Here’s what you need to know about Jamaican Patois.
The Ingredients
Imagine an island inhabited by native peoples.
The place gets “discovered” by the Spanish.
The Spanish tap into a labor supply from West Africa, also known as slavery.
A sprinkling of Portuguese-speaking Jews escaping persecution enters the mix.
Better colonizers, aka the Brits, take over the joint.
With Brits come a handful of Irish and Scots.
Slavery is abolished.
But someone needs to do the work, because the bosses ain’t gonna do it themselves.
A few Germans come over to help.
Then new slaves—sorry, indentured servants—show up from India and China.
The Brits finally leave.
Now take that story and make a language out of it.
The Language
Let’s call it Jamaican Patois.
Or Jamaican.
Or Patwa.
It’s considered a lesser language, because that’s just how the cruel world works.
We’re (slowly) getting past that.
The backbone, of course, is English.
It’s an English-based Creole, if you will.
Most of the non-English words derive from the Akan languages of Ghana.
For good measure, the Igbo and Yoruba languages of Nigeria have made contributions as well.
Ganja—that’s a Hindi word!
Pikni, meaning child, comes from Spanish and/or Portuguese.
You get the idea.
Have a listen.
The Future
Rather than eradicate this composition, as would have been the tendency in years past, momentum may be in favor of standardizing the language, teaching it in schools, and elevating it to co-official status alongside English.
While not all are behind the movement, it does serve as a reminder that as with jazz music, darkness can incubate beauty.
Notes
If you don’t like fusion, sorry.
If you think your language is pure, you’re wrong.
When you have trouble understanding the dialogue in Bob Marley: One Love, now you’ll know why.
You can learn a lot about the Caribbean when you’re not hammered on a resort.
