By definition, a creole is a mixture of two natural languages which often occurs over a brief period of time. Most of the societies that have creole often begin as pidgins that develop into fully-fledged languages characterized by the fact that they are much simpler than the parent languages. Around the world, the formation of creole dialects has always been related to the movement of people from one culture to another and Jamaicas pidgin was formed this way (Romaine, 2017). This paper provides an analysis of Jamaicas creole also known as patois, it terms of its pronunciation, syntax used in the language as well as the similarities and differences the language has with English.

History

The formation of Jamaicas creole traces its history to the British colonization of the island in 1655 when the country was converted into an English speaking nation. Most of the people living on the island at the time were African slaves who mostly spoke their native languages. However, after the invasion, the British outlawed speaking of native languages and all the slaves were required to speak English. Having not spoken any other language after from their native tongues, these slaves had a hard time speaking perfect English but because speaking it was mandatory they end up establishing a dialect of broke English. Over time this new dialect of broken English developed into a uniform language of the slaves even adopted its own phrases, words and set of rules (Lalla, & d'Costa, 2009). As the language gained popularity among the slaves, it evolved into more than a pidgin to point where it created its own identity and eventually leading to Jamaican race of people. Throughout the years, several factors have contributed to the evolution of Jamaica's creole such as slave codes, and Rastafarianism. Although patois began as a form of rebellion by slaves against their British masters, it has become the unofficial language spoken by almost everyone in Jamaica.