Patwa. Jamaican patois. Jamaican Creole (JC). Whatever it may be known as, it is spoken by most and certainly understood by all Jamaicans. Many think of it as broken English, and often speakers are reprimanded for 'talking bad'.

Creoles are languages

Linguistic research has shown clearly, though, that Creoles (not only JC) are in fact languages in their own right, since they have their own systems at every level. It is common in the Jamaican educational system, for example, to speak of the 'home language' of the majority of children entering the school system as being Jamaican Creole (JC).

Linguistics recognises that a number of speech varieties exist in Jamaica. There are even those who refer to another language - that used among the children at school.

So, what do our children speak?

Lecturer in the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy at The UWI, Mona, Dr Michele Stewart, has sought answers to the question, "To what extent has Standard Jamaican English influenced speech in urban communities?" In effect, "What is it that our children speak?" The children studied were in or entering basic school, coming from communities thought to have speakers of one language only, Jamaican Creole. Partial funding for research was provided by the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy.

The children are not strictly creole speakers

Preliminary findings indicate that the children exhibit a high degree of code-mixing, which is the consistent use of forms characteristic of more creole speech alongside those Standard Jamaican English (SJE). It appears, then, that they may not speak a distinct language system which can be clearly defined as being the 'home language', distinguishable in their minds and in their speech from SJE. Certainly, similar research is needed for other urban, as well as rural communities in Jamaica to determine the extent of the existence of these trends.

What can we do about it?

If the preliminary findings hold, they point to the need for a means for our children to be able to readily distinguish forms which belong to creole, from more Standard Jamaican English forms. Teaching strategies to achieve this will need to be developed. Standardising the writing system is also important to help define the boundaries between language systems.

This need for a means to allow children to differentiate between the language systems they use impacts, then, on curriculum development for the primary and secondary language classroom and ultimately on language policy.