Language Blocks

I am doing a social work degree.   A week ago we were studying language development in children.  The discussion took an argumentative turn after someone in the class declared her contempt for Jamaica's native language being spoken in the workplace and other official settings.   Jamaica's native language, commonly called "Patois", is still mostly a spoken language.  But it is our own language. That didn't matter to the individual.   She wouldn't hire anyone, she said, if they used the native language during a job interview.

Well, I debated with her on this.  It struck me as odd that she, being Jamaican born and raised, would so look down on her own language.   All born and bred Jamaicans speak and understand Patois.  Not all of us speak English, the official language.  So, I was very surprised at her comment.  In 2017, her attitude struck me as colonial and out of step with modern happenings with regard to Patois.

I asked her if she wasn't aware of how widely accepted Jamaica's language had become.  Jamaican Patois has been codified and many works have been published in it.  We now have a Patois bible.  Jamaican Patois is being studied in universities abroad.  International stars like Rihanna, Nicky Minaj and a host of others seemed to have adopted it as their own.

She would not be moved.  So I asked her whether she would reject a Japanese job applicant who tried to impress by using our language back to her.   No, she would not accept him or her, she said.  She is not easily impressed by anyone, she said.  Hmm.  That's nice.  So, I guess when President Obama visited and belted out "Wha' a gwaan, Jamaica!" she wasn't impressed either.  Well, she would be the first Jamaican I met who wasn't charmed by it.

I wondered how she felt about our many cultural ambassadors who had helped to put our language on the international map.  Did she not respect Bob Marley and Louise Bennett?  What about Shaggy and Sean Paul and countless others?  Are they not deserving of honour for promoting something beautiful and distinctly Jamaican?

Well, she is entitled to her opinion.  But my main concern with her view on Patois is this.   In her professions, she has lots of influence over impressionable people.  With her attitude toward something so uniquely Jamaican, I wondered if she wasn't inspiring self-hatred rather than self-esteem in those Jamaicans she encounters who speak only Patois.  It is a sad thought.

Dawn Marie Roper, Kingston Jamaica