Dean's World

Very Strange

Trudy W. Schuett

This article in the Jamaica Gleaner attempts to translate the accents of those interviewed into the written word. I've never seen anything like this before, not in a news article.

Posted by Trudy W. Schuett | Permalink | Technorati Trackbacks

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Martin L. Shoemaker (mail) (www):

Well, given that Jamaica has two very distinct dialects -- bordering on two distinct laguages, even -- I could see an argument that attempting to "standardize" the local dialect into BBC English would lead to lots of cases of misrepresentation.

I'm going to guess that the Gleaner has a standards book (or at least a guide) devoted to properly representing the local dialect in print.

7.2.2007 6:42am

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John_B (mail) (www):

US papers used to do that, too, until it became perceived as racist and disrespectful. It was generally used when reporting on 'them', not 'us', so there was a point.

7.2.2007 9:47am

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Dean Esmay:

The language the lady speaks is probably Jamaican Creole, which is a well-established language of its own with a lot in common with English. Its speakers are increasingly developing standardization of spelling.

This article explains it, and explains the developing orthography.

The paper is actually a Jamaican paper so it's not really odd if they use it.

These sorts of English-based languages develop just like all languages do.

7.2.2007 2:14pm

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Dean Esmay:

By the way, apparently most Jamaicans speak both languages. So again, it's not weird if a Jamaican paper does that. If they put it on the AP or Reuters news line I imagine they'd consider translating it all into English.

7.2.2007 2:29pm

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MaryJ:

"Significant Jamaican-speaking communities exist among Jamaican expatriates in Miami, New York City, Toronto, Hartford, Washington D.C., Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama (in the Caribbean coast), and London.[3] Mesolectal forms are similar to Basilectal Belizean Creole, and a mutually intelligible variety is found in San Andres Islands, Colombia, brought to the island by descendants of Jamaican maroons in the 18th century."

I was grinning while I read that article and was glad a woman was defending a man. Woe is me. Now dat is good.

7.2.2007 5:05pm

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Arnold Harris (mail):

Back in the 1960s, I was a regular player at the Chicago Chess Club, which was located around the corner from Van Buren St and Michigan Ave, in an old building with an open steel cage elevator.

One of the better chess players was a Jamaican black guy. He not only could regularly beat me and most of the others, but he talked like most Chicagoans.

I don't think highly or lovingly of the various Caribbean cultures, but I also don't particularize my generalizations back to individuals. Aside from being discourteous, it would lead me into stupid misjudgements.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

7.2.2007 7:48pm

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