The limitations of Jamaican patois

Nerissa Braimbridge, Contributor

Our Jamaican home-grown tongue, patois, is indeed a bona fide language that is an active and vibrant medium of communication. It has its own structure and expresses subtleties, nuances and flavours peculiar to our culture that are not readily available in Standard English.

Nevertheless, despite all the varied creative spellings and word plays proffered so far, our colloquial speech remains non-standard, as it is still evolving. So, from a practical standpoint, heavy emphasis ought to remain on Standard English, as opposed to the suggestions about making our local vernacular the primary language of Jamaica. Literally speaking, it still has a way to go in its development.

Unfortunately, pervasive illiteracy is leading many to become totally reliant on the not yet fully defined Jamaican language, which, in my opinion, is contributing to wide-ranging societal implications, and could lead to even more serious dysfunctional ramifications, including the crime-ridden state of affairs that is already plaguing this country. It is one thing to be expressive in a local tongue, but it is quite another to feel circumscribed within a small economically suffocating space when there is so much going on in the larger world.

Liabilities

The inhabitants of our beloved, beautiful island are indeed its assets, but lack of education has turned many into liabilities. The fact is, a marginalised underclass simply cannot constructively contribute to the island's viability if all it has are undeveloped minds resulting from wasted brains. And, it seems to me, if parents in this country cannot afford the cost of decent schooling for their children, then these future citizens don't stand the chance of a snowball in hell. Eventually, they grow up and become burdens to the society.

Evidently, the insistence on speaking patois is not necessarily out of cultural pride, as some suggest, but rather, the lack of education. Many patois speakers never had the opportunity to learn Standard English, which can only be acquired through formal tutoring or learned directly from parents who speak it fluently. So the verbally disadvantaged rely on what they have learnt from their illiterate parents and the streets.

However, give an underprivileged Jamaican a chance to get some kind of edification, whether here on the island or abroad, and invariably, he or she not only learns to speak 'proper' English, but also achieves the ability to better grasp opportunities and excel in any vocation of his or her choice, because acquiring Standard English opens up an expansive world of information and ever-increasing possibilities.

English is currently recognised as the official language of political negotiations, the lingua franca of international discourse for aviation, international business, education, science, medicine, communication, media, the Internet, technology, entertain-ment, and instructional manuals for electrical appliances and technical systems.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, Interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning, enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society".

Knowing Standard English, the most global of languages, affords us the ability to better understand the mechanisms of an inter-dependent world, while comfortably interacting and benefiting from its multiple international possibilities. In today's world, only the verbally advantaged speakers are considered trainable, employable and are accepted professionally.

Standard English ought, therefore, to remain a compulsory part of our school curriculum; otherwise, we are hindering our children's future by focusing on the Jamaican language and wasting precious time teaching it in school - when we all learn it naturally at home and on the streets anyway.

Gaining the advantages of speaking Standard English does not mean that we have to lose the privilege of speaking our own cultural tongue. But the fact is, to a British, Canadian, American or any other visitor's ear, our Jamaican language is esoteric and therefore, not very intelligible - and they are our greatest sources of tourism revenue. And let's face it, my fellow Jamaicans, not many visitors to our island are going to take a crash course in Jamaican patois before coming in order to communicate with us.

Ridiculous

Remember, they have the option of visiting other destinations, so we need them more than they need us. It is, therefore, incumbent on us as a major hosting destination to get our act together and become more verbally accommodating. Our visitors are informed that we are an English-speaking country, yet they can't communicate with many of us. Well, how ridiculous is that? As someone who has travelled extensively around the world, I do know first-hand how uncomfortable and frustrating it can be when visiting a country where the language is incomprehensible.

Communication is the key to success, and in our island's case, where 'functional illiteracy' is evident everywhere, it is crucial to our survival. So, for all practical purposes, balance is required. I think we Jamaicans can embrace our well-honed beloved language and maintain our emotional attachment to it, relegating it to where it functions in the most effective and enjoyable ways for us, since it is psychologically uplifting and empowering to have a native tongue that uniquely expresses our cultural experiences.

And, as those in the Jamaican diaspora know, there is nothing more nostalgic, nurturing and comforting than getting some form of literature, humour or whatever in the 'yaardie' vernacular.

But as a relatively small community, we simply do not have enough substance and/or power to sustain the Jamaican patois as the predominant language at this time. So despite the importance and significance of our highly prized cultural tongue, if Jamaicans are to expand and integrate appropriately into a globalised environment and keep up with an ever-evolving inter-dependent world, then it is imperative that the focus be on Standard English at this stage of our development.

Feedback may be sent to nbraimbridge@hotmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.