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TABLE OF CONTENTS
MODULE
PAGE
MODULE 2: LANGUAGE IN DIFERENT FORMS................................................ 1
UNIT 1: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JAMAICAN CREOLE AND ENGLISH ......... 2
UNIT 2: DIFFERENCES IN SOUND: PRONUNCIATION ..................................... 9
UNIT 3: DIFFERENCES IN SOUND: STRESS AND PITCH................................. 15
UNIT 4: DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR:
WORD ORDER AND QUESTIONS ......................................................... 22
UNIT 5: DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR:
TENSES AND NEGATIVES .................................................................... 29
UNIT 6: DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR:
PLURALS, PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVES ....................................... 28
Language and Communication – Part 1
Module 2 – Language in Different Forms
Introduction
As you went through Module 1, you would have noticed that sometimes while
you were practising to speak English, you spoke the Jamaican language instead.
This is because both languages are spoken in Jamaica and people often use
both languages on the same occasion.
The language that has developed among the people of Jamaica is sometimes
called ‘dialect’, or ‘patois’, or ‘Creole’.
Throughout this module and in the
modules to come in both Part 1 and Part 2, we will be calling this language
Jamaican Creole.
Remember that when you are using Jamaican Creole, you are speaking a
language that is different from Standard Jamaican English. It is a language that
has certain rules for you to follow when you are speaking it, just like English
does!
This module will help you to understand why some people confuse English and
Jamaican Creole words and phrases. It will also help you to understand that
both languages have a place in Jamaica.
Module Objectives
When you complete this module you will be able to:
·
understand the differences between Jamaican Creole and English.
·
understand how both languages are used.
·
use both Jamaican Creole and English correctly according to the
situation.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 1:
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JAMAICAN CREOLE
AND
ENGLISH
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
identify words and phrases that have similar meanings in Standard
Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole.
·
identify words and phrases that have different meanings in Standard
Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole.
·
change Jamaican Creole words and phrases into Standard Jamaican
English and Standard Jamaican English words and phrases into
Jamaican Creole.
In Jamaica, English is the official language. This means that it is the language
used in Government and other offices, and the language that people speak at
public functions and in places like churches and schools. It is the language used
to present the news on the radio, on television or in the newspapers. English is
used when we are filling out forms or writing letters to a business place.
Jamaican Creole, the other language that we speak in Jamaica, is not the official
language. It has, however, an important place in the country because it is the
language most people use to communicate with each other daily and express
their thoughts and feelings.
Many of the words we use when we are speaking Jamaican Creole have the
same meaning in English. There are however some words that have different
meanings in Jamaican Creole and in English.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity A
Write both the English and the Jamaican Creole meanings of the following words.
Use your dictionary to get the exact meanings in English.
ILLITERATE
IGNORANT
BRIGHT
Did you notice how easy it was to find the Jamaican Creole meanings? This is
because you often use these same words in your everyday speech.
Did it
surprise you when you checked the English meanings of the words and found
that they were different from the Jamaican Creole meanings?
Perhaps you knew the English meaning for each word already. But if you didn’t,
don’t worry! Just remember, when you are in a situation in which you have to
speak correct English, that you must take care to use the right words. In time,
you will be able to use the right English words so that another English speaker
will know exactly what you mean.
Many Jamaican words come from West African languages. Look at the list below
and see how some of these words came to be a part of Jamaican Creole.
ORIGINAL FORM
MEANING
JAMAICAN FORM
MEANING
unnu
you (plural)
unnu
you (plural)
alala
direct, thorough
talawa
strong, tough
susuw ka
express
suspicion
susu
to gossip
Can you see now, how some words came into our language? This is the way
language develops over time.
Every single word we speak in English or
Jamaican Creole comes from another language.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
The Jamaican way of repeating words to emphasise a point also comes to us
from West African languages.
Many of these words that are repeated are
adjectives, words that are used to describe people or things.
Look at the following Jamaican Creole words and their meanings in English:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
tear-up tear-up
badly torn up
look-look
keep on looking
fraidy-fraidy
cowardly
fenke-fenke
feeble, weak
big-big
very big, huge
strong-strong
very strong
true-true
really true, the honest truth
In English, many words are formed by joining two separate nouns, for example,
housetop, bookshelf and schoolroom. These words are called compound words.
Jamaicans use many compound words that are only found in Jamaican Creole.
Some of these are han-miggle for ‘palm’ (the middle of the hand), cook-shop,
for a small restaurant or chair-back, for back of the chair.
strong-strong
fenke-fenke
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
fraidy-fraidy
big-big
Many adjectives in Jamaican Creole consist of words that are repeated
†1
Activity B
(i) From what you already know, or by checking with other people, collect
examples of words which are only used in Jamaican speech, or used in a special
way by Jamaican speakers.
(ii) After you have done this, write the words under the headings where they fall;
for example, food, plants, creatures, objects, actions (verbs) descriptive words
(adjectives) and compound words.
(iii) When you have finished, write the English version of these same words.
Many times, the words and expressions or sayings Jamaican Creole speakers
use can only be understood by Jamaicans. If two Jamaicans are speaking, both
of them will understand these words and expressions; but if a Jamaican is
speaking with a foreigner, this person will not know what the Jamaican is saying
unless he learns the special meanings of these words and expressions.
In Module 1, you learnt about physical barriers to communication. When there
is a problem sending or receiving a message because of the language that is
used, this is known as a linguistic barrier to communication. You must always
remember to use English instead of Jamaican Creole when you are speaking to
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
someone who is not Jamaican so that person can understand what you are
saying.
†1
Activity C
Use a tape recorder to tape your answers to the following activity:
Give an English version of these
these Jamaican words
Give a Jamaican Creole version of
English words
(ii) labba-labba
(i) second-hand clothes
(ii) mampi
(ii) show-off
(iii) suwa-so
iii) rude
(iv) palaav
(iv) extra
(v) shoob
(v) stupid
†1
Activity D
Use a tape recorder to tape your answers to the following activity:
Give an English version of
these Jamaican expressions
Give a Jamaican Creole version of
these English expressions
(i) Mi cut mi eye an pass di ooman.
(i) He thought he was the cat’s
pyjamas.
(ii) Him a carry traw fi di gyal.
(ii) They left us high and dry.
(iii) Shi no kin teet.
(iii) The exercise was a piece of cake.
(iv) You too red yeye
(iv) She caught his eye.
(v) Mi ha waan low feeling.
(v) He’s walking on air.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
&
?
Visit the library and make notes on Jamaican Creole words and phrases, as well
as on Jamaican Creole versions of English words and phrases. Some useful
books to read are listed below: The names of the authors are also given.
Adams, L. Emile. Understanding Jamaican Patois. Kingston Publishers 1991
Cassidy, Frederic G. Jamaica Talk Kingston and London: Institute of Jamaica
and Macmillan, 1961
Cassidy, F.G. and R.B. LePage. Dictionary of Jamaican English. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1967, 1988
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you were introduced to some of the differences between English and
Jamaican Creole. In your notebook, respond to the following to see if you have
understood what was taught.
R
Name three differences between English and Jamaican Creole.
R
What is special about many Jamaican Creole adjectives?
R
R
Name five words that have the same meaning in English and Jamaican
Creole.
Name three words not given in the unit that have different meanings in
English and Jamaican Creole.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 2:
DIFFERENCES IN SOUND: PRONUNCIATION
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
show how English words sound different when used in Jamaican Creole.
·
read aloud examples of written Jamaican Creole and English sentences
with correct pronunciation to show clear meaning.
·
read aloud examples of written Jamaican Creole and English sentences
with correct pitch to show differences between statements and questions.
The English words that are used in Jamaican Creole usually sound different
when they are spoken, and there are some Jamaican sounds that are not
normally heard in English words.
Pronunciation
The most common sounds that appear in Jamaican Creole but not in English are
bw as in bwoy, (boy) pw
as in pwile (spoil),
schr schrain (strain)
sch as in schew (stew), cy (pronounced kee) as in cyat (cat) and gy
(pronounced with a hard
gee sound) as in gyal (girl).
In order to handle English sounds that are not present in Jamaican speech,
smoke is often changed to soomoke, film to flim, thin to tin, with to wit, bottle to
bokkle, needle to neegle and ask to aks.
In Jamaican speech, the
d sound is usually left off words that end with ld or nd.
When this happens, cold becomes cole, bald becomes ball and wild becomes
wile. In the same way, lend becomes len, bind becomes bine, and round
becomes roun.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
In Jamaican Creole, also, the English sound
o is normally changed to a, so
that pot becomes pat and bottom becomes battam. Before most sounds, the c
and g sounds change to
cy (kee) and gy (gee)
ENGLISH
JAMAICAN CREOLE
card
cyaad
can
cyan
garden
gyaadn
guard
gyaad
†1
Activity A
Find five examples of words not already given, which are pronounced differently
in Jamaican Creole and English.
†1
Activity B
What differences do you notice in the way the words are pronounced in the
Jamaican Creole and English sentences below?
Mi
bredda
barra
My
brother
borrowed
di
dex
the
desk
fram
from
di
the
lickle
bwoy.
little
boy.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
In English, the
h sound at the beginning of a word is normally emphasised, for
example in words like
house, heavy and have.
When we call these words,
we take a deep breath before we pronounce the
h.
There are four root words in English where the
h is silent.
A root word is one
from which you get other words which are related to it in some way.
example, play is a root word.
For
From play we get playful, playmate, playing,
playhouse and other words.
In the case of the four root words in English where the h is silent, the sound that
begins these words comes from the second letter in the word. One of these root
words is honest. When you call this word, you say onest.
The
h is also silent in words that are related to honest.
honesty and honestly, you also leave off the
So with the words
h sound and say onesty and
onestly.
The other root words are honour, hour and heir. When you pronounce these
words, you say onour, our and eir.
†1
Activity C
Find the other words that come from the root words honour, hour and heir. You
may use a dictionary to help you.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
For words where the
h
would be pronounced in English, the sound is often left
off in Jamaican Creole, so people will sometimes say ouse, instead of
eavy, instead of
house,
heavy and ave instead of have.
In Jamaican Creole, too, the
h is often pronounced in words where it would be
silent in English, so in Jamaican Creole, people will sometimes say
honest,
honour and hour.
As you will notice, many English words can sound different when we use them in
Jamaican Creole. This happens often because English has many sounds that do
not appear in Jamaican Creole. This is also the case because Jamaican Creole
has many sounds that are not found in English.
Can you see now how important it is for you to understand the differences
between English and Jamaican Creole? You must remember to be careful when
using words that have the same meaning in English and Jamaican Creole, but
which sound different when you call them. If you are to learn to speak correct
English, you must pay special attention to how you sound.
†
Activity D
Practise correctly calling words with the following English sounds:
Beginning Sounds
Ending Sounds
c
ld
g
h
sm
th
nd
th
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
cy (kee) and gy (gee) are not English sounds.
·
Remember that
·
Stick your tongue between your teeth to say
·
Take a deep breath before you pronounce
·
Call the letter
·
Remember to use your dictionary to help you pronounce English words
th.
h.
d clearly, when it comes at the end of a word.
correctly.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you learnt about differences in pronunciation between English and
Jamaican Creole. Check to see if you understood what you learnt by answering
the following questions in your notebook.
R
R
Name three common differences in pronunciation between English and
Jamaican Creole
How would these English words be pronounced in Jamaican Creole?
vexed
R
box
window
stupid
How would these Jamaican Creole words be pronounced in English?
dung
R
friend
maakit
secan
mirra
gole
In your notebook, copy the following Jamaican Creole sentence and then
write the English version:
Im affe go dacta cause im feel fluxy.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 3:
DIFFERENCES IN SOUND: STRESS AND PITCH
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
read aloud Jamaican Creole and English sentences with the correct
pronunciation, stress and pitch.
·
identify the difference between questions and statements in Jamaican
Creole and English.
·
turn statements into questions by changing pitch of voice.
·
explain how word order changes in statements and questions.
Stress
When we speak, we tend to put more stress on some words, or parts of words
than others. This happens both in English and Jamaican Creole.
Look at the examples below:
Lots of people came to the festival last year.
Nuff smaddy come a di festival laas year.
You will see that in both cases, the first word is stressed more than the others.
This is because those words are important in showing the number of people who
attended the festival.
Sometimes the words or parts of words that you stress have nothing to do with
how important they are in the sentence. In these cases, you are just following
the normal way the words are called.
In each English word that has two or more syllables (parts of words), a heavy
stress is put on one syllable and a lighter stress is put on the others.
For
example, for the word primary, we would say PRI-ma-ry, putting the heavy stress
on the first syllable pri.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
In the case of the word together, the heavy stress is put on the second syllable,
so you would say to-GETH-er.
Now when you are speaking English and you want to emphasise the whole word
to make it stand out in the sentence, you put an extra stress on those same
syllables. So you would say to someone, “My son goes to PRI-mary school, not
basic school.”
Or you would say to a group of children, “Let us read this
sentence to-GETH-er, not one after the other.”
You will often do the same thing when you are speaking Jamaican Creole. But
sometimes the way you would stress a word in English is not the same way you
would stress the same word in Jamaican Creole.
In Jamaican Creole, people tend to stress the whole word when it is important in
the sentence.
For example, someone would say: “Dem NEVA shoulda go a di
concert!”
†1
Activity A
Copy the following English sentences and then underline the words or parts of
words where you would put a heavy stress.
(i) He shouldn’t have climbed that tree.
(ii) You can’t come inside now.
(iii) That was a big mistake.
(iv) That girl is very intelligent
(v) I was so frightened when I heard the noise.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity B
Copy the following Jamaican Creole sentences and then underline the words or
parts of words where you would put a heavy stress.
(i) A wa time now?
(ii) Whole eap a mango drap affa di tree.
(iii) Mi seh fi siddung!
(iv) Yu waan some wata?
(v) Im is ever late fe school.
Do you see how quickly you were able to complete these exercises? This is
because you were actually hearing the sound of the words as you read the
sentences. This is something we do when we read so that it makes more sense
to us. Now you are beginning to understand how important stress is when you
are speaking. You are doing very well. Keep it up!
Pitch
We can usually tell when people come from another country, just by the way they
speak. Sometimes it is the words they use, or the way they put words together in
sentences, but most often, what we notice is their accent.
The accent a person uses depends on a number of things: how the words are
pronounced, the stress put on certain words or parts of words, and the pitch the
person uses. The pitch is the way the voice goes up or down, almost like a tune.
In Jamaican speech, pitch is very important, because the same sentence could
be either a statement or a question, depending on how the words go up and
down. In the following examples from Jamaican Creole, look at how the words or
parts of words go up and down. The words that are placed above the middle line
go up, those that are placed below the middle line go down and those that are on
the middle line remain at a steady pitch. Say them aloud, and you will heard and
understand what happens.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
STATEMENT
A
di
when
man gaan
dem
memba.
ba?
memwhen di man gaan dem
A
QUESTION
In the statement, the pitch of the voice remains steady for most of the sentence,
but goes way down at the end.
In the question, the pitch of the voice is higher, and then goes even further up at
the end of the sentence.
In English, pitch is one of the differences between statements and questions.
But it is not the only difference. What is also important is the order in which the
words come in the sentence. Notice how both pitch and the order of words are
important in the following sentences:
STATEMENT
Andrea Brown is the president of the
PTA.
PTA?
the president of the
Is Andrea Brown
QUESTION
You will notice again that in the statement, the pitch goes down at the end, and
in the question, it goes steadily up from the start and even further up at the end.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity C
(i) Write five statements in Jamaican Creole. (Do not worry too much about your
spelling. Remember that Jamaican Creole is an oral language and not a written
one).
(ii) Using a tape recorder, say each of these sentences first as a statement, then
as a question.
You will notice from this activity how important pitch is in Jamaican Creole. This
is because the order of the words remains the same, so how you say the words
will tell a person whether you are making a statement or asking a question.
†1
Activity D
(i) Using a tape recorder, say each English sentence below just as it is written.
(ii) After you have said each sentence, say it again as a question in English.
Remember that you will have to change both your pitch and the order in which
the words come.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
(a) You can come and see me tomorrow.
(b) Morant Bay is the capital of St. Thomas.
(c) This is how you write a cheque.
(d) I must spend money on school fees.
(e) He is the owner of that supermarket.
(f) I should turn this over to the police.
(g) She will give him a chance to explain himself.
(h) There was a long line at the bank.
(i) The workers were waiting for the boss to come.
(j) We can’t see the house from here.
Wasn’t it fun doing that exercise? You were able to hear how different your pitch
sounds depending on what you are saying. This is why when we are speaking to
people, what we say, is just as important as how we say it.
Do you sometimes find that even when you cannot make out the words a person
is saying, you can tell from the pitch of their voice whether they are quarrelling, or
telling a joke, or being businesslike? Looking at the way language works helps
us to notice this more.
Pitch can tell us whether people are enjoying a joke or are arguing.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you were taught the differences in stress and pitch when you are
speaking in English and Jamaican Creole. Check to see if you understood the
lesson by doing the following exercises:
R
Practise reading the following paragraph which is written in Jamaican
Creole. Remember to pay close attention to stress and pitch.
Fram wa day ya, mi lick up mi ead pan di wall an it hat me yu si? Likkle
afta dat it swell up big-big! Di nex day when mi go a di clinic, di nurse put
some ieentment pan it an gi mi some pill fi tek. Mi neva staat feel betta till
two day afta dat. Dem day ya mi tek care ow mi walk suh mi nuh lik up
miself nuh weh.
R
Now practise reading the following English paragraph. Remember to pay
close attention to stress and pitch.
I was so excited the very first time I looked up into the night sky and saw
the stars. I was only four years old at the time. I didn’t know how to
count, but I could tell that there were millions and millions of these
sparkling lights above me. After that time, I couldn’t wait for night to come
again so that those beautiful stars would return.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 4:
DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR: WORD ORDER AND
QUESTIONS
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
identify similarities and differences in grammar in Jamaican Creole and
English sentences.
·
identify similarities and differences in word order in Jamaican Creole and
English sentences.
·
change written Jamaican Creole into correct written English.
·
change spoken Jamaican Creole into correct spoken English.
In both Jamaican Creole and English, many sentences begin by naming
somebody or something (the subject) and then saying something about that
subject. For example:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
DAT
naa go work right.
(subject)
THAT isn’t going to work properly.
(subject)
But look what happens here:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
A
di
bes
ansa
ENGLISH
DAT.
(subject)
THAT
is
(subject)
the
best
answer.
You would remember from Unit 3 that there is a difference in the order of words
between statements and sentences in English.
Here you see that there is
sometimes a difference in the order of words between statements in English and
Jamaican Creole.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
When we speak English, we always use verbs in our sentences. Verbs show the
action, or give information about the state or condition of the subject in the
sentence.
One of the most common verbs in English is ‘to be’ which shows us the state or
condition of someone or something. We use this verb in many different forms in
our everyday speech; for example, when we are speaking, we say I am, you are,
he is. The words am, are and is, are all forms of the verb ‘to be’.
But look at what happens when we compare English and Jamaican Creole
versions of these same sentences. The verbs appear in bold letters.
ENGLISH
JAMAICAN CREOLE
(a) Their father is a detective.
Dem faada a waan detective.
Winston is the best singer .
Winstan a di bes singa.
(b) Isn’t it five o’ clock yet?
A nuh five a clack yet?
Is that true?
A true?
(c) She is saying things about me.
Shi a chat mi.
They are walking too slowly.
Dem a walk too slow.
(d) I am in Trinidad.
Mi deh a Trinidad.
My brothers are at home.
Mi bredda-dem deh a yaad.
(e) The car is in the garage.
Di car inna di garage.
Where is my pen?
Weh mi pen? or Weh mi pen deh?
(f) The boy is tall and thin.
Di bwoy long an maaga
All the boxes are empty.
All di bax-dem empty.
When you look at the two sets of sentences side by side, you can see that
English and Jamaican Creole follow different rules when using verbs.
This
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
means that when you are speaking or writing English or Jamaican Creole, you
must follow the rules for each language.
Think about it: would you use the rules for English when you are speaking
Jamaican Creole? Of course not! For the same reason, you must not use the
rules for Jamaican Creole when you are speaking English.
†1
Activity A
(i) Look at examples (a), (b), and (c) given on page 23. Explain the differences
you see between how the verb ‘to be’ is used in English and Jamaican Creole.
(ii) What happens in the Jamaican Creole version of the sentences in example
(d)?
(iii) Look carefully at the verb used in the Jamaican Creole versions in example
(d). Explain why a different verb is used in (d) in Jamaican Creole from the one
used in sentences (a), (b) and (c).
The little English word
a is often used differently in Jamaican Creole.
functions as a verb. Look at where the verb
At times, it
a is placed in the Jamaican Creole
sentences below, then see what happens when these sentences are written in
English.
Jamaican Creole
English
(1) A dem do it.
They’re the ones who did it.
(2) A gaan Tammy gaan?
Is Tammy really gone?
(3) A waan pencil im come fa.
He’s come for a pencil
(4) A it mek.
That’s why.
(5) A dat mek im tan deh.
That’s what made him wait.
(6) A tyad im tyad mek im drap?
Did he fall because he was tired?
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
(7) A yuh mek mi late.
It’s your fault that I am late.
(8) A Joan mek it pwile.
Joan was the one who spoilt it.
Even when it is not used as a verb, the word
a
in Jamaican Creole does the
work of several different English words: Kevin live a St. Mary, an im work a waan
book store, but im waan lef go a Guyana.
Kevin lives in St. Mary, and he works at a book store, but he wants to leave and
go to Guyana.
Look at the following examples written in Jamaican Creole, along with their
English versions.
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
(a) Barry a work haad haad.
Barry is working very hard.
A nuff nuff food dem cook.
They have cooked a lot of food.
Di shirt come back white white.
The shirt got back its original
shade of white.
(b) A nuh any an any baddy mi work wid.
Di place chakka-chakka yu si!
I don’t work with just anybody.
You should see how untidy the
place is!
Nuh dem bwoy-bwoy mash i up!
It was those idle boys who
damaged it!
(c) Oo an oo een deh?
Who exactly is inside?
A when an when dem fi wuk?
At what times are they to work?
Is where an where di table-dem fi go?
At which spots are the tables to
be put?
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity B
(i) State what the repetition of the word a does in the Jamaican Creole sentences
in (a).
(ii) State the differences you see in the Jamaican Creole sentences in (b) and (c).
In Unit 3 you looked at the way Jamaican Creole speakers use pitch to change a
statement into a question. You would have also noticed the use of the word a
with special questioning words at the beginning of questions, for example: awah, a-which part, a-when, a-ow, a-wah mek.
Sometimes, too, a statement is made, and then a little ‘tag’ is added at the end to
turn it into a question. This happens both in Jamaican Creole and English. Look
at the following sentences and see how this is done in both languages:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
Mi can sing good, nuh true?
I can sing well, can’t I?
A you shi write, nuh?
You are the one she wrote, aren’t
you?
Carlton buy di car, don’t?
Carlton bought the car, hasn’t
he?
Wi shoulda done dis lang time, nuh true?
We should have finished this a l
long time ago, shouldn’t we?
Unnu tap di nise, nuh?
Stop the noise, won’t you?
Dem print di book laas year, don’t it?
They printed the book last year,
didn’t they?
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity C
Read over the examples given above.
(i) Make up five different English sentences of your own.
(ii) Add English question tags to each of these sentences to turn them into
questions.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you were taught about word order and questions in Jamaican Creole
and English. Check to see if you understood the lesson by responding to the
following in your notebook:
R
R
Give three uses of the word a in Jamaican Creole.
Write a short English sentence using the verb is.
Write the same
sentence
in Jamaican Creole to show how the verb changes to another word.
R
Write a short Jamaican Creole sentence where the verb is left out.
Write the same sentence in English.
Some of the sentences below are English and some are Jamaican Creole. The
punctuation marks have been left off. Imagine that you are hearing them.
R
R
Read them aloud and then pick out the ones which could only be
questions.
Which ones in Jamaican Creole could be either questions or statements,
depending on their pitch?
A when im tell yu fi pay di bill
He doesn’t know which way to go
Whose diskettes are those
Di book yu a look fa inna di libry
Di programme weng fi done Friday,
She’s left the hospital, hasn’t she
don’t it
Has Kwame finished his report
Come wi finish di job nuh
Kwame done write im report
You don’t really mean that
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 5:
DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR: TENSES AND NEGATIVES
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
show that English and Jamaican Creole use tenses differently.
·
write English versions of sentences and phrases in Jamaican Creole.
·
write Jamaican Creole versions of sentences and phrases in English.
·
change the negative forms of statements from Jamaican Creole into
English.
·
change the negative forms of statements from English into Jamaican
Creole.
You learnt in Unit 4 that every sentence has a subject, and words that say
something about that subject. The verb and any other word that helps the verb
do two things:
(1) they describe the action of the subject.
For example: Di visita dem chat loud.
(2) they say something about the situation of the subject.
For example: The visitors are feeling tired.
In English, the verb also describes the exact time that something happens – in
the past, in the present or in the future. To do this, you add certain letters to the
verb and sometimes use other words to help the verb.
Look at the following English examples for the verb ‘to write’:
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
PAST TENSE
Shelly wrote a letter to her son last week.
Shelly was writing a letter to her son when her pen ran out of ink.
Shelly had written a letter to her son before he telephoned her.
PRESENT TENSE
Shelly writes her son every month.
Shelly is writing a letter to her son now.
Shelly has written a letter to her son.
FUTURE TENSE
Shelly will write a letter to her son later.
Shelly will be writing a letter to her son tomorrow.
Shelly should be writing a letter to her son this time next week.
In all of these examples, the tense of the verb to write describes the time that
the action takes place.
In Jamaican Creole, the verb may help you to know what time the action takes
place. But most times we have to look at what is said before or after the verb to
tell the exact time when something happens.
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
1. Likkle bit from this dis, Baby Keisha
a-go crawl upstairs.
Before long, baby Keisha will crawl
upstairs.
2. Shi soon a-crawl out-a door.
Soon she will be crawling outside.
3. Watch how shi a crawl faas!
Look how fast she crawls!
4. Shi done crawl ova di hassock.
She has crawled over the hassock.
5. Shi a-crawl go a de stair-dem.
She is crawling towards the stairs.
6. Shi a-crawl bout ten minute now.
She has been crawling for about
ten minutes.
7. Laas week shi crawl unda di table.
Last week she crawled under the
table.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
8. Yessideh shi did a-crawl outa di door.
Yesterday she was crawling out
the door
9. Befo dat, shi did crawl inna di kitchen.
Earlier, she had crawled into the
kitchen.
10. An befo dat, shi did a-crawl roun
di room.
Before that, she had been crawling
around the room.
In the first set of sentences, we get information about something that will happen
in the future.
Keisha a-go crawl.
Keisha will crawl.
In the second set of sentences, we also get information about something that will
happen in the future. In this case, the action will be going on for a while.
Shi soon a-crawl.
Soon she will be crawling.
If you look at all the sentences, you will notice that the verb ‘to crawl’, depending
on how it is used in Jamaican Creole, can describe an action that takes place in
the past, or the present or the future. In other words, it can be used to describe
three different tenses.
You can see, then, that in English, the form of the verb changes to match the
tense, while in Jamaican Creole, it is the words that come before or after the verb
that change to match the tense.
past
present
future
Verbs tell us the time when an action happens – past, present, or future.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity A
Look at the sentences given as examples of how the verb ‘to write’ can be used
to describe actions in the past, present and future on page 30. Using these
examples to guide you, write two examples from the English sentences given on
pages 31 and 32 where the verb ‘to crawl’ is used to describe actions in the
past and two where it is used to describe actions in the present.
Negative Words
Let us now see what happens when we use negative words in sentences.
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
1. Conrad naa go-talk bout ar
tomorrow.
Conrad won’t talk about her
tomorrow.
2. Im naa talk bout ar tomorrow.
He won’t be talking about her
tomorrow.
3. Im nuh talk bout ar dem time ya.
He doesn’t talk about her nowadays.
4. Im naa talk bout ar dem time ya.
He isn’t talking about her nowadays.
5. Im nuh talk bout ar up to now.
He hasn’t talked about her.
6. Im naa talk bout ar up to now.
He hasn’t been talking about her.
7. Im neva talk bout ar laas night.
He didn’t talk about her last night.
8. Im neva did talk bout ar yessideh.
He wasn’t talking about her
yesterday.
9. Im nuh did talk bout ar befo dat.
He hadn’t talked about her earlier.
10. Im neva did talk bout ar befo dat.
He hadn’t been talking about her.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
You will notice that the Jamaican Creole words nuh, naa and neva are used to
express negative statements.
Note also the following sentences:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
(1) Im nuh talk bout ar no time at all.
He never talks about her.
(2) Im neva talk bout ar no time at all.
He never talked about her.
(3) Im not even talk bout ar.
He didn’t even talk about her.
In English, two negative words are not normally used in the same sentence,
except for neither and nor. For example:
Neither Cathy nor Karen has a red ink pen.
In Jamaican Creole, several negative words are often used together:
Mi neva si nutten write dung pan no receipt.
By now you are able to see how some of the statements you make in Jamaican
Creole are spoken in English. What you need to do now is to be aware of what
you are saying in Jamaican Creole and think about what you should say if you
were using English instead.
Do you remember how your English began to improve when you started
practising seriously in Module1? You will do even better if you continue doing
that in this module. Just keep in mind that when you are speaking English, you
must always follow the rules for English, and that there are different rules to
follow when speaking Jamaican Creole.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you were taught about the differences in the use of tenses and
negatives in English and Jamaican Creole. Check to see if you understood the
unit by responding to the following in your notebook.
R
Look at the examples of how the verb ‘to write’ is used in English to show
the different tenses on page 30. Using the verb ‘to play’, write three
simple sentences in English to show actions taking place in the past,
present and future.
R
Write the Jamaican Creole version of these sentences.
R
Write three Jamaican Creole sentences with two or more negative words.
R
Write the English version of these sentences.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
UNIT 6:
DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMAR: PLURALS, PRONOUNS
AND POSSESSIVES
Unit Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
·
identify differences in plural forms between Jamaican Creole and English.
·
identify differences in pronouns between Jamaican Creole and English.
·
identify differences in possessive nouns between Jamaican Creole and
English.
·
change phrases and short sentences from Jamaican Creole into English.
·
change phrases and short sentences from English into Jamaican Creole.
Adding the letter ‘S’
In English, the word pen is a singular noun (refers to one thing) and the word
pens is a plural noun (refers to two or more things). For most nouns in English,
you have to add an s at the end of a singular noun to make it plural.
Jamaican Creole does not add an s to singular nouns to make them plural.
Instead, the word dem or some may be added, depending on the sentence:
If a person is talking about one pen, she would probably say:
“Pass waan pen fi mi.”
If she wants more than one pen she would probably say:
“Pass some pen fi mi.”
If she is talking about pens she has mentioned before, she would probably say:
“Pass di pen-dem fi mi.”
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Sometimes, however, when neither waan, some or dem is used with the noun,
we cannot tell if it is singular or plural.
Mi ave pen a yaad.
The person could mean either one pen, or many pens.
In most cases, however, we are able to tell whether the speaker is talking about
one thing or more than one thing.
†1
Activity A
Give the English versions of the following Jamaican Creole sentences:
(i) A waan book mi buy.
(ii) A some book mi buy.
(iii) A di book mi a look fa.
(iv) A di book-dem mi a look fa.
(v) Bring yu book come.
(vi) Bring waan book come.
(vii) Mi laas mi book-dem.
(viii) Mi si book pan di shelf.
There are two other cases in English when an s is added to a word. Look at the
following sentences:
Jamaican Creole
English
(a) Carol sista always wipe di table-dem.
Carol’s sister usually wipes the
tables.
(b) The flower-dem petal pretty.
The flowers’ petals are pretty.
(c) Di farm cova six acre.
The farm covers six acres.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
In sentence (a) and (b), the ’s or s’ that follows the noun shows ownership or
possession.
Nouns that show ownership or possession are called possessive
nouns.
Of course, you know that ownership of person or object means that he, she or it
belongs to someone or something.
(a) Carol has a sister. (Carol’s sister)
(b) The flowers have petals. (The flowers’ petals)
’
In sentences (a) and (b) the sign used with the s is called an apostrophe. The
apostrophe is used to show ownership.
In the sentence in (c) the s is added to the verb cover to show that the subject,
which is farm, is singular.
This is what happens to most verbs in the present tense when they come after a
singular subject. For example:
The sun shines everyday. (Sun is singular)
Beneath the sun, the bird flies. (Bird is singular)
Using pronouns
Jamaican Creole pronouns (words put in place of names and other nouns) are
similar to English ones, but there are some important differences:
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
(1) Mi si yu.
I saw you.
(2) Yu si mi.
You saw me.
(3) A fi-mi bag.
It’s my bag.
(4) Di bag a fi-mi.
The bag is mine.
(5) A me same wan get-i.
I got it myself.
(6) Mi getti fi miself.
I got it for myself.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity B
(i) Rewrite all six Jamaican Creole sentences on page 37 as follows:
Sentence 1: Change mi to im.
Sentence 2: Change mi to ar.
Sentence 3: Change mi to wi.
Sentence 4: Change mi to unnu.
Sentence 5: Change me to dem.
Sentence 6: Change mi and miself to wi and wiself.
(ii) Write the English version of each of the new sentences.
Do you notice now which Jamaican Creole words are used for common English
ones and how they are used?
When we are pointing to things near to, or far from us, we often use the terms
dis-ya and dem-ya, dat-deh and dem-deh. In English we would say this and
that; these and those.
JAMAICAN CREOLE
ENGLISH
(1) Dis-ya too sowa fi mi.
This is too sour for me.
(2) Unnu need dem box-ya?
or
Unnu need dem-ya box?
Do you need these boxes?
(3) Im kick da ball-deh good.
He kicked that ball well.
or
Im kick dat-deh ball good.
(4) Wi know seh dem-deh a fi unnu.
We know those are yours.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
†1
Activity C
(i) Copy a short passage in Jamaican Creole from a newspaper or book.
(ii) Write an English version of the passage.
You have learnt so many new things about Jamaican Creole and English, haven’t
you?
Can you see now how understanding your own language and how it works helps
you to speak and write English better?
Remember that following rules is important.
As long as you remember that the
rules for English are different from the rules for Jamaican Creole, you will do well.
Just keep working towards being fluent in speaking English and you will get
better at writing English also.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Unit Review
In this unit you learnt about the differences in the way we make words plural in
English and Jamaican Creole. You also learnt about showing ownership by how
we use pronouns. Check to see if you understood what you learnt by doing the
following exercises in your notebook.
R
Look back at page 37. Change mi to oo in the first four sentences and
turn them into questions in Jamaican Creole.
R
Write the English version of the same sentences.
R
Look back on Activity C on page 39. Compare the two written versions,
picking out the similarities and differences between them.
R
The letter s is missing in more than one place in the following English
sentences.
Put it in the right places. Use an apostrophe
ownership.
’ where you want to show
(a) Dane father is a contractor.
(b) This lamp need a new bulb.
(c) All the girls mothers came to the meeting.
(d) Too many car are on the road.
&
Read anything you can find that compares English and Jamaican Creole so you
can better understand the differences between both languages. Sometimes there
are articles or letters that appear in the newspapers about these topics. Look out
for them and see what you can learn from them.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Ñ
Key Notes
Now that you have learnt about the main differences between Jamaican Creole
and English, here are some things you will need to keep in mind:
Making subject and verb agree
In Jamaican Creole, the verb remains the same whether the subject is singular or
plural.
Debbie have waan dog
Shi come from Clarendon
Di bwoy-dem have waan dog
Dem come from Clarendon
In English, the verb changes according to whether the subject is singular or
plural. There is a rule that the subject must agree with the verb, so a singular
subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
All singular verbs in the present tense in English behave the same way except
with the pronouns you and I. In the case of these two words, you do not add an
s to the verb in the present tense. So you would say ‘I love rice and peas’ NOT
‘I loves rice and peas.’ It would also be correct to say ‘You earn more money
than Pam’, NOT ‘You earns more money than Pam’.
In this module you learnt that in English the letter s has some special functions
when it comes at the end of a word. One of these is to make sure that the verb
in your sentence matches the subject. The letter s is also important in English
because you add it to the end of most singular nouns to make them plural. Now,
when the noun becomes plural, the verb in the present tense does NOT take an
s. So you would say ‘Those shoes look good on her’, NOT ‘Those shoes looks
good on her’.
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2
Ownership
Another important function of the letter s that you learnt in this module is that it
shows ownership. You may be wondering when to use the apostrophe before
the s and when to use it after the s. Well, there is a very simple rule to follow,
which will work every time.
If the noun you want to show ownership with, does NOT have an s at the end,
you
use
’s.
For example, look at the nouns car and children. The word car is singular and
the word children is plural. But the only thing that matters is that neither of them
has an s at the end. So you would say, ‘The car’s tyre is flat’ or ‘The children’s
mummy is ill’.
If the noun you want to show ownership with, has an s at the end, you use
s’.
For example, look at the nouns Dennis and dogs. The word Dennis is singular
and the word dogs is plural. But the only thing that matters is that both of them
end with an s. So you would say, ‘Dennis’ arm is broken’ or ‘The dogs’ owner
ties them up at night’.
You have now completed Module 2 of the Language and Communication course
– Part 1. Aren’t you glad that you have made it this far? If you have gone
through all the units carefully, you will move on to Module 3
Best of luck to you!
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Language and Communication - Part 1 Module 2