View source

<!--  via Wikipedia: Jamaican English
    
      last updated: 2004-01-18T02:54:29Z
      updated by: Jiang
      
//-->

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="float:right; margin:5px; border:2px solid;">
<tr><td style="border-bottom:2px solid; background:#d3d3d3;">
  <small>'''[[List of dialects of the English language|Major English dialects]]''':</small><tr><td>
<tr><td><small> [[American English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Australian English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[British English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Canadian English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Caribbean English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Hiberno-English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Indian English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background:#d3d3d3;"><small> '''Jamaican English''' </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Liberian English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Malaysian English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[New Zealand English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[Singapore English]] </small></td></tr>
<tr><td><small> [[South African English]] </small></td></tr>
</table>

'''Jamaican English''', also known as '''Patois''', is an [[English language|English]] based [[creole language]] used primarily on the island of [[Jamaica]]. Significant Jamaican English speaking communities also exist among Jamaican expatriates in [[Miami]], [[New York City]], and [[London]]. Jamaican English exists mostly as a spoken language. Although standard British English is used for most writing in Jamaica, Jamaican English has been gaining ground as a literary language for almost a hundred years. [[Claude McKay]] published his book of patois poems ''Songs of Jamaica'' in [[1912]].

Jamaican pronunciation and vocabulary are significantly different from most other English dialects, to the point where a native speaker of a non-Caribbean English dialect can only understand a heavily accented Jamaican English speaker if they talk slowly and forego the use of the numerous [[idiom]]s that are common in Jamaican English.

Interest in Jamaican English outside of Jamaica was heightened by the proliferation of [[Rastafarianism]] and [[reggae]] and [[ska]] music throughout the world beginning in the [[1960s]].

==External Links ==
* [http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/sound.htm Sound clips of Jamaican English]
* [http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/JCtexts.html A few short stories in Jamaican English], with translations
* [http://www.blues.uab.es/~s_0132/jamai.html Jamaican English phrase list]
* [http://www.speakjamaican.com/glossary.html Jamaican English glossary]
* [http://www.eng.miami.edu/~kbrown/rasta-la.htm Another Jamaican English glossary]
* [http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/glossary.htm Another Jamaican English glossary]
* http://www.geocities.com/slybabykim/
* [http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~wobo/jamaika/JC_SE.html Basic comparison of Jamaican grammar with standard English grammar]

<!--  NOTE TO EDITORS: 
Per the GNU Free Documentation License, please include the live link below to the adapted Wikipedia article:
//-->

====References====
* Adapted from the [[Wikipedia]] article, "Jamaican_English" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_English], used under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]]