What's your thought Historian...X,TDowl, Exile...

[Mosiah]

Agree Westman. This self-pity and cockney excuse are just excuses for our failure. We have less than 3M people, the entire English speaking world is several billions, so we should be proficient in a language that only 3M people can speak or understand?. Doesn't make any sense. Language is for communicating. It is not just a cultural artifact.

Really?

The Republic of Ireland has 4.5 million people. Far more people in Jamaica speak patois than Irish who speak Irish. Yet, Irish is taught in school and is considered the national language. No one else in the world speaks it, but it shares a few words with Scottish Gaelic and Welsh Gaelic. It's a language all by itself. Indeed, irish has several dialects of its own. So, the suggestion that patois, with it's different pronunciations and some sentence structures from one end of the island to the other, is, for that reason, not valid...dat argument nuh mek it!

The Irish language gives the Irish people an identity. Yes, the students all hate it when they have to do it high school, but the pride comes later.

So yes, language is very much a cultural artifact. And more!

Cyaan stop say suh - we need to embrace our mother tongue! Or at the very least, let's stop bigging up Miss Lou and den behind har back, wi shame a wi owna self.

Clap mi!!!

[Sickko]

Hmmm how big is Italy and how many other people speak Italian but I don't agree with you that Patois should be given any status above English

[Mosiah]

this is the sort of thing dat yuh cuss Assasin fah.

Did I say patois should be given any status over English?

[Sickko]

Eek....LOL!

[Jawge]

Mo are ayou serious? The Jakan dialect is a derivative of of mostly Euro tongue with some African words sprinkled in there. Your Identity argument would be more potetnt if you were advocting twi (sp) or Swahili.

I said it before and I will say it again; once a structre and format is given to patois, the same people that now struggles with english, will struggle with patois.

[Mosiah]

Mo are ayou serious? The Jakan dialect is a derivative of of mostly Euro tongue with some African words sprinkled in there. Your Identity argument would be more potetnt if you were advocting twi (sp) or Swahili.

I said it before and I will say it again; once a structre and format is given to patois, the same people that now struggles with english, will struggle with patois.

Do you know Twi or Swahili?

[myYout]

Not ah problem once yuh can pronounce and form di syllables yuh criss. Ah di Jamaican weh tink seh dem reach ago fight it kah dem shame ah it. Aunty Lou bawl fi globalization ah wi language long time, forwod mek shine.

[TDowl]

Distraction it is, how many people will be able to read it?

Will we be civil to one another after reading that Bible?

We should channel our minds to develop Jamaica, and for the Pastors to develop their flocks spiritual minds.

[Peter R]

"globalization"? how?

In my post I said we should preserve patois primarily for its oral tradition, use it in works of drama, creative writing, in SCHOOLS... At at stretch it could even be formalised if the "intellectuals" can agree on a linguistic format... in no way can we afford for patois to replace English as the ULTIMATE language of learning.

Teach ESL if we must to our kids as by FAR the largest body of knowledge will be presented in the ENGLISH language. In fact our kids would be better off learning Spanish at an even earlier age (than H.S.) for advancement in this century.

Patois will not die nor disappear...I have no fear of that, but if English is not mastered that poses a problem for our people.

[HL]

Have to respect your patois consistency myYout. Or is it patwah?

A job has opened up for you. You could be editor-in-chief in the bizniz.

[Mosiah]

i agree with a lot you just said. and i know you know I said nothing about patois replacing anything.

[Peter R]

no you did not...that was me making an editorial comment... :Thumbsup:

[myYout]

mek it available inna print dats how, via all forms ah literary works. Yeah, yuh would prefer dem learn Spanish, how dat nuh surprise mi at all.

[Peter R]

but dem nuh kno patois areddi?? So tell me what literary works should be made available for example?

Yes, Spanish or even Mandarin will have more PRACTICAL use for the youths of Jamaica...and we are already in a situation where there is not even resources available to deliver the basic curriculum.

If you read my posts with care you will see I am NOT AGAINST patois in schools...just not to the degree that some would have it.

[Jawge]

No but if I'm in the identity business, wouldn't those two a good place to start? Yes?

Mo as you know they way english is sttructred it's similar to some science subjects with rules and standards. Mastering the language depends on how a child is socialized at an early age. If child isn't shown boundaries and structure early, this schild will have difficulty with the language (or most at a formal level) It's better you speak about early childhood education that talk about identity.

Review your childhood days with your parents and you will see why you have a grasp of English (and even other languages).

Pushing the dialect for the sake of identity is ridiculous (considering thebackground of Jakan patios). Pushing the dialect as acultural exercise and past time would be more acceptable. At the same time Ja really produce little in terms of trade. Ja is very dependent on the service economy. Given this position it would be prudent to pursue english in an agressive manner (seeing that it's the number one language on the planet). More people in China speak English than the entire US population.