By Lionel Gayle

When I first heard of a Patois Bible being published in Jamaica, I got the impression that the diction would be based on the Louisean Flair of the English patois spoken in Jamaica. That’s the style popularized by the late Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley – Miss Lou, the Jamaican writer and folklorist whom the country had honoured as its Cultural Ambassador at Large.

Louise Bennett-Coverley
  (C) Lionel Gayle

My preference is that in most cases, the written presentation of the dialectic substitutes should bear some resemblance to Standard English words and idioms. Check how Miss Lou used “jus” for just, “wat” for what, “de” for the, “mout” for mouth, and “islan” for island in her hit poem, Colonization in Reverse. (http://louisebennett.com/newsdetails.asp?NewsCat=2&NewsID=8)

It supports my belief that patois, or a dialect, is mainly phonetic and evolved out of the need to simplify the complexity of a mother tongue. So although the spellings of some of the words from the Patois Bible may be linguistically sound, I believe they lack the percept that would attract voluntary interaction with most traditional patois-speakers in Jamaica.

For example, I see words such as “Jiizas” for Jesus, “riili” for really, “ienjel” for angel, “Mieri” for Mary, “nyuuz” for news and “taim” for time. And take a look at this cover title of the Gospel of Luke from the New Testament that is slated for publication by time Jamaica celebrates its 50^th independence anniversary, August 6, 2012: Jiizas - di buk we Luuk rait bout im. In translation it is: Jesus – the book that Luke writes about Him.

Just as I was getting comfortable with the unusual spelling of those simple words, I’ve been disappointed by the mention of “Jamaican Patois.” This came up in a BBC story about the project and the West Indies Bible Society who is managing the translation.

What is “Jamaican Patois?”

I’m guided by the credibility of an online source that defines patois as “a characteristic language of a particular group.” It also says it’s “a regional dialect of a language” and that it is “usually considered substandard.”

While I wouldn’t call Jamaicans “a particular group,” it seems correct to label patois “a regional dialect,” and that region is the Caribbean. As for “language” it’s no secret that many people in the former British colonies of this region speak English patois. And those who were colonised by the Spanish, the French and the Dutch, in addition to their official languages, also speak dialects based on their mother tongues.

By that token, there’s no such thing as “Jamaican Patois” because, strictly speaking, there’s no language called “Jamaican.” I based this conclusion on the fact that patois, or a dialect, must be the off-shoot or working simplification of another language, preferably a dominant tongue.

“It’s not bad English, it’s not poor English,” said Rev. Courtney Stewart, General Secretary of the West Indies Bible Society, in a video clip from the BBC News Magazine (December 24, 2011) as he gloats over the pending publication of the book.  He added, “It’s not [even] English, it is patois.”

Surprisingly, even the least educated, patois-speaking Jamaican can converse with a person who is well schooled in the English language. And every Jamaican who spends most of his or her time using Standard English is fluent in the patois lingua.

My experience and observation are supported by an Associated Press story, carried by Fox News (December 19, 2010): “Nearly all Jamaicans, regardless of class, speak patois – a mixture of English and West African tongues spoken by slaves who were brought to this Caribbean island by European colonizers.”

Have you ever listened to the English patois spoken in Jamaica? Is it all dialect or is it a mixture of Standard English words – and even whole English sentences – and Creole grammar? Let us discuss this in another blog.

Happy New Year!

By Lionel Gayle

My Facebook landing page is like a well-traversed jungle or an active meeting place in a large city. At any given time, it provides accommodation for a plethora of information that reflects the heartbeat of a multi-cultural community.

My Profile Image

It’s the platform on which I connect with my friends daily and observe the antics of others as they express their feelings of sadness, joy and happiness. And I must admit that I’m often stirred to the very core of my soul as my fellow Facebookers convey their emotions through poetry, prose, photographs and YouTube videos.

I don’t mind the religious fanatics who often quote verses from the Bible, obviously to scare their friends into submission to the bosom of God, or Allah or Jah. And I welcome those who provide newspaper and video links to televangelists and other Bible-thumping revivalists. I firmly believe there’s enough room for all sorts of us on Planet Earth, even as the global population reaches its 7-Billionth mark in the next three months.

Aha! And here’s my special breed – the picture-takers. I’m glad to know that there are others who are still guided by the maxim that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” However, to some of you, drop the over-bearing narcissistic behaviour in your photo posts. Even as you like to see yourselves in pictures all the time, give a little respect to the others posing beside you.

Did I hint that I like to see your friends and families in those photos too, in addition to outdoor sceneries and party camaraderie? But, I think members of the Facebook fraternity would find them more interesting and believable if you say who’s who and where’s where in these photographs, even if you borrowed them from your grandmothers’ family albums.

In the journalism business there’s a term called caption. This is the act of saying what’s going on in the photo and naming the people exactly as they appear from left to right or from right to left. As for place names, just don’t write Kingston, Quebec or Montreal with Canada on your mind if you don’t know the facts.

By doing so you could offend a Jamaican citizen from Quebec, a district (or village) close to Port Maria, the capital of the island’s northeast parish of St. Mary. Or you could earn the wrath of another Jamaican from Montreal, a district near the town of Carron Hall on the opposite side of the same parish, close to the northeast end of St. Catherine, an adjoining parish. And you wouldn’t want to insult Jamaica whose capital, Kingston, has the world’s seventh largest natural harbour.

In its rich and confined state, my Facebook page reminds me of a junk box I kept when I was a young man. To me, it was a sort of repository for useful things such as: transistor batteries, bits of electrical wires, cute pieces of plastic and other pocket-size radio and mechanical parts I had picked up on the streets or in waste bins. If they hadn’t disappeared, I have a strong feeling they would’ve come in handy one day for one of my mechanically or electrically contrived projects.

Even earlier, as a teenager, I had a bunch of keys, but I discarded them when I found out that hoarding a dozen or so keys (or even one), particularly without the matching locks, could’ve landed me in jail on some charge like: intent to break and enter. What was I thinking? I don’t remember harbouring any interest in key-making or lock-smithing.

I think I’ll check my page now to see who is sharing useful information, fund-raising for Christmas, announcing a concert or posting photos from their six-year-old albums. Then I’ll check through the clutter of newspaper links shared by a certain voracious reader.

And I hope there’s no obituary as I send best wishes to a friend who is celebrating her birthday today (December 9, 2011).