Patois is the Jamaican soul, born by the will of the people. It needs no input from Government, academics or busybodies. Miss Lou’s patois needs no aid from English etymology, phonetics or syntax, and ...

"Check di English bwoy dem try fi speak Patwa" – "Check these English boys trying to speak Patwa". This was often the response, amidst riotous laughter, from elders whenever my brother and I would ...

Most words in Jamaican patois, like other English Caribbean patois, are English words filtered through a distinct phonetic system with fewer vowels and different consonant sounds. Patois is written ...

The battle lines have softened somewhat, but there is still substantial opposition to patois in the pulpit. Critics say it will dilute Scripture and undermine the already weak hold many poor Jamaicans ...

Clive Forrester is a continuing lecturer at the department of English language and literature at the University of Waterloo. He was born in Jamaica and previously taught a course on Jamaican Creole at ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - When English teacher Faith Linton first proposed translating the Bible into Jamaica's patois tongue in the late 1950s, most people who heard the idea shook their heads. Some on the ...

The question of whether modern information technology has a positive or negative effect on global language diversity has been debated since the very beginning of the global online conversation. On the ...

Around the world, people of Jamaican heritage are starting to reconnect with the island's powerful language – and its complex history. "Check di English bwoy dem try fi speak Patwa" – "Check these ...

I so enjoyed Franklin Johnson’s article in the Jamaica Observer article on November 1, 2019 that I’ve saved it for posterity and forwarded to all my family and friends of like mind. The ‘Patois ...