Linguistic Features of Jamaican Creole (JC) (Patois)

Jamaican Creole is considered a language like any other, for two basic reasons. It possess
the characteristic features of a language and it performs the functions also. The following
is a brief outline of some of these features.
Phonology: the sound systems of language. Patois has a sound system independent
of English.
Jamaican Creole does not use th sound but substitutes two other sounds; the t
sound as in tik for the English thick and d sound as in dem for the
English then.
Jamaican Creole does not pronounce the consonants q and c. These are
substituted by the consonants k and s. So the English call is pronounced
kaal.
Lexicon: the words of a language. Although the lexical items of Patois are English
based many are used in non-English ways.
Some Patois words recognized to be used in English do not carry the same
meaning, eg. ignorant in Patois means easily angered, very upset , not lacking
in knowledge. Belly can mean pregnancy depending on the context in which it
is used.
Some English words are compounded to create nouns not present in English, eg.
Foot bottom fore sole eye water for tear.
Some Creole words are formed by reduplication (base words are repeated to form
new words) eg. freidi freidi to mean fearful or timid, chati chati to mean talks
excessively or out of turn, pretty pretty very pretty or crowded depending on the
context.
Some creole words are adoptd from other non-English languages. Eg. MaroonSpanish, pikni- Portugese, unu-Igbo.
Grammar: rules governing the correct use of a language.
Pleuralization is signaled by the addition of the dem after the noun, eg. The
people dem. Or to emphasize the numerical marker de two book dem.
Possession is not signaled as in English by the apostrophe s suffix but by the
ford fi as in A fi mi handout.
Zero Copular construction. A copular links the subject to the predicate. It is
derived from the verb to be. Creole can have a zero copular structure eg. Jane
sick for Jane is sick or Jane de home for Jane is at home.
Tense: Patois verbs are unmarked for time. This means that regardless of time that
is under consideration present, past or future the verb remains in the present. Eg.
Mi a drink for I am drinking, last night mi drink some tea for last night I drank
some tea, mi a go drink plenty tea a de party next week for I will drink a lot of tea
at the party next week.
Syntax: the proper arrangement of words in a sentence.
Patois mainly use syntax to highlight certain elements within a sentence while
English will often use pronunciation by verbally stressing that which is to be
emphasized. Eg. Is Pam eat de mango, Is de mango Pam eat, Is yessideh Pam eat
de mango, Is eat Pam eat de mango.