Jamaican Creole: A Brief Diachronic Study of its Syntax

Abstract

Although the varieties of English spoken in the Caribbean have always aroused a lot of academic interest, the peculiar use of language in Jamaica has lately caught the attention of the general public. Specialists as well as laymen are interested in the work of well- known singers, writers and poets who have contributed to spread the language of ordinary people in ordinary situations well beyond the Caribbean. Local variation is rich and profuse: one single variety is not restricted to just one socio-economic layer; the same speaker seems to fluctuate through a wide range of options. This situation makes any type of linguistic study challenging due to its inherent complexity and therefore this paper has been restricted to just one specific area of research : syntactic change. In the present paper I will carry out a qualitative, diachronic analysis across lects of four selectively chosen passages in Jamaican Creole or Patois (henceforward JamC ) in order to study the diachronic changes in its syntax in the twentieth century. I will also try to offer a tentative explanation for the causes of the changes as well as my perception of the linguistic situation in Jamaica (i.e. Creole continuum, decrolization, diglossia) . This study will only consider syntactic variation but will necessarily include some morphological aspects directly connected with syntax, such as the pronominal system and pluralization. I will not consider the syntax and morphology of Rastafarian speech for reasons of space and complexity. The analysis of the four passages will be preceded by a brief description of the linguistic history of Jamaica