File:Jamaican_Creole_vowel_chart.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Jamaican Patois
Sign in to saveAlso known as Patois, Patwah, Jamaican Creole, Jamaican Creole English, Jamaican Patwa, Jamaican, Jumiekan Patwa
English-based creole spoken in and around Jamaica; it additionally takes influence from various African languages, particularly Akan
Jamaican Patois is an English-based creole language spoken in Jamaica that also incorporates influences from various African languages, especially Akan. It represents an important part of Jamaican cultural identity and reflects the island's complex history of colonization and African heritage.
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- natural language
- Has part
- Moskitian Creole
- Country
- Costa Rica
Show 8 more facts
- number of speakers, writers, or signers
- 3200000
- Wikimedia language code
- jam
- native label
- Patwa
- Commons category
- Jamaican Patois
- different from
- Jamaican English
- indigenous to
- Jamaica
- exact match
- apics-online.info/contributions/8
- topic's main category
- Category:Jamaican Patois
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Female patois speaker saying two sentences A Jamaican Patois speaker discussing the usage of the language
Jamaican Patois (/ˈpætwɑː/; locally rendered Jamaican Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language mixed heavily with West African languages, Arawak, Spanish, French and other languages, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. Words or slang from Jamaican Patois can be heard in other Caribbean countries, the United Kingdom (especially in London, where it has heavily influenced Multicultural London English), New York City and Miami in the United States, and Toronto, Canada. It is spoken by most Jamaicans as their first language.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jamaican Patois” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.