I would be loath

To c ast away my speech,

For besides that

It is excellent, well penned,

I have taken great pains to con it.

— Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, I, 5

Recently I have been thinking so much about languages, dialects, linguistics, and generally how different people communicate. It’s such a vast world and there are so many different forms of communication. But communicate we must.

From Cantonese to Czech, French to Filipino, Swahili to Spanish, Urdu to Uzbek, plus thousands of dialects all over Africa and other regions of this vast world. Let’s not forget the languages of Scandinavia, to wit, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, plus there is Iceland, Finland, and others. There are so many languages that they may not only make your head swim, but your tongue tie as well.

When did it all start? It’s said in the Bible that the origins of languages was when the Lord punished mankind by making people speak different languages, all because they conspired to build a tower in the city of Babel in order to reach up to Heaven. Hence the term, Tower of Babel.

We’ll break down this language barrier, right after these responses to ‘Sports talk’.

Hi Tony,

I was not at home when the World Championship 100- meter event was scheduled. I was at an outdoor barbecue party and left the crowd to find a TV to see Bolt’s final run. After the race, someone came to me and asked if I was angry that Bolt didn’t win. I answered no, not angry, just disappointed. The way Bolt handled himself immediately after the race can be summed up in one wor d— sportsmanship. Enough said.

Wickham

Ontario, Canada

Hey Tony,

You summed it up when you outlined that our athletes are human beings and not machines. But even machines break down sometimes. Of course, I was disappointed like everyone else, but it really cut me to the quick when I heard our very own Jamaicans cursing those young people on the track who have done so much for our country in the past. How quickly praise can turn to vilification, but such is the nature of man, capricious. It reminds me of a column you wrote a few weeks ago titled ‘Badmind’.

Lady Di

Recently I was speaking with a friend of mine who just finished her PhD studies in languages. She’s now Dr Maria Sanchez, and her thesis was titled, ‘The language situation in Jamaica: A cartographic exploration of language narration among Creole-speaking teachers of Spanish’. Quite a mouthful, huh? And it does sound highfalutin and stush, but it was an important study that examined the impact of Jamaican Creole, which Dr Sanchez refuses to call patois (patwa), as patois is a demeaning word she says.

Maria speaks many languages, but she’s the first to tell you that no one is really an expert in different languages, no one is really absolutely fluent, not even in their native tongue, as language is always evolving. So all you so called English experts, think again about your level of expertise, as the language is complex and always evolving.

Many ‘experts’, including newscasters, still confuse the pronunciation of ‘abuse’, ‘excuse’, ‘principal’, and ‘principle.’ ‘Don’t abuZe my abuse,’ ‘Please excuZe my excuse.’ They are pronounced differently. The head teacher is the principal, not the principle. And ‘amiss’ is not ‘remiss.’ Then they put the H where it doesn’t belong and leave it off where it should be. ‘It argues well for the future.’ Of course that should be ‘augers.’

I found the research most intriguing, for the debate about languages and our Jamaican language, or patois as we call it, rages on. Jamaican patwa is a language in itself, it is not ‘broken English’ as some people like to say, and it hurts me when people say that they are ashamed of it.

All languages have evolved over time, and all those snooty, snobby, snobbish, sneering, snubbing snouted socialites who think that English is the language of the elite should be made aware that just a couple of centuries ago English was considered to be the language of the hog breeders, swine herders and the lowest class of society. French was the language of the gentry, the sophisticated elites, the aristocrats.

So just because you speak English with a snooty American or British accent does not make you an expert. Why curse our Jamaican language when black Americans also have their own language that many people embrace? Watch the TV show Empire and tell me if they are speaking English or not. Travel to parts of London and see if you can understand the English that they speak; or visit Wales, Ireland or Scotland and try to decipher what they say to you. Yet they are not ashamed of their local language or dialect.

But English, like other languages, has evolved, and has its place among the world’s top languages. Here in Jamaica, those who look down on patwa as being a lesser language are doing us a grave disservice. They themselves have not even mastered English, but think that they are speaking properly because of their lilt or uptown accent.

And yet they proudly curse patwa, saying, “She chat bad like a wha.” “When we were growing up we couldn’t speak patwa in the house around our parents.” “My children cannot speak patwa.” What a shame, for the truth is English is not the national language of Jamaica. It may be the official language, but patwa is our own original Jamaican language. The fact is, more people speak patwa than speak standard English.

Visit Curacao and hear what their native original language is — Papiamento, a blend of African, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, English, and Taino. Even though Dutch and English were their official languages, Papiamento is now also classed as official. The same applies to Haiti, where French Creole is the language of the people although French is the official language.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love English, its grammar, its lilt, its syntax, its complexity, its beauty. But I also love patwa, our very own Jamaican language. It’s like no other language in the world and that’s why so many different nationalities are fascinated by it.

So when a Jamaican tries to speak proper English and doesn’t grasp it, do not scoff at him or her or deride him, for he or she is , in essence, attempting to speak a different language. I feel great sympathy and empathy for those people, for I know how I must sound to a Spanish-speaking person when I speak Spanish to them. How clumsy my phrasing must be, how awkward my grammar, my syntax, my pronunciation. But still I make every effort to communicate and learn more as I go along.

I’m not pushing patwa at all, as it doesn’t have to be pushed. I don’t think that it should be taught in schools, as it’s as natural to our people as curry goat and rice and peas. No one taught me patwa, yet I speak it. I still advocate that English should be taught early as a language and patois left alone to evolve on its own.

I grew up in a family of teachers — my late mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, were all teachers and principals of schools — so English was a must. But I still speak patwa, much to my wife’s chagrin, even though she’s fluent too…when she wants to be.

So I can proudly say that I’m trilingual, as I speak English, a little Spanish and Jamaican patwa. There is no language barrier, as I can easily say, “Kindly pass the condiments please,” or “Yow dawta, pass de butta, de salt and de peppa fi de saudeen and flittas, yu see mi.”

My daughter who lives in Europe speaks English, German and Italian, but what her foreign friends are most intrigued about is when she speaks Jamaican patwa. Jamaican is truly a beautiful language and I love to hear it. When I watch the news and hear our people on the streets expressing themselves in the most colourful way, I love it cyaan dun. A suh we stay, a we dat, a suh de system set.

But it has its place. Those who can speak English should do so at the appropriate time and place. But for those who haven’t mastered it, allow them to speak Jamaican. Politicians are aware of this and when they take to their platform, just listen to what language they speak, certainly not proper English. Why? They need to communicate, overcome the barrier.

I am not on the side of those intellectuals who are advocating pushing Jamaican patwa and not English in schools. Patwa alone will hold back our children. Let them learn English, Spanish, French, or other languages that can widen their circle. We cannot live in a bulb. Do not let our language differences be a barrier to our communication. God bless Miss Lou for giving our language a modicum of respectability. Nuff respec, Miss Lou, yu see me.

More time.

seido1@hotmail.com

Footnote: I was alarmed to see a documentary on cable TV that exposed the dangers of opioid use in the USA. It stated that 91 people die every day of opioid drug use; that’s 33,000 people dying every year. It goes across all social classes and races, with people often passing out in their cars with their children still strapped in the car seats, on buses, public streets, in their homes. Parents are devastated as their children fall prey to these lethal drugs. As someone said, “Isis doesn’t need to attack, but just sit back and watch them kill themselves.” Let’s hope that never reaches our shores. Scary !