Pidgin is a language which had limited vocabulary and straightforward grammar. It came about when two different languages came into contact and there was difficulty understanding what was being said. Over time Pidgin became the first language for its speakers and this was when it was called a Creole (Crystal, 2003:346).
Within the literature of Jamaican Creole two different models have been discussed. These are diaglossia and Creole continuum. Expanded by DeCamp in 1971, Jamaican Creole was used as an example and explained as ‘a spectrum of speech varieties’. (1971:350)
There are distinct differences between Jamaican English and British English:
-
Use of [] and [] in place of [] and [] e.g. [tn] for [n]
- Verbs containing no tense for example walk instead of walked
- Vocabulary for example ‘fi’ meaning ‘to’, ‘pan’ meaning ‘for’ and ‘tief’ meaning ‘steal’
(Sebba,1993:17)
Jamaican English is often perceived as informal English and is not acknowledged as an official language. As there is a resemblance of Creole languages and Standard English it is often looked down upon and often seen as colloquial speech and slang however Jamaican English and Creole is present in the media today such as in music and television. (Sebba, 1997:1)
Sutcliffe argues that there is a definite generational difference between young speakers and older speakers of Jamaican English. He looked at how Jamaican English was used by teenagers and found that it is used more when the teenagers were amongst their friends.
A study conducted by Viv Edwards observed a group of young black people in Dudley. Edwards looked at these young people in five different situations which she believed would create different styles of language use.
Edwards wanted to find out when these young people switched in and out of patois and if this was affected not only by the different situation but the effects of different researchers. ‘Both black and white interviewers were used in formal and informal situations. Informants were interviewed in small, single-sex groups in a researcher’s flat, and in one situation they were left to discuss on their own. (Deumert et al, 2000:172)
As there are features of British English in the language used by teenagers of Afro- Caribbean origin, Sebba states that what is actually happening is a code-switch between Jamaican Creole and English. ‘The principal means whereby the two language varieties interact in conversation is through language alternation in the form of code-switching.’ (1993: 97)
Sebba describes code-switching as ‘a common type of behaviour among bilinguals in many communities where the use of two or more languages is widespread and stable. It assumes the existence of at least two distinct languages or language varieties. (1993:33). He then goes on to say that in the large amount of literature written on code-switching hardly any of this concentrates on Creole and ‘that amongst researchers for code-switching to take place, speakers must recognise at least two distinct codes, i.e. two distinct language systems.’(1993:33)
Myers-Scotton explains that code switching is defined as a mixing of different codes by speakers in a conversation. Code switching can take place at any language differentiation for example registers, style and grammar (Myers-Scotton, 1993).
Most black young people are aware of Jamaican English whether or not that is where their parents originate from. Jamaican English is used as a form of identity and solidarity. (Le Page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985: 115)
Auer discussed at how London Jamaican and London English is used
‘London Jamaican and London English is used differently by speakers within the same turn in conversation. We will show that broadly speaking, participants in a conversation orientate to LJ stretches embedded in a basically LE turn as having differential status from the adjacent LE material, providing the principal message content’ (1999:266)
Methodology
In order to conduct this research and find out if young speakers of Jamaican English use language as a marker of identity I have chosen to use qualitative research as I feel that my research will be more personal in doing this. Qualitative research is relevant to my research as it explores topics in more detail than quantitative research. It is also unobtrusive and allows the participants to carry on with the research without being disturbed.
Corbin and Strauss explain that qualitative research as ‘any type of research that produces findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other means of quantification. It can refer to refer to research about persons’ lives, lived experiences, behaviours, emotions, and feelings’ (1998:10)
However qualitative research does have its disadvantages. There is a possibility that there will be conflict between the observer and the participant and qualitative research can also be demanding as it takes up time and the participants may not always be available to take part in the research.
My data was collected through a one hour tape recording of the participant and her friends and family. During the beginning, the recording was made unknown by the participants so that there would be uninterrupted and natural speech. After a while the participants noticed that I was recording them and after a while they forgot that the tape recorder was even there.
To analyse my data I will be using discourse analysis. I feel that discourse analysis is the pre-eminent technique to use as Silverman suggests ‘discourse analysis describes a heterogeneous range of social science research based on the analysis of recorded talk’ (1993: 120)
I have transcribed part of my recording as some of it was inaudible.
Participant/s
The participant of my research is a sixteen year old girl who is second generation Afro-Caribbean who was born in England and educated in a comprehensive school. The other participants are friends and family of the main participant.
While recording I participated to some extent by taking part in some of the conversation.
Analysis
Conversations were recorded and then transcribed.
In Sebba’s research of young people and their use of Jamaican Creole he stated that the switching from British English to Jamaican Creole was rare (1993:87) however in my research D uses Jamaican Creole regularly.
In the transcript we can see that British English is the preferred dialect that is used in conversation by the participant.
The interaction by D reveals that British English is the preferred dialect used in conversation whether she is with people that she is familiar with or not. Researchers say that code-switching takes place depending on who the speakers are. For example D’s dialect changes when she is speaking to her family and when is talking to others in a formal situation. When talking to family D often switches to Jamaican Creole when she wants to emphasise a point: ‘They won’t get it from me….none..I’ll be smiling to glory..dancing up an’ all’.
In the recorded conversation often the D will use Jamaican Creole to address her grandmother as the grandmother hardly uses British English ‘would look better She takin out da black dress…I tink da black’. When partaking in conversation with her family D appears not to be aware that she is switching to Jamaican Creole
What is interesting about certain parts of the transcript is that when D and her peers use Jamaican Creole it is often followed by laughter suggesting that a lot of the time it is used for comical value ‘I get somebody to cane row the hair round and put a piece on top (laughter)’.. ‘Somebody else child (laughter), Mummy you got a small comb?’.
When D explains that she will not be creating drama at a party she will be attending later on in the evening, she uses British English other than at the end of the utterance when she uses Jamaican English to create emphasis ‘They won’t get it from me….none..I’ll be smiling to glory..dancing up an’ all’. Is also apparent that D realises that using certain dialects and accents can create emphasis as she pronounces this utterance in an exaggerated British accent.
It is interesting that participants S and N who are the same age as D does not use Jamaican English as much as D. This may indicate that S and N do not feel particularly comfortable in using Jamaican Creole within the conversation and as it is dominated by this dialect she hardly participates in the conversation at all. When S does attempt to use Jamaican English this is done by accent rather than grammar and vocabulary ‘Granny’. N does not use Jamaican Creole at all and her utterance ‘next thing you know she ain’t got no hair’ is what is seen as Black London English. (1993: 61)
Sebba states that young speakers of Jamaican Creole do not use ‘Creole in response to Creole utterances, rather they use Creole as part of their overall language-mixing strategy,’ however when D’s grandmother addresses the group she makes a point to respond to here in Jamaican Creole with ‘If yuh like’ by De. This is again met with laughter by her peers suggesting that D and her peers predominantly use Creole for entertainment. As D’s grandmother has spoken Jamaican Creole throughout the conversation, it is apparent that D and her peer’s feel that they need to respond to her grandmother with Jamaican Creole ‘
There is not any distinct vocabulary that we would expect to have been uttered conversation. For example ‘picni’ for child or ‘teet’ for teeth. This is an indication that the use of Jamaican Creole is just used in conversation as slang words. As in some cases for participants there is hardly any use of Jamaican Creole at all vocabulary is merely used to trigger a reaction from peers and make an impact in the conversation.
Looking at Zimmerman’s research on identity I would say that it is situational and discourse identity that affects the way the participants speak. Speaking generally to my participants it was noted that they did not think they spoke Jamaican Creole on a regular basis while they were with their friends but thought that it was more apparent when with their family. I told D that I noticed that she often responded to her Grandmother’s Jamaican Creole with Jamaican Creole. As stated before she said that this usually happened because they wanted to emulate the style of her grandmother utterances and her other family member. I also mentioned that I noticed that utterances of Creole were followed by laughter. D said that often talking Jamaican Creole with their British accents sometimes sounded comical by her and her peers and often to her first generational Afro-Caribbean family members.
When asked whether her dialect changes when she is among people of another race D said that this did not particularly happen but noticed that when she was at school amongst her teachers she tended to not use Jamaican Creole as much as she does when she was at home because she knew that it probably wouldn’t be understood teachers. It was also interesting that she thought that if Jamaican Creole was used in formal situations she would run the risk of seeming uneducated.
This suggests that D knows when she is using Jamaican Creole even if she states that she does not realise that it is being used in some conversations.
To some extent frequent switching takes place between D and her peers but it is D who switches to Jamaican English and in some cases hardly uses British English.
Conclusion
Looking at the literature review and the data that I have collected, it is clear that young speakers of Jamaican English use language to define their identity. It is also apparent that code-switching is used in the same manner as it is used by bilingualism speakers. Often the speakers use the language to define age, race and nationality.
In doing further research it would have been interesting to see how language is used on a larger scale for example in school or with peers of a different race to see if language is used differently in these environments as well.
This research project explains how Jamaican English is used interaction by second generation people of Afro Caribbean descent regardless of whether they are of Jamaican descent directly. Jamaican English is used often to highlight the speakers point as well as defining their identity.
I found that in the attempt to disguise the fact that I was recording my participants my recordings were not as clear as I wanted them to be and I found it difficult to transcribe all of it. If was able to transcribe all of it I would have been able to see if there was any difference in environment. I found that this went against my chance to prove whether my hypothesis was right or not. I was however able to look at why young speakers of Afro-Caribbean descent speak Jamaican English.
Appendix 1
____ = Jamaican Pronunciation
De: I wasn’t meant to do the front?!
D: No
De: (laughter) Inaudible
N: Oh guys, this isn’t funny
De: (laughter)
S: (laughter)
N: Auntie Denise your only doing the outline, don’t do all of it, next thing you know she ain’t got no hair
De: That’s alright, I’ll just pretend (inaudible)
D: Somebody else (laughter) (inaudible)
De: Somebody else child (laughter), Mummy you got a small comb?
N: Do ya wanna transfer it into that?
S: Oh, yeah
N: (inaudible)
D: I get somebody to cane row the hair round and put a piece on top (laughter)
De: (laughter) Jump up, scrump up
D: (laughter)
De: Look stay steady
D: All you gotta get is a piece of jump up scrump up
De: Jump up, scrump up got single plaits now…….thinks she’s hot stuff
D: Hmmmm
De: (inaudible) oooh Lynny’s going to ge her hair like yours
N: (inaudible)
De: Auntie Greta comin’ tonight yuh know
N: That’s what I said (inaudible)
De: She excited man
N: Yeah cause she probably thinks, ooooh there might be drama
De: Let deh come with their drama
D: They won’t get it from me….none..I’ll be smiling to glory..dancing up an’ all
G: Ya’ll ain’t want de light on?
De: If yuh like
S: (laughter)
De: Oh that’s so much better
G: I can’t understan’ it
D: Should sort da back (inaudible)
G: Let me move this from here before it mess up..da place
N: Oh no Granny it’s fine, it’s fine, leave it
G: Is dem that I tryin to say that it might mess it up
De: Is alright mummy, is alright, is alright
N: Don’t worry, don’t worry…ugh, need to leave that
De: she want sit down, is fast she being fast
G: noooo I’m not sitting down I’m cooking (inaudible)
De: Sit down man. Nobody nah gon no.
G: Yes
De: So mother…are you all set for later?
G: Me ain’t (inaudible)
D: would look better She takin out da black dress…I tink da black
S: No I like (inaudible)
De: You know what? You gotta do da electric slide tonight
G: I can do it..wha’ happen?
De: We can do it like you to
G: eh?
N: Stop making fun of her
De: what shoes you wearing mummy
G: Look I have two shoes. ..ahhh (inaudible)
S: Granny accent
G: I got a silver shoe
S: Yeah which really does not match..the dress
De: She say she want silver
G: Yeah but da silver one (inaudible)
S: whoooh look at da black ones accent
N: Those ones are not bad
De: daddy buy da ummmm
D: da flower one?
De: Noooo the hole one
D: I like it
De: Yeah
G: (inaudible)
De: He say is me buy that yuh know
S: (inaudible)
G: Dis one I da buy to go to da wedding wid da same dress
N: She just wants your approval guys gosh
De: No, no, no, you ain’t know nothin yet
S: (laughter)
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(2-3). Available [ Access date 24th April 2008]
