Jamaican Language - How We Jamaicanise English Words

Jamaican language is drawn from a variety of sources. Some of the words are African derived, some are English derived, and some we just seem to have invented ourselves. It's possible that some words whose origin we do not understand have evloved so far from their original source word that we cannot link the two in any way.

When we string these words together in our expressive and unique manner of speaking, the outcome is patois (patwa). This is also known as Jamaican dialect.

All Jamaicans understand patois. Some speak it all the time. Most people speak patois when having informal conversations with friends and family, but use English in more formal circumstances.

Even among the few who speak mostly English, true standard English is rare. What is used can be described as Jamaican English, which is recognisable as English, but with many of the grammatical rules adjusted, and a few patois words included. Full-fledged patois can sometimes sound like there is abslotuely no connection with English.

Here are some of the words in Jamaican language whose origins are English. There is no standard spelling for these words, so I've merely spelled them how they are pronounced.

Notice that in some words (like aks and deks) we merely switch letters around. In others we change the sound in the miggle. We sometimes leave off the 's' at the beginning of words (like quint). Some words we modify a bit more thoroughly!

aks - ask
alligetta - alligator
attaclapse - apocalypse (meaning a disastrous event)
bickle - victuals (meaning food)
boasy - boastful
bokkle - bottle
bud - bird
cerfiticate - certificate
crawp - scrape
cripsy - crispy
cris - crisp (meaning fine, in excellent condition)
cyar - car
cyaat - cart
deh - there
deks - desk
dutty - dirty
facety - feisty
fingle - this is a great word, whose origin, I think, is probably fondle or finger. It means to feel something excessively, or in a destructive manner.
"Don't fingle up the banana, it will spwile!"
foolinish - foolishness
gwaan - go on
gweh - go away
injin - engine
ketch - catch
likkle - little
lyad - liar
miggle - middle
nize - noise
ongle - only
pawn - span (meaning to take hold of)
pitayta - potato
pronganot - pomegranate
prume - prune (meaning to trim)
quint - squint
renk - rank (meaning bad-smelling, also means impertinent)
shenk - shank
shuub - shove
sittn - something
smaddy - somebody
spwile - spoil
strimps, swims, swimps - shrimps
tan - stand

Although I'm Jamaican born, raised and resident, I still get a thrill when I stop to think about the unique way in which the Jamaican language uses words. It's a fantastic way of communicating, and is one of the things Jamaicans can use to give them pleasure no matter where in the world they are.

Visitors to our country can add to their vacation experience if they take the time to listen to Jamaicans talking to each other. It can also be quite funny to hear some Jamaicans talking to tourists - quite often the Jamaican will assume a very strong American accent, but using patois at the same time!

There is also a wide variety of witty and wise Jamaican proverbs which are still used in varing degrees.

It's all part of our wonderful Jamaican culture.