The Jamaican accent

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The Jamaican Accent

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Objectives:

- You will be able to point out specific features of the Jamaican accent

- You will understand the social-historical influences on the Jamaican accent

What is an Accent?

Historical background:

• First inhabitants: Taino people (from South-America) – left very few words in the language (e.g. Guave)

• Spanish colonisations – wiped out Taino people but didn’t find Jamaica interesting enough to make a mark on the language

• 1655-1962 – British colonization – English language became main way of communication

• British brought in West-African slaves who also influenced the language (accent + Patois)

• British also brought in Irish – also influenced the language (placenames + surnames)

• American English – minor influence

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• -er and -ar ending words are changed to an -a at the end of the word = dropping of the r at the end of unstressed syllables and before a consonant (semi-rhoticity)
   

 sister – sista

 molecular – molecula

 water – wata

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• Th changed to a d-sound, except when at the end of a word, then it is dropped completely   
   

 father – fada
 the – di
 south – sout
 month – mont

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• -ing endings are changed to -in. (no tongue hitting the roof of your mouth)
   

 reading – readin
 anything – anytin

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• tt is pronounced like British English, with a t-sound  (unvoiced) - instead of the American d-sound (voiceless)  
   

 butter – butta