Punctuation Generation Inspired Linguistic Features For Mandarin Prosodic Boundary Prediction
Linguistic features of_jamaican_creole
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Transcript of Linguistic features of_jamaican_creole
Communication One
• In this presentation we
will discuss the
Jamaican Language
Continuum and the
features of Jamaican
Creole in terms of the
linguistic components it
possesses in common
with all other
languages.
• These linguistic
features are:
1. Phonology
2. Lexicon
3. Grammar
4. syntax
• Each country has its idiosyncrasies regarding the languages used within its borders and Jamaica is no exception. The Jamaican Language situation is referred to as a continuum.
• It depicts the range of languages and language dialects spoken in Jamaica. (Indeed there are a few other Caribbean territories which are described in a similar manner.) This range is represented as a continuum because:
• Not every point on the continuum is a separate language
• Jamaicans will switch from one to the other continuously in conversation and in different situations andAccording to some linguists, the Creole is continuously changing and becoming more like English. (Decreolisation)
Basilect Mesolect Acrolect
• BASILECT is the form of Creole with more African
derived features than other forms and is said to be the
first point on the continuum. It is most often spoken in
rural areas and by uneducated persons.
• MESOLECT is the form of Creole with more English
derived features than the basilect and is said to be the
point on the continuum next to the basilect. It is most
often spoken by urban and educated persons.
• ACROLECT is the Jamaican Standard English and it is
the last point on the continuum. It is most often spoken in
formal situations.
• Undoubtedly this notion that each form is most often
spoken by particular persons is debatable as the
increased accessibility of new technological mediums of
communication throughout the country has enabled
Jamaicans to choose even more freely any variety they
wish to use along the continuum.
• The lexicon of a language refers to its vocabulary. In the
case of Caribbean Creole English the vast majority of
lexical items are derived from English but, there are
many other lexical items that are derived from other
languages (Europe, Africa and Asia). Also, there are
some English words, that the usage and meanings of
which are inconsistent with traditional English usage.
Some creole words are not recognized to be English
words but they do not mean the same thing as they do in
English.
Lexical Item English Meaning Creole English
Meaning
Ignorant Lacking in knowledge or
information
Irritable and lacking in
self control
Miserable Wretched or unhappy Fussy or difficult to
please
Salad A cold dish of raw
vegetables
Tomato/ football
technique
Tea A beverage or a drink
made from dried leaves
of an evergreen Asian
shrub
Any hot beverage
Belly A person’s stomach Pregnant/ Resentment
Dark With little or no light To be bashful and
introverted.
Corner A place where two
streets meet
Street as well as a place
where two streets meet/
• In Jamaican Creole English, some English words have
been compounded to create nouns, adjectives and verbs
which do not exist in English. Many of these compound
nouns refer to body parts.
• For eg., ‘eye-water’(tears), ‘hand-middle’ (palm), ‘nose-
hole’ (nostrils), ‘neck-back’, (nape), ‘arm-hole’ (armpit),
‘head-top’ (crown), and ‘foot-bottom’ (sole).
• Compound adjectives formed in creole are: ‘hard-ears’
(stubborn), ‘sweet-mouth’ (flatter), ‘bad-mouth’ (to
discourage by destructive critcism), ‘force-ripe’ which
means forward or precocious and ‘red-eye’ (envious).
• Creole words are also formed by reduplication (base
words are repeated to form new words).
• For example: ‘freni freni’ (very friendly), ‘chati-chati’ (talk
excessively or out of turn)
• The sound system or phonology of Caribbean Creole
English is not identical to that of English. For eg, the
English word ‘this’ is pronounced as ‘dis’, the word ‘with’
is pronounced ‘wid’ and ‘these’ is pronounced as ‘dese’.
• Final consonance clusters tend to be devoiced for some words in Caribbean Creole English. So ‘becomes’ is pronounced ‘become’ and ‘reduced’ is pronounced ‘reduce.’ Sometimes the final consonant sound is deleted.
• ‘child’ pronounced ‘chil’
• ‘last’ pronounced ‘las’
• ‘respect’ pronounced ‘respek’
• Colloquial aphesis
(Alleyne, 1980) is a
tendency to omit
unstressed syllables
in pronunciation.
• Kaazn- because
• Gainst- against
• Kaal- call
• Dawta- daughter
• In English, possession
is signaled by the
addition of the
apostrophe ‘s’ to
nouns. In Creole
English this is not so.
Instead the word ‘fi’ is
used.
Creole English Standard
English
A fi Jon mango It is John’s
mango.
A fi mi mango It is my mango.
• Pluralization
In English, plurals are signaled by the addition of a suffix to regular nouns or by the changing of the noun form as is the case with irregular verbs.
• In JC, plurals are signaled by the addition of the word ‘dem’ to the noun phrase.
• De by dem- the boys
• De two book dem- the two books
• Mary dem want to come- Mary and her friends want to come.
• ‘Dem’ is also
multifunctional and not
soley restricted to
marking plurals of
count nouns. It can be
used as a pronoun.
• Dem a come- They
are coming.
• Mi si dem a come- I
see them come.
• Dem boy de ready
now- Those boys are
ready now.
Copula Verb
Construction
• In English a copula
links the subject of a
sentence to the
predicate. It is derived
from the verb ‘to be’.
Creole English, in
contrast, can have a
zero copula structure.
• In English you would
say ‘I am happy.”
• In creole it would be
expressed “mi happy”
or “I happy”.
The Past Tense
• Verb forms do not
change in Caribbean
Creole to signal the
past tense.
• “mi drive de van
yesterday”
• Him did see mi at the
beach las Sunday.
• In Creole English the
ordering and
placemen t of phrases
and sentences are
used to highlight and
emphasize different
aspects of meaning in
a sentence.
• Is Pam eat de mango.
In this sentence, the
focus is on the doer.
• Is yesterday pam eat
de mango.
• Is eat Pam eat de
mango?
• List five compound words that exist in the Creole English
spoken in your territory which are derived from English
words but with non- English meaning.
• Identify the feature(s) of Caribbean Creole English that
is/are present in the following sentences.
1. Mi big sister dark yu see but mi younger sister id de
opposite, she have belly aready.
2. Di house ketch fiya an de brigade had to out out it.
3. Mi vex wid de boy dem.
4. Fi wi team play football like dem fool fool.