to help bind the body and the soul. Voodoo is a form of magic described by many Haitians as a former form of healing and meditation of the troubled spirit. Many Haitians also proceed to explain that the magic of voodoo have evolved to a form of black magic, where those who practices it take haughtiness aim to cause harm to their enemies. The native language of Haiti is Haitian Creole. This is a language that was created from the different tribes in Africa that was brought to Haiti as slaves. To communicate with each other, they were left with no choice but to create a common way understanding. In the Haitian Creole language, there is a vast number of different sounds within the dialect. The sounds are used as an exaggeration to the meaning of the word. An example of this is saying “anmey”, which is usually screamed out as a cry for help.

During the fight for independence the Creoles had may leaders along the way that helped to end the Peninsulares. Some of the leaders were military and religious figures that helped to make independent nations. These leaders lead the Americanos and influenced them to unite them as a nation state. They were doing this because Portugal and other nations were not involved with them and yet they ruled them and the Americanos wanted administrative power from the Peninsulares. The Creoles led the fight for independence in Latin America because they wanted to create a stable government, they needed to have a strong economy and they wanted to unite the people as a nation state.

According to the Jamaica Information service, there are more than one hundred Christian religions practiced in the country. For many Jamaicans, church attendance strengthen extended family and kinship bonds. The church provides them with information, emotional and sometimes financial support in times of crisis. Among the religious practices in Jamaica, there are also a number of African-origin religions that are practiced such as Revivalism and Rastafarianism.

There are a lot of different countries in the world. Some have many similarities and some have few similarities. English is the international language and everyone should try and learn this language if they want to communicate with the rest of the world. Most people think of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as the english speaking countries. This is not the only English-speaking countries, with English as the national language. In this text I will take a closer look at a country that has english as the national language. I will look at the differences and similarities that this country has with The United Kingdom. The country is surprisingly small and has a population of approximately 3 million people. It is a small island and the largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean. It was a British colony from 1665 to 1962 and that is probably one of the reasons why most of the people there speak english. The country i am talking about is obviously Jamaica.

In many ways the Jamaican accent resembles Cork a southern Ireland accent. Jamaican Standard English is grammatically similar to British Standard English. The language also merges American English and British English dialects.

Jamaica 's original inhabitants were the Arawak Indians, who called the island Xaymaca, meaning either “land of wood and water” or “land of springs.” Columbus landed on the island in 1494. The Arawaks were decimated within a few decades by European diseases and the harsh life settlers imposed on them. The Spanish occupied the island until 1655, when it was captured and colonized by the English. By the late 17th century, the English had established sugarcane plantations and were importing large numbers of slaves from Africa. Some slaves managed to run away and establish settlements in the mountains, some of which remain today; called Maroons, descendants of these runaway slaves enjoy some political autonomy. Slavery was abolished in 1838. Jamaica remained under nominal British rule until it gained full independence in 1962. Jamaica is a very interesting country to research; the location, geographic features, population, climate, language, tourism and the way the people dress have the most interesting facts about this country.

Jamaica is a land of diverse cultures. It has a number of different racial ethnic groups .The largest group however is the blacks or Africans so 'Jamaica’s culture' is predominantly black. Interwoven is also the European culture which these blacks learnt from their former white slaves masters. You will find Indians living in Jamaica also. Many Indians came to Jamaica as indentured servants and stayed, they too have an input in the Jamaica’s culture.

His growing style encompassed every aspect in the rise of Jamaican music, from ska to contemporary reggae. Marley’s lyrics lifted spirits and united nations. Robert Nesta Marley is put on a higher thresh hold that any before him, he stands on the podium as the greatest musician in this century. Through reggae Marley lives on influencing many well known bands today. Marley sang of love and above all else “Jah” a god in one of the many religions worshiped in Jamaica. The religion most commonly associated with Jamaican culture is Rastafarianism. This group of free spirited natives known as the Rastafarian’s belive in the spiritual use of marijuana, known to this island as “Ganja”. They speak Patios, pronounced (pa-twaa), an extreme Jamaican slang of the English language. Rastafarians live off the land and worship freely in the green mountains of the inner island. From an economic stand point Jamaica is generally a poor country with an average family income of 2,000 dollars a year. As a result Jamaican people rely heavily on the precious U.S. dollar brought in through tourism. Jamaica’s number one source for trade is Bauxite. The mineral rock Bauxite is rich within the rocky coast of the island. Although the overall status of Jamaican society remains poor, the abundant source of fish, fruits, and spices keep the natives well fed. Curry goat and Akki (saltfish/eggs) fill the bellies of Jamaicans everyday. Among my favorites are jerk pork and

     Jamaica is a tropical island, located in the heart of the Caribbean Sea. Around the coastlines are beautiful beaches with crystal clear blue-green water. In some respects, this is the majority of what people know about Jamaica. In this orientation text you will better understand Jamaica’s history, the people who live there, the many different religions, geography, and governments that have ruled the land.

Today Spanish names still exist in the form of rivers, family names, and towns(JNHT 2). The Spanish implemented a new form of economy on the island based on shipbuilding and repairs in order to maintain the trading post in the Caribbean. Jamaica relied heavily on the trade of fruits and animal skins in order to produce revenues for the Spanish Empire. Jamaica proved to be an unworthy colony for the Spanish because of the lack of prosperity of agriculture.

The music of Jamaica began five centuries ago, when Columbus colonized the land of the Arawak Indians. This dates the start of oppression by first the Spanish and then the English in this area of the Caribbean. Blacks were brought in as slaves by the English, and although Jamaica has had it's independence since 1963, the tension of authority and control still reigns. Jamaica is a story of injustice, international influence, ineffective governing, and unequal distribution of wealth; all of these elements provide a solid base for the theme of oppression and the need for a revolution and redemption in Jamaican music. Reggae in particular reflects these injustices, and the feelings, needs and desires to change the lifestyle that Jamaicans have historically lived. Reggae music has two meanings. It’s generic name for all Jamaican popular music since 1960, West Indian style of music with a strongly accented subsidiary beat. Reggae can also refer to the particular beat that was extremely popular in

The evolution of Caribbean Literature started centuries before the Europeans graced these shores and continues to develop today. Quite noticeably, it developed in a manner which transcended all language barriers and cultures. Today the languages of the Caribbean are rooted in that of the colonial powers - France, Britain, Spain and Holland - whose historical encounters are quite evident throughout the region. The cosmopolitan nature of the region's language and cultural diversity develop from the mixture of European languages with Native American languages (mainly the Caribs and Arawaks) in the formation of creoles and local patois (hybrid languages) and those of Africans brought to the Caribbean as