Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Ladislav Miština

Social Class and Language Use in Jamaica

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D.

2016

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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

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I would like to thank my supervisor Phdr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. for support and great cooperation. I would also like to thank my Jamaican friend, Leodon Spence, without whom the research would not be carried out and whose willingness to assist me was of a great extent. Last but not least, I would like to thank my girlfriend for the encouragement and support.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 7 2. Methodology ...... 8 2.1 Observer’s paradox ...... 9 3. Linguistic Background ...... 10 3.1 Lingua Franca ...... 10 3.2 Pidginization ...... 11 3.3 Creole ...... 13 3.3.1. Geographic distribution ...... 14 3.3.2 Creolization ...... 15 3.3.3 Social Inferiority of Creole Languages ...... 16 3.4 Decreolization ...... 17 3.5 Diglossia ...... 18 3.6 Social Dialect Continuum ...... 20 3.7. Post-Creole Continuum...... 21 3.7.1. Post-creole community ...... 21 4. Language Situation in Jamaica ...... 22 4.1. Historical Background ...... 22 4.1.1 Phase 1, 1655-1690 ...... 23 4.1.2 Phase 2/3, 1690-1962 ...... 24 4.1.3 Phase 4, 1962-present ...... 26 4.2 Post-Creole Continuum in Jamaica...... 29 4.2.1 Acrolect ...... 29 4.2.2 Mesolect ...... 30 4.2.3 Basilect ...... 31 4.3. Linguistic Variable ...... 32 5. Comparative Analysis of Vowel and Consonant Inventories of Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English ...... 34 5.1 Vowels ...... 34 5.2 Consonants ...... 35 5.3 Vowel systems of Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English ...... 38

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5.3.1 Jamaican Creole Vowels ...... 38 5.3.2 Standard Jamaican English Vowels ...... 39 5.3.3 Nasalization ...... 45 5.3.4 Vowel Epenthesis ...... 46 5.3.5 Vowel Assimilation across Syllables ...... 48 5.3.6 Final Vowel Insertion ...... 49 5.4. Consonant Systems of Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English ...... 50 5.4.1 Final Consonant Deletion ...... 53 5.4.2 Rhoticity and Liquids ...... 55 5.4.3. /h/- Dropping and /h/- Insertion ...... 57 5.4.4 Palatalization ...... 60 5.4.5 Fricative Replacement, Affricativization, and /r/ Deletion ...... 62 5.5. Prosodic Features ...... 65 6. Social Factors ...... 66 6.1. Age ...... 67 6.2 Gender ...... 69 6.3. Education ...... 69 6.4. Geographic Variation ...... 71 6.5. Social Class and Mobility ...... 72 7. Individual Evaluation ...... 74 7.1. Crystal ...... 74 7.3. Shamar ...... 75 7.3. Nadesha ...... 76 7.4. Kamara ...... 77 8. Conclusion ...... 78 Appendix A ...... 81 Appendix B ...... 92 Appendix C ...... 92 Works Cited ...... 93 Summary ...... 97 Souhrn ...... 98

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List of Tables

Table 1. Jamaican Patois vowels and their phonetic realizations ...... 42 Table 2. Standard Jamaican English vowels and their realizations ...... 43 Table 3. Pronunciation of the variable ‘don’t’ ...... 55 Table 4. Occurrence of /h/ in the variable ‘him’ ...... 59 Table 5. Variation in monitored speech ...... 68 Table 6. Variation in unmonitored speech ...... 68 Table 7. Provenance and current residence of the respondents ...... 72 Table 8. Profession, contentment and impending plans of the respondents ...... 74

List of Figures

Figure 1. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) ...... 37 Figure 2. Vowel inventory presented by Devonish & Harry (2004) ...... 38 Figure 3. Vowel inventory presented by Akers (1981) ...... 38 Figure 4. Vowel inventory presented by Cassidy & Le Page (1980)...... 39 Figure 5. Vowel inventory of Jamaican English ...... 40 Figure 6. Wells (1973) & Sebba (1993) vowels of Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English ...... 40 Figure 7. Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English vowel inventories ...... 44 Figure 8. Realization of underspecified vowels in JC and SJE ...... 47 Figure 9 Devonish & Harry’s (2004) phonemic inventory of consonants of JC ...... 51 Figure 10. Aker’s (1981) phonemic inventory of JC’s consonants ...... 51 Figure 11. Cassidy & Le Page’s phonemic inventory of JC’s consonants ...... 52 Figure 12. Phonemic inventory of SJE ...... 53 Figure 13. Palatal glides with /j/ in JC and JE ...... 61 Figure 14. Palatal glides with /w/ in JC and JE ...... 62 Figure 15. Responses of mesolectal and acrolectal speakers to the question “Are there any places where you would use Patois? ...... 70

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1. Introduction

As an avid listener of Reggae music, frequent participant at the Uprising Reggae festival and devoted admirer of Jamaican culture, I have decided that it would be most appropriate to learn more about today’s Jamaica. To do so, after acquiring the background knowledge necessary to understand the current language situation and its social premise, I have contacted my Jamaican friend, Leodon, with whom I agreed to devise the present research, the aim of which would be to test the influence of the aforementioned social basis on the language situation in Jamaica.

The language situation in Jamaica is frequently described as diglossic and dichotomous, comprising two polar varieties, Jamaican Creole1 and Standard Jamaican

English. However, this diglossic perception has been linguistically and diachronically transformed into a continuum of varieties, which due to a dynamic relation between the former and the latter transformed into ‘post-creole continuum’, placing Jamaican Creole on one end of the continuum, identified as basilect, while Jamaican English on the other, labelled as acrolect. In between these two ends can be found an “apparently seamless web of minimally differentiated varieties” (Patrick, 2004, cited in Bell, 2013, p.76), designated as mesolect.

The notion of post-creole continuum is firmly correlated with social stratification. Basilectal Jamaican Creole is commonly perceived as a socially stigmatized variety, the use of which is associated with “poverty, ignorance and lack of moral character” (DeCamp, 1968, p.40), and its monolingual practice is denounced. On the other hand, Standard Jamaican English, a socially prestigious variety occupying predominantly the domains of writing and education, is presented as a model language for those who endeavour to achieve some sort of social mobility. In reality, the variety

1 Also designated as Patois or Patwa, this term is used predominantly for the speech production, while Creole is utilized mainly for the underlying language system. In this work these terms will be used interchangeably. 7 utilized by the majority of Jamaicans, described by Patrick (cited in Kortmann&

Schneider, 2004) as the “most important variety in Jamaica” (p.409), is mesolect.

To identify an individual as speaking a certain variety, his/her speech has to comprise certain phonological, morphological, or syntactic linguistic variables realized in a particular manner. These variables are then identified according to the degree of social stigmatization and generally applied to the production of speech. When this process is done, other social factors play a major role in the overall social impression of an individual. These can be age, education, ethnicity, gender, residence, social class, etc. According to these, an individual is located within a sociolinguistic framework.

Therefore, to avoid such stigmatization, a significant amount of code switching, i.e. switching between varieties, is applied. The hypothesis which I would try to prove in this work is that the endeavour for social mobility is directly correlated with the language choice, and also to demonstrate which of the aforementioned factors are significant in this context.

2. Methodology

In order to test and establish the relationship between language and social aspects in Jamaica, a questionnaire has been devised with the assistance of two

Jamaican colleagues who have interviewed four respondents. The aim of this questionnaire was to test the phonetic realizations of certain linguistic variables in monitored (careful, attentive reading of a text) and unmonitored (natural, authentic pronunciation) speech2, and to correlate them with social factors, i.e. social position, age, gender, residence, and education. The research was motivated by Glenn A. Akers’

2 These terms are not corresponding entirely to Akers‘ (1981) definition, which states that the monitored speech occurs in unfamiliar situations in which maxim degree of attention is paid to the linguistic forms, whereas unmonitored speech is the very opposite. 8 work Phonological Variation in the Jamaican Continuum (1981), and carried out according to Allan Bell’s criteria (2013, p.188).

The questionnaire consists of a written text inspired by two articles on Jamaican education system, State of Education in Jamaica (Cato, 2011) and The State of

Jamaican Education and its Greatest Challenge (Miller, 2011), and three questions following this text. The authenticity of the text itself can be questioned due to the need to rewrite some of the original observations so that certain linguistic variables could be inserted, however its aim was not to give an objective and substantiated opinion on the state of Jamaican education, yet to trigger an emotional reaction in the respondents, so that more genuine pronunciation would be produced.

The research has been carried out externally in Jamaica, and all of the participants are native Jamaicans. The respondents have been selected by my Jamaican friends in order to demonstrate linguistic diversity, even though in some factors, such as ethnicity or gender, it could not be observed, due to the semblance of the respondents in these factors, e.g. female gender of all the participants.

2.1 Observer’s paradox

Wardhaugh (1992) in his description of the collection and analysis of data has stated an issue which he labelled as the ‘observer’s paradox’, i.e. “how can you obtain objective data from the real world without injecting your own self into the data and thereby confounding the results before you even begin?” (p.150). This problem was partially eliminated by not personally participating in the interview, which resulted in not exerting any phonetic influence on the respondents on the author´s part. However, as far the text itself and questions following the text are concerned, to obtain relevant phonetic data mainly in the unmonitored speech, the need to formulate the questions in

9 a way that would send the answer of a respondent in a certain direction can be seen as injecting one´s own persona into the data.

3. Linguistic Background

The following chapter strives to clarify the quintessential linguistic background for the understanding of diachronic evolution of language in Jamaica. It will define the concept of contact vernaculars and how these were established as languages performing a wide range of functions. Also, the notion of approximation of this vernacular to the model language will be formulated and correlated with the linguistic situation which arose from the closeness of the two polar varieties in Jamaica.

3.1 Lingua Franca

Contact situations, in terms of language contact, are perceived as tools performing a wide range of social functions. These functions can be observed to be diachronically fluctuant. That is due to the change of nature of these situations, shifting from trade-oriented encounters, which have frequently been a prime cause of language contact, and migrant or slave labour situations associated with colonization, to contemporary encounters with foreign media, persons, or commerce (Bell, 2013, p.47–

50). However, some may argue that even though the circumstances have changed the nature of contact situations remained the same. Bell (2013) partially agrees and adds that, other than trade encounters and mobility, media have always been main means of language contact. However, this contact has been a one-way process until the emergence of interactive media of the twentieth century (p.47).

Whatever the nature of contact situations may be, one particular issue is bound to arise, and that is when a certain speech community or an individual is unable to understand the “normal speech of the community” (Le Page, 1974, p.42). Such

10 situations are frequent and able to cause grave misunderstandings. Therefore, to accomplish a mutual comprehension, a shared system of communication, or as Mark C.

Baker (cited in Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000) labels it “a medium for interethnic communication (MIC)” (p.72), must emerge. Such system is often designated as a ‘contact language’ or ‘lingua franca’.

Historically, Greek koiné, Vulgar Latin, and a language called ‘Sabir’ performed a function of lingua franca in Mediterranean. Currently, the purpose of lingua franca is served by English in many parts of the world (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.56). Lingua franca is described as “a language which is used habitually by people whose mother tongues are different in order to facilitate communication between them” (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.56).

Nevertheless, frequently an achievement of designated illocutionary act of lingua franca remains problematic. If a complete understanding is not accomplished and perlocutionary effect diverges from the illocutionary act, a misconception can easily replace desired agreement. To avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding in contact situations, where there is an insufficient knowledge of lingua franca, an establishment of ‘simplified’ or ‘reduced’ contact language is necessary. Hence, lingua franca has to undergo a process of pidginization.

3.2 Pidginization

The process of pidginization requires a situation involving at least three languages, one of these is to be considered dominant, a ‘superstrate’, which frequently behaves as a lexifier, while the other subordinate languages are labelled as ‘substrates’

(Bell, 2013, p.79). The lexifiers are typically nonstandard varieties of European languages, while the substrate languages are usually a specific African-or Pacific- language, a group, or a mixture (Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.8, 78).

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Pidginization is very unlikely to occur in a situation where only two languages are involved due to their struggle for dominance. Historically, the pidginization is noted to arise in slave societies, due to deliberate deprivation of slaves from diverse language backgrounds, or to originate on sea coasts, where the pidgin serves as a language of trade (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.58–69). This hypothesis is supported by the geographical occurrence of pidgin and creole languages, which are “distributed mainly in the equatorial belt around the world, usually in places with direct or easy access to oceans, in the Caribbean, and around the north and east coasts of South America” (Wardhaugh,

1992, p.62). Due to the geographical and historical partiality, pidgin and creole languages are associated with social inferiority and deficiency. Pidgin is described as possessing no native speakers, rather it is a contact vernacular (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.58;

DeCamp, 1968, p.30). Le Page (1974) also addresses the contact situation from which a pidgin develops, and observes that it resembles a child-parent learning situation, in that there is very little formal instruction regarding the grammar (p.50).

Pidginization is a “one-generation process” (Le Page, 1974, p.56), and comprises the notions of simplification, mixture, and reduction. According to

Wardhaugh (1992), simplification consists of “reduction in morphology and syntax, tolerance of considerable phonological variation, reduction in the number of functions, and extensive borrowing of words from local mother-tongues” (p.59). The process recons with a common tendency to simplify and reduce parts of speech when trying to communicate with an individual or a speech community, with whom or which one does not share the same native language. Le Page (1974) agrees and states that it seems to be a universal practice to speak more slowly and distinctly to foreigners, “to avoid ellipsis, and to make explicit all the inherent prosodic markers of parts-of-speech and syntax”

(p.43).

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Mixing essentially means introducing elements and features from one’s language into the language one is trying to learn (Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.110). It can be apprehended as a phonological alteration, such as accent or intonation, or morphological and syntactical adjustment, such as grammatical constructions and idioms.

Trudgill & Hannah (1994) define the process of reduction, and ascribe its cause to insufficient knowledge of adult learners, who are learning a foreign language, which correlates with restricted range of purposes, and results in the inadequate command of words, grammatical construction, and idiomatic and stylistic devices (p.110). Thus, reduction in the aforementioned context can be attributed to the insufficient knowledge of lingua franca, resulting in restricted use, as well as in reduced area of functions.

3.3 Creole

The term ‘Creole’ originally symbolized a white man of European descent but born and raised in a tropical or semitropical colony. This interpretation was later broadened to include indigenous natives and others of non-European origin (DeCamp,

1968, p.31). This term became metonymically used for language spoken by ‘Creoles’.

This language emerges from the process of creolization, which is noted to arise from the course of pidginization, even though this statement “arouses discomfort for some creolists” (Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.112). Trudgill and Hannah (1994) argue for the notion of ‘pidgin-creole genesis continuity’ and state that “pidgin which acquires native speakers is called creole” (p.110). DeCamp (1968) agrees and adds that “syntax and vocabulary are extended and it becomes native language of a community” (p.34).

However, an antagonistic perspective on the emergence of creoles, a so called

‘Superstratist position’, or ‘gradual basilectalization’ (Siegel, 2008, p.271; Neumann-

Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.59), perceived mainly by Fracophone school creolists,

13 assumes that creoles are essentially varieties of their lexifiers, “their development mediated by a leaning towards analyticity by second language learners” (Neumann-

Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.112). The major advocate of this perspective is Robert

Chaudeson, who coined the term ‘français zéro’, which strives to differ from the definition of pidgin, yet the distinction in linguistic terms is unclear (Neumann-

Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.112). French creolists tend to restrict the term pidgin to varieties used by adults for functional communication while retaining their native languages. They avoid the extension of this term to the initial stage in the birth of plantation creoles (Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.113). Neumann-

Holzschuh & Schneider (2000) conclude this dispute by stating that “English-lexifier and French-lexifier creoles appear to have followed different paths of creolization”

(Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.3).

Despite the difference in the notion of creole genesis, both perspectives encompass a clear distinction between the terms creole and pidgin. However, such distinction is not always apparent, as can be perceived on the case of Tok Pisin, official language of Papua New Guinea, which is “sometimes called a pidgin and sometimes a creole” (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.60). Trudgill and Hannah argue that Tok Pisin is amongst well-known English pidgins, and at the same time claim that it is amongst many

English-based creoles (Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.110–111). On the other hand, there can be distinguished a ‘clear-cut’ examples, such as Haitian creole (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.61). Jamaican Creole is also amongst the latter.

3.3.1. Geographic distribution

Geographic distribution of creoles is rather widespread, and appears to be closely related to long-standing patterns of trade (Wardhaugh, 1992, p.62). Most creoles are European based, i.e. major portion of their vocabulary is derived from one or more

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European languages. However, some are not, e.g. the Chinook Jargon, which was once used for trading by north-western American Indians (DeCamp, 1968, p.31).

Amongst European based creoles, the most prominent are English-based and

French-based creoles. The primary focus of this work lies on the English-based creoles, amongst which can be found those in Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, etc.

DeCamp (1968) states that “Creole is spoken today by more than six million persons in and around the Caribbean and by smaller and more scattered groups of speakers in West

Africa” (p.33).

3.3.2 Creolization

The process of creolization strives to establish what was lost in the course of pidginization. Neumann-Holzschuh and Schneider (2000) claim that creolization can be viewed as ‘grammaticalization in quick motion’, i.e. “the emergence of missing grammatical categories derived from existing lexical items” (p. 1). Wardhaugh (1992) specifies the segments of creolization as the enlargement of morphology and syntax, regularization of the phonology, conscious increase in the number of functions in which the language is utilized, and development of a rational and stable system for increasing vocabulary (p.60). Bell (2013) attributes to this segmentation and states that “the creole’s phonology tends to mix super- and substrate influences, and the syntax provides the full range of structures such as relativization and other forms of subordination” (p.72).

Le Page (1974) concludes the difference between pidginization and creolization by stating that “while a pidgin is a product of contact, a stable creole is the product of subsequent isolation” (p.54). This statement is meant to point out, as DeCamp (1968) puts it, “isolation is indeed an important factor” (p.41), for creolization itself. Isolation in the geographical and social sense resulting in mutually almost unintelligible dialects,

15 although DeCamp (1968) would agree for the omission of word ‘almost’, is perceived on the case of Jamaican Creole. The isolation of scattered plantations in Jamaica resulted in a great dialectal variation and in socio-economically oriented linguistic continuum (p.42). The genesis and current state of this continuum will be addressed closely in subchapter 4.2.

3.3.3 Social Inferiority of Creole Languages

Creole seeks to expand the range of social functions in contact situations, and has a “lexicon able to serve the communicative purposes of a community” (Bell, 2013, p.80), yet its inferiority is still perpetuated. However, by no means linguistic inferiority of language, but a social one, thus “creole is inferior to its corresponding standard language only in social status” (DeCamp, 1968, p.31). The limited contextual use of pidgin, suitable only for specialized and limited communication is eradicated by creolization. DeCamp (1968) adds that the only way in which pidgin may escape extinction is by evolving into creole (p.31), and “once a pidgin has been created or imported into a community, its continued survival and its evolution toward creole status and beyond both depend entirely on its role in society” (DeCamp, 1968, p.40).

A further analysis on the development of creoles and creolization as a social process is offered by Salikoko S. Mufwene (cited in Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider,

2000). Mufwene argues that ‘creole features’ are helpful only when they are related to the particular social history of their development (p.65). He endeavours to establish an example of ‘prototypical’ creole, i.e. “one in which we are likely to find the greatest number of putative deviations from its lexifiers”, and it can be perceived either as a first specimen to have evolved or the best exemplar (p.66).

Mufwene (2000) later observes what is perceived as a distinction between creoles and natural languages, and supporting his claims by Thomason and Kaufman

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(1988), concludes that “restructuring, however minimal, takes place in all cases of spontaneous language transmission, from one generation of speakers to another”, and that “history of the development of creoles provides no evidence of broken language transmission” (p.69).

Taking into account these conclusions, the fact that “grammaticization processes that have taken place in the development of creoles are not different in kind from those that have taken place in non-creole languages” (cited in Neumann-Holzschuh &

Schneider, 2000, p.77), and Hjemslev’s observation that all languages are mixed to some extent (cited in Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.70), it can be assumed that aforementioned statement that creoles are not linguistically inferior is alarmingly accurate, and that they are “perfectly normal languages” (Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.111). Therefore, their social stereotyping, the view that creole is inseparably associated with poverty and ignorance is not appropriate, yet still present. This matter could be also attributed to the functional separation present in diglossic situation, which will be examined in connection to creole and post-creole continuum.

3.4 Decreolization

Decreolization is a process which occurs in areas where contact with superstrate has been considerable, and its higher status influenced the perception of creole substrate, which became associated with exploited, impoverished and powerless groups.

The substrate creole thus became influenced by superstrate, and its divergence from it became less and less visible (Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.112). In short, it is “later approximation of a creole to its lexifier language” (Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider,

2000, p.7). Trudgill and Hannah (1994) add that this process involved the creole languages undergoing differing amounts of ‘complication’ and ‘purification’ (p.112).

Complication, naturally linked to the idea of simplification, represents its counteraction,

17 and “reintroduces certain irregularities from English” (p.113). Purification is noted to remove “certain elements from African and other languages that had resulted from the mixing that took place during pidginization” (p.113).

Siegel (2008) furthermore analyses this issue and distinguishes two types of decreolization on the case of Hawai’i creole, namely ‘covert’ and ‘conventional decreolization’. He characterizes conventional decreolization as a process where certain grammatical forms from the creole are replaced by forms from the lexifier, therefore, the changes are easily observable (p.259). In opposition to this, Siegel (2008) puts the notion of covert decreolization, “where the form of the creole remains, but its function, or the way it is used has changed from what it was originally, and the change seems to be in the direction of lexifier” (p.259). The situation in Jamaica is seemingly undergoing the latter type of decreolization, yet a tendency to refrain from using that term is evident in this work. A more suitable term which encompasses the full concept of Jamaican situation would be a ‘post-creole continuum’.

3.5 Diglossia

Prior to discussing the notion of post-creole continuum it is essential to describe the concept of diglossia. Main reason for doing so is to understand the notion of functional separation of languages and how it is connected to the social spectrum of language perception. The most eloquent and practical definition is offered by Charles A.

Ferguson (1956), who states that diglossic situation is “a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards) labeled ‘L’, there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, labeled ‘H’”. Hubert Devonish (cited in

Christie & Alleyne, 1996) agrees and summarizes that H(igh) language is frequently

18 employed in the written domain, in contrast to the L(ow) language, which is normally excluded from this domain (p.101).

Similar situation, in the means of functional differentiation of domains, is present in Jamaica, employing English as the ‘H’ language, “the top pole in diglossic continuum” (Neumann-Holzschuh & Schneider, 2000, p.111), and basilectal Jamaican

Creole as the ‘L’ language. However, as far as the writing is concerned, Jamaican situation is a bit diverse in this sphere. Basilectal Jamaican Creole, the ‘L’ language, does “invade the domain of writing” (Christie & Alleyne, 1996, p.103), however not completely. This ‘invasion’ was historically limited in the way that Jamaican Creole was used only to perform functions which English could not perform. These were predominantly representations of the particular characters, which were more realistically depicted if seen using Jamaican Creole (Christie & Alleyne, 1996, p.103).

Apart from this, a noted literary figure Claude McKay published his book of poems labelled Songs of Jamaica written entirely in Jamaican Creole (Patois), which was later awarded by Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences. In the Songs of Jamaica,

Mc Kay presents “an almost celebratory portrait of peasant life, with poems addressing subjects such as the peaceful death of McKay’s mother and the black people’s ties to the

Jamaican land” (“Claude McKay“, 2015). Another medium that promotes written tradition in Jamaican Patois is called ‘Dub poetry’, which serves as combination of oral, musical and written performance. This phenomenon is inspired by Dance Hall or Dub music and Dub poets experiment with portraying oral representations of Jamaican

Patois on paper (Christie & Alleyne, 1996, p.109).

Other than this, Jamaican Patois has a few noted liturgical translations, such as a translation of Gospel of Luke from Biblical Greek to Jamaican Patois by Bible Society of West Indies in 2010, denominated as Jiizas: di Buk We Luuk Rait bout Im and its

19 successor Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment. BBC news commented on this, stating that

“The patois Bible represents a bold new attempt to standardise the language, with the historically oral tongue written down in a new phonetic form” (Pigott, 2001, para. 2).

This endeavour is majorly a result of inferior perception of Jamaican Patois and the fact that public functions, which are frequently occupied by the ‘H’ language, are regarded as prestigious, and “the non use of particular language in public functions will be both an indicator and a reinforcement of that language’s lack of social standing” (Bell, 2013, p.50 ). The aim of this action is to “rescue patois from its second-class status in Jamaica and to enshrine it as a national language” (Pigott, 2011, para.2).

3.6 Social Dialect Continuum

In relation to the concept of diglossia, Chambers & Trudgill (1998) describe what they call ‘a social dialect continuum’. To exemplify this notion they make use of the Jamaican case. Chambers & Trudgill (1998) describe the diachronic evolution of diglossic situation in Jamaica, which “at one time was such that those at the top of the social scale, the British, spoke English, while those at the bottom of the social scale, the

African slaves, spoke Jamaican Creole” (p.7). This demonstrated a prototypical diglossic situation with clearly defined sociolinguistic stratification. Over the centuries, however, Jamaican Creole became a subject to considerable influence from the distinguished and international English, and became recognised as analogous to this language. This, along with social stratification, resulted in Jamaican Creole being regarded as an inferior or debased form of English (p.7). With the expansion of English, this situation became inevitable.

Chambers & Trudgill (1998) further describe that this development is reflected in two ways. Firstly, in the approximation of the ‘deepest’ Creole to English, and secondly, in the establishment of mesolect, which filled the void between the two poles,

20 and formed the social dialect continuum. This permitted the speakers to ‘slide’ up and down it depending on stylistic context (p.8).

3.7. Post-Creole Continuum

Post-creole continuum is observed to develop through the process of decreolization (Siegel, 2008, p.235), although, one is faced again with an opposing view, which holds that “continua of internal variation are not necessarily the result of decreolization but were present in many creoles from the beginning” (cited in Siegel,

2008, p.237).

Post-creole continuum is characterized by Siegel (2008) as “a cline of lexical, phonological and grammatical features ranging from those closest to a standard form of the creole’s lexifier language (the acrolect) to those furthest from the lexifier language, and therefore most ‘creole-like’ (the basilect)” (p.235). Between these two ends there is no sharp cleavage, yet a continuous spectrum of speech varieties (cited in Kortmann &

Schneider, 2004, p.408). This intermediate variety (the mesolect) is defined by Peter L.

Patrick (cited in Bell, 2013) as “apparently seamless web of minimally differentiated varieties” (p.76). It is described as having vague boundaries, which, along with its features, are a subject to many discussions and works, such as Peter L. Patrick’s Social

Status and Mobility in Jamaican Patwa (2000), and Urban Jamaican creole: Variation in the mesolect (1999), whose findings and observations will be discussed later in this work.

3.7.1. Post-creole community

DeCamp (1968) strives to demonstrate the notion of ‘post-creole community’ on Jamaican post-creole continuum. He specifies two conditions under which a speech community can reach post creole status, i.e. “the dominant official language must be the same as the creole vocabulary base”, otherwise the creole would be separated or become

21 extinct, and the social system “must provide for sufficient social mobility and sufficient corrective pressures from above in order for the standard language to exert real influence on creole speakers”. As an opposition to this stays sharp separation, as can be seen in French areas (p.43).

4. Language Situation in Jamaica

In this chapter will follow Schneider’s (2007) chronological differentiation of the periods of Jamaican history, and correlate them with Patrick’s (2004) linguistic analysis. Also, the work of F.G. Cassidy & R.B. Le Page (1980) will be discussed in the aforementioned context. Then the focus will shift to the thorough description of each variety in post-creole continuum, which will be followed by the establishment and definition of the concept of linguistic variable and its purpose in this work.

4.1. Historical Background

The aim of the first subchapter is to provide a factual description of the evolution of language in the area of Jamaica, and correlate it with historical events that led to the state of Jamaican culture as it can be observed at present times.

Schneider (2007) divides Jamaican history chronologically into ‘four’ phases

(phase 1, 2/3 and 4), beginning with the British conquest in 1655. The first phase ends in 1690s, and is followed by the phase 2/3, which is delimited by the time span starting in 1690s, and continuing up to 1962, the year of the Jamaican independence. Phase 4 continues where the previous one ended, 1962, yet its ending is left open with no delimitation, which indicates that this phase has not yet ended. Neither Schneider

(2007), Patrick (2004), nor Cassidy & Le Page (1980) devote much attention to time prior to the year 1655, which was marked by the Spanish invasion, “leaving only place, plant and animal names in use as linguistic evidence of their existence” (Cassidy & Le

22

Page, 1980, xl), and indigenous Arawaks, who “had died out by about 1620”

(Schneider, 2007,p. 227), and to whom “Jamaican creole owes little or nothing”

(Patrick, 2004, p.407)3.

The emergence of Jamaican Creole is analysed in detail by Cassidy & Le Page

(1980), and concluded by Schneider (2007) and Patrick (2004). Cassidy & Le Page

(1980) divide the development of Jamaican Creole into two stages, respectively 1655–

1700 and 1700–1808. These stages diachronically illustrate the nature of linguistic contact in Jamaica, therefore they will be analysed in connection to Schneider’s (2007)

‘four’ phases.

4.1.1 Phase 1, 1655-1690

The fundamental outcome of the conquest of Jamaica by Britons in 1655 was the inclusion of island into the English-speaking world. Steady sugar cultivation economy and influx of slaves culminated in the gradual shift in population proportions, which resulted in the ‘blacks’ outnumbering the ‘whites’ in 1670s (Schneider, 2007, p. 228).

By the year 1675, there were “probably about nine thousand whites and nine to ten thousand slaves” (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xli). Meanwhile, the remaining Spaniards left, or rather “were evicted or taken prisoner” (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xl). The abandoned slaves deserted the homes of their former Spanish masters and “fled to the mountainous interior and set up independent communities. They formed the nucleus of the “maroons” (Schneider, 2007, p. 228). Maroons are acknowledged as culturally and linguistically important, as the “custodians of African culture” (Patrick, 2004, p.407), who still preserve a distinctive speech form, Maroon spirit language (Patrick, 2004, p.407). The estimated number of Maroons in 1660s, according to Patrick (2004) and

Cassidy & Le Page (1980), is circa 250–300.

3 Although it was Arawaks, who coined the word ‘Xamayca‘, which was later adapted as Jamaica. 23

Cassidy & Le Page’s first stage’s significance can be seen in the matter of language contact between educated British bookkeepers and overseers with Northern or

Irish dialectal features and West African slaves (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xli).The need for lingua franca was palpable. This linguistic situation created an optimal basis for the emergence of pidgin, with dialectal English superstrate and West African substrate.

4.1.2 Phase 2/3, 1690-1962

Phase 2/3, following Schneider’s (2007) historical description, is delimited by the span of 1690s-1962, and “marked politically by a stable colonial status and linguistically by the emergence and evolution of Jamaican Creole” (p.229). This phase is remarkable in the growth of slave population. Schneider’s (2007) statistic evaluation lists increase in slave population from about 9,500 or 55 % of the total population in

1673 via 40,000 (85%) in 1693 to ca. 100,000 (91 %) by 1731 (p.229). In relation to this, one is presented with an important distinction between two terms used for ‘black’ slaves, one of which was already mentioned in subchapter 3.3. These are ‘creole’, which meant locally born, and ‘bozal’, i.e. unseasoned African-born slaves. The bozal slaves were accommodated culturally, as well as linguistically, by the Creoles in the so-called

‘seasoning’ (Schneider, 2007, p.229). This seasoning resulted in linguistic adaptation of the language used by creoles.

Cassidy & Le Page (1980), in their description of the second stage (1700-1808), state that “during this period the Creole English became the accepted lingua franca of the island among the slaves, between Creole whites and slaves, in the growing community of free people of colour, and (in a less extreme form) among many of the

Creole whites themselves” (xlii), supporting thus the ‘seasoning hypothesis’, yet widening the spectrum of Creole use. The steady influx of new slaves resulted in even

24 higher numbers, which begun to reflect on the perception of black slaves in the society and culture, and fuelled by missionary activity, the abolitionist movement begun to form. Its emergence is noted since the 1770s. This movement led to rebellions and uprising, two of which are noted as crucial. These were the so-called ‘baptist uprising’ in 1831, which was followed by the emancipation in 1838, and ‘Morant Bay rebellion’ of 1865, which altered the imposition of direct rule by the British Crown (Schneider,

2007, p.230), and “generated even greater fear of the black majority” (Edmonds, 2002, p.30).

Emancipation in Jamaica did hardly better conditions of life, “while emancipation changed the status of former slaves, it did not substantially improve their economic conditions” (Edmonds, 2002, p.30). The same process can be observed in

America at the time of emancipation in the 1863 (“Reconstruction and Its Aftermath”).

Its effect can be mainly perceived in mental and physical liberation. A consequence of emancipation was the gradual spread of education among the former slaves, which was linguistically important matter (Schneider, 2007, p.230). In America, where “former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate”

(“Reconstruction and Its Aftermath”), as well as in Jamaica, education was welcome.

Through education, “English was now the model language towards which the Creole moved” (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xlii), however, the conservation of Creole speech was supported by the scattering of the former slaves away from the plantations into more remote mountainous communities (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xlii).

The matter of national identity, which is closely connected to the notion of emancipation, remained an issue of individual perception. Lalla & D’Costa (1990) emphasised the local patriotism of the Creole whites, which was “so pronounced that on several occasions they attempted to exclude English born persons from filling posts in

25 the island” (p.23), whereas the black population “clearly did not desire to develop an

‘us’” (Schneider, 2007, p.231). The strong feeling of being evicted from their homes, and connection to the mother land was reflected through traces of African languages being in use and some of the African cultural rituals being practiced on Jamaican plantations (cited in Schneider, 2007, p. 232). Eventually the local pride replaced these feelings for some, and a “black creole consciousness rose in rivalry to African identity”

(cited in Schneider, 2007, p. 232), and the hatred for newcomers created separation between ‘blacks’ and ‘browns’, which remains culturally relevant even today (Patrick,

1999, p.25).

Sociolinguistic outcome of the phase 2/3, including the results presented in

Cassidy & Le Page’s (1980) second stage, was reflected in a span resembling a post- creole continuum situation. “Blacks of intermediate social stance commanded mesolectal speech forms, and occasionally even acrolectal English. Conversely, the vast majority of field labourers spoke creole” (Schneider, 2007, p.232).

4.1.3 Phase 4, 1962-present

The formation of national identity and development of cultural and linguistic heritage are significantly acknowledged in Schneider’s (2007) phase 4. In the post-war era, Jamaica was introduced to “socioeconomic diversification, democratization and urbanization” (Schneider, 2007, p.234), resulting in the growth of cities like Kingston, and reduction of links between race and class (Schneider, 2007, p.234). The year 1962, which marks the beginning of this phase, is the year of Jamaican independence. The growing sense of nationalism and pride was palpable predominantly in cultural manifestations, e.g. in Reggae music, which proclaimed pride in African heritage, reflected on the Jamaican slavery and colonialism, and also provided ground for various political factions (King, Bays & Foster, 2002, xii). Even before Jamaica’s

26 independence, “many black Jamaicans have lived with chronic unemployment, street violence, and inadequate housing” (King et al. 2002, xii). These poor living conditions and their reflection on mental, as well as physical state were echoed in the need for a unifying element, something to represent their cultural heritage and historical struggle.

The cultural response was the emergence of Rastafarianism4, which reacted to “the denigration of African cultural heritage, values, and forms and the imposition of cultural values, associated with Great Britain” (Edmonds, 2002, p.31). The linguistic result was the creation of a variation of Jamaican Creole, as “a rastafari argot” (Edmonds, 2002, p.77), called ‘dread talk’, which represented resistance and war against the ‘babylon’.

Edmonds (2002) eloquently describes dread talk as “an exercise in deconstruction and reconstruction” (p.77). The deconstruction part of the exercise assaults the cohesion of the English language and the society that values it, whereas, the reconstruction section employs various stylistic and lexical novelties to establish a linguistic representation of of Rastafari. These innovations include changing sounds, forms and meanings of words to reflect the Rastafarian outlook (p.77). The reggae music, making use of the dread talk, represented a vehicle for carrying the Rastafari message. The reason why Reggae maintained this function was mainly due to the fact that “The Jamaican masses use music to counteract oppression and degradation”, and that “music is one of the few avenues for the Jamaican poor to create a distinctly black Jamaican identity” (King et al.

2002, xiii).

This resulted in a very strong promotion of Jamaican culture, which embodied the Jamaican Creole. Naturally, with promotion this strong, an opposing view is bound to arise, which aims to contradict these notions. In Jamaica arose an ‘anti-creole

4 Edmonds (2002) states that the Rastafarian movement “emerged among the poor in Jamaica as a response to both the social realities in Jamaica and the crowning of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia”. Its ideals can be summarized as “the perception of life in Jamaica as a “Babylonian,” or exile experience, and of Haile Selassie as the messiah/liberator of the African people” (Edmonds, 2002, p.29). 27 conservatism’, which considers Creole a bastardized, corrupt form of English, which is to be avoided and eradicated at all costs (Schneider, 2007, p.235). This conservative approach thus acknowledges English as a model language, and Creole as its unwanted vernacular.

English represents nation’s official language, which is used in formal domains and taught in school. In schools, as well as other institutions, the target remains British

English, however, in practice it “has features which mark it as peculiarly Jamaican”

(Devonish & Harry, 2004, p.451), implying “in speech an educated Caribbean accent”

(Schneider, 2007, p.235). Devonish (cited in Schneider, 2007) describes English in

Jamaica as being “primarily imposed by the education system but not transmitted outside of school, and a full command of it indicates an upper-class, elitist status”

(p.235). This is presently one of the major reasons for the social stratification along the continuum, which is predominantly caused by the fact that “more than half of the children in today’s high schools lack adequate exposure to Standard English on entering school and never achieve satisfactory command of it” (cited in Schneider, 2007, p.235).

Remaining thus monolingual Creole speakers, they are perceived as socially inferior and treated with disdain, and “the monolingual JC speaker has low status in a social context that sees an inability to speak English almost as moral failure” (Irvine, 2004, p.1.).

The perception of Creole is gradually changing throughout the phase 4, and it subsequently invades domains which were before dominated by English, it made “major inroads into semi-formal and formal contexts from which it was absolutely banned until the onset of phase 4” (Schneider, 2007, p.235). This ‘invasion’ was already described in the subchapter 3.5. The use of Jamaican Creole in these domains, its pervasion into

28 media landscape, and its adoption by certain politics in their addresses5, may contribute to general acceptance of Jamaican Patois as one of the national symbol of Jamaica, and to gradual diminishing of social stereotyping of Patois at the expense of English.

4.2 Post-Creole Continuum in Jamaica

4.2.1 Acrolect

The upper end of the post-creole continuum in Jamaica is occupied by Standard

Jamaican English (SJE), speech of the “well educated urban professional” (cited in

Irvine, 2004, p.1), the proficiency in which is correlated with high socioeconomic status and educational level, and carries positive social value (Akers, 1981, p.8–9). SJE has been described as aiming at the British Standard, RP, yet possessing particular distinct phonological and morphosyntactic features, although “for decades it was considered to be in line with the norms of British or international Standard English” (cited in Hinrichs

& Farquahson, 2011, p.163). Devonish & Harry (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) describe SJE as “the idealised form of English usage targeted by the educated population of Jamaica” (p.451).

In Jamaican post-creole continuum it is safe to assume that nearly all speakers who command acrolect are native speakers of Jamaican Creole, however not vice versa.

Bilingual speakers for whom English occurs in unmonitored speech, and Creole in monitored, are designated as by Akers (1981) as English-dominant. Monolingualism of

English speakers is associated with higher socioeconomic status and educational level, in contrast to monolingualism of Creole speakers, which is correlated with little or no

5 Prime Minister Micheal Manley used basilectal creole in his election campaign (cited in Schneider 2007, p.236). Barack Obama, during his presidential visit in Jamaica in 2015, was also heard using two phrases of Jamaican Patois, ‘wha gwaan’, meaning ‘what’s going on’ or ‘how are you doing’ and ‘greetings massive’, which is a form of welcoming the crowd (to see the recording, follow link Wha Gwann) 29 education, low income and traditionally rural provenance (Akers, 1981, p. 3; Irvine,

2004, p.1)

4.2.2 Mesolect

In between the two ends of the continuum can be found the “most important variety in Jamaica” (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.409), which is labelled as mesolect6. Patrick (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) characterizes it as under- theorized and under-described, even though its broad limits include the speech uttered by most Jamaicans, in most situations. Mesolect remains under-described by most linguists mainly due the notion of polarity, which holds that mesolect results from random “switching between two polar varieties” (p.409), or “transitional mediating between the polar opposites of acrolect and basilect” (cited in Patrick, 1999, p.16).

Akers (1981) distinguishes acrolect and basilect as two independent systems, and states that there are forms which do not belong to either system, however, that

“does not prove the existence of an independent mesolectal system” (p.4). Patrick (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) disproves this concept and argues that mesolect is “an organized, distinctive collection of elements with a long history and its own complex norms, structures and social patterning, . . . , and its grammar does not result from improvised mixing or code-switching between two polar varieties” (p.410). Patrick

(2004) rather works with the notion of decreolization as being connected to mesolect.

Both Bailey (cited in Hymes, 1971) and Akers (1981) share the notion that mesolect happens to be a mixture, which exists due to extensive borrowing and interference. Bailey (1971) states that it is a “standard with incursion from the creole, or creole with incursions from the standard”, which corresponds with Akers’ (1981) statement that the mesolectal features are “stigmatized to the extent that they show

6 Further divided into lower and upper mesolect, which however is not of great importance in this thesis due to its clearly delimited focus. For more information see 30

Creole features, and positively valued to the extent that they show English features”

(p.4). These opinions would present mesolect as somewhat in the middle, acquiring majority of its features from the ends of the continuum, therefore such views hold that mesolect cannot be discussed as independent variety, such as SJE or JC.

Patrick (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) describes the influences of both ends on mesolect accordingly, “Despite the defining presence of English elements, which mark it off clearly from the basilect, the mesolect shares with the latter many constraints, structures and organizing principles which are not generally characteristic of native dialects of English” (p.410), thus acknowledging the aforementioned. Patrick

(2004) also points out the inseparability and cooexistence of SJE and mesolect, in that there is no dividing line between mesolect and acrolect, “since the partial presence of

English forms and constraints merges indistinguishably into the possession of full competence in SJE” (p.410).

4.2.3 Basilect

Basilectal Jamaican Creole is and has been, proportionally to its place in the continuum, marked as a negative social factor, thus placing its users at the lower positions in society. Linguistically, basilectal creole is comparable to most of the languages, which is determined mostly by its applicability in the great spectrum of social situations. Jamaican Patois is treated with disdain mainly due to its resemblance of imperfect English, ‘awarding’ it names such as ‘broken English’ or ‘baby talk’.

Social mobility is, in majority of cases, reduced to bilingual speakers of both codes.

Monolingual speakers are perceived with antipathy and most likely found in isolated rural settlements. Also they generally lack formal education and belong to the lowest socioeconomic class (Akers, 1981, p.8).

31

Creole dominant speakers represent the opposite of English dominant speakers, i.e. Patois occurs in their unmonitored speech, while SJE in their monitored. The former represent majority of Jamaican population, ca. 94% of total population. Therefore,

Jamaican Creole is the first learned code for majority of Jamaicans (Akers, 1981, p. 3,

8). As was determined in the previous chapter, the historical importance of patois is a great one, and patois is remains one of the forming elements of Jamaican national identity. Its gradual penetration into the domains of ‘H’ language could foreshadow its wider use in the future, which would consequently mean wider acceptance (on the condition that there will not emerge other branch of the anti-creolists).

The sociolinguistic situation is perceived differently by Rastafarians. For

Jamaicans who identify as Rastafarians, ‘Rasta talk’ presents the prestige variety, while

English is derided due to its association with oppressive forces (Akers, 1981, p.10).

That is fairly reasonable view, given the nature of the emergence of Rastafarian movement and their values. What is peculiar however, is that for many Rastafarians,

“Patois continues to be stigmatized, even though ‘Rasta talk’ may be more similar to patois than it is to English” (Akers, 1981, p.10).

4.3. Linguistic Variable

In the following section will be compared phonetic features of the two polar varieties, basilect and acrolect. The notion of mesolect is suppressed on the expense of demonstration of dichotomy of Jamaican basilectal Creole and Standard Jamaican

English. In the research, however, mesolectal concept is inevitable for the proper analysis of speaker’s affiliation with one’s particular place in the continuum. Prior to analysing vowel and consonant inventories of the two aforementioned varieties, the term ‘linguistic variable’ has to be established. This notion is expertly carried out by

Chambers & Trudgill (1998), who describe it as “a linguistic unit with two or more

32 variants involved in covariation with other social and/or linguistic variables. Linguistic variables can often be regarded as socially different but linguistically equivalent ways of doing or saying the same thing, and occur at all levels of linguistic analysis” (p.50).

Ergo, in practice its presence or omission indicates affiliation with a particular variety of language. Winford (1984) distinguishes 4 types of variables, i.e. ‘pure’ phonological, morphonemic, morpho-syntactic (morpho-lexical), and ‘pure’ syntactic (p.272). In this work linguistic variables fulfil solely the function of phonological distinction, i.e. how phonological variation is correlated with social factors, therefore the focus will be only on the ‘pure’ phonological variable. The choice of this type is supported by Winford’s

(1984) documentation of regular patterns of correlation between frequencies of variants and external parameters such as class, ethnicity, and age in creole continuum situation.

Irvine (2004) designates linguistic variables in Jamaican situation as ‘load bearing variants’, their purpose being identification of a variety as either SJE or Creole.

Linguistic variables are further sociolinguistically distinguished according to their importance in social marking, i.e. whether the particular variable is socially stigmatized; to social stereotypes, markers and indicators (Selkirk, 2010, p.1).

Social stereotype is a “language feature which shows sharp social stratification”

(Selkirk, 2010, p.1), and it is specified as a language feature, which “speakers are aware of and comment on” (cited in Selkirk, 2010, p.1), thus carrying strong social value. In

GA (General American) social stereotypes are ‘ain’t’, double negation, or phonetically realizing [θ] as [t] or [d]. People are also aware of social markers, yet do not comment overtly on them, they show a gradient social stratification (-ing forms realized as -in’ or

Labov’s experiment on rhoticity in New York7). Social indicators correspond with

7 See Wardhaugh, 1992. p.142 33 social stratification or social group, yet show no variation across different styles of speaking, and are unnoticed by people (Selkirk, 2010, p.1).

5. Comparative Analysis of Vowel and Consonant Inventories of Jamaican Creole

and Jamaican English

The aim of the following chapter and subchapters is to establish a comparative analysis of the linguistic variables listed by Akers (1981), Irvine (2004), Wells (1982), and Devonish & Harry (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004). Some of the analyzed variables can be designated as stereotypes, thus having the biggest relevance in comparing the two ends of continuum, while others will be labelled as markers or indicators, with lower relevance factor. All of these variables are ‘correlational’, which means that they “attempt to show how the variants of a linguistic variable are related to social variation” (Wardhaugh, 992, p.154). Prior to analyzing the aforementioned, the quintessential phonetic description of vowels and consonants has to be carried out.

5.1 Vowels

Vowels are a product of eggresive airstream escaping lungs without any closure or narrowing impeding its articulation. The quality of vowel is determined by the shape of the oral cavity (resonance chamber), and modified by the action of upper resonators of the mouth, pharyngeal, and nasal cavities, which are shaped by movable organs, i.e. the soft palate, lips and tongue (Cruttenden & Gimson, 2014, p.34; Kreidler, 1989, p.48-

49). Cruttenden & Gimson (2014) describe vowels as median (air must escape over the middle of the tongue), oral (air must escape through the mouth), frictionless, and continuant. They also add that a description of vowel-like sounds must note the position of the soft palate-raised for oral vowels, lowered for nasalised vowels, the kind of aperture formed by the lips-neutral, spread, close-rounded, or open-rounded, and the

34 part of tongue which is raised and the degree of raising (p.34-35). Vowels further differ in quality (high, mid, and low), length (short or long), complexity (monophthongs and diphthongs), and tenseness (tightened or relaxed).

The glides /j/ and /w/ are the non-syllabic equivalents of the vowels /i/ and /u/, occurring in words such as ‘yet’ or ‘wet’. Kreidler (1989) designates them as semi- consonants, while Cruttenden & Gimson (2014) describe them as semi-vowels. Glides in the context of Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English will be closely analysed in subchapter 5.4.4.

5.2 Consonants

Unlike vowels, consonants are during articulation met with an obstruction in the oral cavity, where some part of the tongue or the lower lip disrupts the flow of air in a certain manner, and in a particular part of the mouth. According to Cruttenden &

Gimson (2014), a description of consonantal articulation must provide answers to the following questions:

(l) Is the airstream set in motion by the lungs or by some other means? This determines whether the consonant is pulmonic or non-pulmonic.

(2) Is the airstream forced outwards or sucked inwards (egressive or ingressive)?

Most speech sounds are egressive and pulmonic, the exception being clicks, occurring predominantly in South African languages, and [p, t, k] in some dialects.

(3) Do the vocal cords vibrate or not (voiced or voiceless)?

(4) Is the soft palate raised, directing the airstream wholly through the mouth, or lowered, allowing the passage of air through the nose (oral, or nasal or nasalised)?

(5) At what point or points and between what organs does closure or narrowing take place (place of articulation)? According to the place of articulation are

35 distinguished following consonant types: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post- alveolar, retroflex, palate-alveolar, paltal, velar, uvular, and glottal.

(6) What is the type of closure or narrowing at the point of articulation (manner of articulation)? 5 types are distinguished according to the degree of closure, i.e. complete closure- plosives, affricates and nasals; intermittent closure- trill or tap; partial closure- lateral; narrowing- fricatives, and narrowing without friction- approximants (or friction-less continuants) (Cruttenden & Gimson, 2014, p. 28).

All of the aforementioned consonantal and vowel features are illustrated in

Figure 1.

36

Figure 1. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) (Cruttenden & Gimson, 2014, p.33)

37

5.3 Vowel systems of Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English

To demonstrate the full spectrum of Jamaican vowel inventory and to avoid further ambiguity, three descriptions were chosen. The first one (Figure 2) is retrieved from Devonish & Harry’s (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) Jamaican Creole and

Jamaican English: Phonology, the second (Figure 3) from Akers’ (1981) Phonological

Variation in the Jamaican Continuum, and the third (Figure 4) from Cassidy & Le page’s (1980) Dictionary of Jamaican English.

5.3.1 Jamaican Creole Vowels

According to Devonish & Harry (2004), Jamaican Creole has twelve phonemic oral vowels divided into five simple and seven complex vowels, main difference being their length. Cassidy & Le Page (1980) offer description of twelve vowels as well, numerically corresponding to Devonish & Harry’s description, yet substituting /ia/ diphthong for /ie/. Akers (1981) distinguishes five simple and ten complex vowels

(adding /ie/, /ei/, and /eː/).

Figure 2. Vowel inventory presented by Devonish & Harry (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004)

Figure 3. Vowel inventory presented by Akers (1981)

38

Figure 4. Vowel inventory presented by Cassidy & Le Page (1980) with close analysis of phonetic realizations, which enlarges definitions, as well as demonstrates some discrepancies presented in the Table 1. Orthographic difference can be seen in Devonish & Harry’s (2004) phonetic realization of long vowel as a double vowel, e.g. /ii/ and /uu/ rather than the /ː/ symbol, which also corresponds with Cassidy & Le Page’s use. Akers (1981), on the other hand, makes use of the /ː/ symbol.

5.3.2 Standard Jamaican English Vowels

For the investigation of phonemic inventory of Standard Jamaican vowels will be used Devonish & Harry’s (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, Figure 5.) and J.C.

Wells’ (1973, 1982, Figure 6) vowel analyses. Devonish & Harry (2004) distinguish 15 vowels, made up of six simple and nine complex vowels. As for complex vowels, length is again depicted as doubling, which is here characteristic of complex nuclei of

Jamaican English. Wells’ (1973,1982) interpretation adds an additional phoneme /ɜː/, observable in the word ‘nurse’ [nɜːrs], and substitutes the diphthong /au/ for /ɔu/. Wells also makes use of the /ː/ symbol. Comparative analysis of the aforementioned vowel inventories of both JC and SJE is illustrated in Table 1 and Table 2.

39

Figure 5. Vowel inventory of Jamaican English (Cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.459)

Figure 6. Wells (1973) & Sebba (1993) vowels of Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English (cited in Wassink, 1999)

40

Simple vowels Phonetic Examples JC use realization /i/ (Fairly )Close, Blinky [ˈblɪngkɪ] or [ˈblingki], Ruoz get sik Rose front, unrounded inch [ɪntʃ],sick[ˈsɪk],we[ˈwɪ], got sick [ɪ] or [i] fit [ˈfɪt], and happy[ˈapɪ] /e/ Close-mid, front Get [ˈget], dead [ˈded], Di Sonde (wen) unrounded [e], also thankyou [ˈtengkɪ], egg [ˈeg], Jien muma ded realized as open- redder or rather [ˈreda], The Sunday when mid front where [ˈwe], dress [ˈdʒɛs] Jane’s mother unrounded[ɛ] or[ˈdʒɹɛs], died /u/ Fairly close, fairly Foot [ˈfʊt] or [ˈfut], wood A wan juk Dakta back, rounded [ʊ] [ˈwʊd], you (pl.)[ˈʊnʊ], book juk di fut mek i or close, back, [ˈbʊk] beta8 rounded [u], in Dew [ˈjuː] certain words [juː] Stupid [ˈtʃʊpɪd] retained, elsewhere replaced /o/ replaces RP [ʌ] or Ugly [ˈoglɪ], cuddle[ˈkodl], Di biebi gruo ogli [ɜː], and [əʊ], bud [ˈbod] fi-truu The baby realized as mid- Curdle [ˈkodl], bird [ˈbod], has become very close, back, worthless [ˈwotlɪs], burn ugly indeed rounded [o] [ˈbon], Nobody [ˈnobarɪ] /a/ Realized as open, Pan/upon[ˈpan],hat/hot[ˈhat], No sliip pan da front, unrounded back [ˈbak], and [ˈan], trap bed-de Don’t [a], or mid-open, [ˈtʃɹap]/[ ˈtʃap], nurse [ˈnʌrs] sleep on that bed back [ʌ], Harsh[ˈhaʃ],always[aˈzwɪəz], Kieti kom aredi? sometimes for RP already [aˈrɛdɪ], tall [ˈtal], Has katie come [aː] or [ɔː] call[ˈkal] already? Complex /ii/ Long, close, front, Piece [ˈphiːs], bleat [ˈbliːt], Mi iizi fi beks I unrounded [iː] bleed [ˈbliːd], easy [ˈiːzɪ], and am easily vexed deep [ˈdiːp] /ai/9 Realized as Tile [ˈtɑɪl ], grind [ˈgrɑɪn], Da bwai-de tiif diphthong [ɑɪ], ice[ˈhɑɪs], toil [ˈtɑɪl ], groyne no pus that boy is replaces RP [ɔɪ] [ˈgrɑɪn], hoist [ˈhɑɪs], boy as theiving as a Words with labial [ˈbwɑɪ ], spoil [ˈpwɑɪl] cat glides+[ɑɪ] /uu/ (fairly) close, Untruth [ɒnˈtʃrʊːt], rudeness Yu fuul no dok (fairly back, [rʊːdˈnɪs], ooze [ˈʊːz ], fool You are as rounded long [ʊː] [ˈfʊːl ], loose [ˈlʊːs] foolish as a duck /uo/10 Replaces RP Goat [ˈguot ], overlook Mi maita nuo i [əʊ]and [ɔː], [huobaˈlʊk], coat [ˈkuot],fork wan die I might realized as falling [ˈfuok], know [ˈnuo], know it one day diphthong [uo] more[ˈmuo] /ou/11 Replaces RP [ɑʊ], House [ˈhøʊs] or [ˈhaʊs], out No waata no de a

8 It’s the one injection that doctor gave the foot; that’s what made it better 9 Devonish & Harry (2004) present also /ia/ diphthong present in words such as face or near 10 Devonish & Harry (2004) interpret it as /ua/ 11 Devonish & Harry (2004) interpret it as /au/ 41

realized as falling [ˈøʊt], crowd [ˈkrøʊd ], cow hous There is no diphthong [øʊ] or [ˈkøʊ] water in the [aʊ] house /aa/ Long, open, front, Past/pass [ˈpaːs], glass A bikaaz yu no en unrounded, [aː], [ˈglaːs], yard [ˈjaːd], tek i op mek i laas replaces RP [ɔː], father[faːˈda ] (often /Pupa/), It’s because you and [ɒ] short [ˈʃaːt], jaw [ˈdʒaː], didn’t take it up Where appropriate because [(bɪ)ˈkaːz ], all [ˈaːl], that it’s lost palatal consonant cloth [ˈklaːt], gone is retained [ˈgaːn],Card [ˈkjaːd], garden [ˈgjaːdn], can’t [ˈkjaːn] /ie/ Replaces RP [eɪ], Age [ˈiɛdʒ], face [ˈfiɛs], Im tek mi (an) realized as falling potato [pɪˈtiɛtɑ], pay [ˈpiɛ]. mek preke (wid diphthong [iɛ] also [ˈtiɛk] and [ˈmiɛk] occur mi) He took me alongside [ˈtɛk]/[mɛk],Dear and made fool of [ˈdiɛ], here [ˈhiɛ] (often /ya/- me [ˈja])

Table 1. Jamaican Patois vowels and their phonetic realizations [Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.460; Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, p. xiv-lv; IPA vowel chart (fig.1.); and Levý, 2008-09]

Simple Realization Examples Use /i/ Fairly close, fairly Fit [ˈfɪt], happy He is not a good fit. He front, unrounded [ˈhapɪ], kit [ˈkɪt] does not seem very [ɪ] happy. /e/ Open-mid, front, Dress[ˈdʒɹɛs] That dress suits you. unrounded [ɛ] /a/ Open, front, Trap[ˈtʃɹap], strut It’s a trap! ...he was able unrounded [a], or [ˈstʃrʌt] to strut wider and leap open-mid, back, higher.. unrounded [ʌ] /o/ Close-mid, front, Cup [ˈkhop]- [ˈkhøp] , Don’t drink from that rounded [ø], mid- letter [ˈlɛto]- [ˈlɛtɜːɹ], plastic cup! close, back, comma[ˈkhɔmo], nurse My night nurse, only rounded [o], and [ˈnɜːrs] you can quench this open-mid, central, thirst12 unrounded [ɜː] /ɔ/ Open-mid, back, Lot [ˈlɔt]13 Behind that ghetto was a rounded [ɔ] parking lot… /u/ Fairly close, fairly Foot [ˈfʊt]-[ ˈfut] You shot me in the foot! back, rounded [ʊ] or close, back, rounded [u] Complex /ii/ Close, front, Piece [ˈphiːs], fleece What’s the missing unrounded, long [ˈfliːs] piece?

12 From Gregory Isaacs song ‘Night nurse’ 13 Wells (1982) argues for [ɒ] in this case 42

[iː] /aa/ Open, front, Bath [ˈbaːθ], She took a long bath. unrounded, long palm[ˈphaːm], [aː] start[ˈstaːɹt] /ɔɔ/ Open-mid, back, Broad [ˈbɹɔːd], north …his broad shoulders rounded, long [ɔː] [ˈnɔːɹθ], thought[ˈθɔːt] blocking the view. /oo/ Mid-close, back, Goat He had to use force to rounded [oː] [ˈgoːt],force[ˈfoːɹs] get in. /uu/ Close, back, Loose [ˈlu:s], goose The goose is loose! rounded, long [uː] [ˈgu:s] /ee/ Close-mid, front, Face [ˈfeːs], near Say that to my face! unrounded, long [ˈneːɹ], square[ˈskweːɹ] [eː] /ai/ Falling diphthong Price [ˈphɹais] The first price goes to… [aɪ] /ɔi/ Falling Choice [ˈtʃɔis] It’s your choice. diphthong[ɔɪ] /au/ or /ɔu/ Falling diphthong Mouth [ˈmaʊt]- Shut your mouth! [aʊ] or [øʊ]/ [ɔʊ] [ˈmøʊθ] Table 2. Standard Jamaican English vowels and their realizations [Kortmann & Schneider, 2004; IPA vowel chart (fig.1.), and Wells, 1982]

Devonish & Harry (2004) state that the only difference between vowel inventories of Jamaican Creole and SJE is the vowel /ɔ/, which is further analyzed by

Irvine (2004), as being hypercorrectly14 used by basilectal speakers, e.g. ‘block’ realized as [blɒk] or [blɑk], while basilectally it is realized as homophonous with ‘black’ [blak]

(p.6). Wells (1982) agrees and adds the example of ‘voice’ realized as homophonous with ‘vice’ [vaɪs] (p.576).

This assumption would entail different reflexes of certain Jamaican Creole vowels in SJE. Among these are two JC vowels, /a/ and /aa/ and one diphthong /ai/, for which there are two possible SJE reflexes, /ɔ/ (for /aa/ it is long /ɔɔ/), and /ɔi/. All of the aforementioned can be realized in the same manner as their JC counterparts, e.g. JC /a/ realized in SJE as /a/ (fig.7).

14 Speakers‘ endeavour to sound as right as possible, thus incorporating elements of the Standard language into their vernacular, which often results in producing incorrect forms 43

Another discrepancy between vowel inventories of JC and SJE is that of the diphthongs /uo/ and /ie/, which are present in Jamaican Creole, but not in SJE. They are reflected in SJE as /oo/ and /ee/, i.e. [oː] and [eː]. Akers (1981) calls this ‘lengthening’, and Irvine (2004) narrows it to pre-consonantal and pre-rhotic use. Irvine (2004) presents findings, based on Beckford Wassink (1999), which show acrolectal predominance of monophthongal forms in words such as ‘face’ or ‘boat’, which are realized basilectally as [fies] and [buot], and acrolectally as [feːs]15 and [boːt]. Pre- rhotic examples of this variation may be words ‘poor’, ‘more’ or ‘courthouse’, realized as [puor~pɔr], [muor~mɔːr], and [kuothaʊs ~kɔrthaʊs], respectively (p.11–12).

Figure 7. Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English vowel inventories, cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p. 464 In the questionnaire were substantiated the variables ‘more’, ‘poor’, ‘boat’ and

‘face’, the first of which was produced as [mʊoːr ~ muoːr] by 100% of the respondents in monitored , and as [moːr] by 50% in unmonitored speech. The remaining 3 variables

15 Similar process can be observed in Northern Ireland, where RP diphthong /ie/ in word ‘face’ is realized as [e] in Standard Northern Irish English and [iə] by young Protestants. In Irish English it is predominantly realized as [eː] (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p. 89-91) 44 were found only in monitored speech. ‘Poor’ was realized as [phoːr ~poːr] by 75%, varying with [pʊoːr] in the case of one respondent. The very same proportion produced the form [boːt], where only one of the respondents produced [buoːt]. ‘Face’ was pronounced as [feːs] by all of the respondents, thus demonstrating strong acrolectal tendency in the latter forms. However, rather basilectal inclination can be observed in the variable ‘more’.

5.3.3 Nasalization

In Jamaican Creole vowels are nasalized in the environment of nasal consonants, preceding and following nasal segments, which is typical also for SJE. What is peculiar about Jamaican Creole is the possibility of deleting word-final nasal consonant.

Devonish & Harry (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004) argue for the possibility of final vowel omission, leaving only nasalisation to indicate its latent presence. This statement may seem puzzling, due to no vowel actually being deleted from words such as, /wan/, representing the indefinite article or ‘one’ and phonetically realized as [wã] or

/som/, meaning ‘some’, realized as [sõ]. Personally speaking, only plausible explanation for such statement would be that Devonish & Harry perceived the aforementioned words as their English forms. In that case in words such as ‘one’ final vowel is deleted, and ‘one’ becomes /wan/, yet phonetically realized as [wã], or ‘some’ becomes /som/, thus deleting final /e/. However, this assumption is purely personal and might not be interpreted correspondingly with Devonish & Harry’s (2004) analysis (p.455).

Word- final consonants are mostly deleted by final consonant deletion, which will be discussed in subchapter 5.4.1., with “compensatory nasalization of the preceding vowel sequence” (Akers, 1981, p.28). As an example can be again used third singular pronoun /im/, which becomes [ɪː̃ ], evident in a phrase ‘and she said’, which becomes [ã

ɪː̃ seː]. Examples of nasalization without final consonant deletion, presented by Akers

45

(1980), are phrases such as ‘she is higher than me’, actualized as [ɪː̃ n haya mɪː̃ ], and I want to go [mĩː waːn fiː gɔː]. Words without consonant deletion are ‘don’t’, realized as

[dɔ̃ːnt ~ dɔ̃ːn], and ‘only’ [hɔ̃ːnlɪ] (p.28).The variable deletion of a nasal consonant is not allowed for Jamaican English, therefore ‘some’ can never be realized in SJE as [sõ]

(cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.461).

The nasalization has not been easy to evaluate in the research, due to the poor quality of some of the recordings. Another issue presented the difficult differentiation between the close-mid back rounded /o/ in its unnasalized and nasalized pronunciation.

The inserted variables were ‘don’t’, ‘some’ and ‘only’. The only clear hint of nasalization was heard in Crystal’s realization of the variable ‘don’t’ [dõːnt] in the third sentence of the text, and also in her unmonitored speech, where she pronounced it without final cluster as [dõːn]. ‘Some’ was realized by Crystal without nasalization. The variable ‘only’ was ambiguously realized either with very close /o/ or with a slight nasalization. This could be contrasted with Shamar’s speech, which contained no traces of nasalization in any of those three variables.

5.3.4 Vowel Epenthesis

Situation where initial tautosyllabic /s/ occurs with nasal cluster is non-existent for basilectal Jamaican Creole (Akers, 1981, p. 28). The situation is solved by the insertion of a vowel. The vowel in such case would predictably be either /i/ or /u/, designated by Devonish & Harry (2004) as an ‘underspecified vowel’ and orthographically represented as /sV/, /V/ standing for the underspecified vowel (p.456).

Akers (1981) further notes that epenthetic vowel may be [uː] only on the condition that following consonant is labial, or if the vowel in the following syllable is round, otherwise the epenthetic vowel would be [iː], even though [iː] could be produced also in the former environment. Examples of this phenomenon are listed by both Akers (1981)

46 and Devonish & Harry (2004). The latter compare these to their phonetic realization in

SJE, in which there are no underspecified vowels (p.461).

Instances listed by Akers (1981) are ‘snook’ [suːnuk], ‘snake’ [siːniek], ‘smell’

[suːmel], ‘smoke’ [suːmoːk] or [siːmoːk], ‘smart’ [suːmaːt], ‘Smith’ [siːmit]. Some of these are also used by Devonish & Harry (2004), such as ‘snake’ or ‘Smith’, realized in

SJE as [sneːk] and [smiθ] (Figure 8.). These can be also pronounced alternatively with a syllabic /s/, which happens as an “alternative process to the initial /s/ deletion” (Akers,

1981, p.31), discussed in subchapter 5.4.1. Phonetic realizations of this process are

[s̩ maːl], [s̩ muok], [s̩ niek], etc.

Figure 8. Realization of underspecified vowels in JC and SJE (Devonish & Harry, 2004, p.462) In the research have been used two of the listed variables, i.e. ‘smoke’ and

‘snake’. These were all produced solely in monitored speech, due to the small chance of their occurrence in the answers to the questions, in which context it would be rather unfitting to use these words. In the text, both of these variables were used as metaphors.

Neither of the two was realized with added underspecified vowel, therefore the pronunciation of all respondents for the word ‘snake’ was [sneːk], however one peculiarity occurred in the variable ‘smoke’, which was realized as [smoːk] by 3 respondents, and as [sˈmoːk] by the remaining one. Nadesha did not add an underspecified vowel after the initial /s/, however, she made a pause which was transcribed as a primary stress. 47

5.3.5 Vowel Assimilation across Syllables

In an unmonitored rapid speech, basilectal speakers tend to coalesce, or amalgamate, certain vowels together. Akers (1981) describes this as an optional process, alongside with the glide formation. Frequent situation where this matter occurs is when two /i/ phonemes appear in the same syllable, producing thus a long [iː], phonetically identical to the realisation of /ii/ (Devonish & Harry, 2004, p. 457).

Examples of this are phrases ‘see it’, amalgamated as [siːt], and ‘he/ she is looking for it’- [im a luk fiːt]. However, vowel coalescence does not concern only the aforementioned. Akers (1981) enlarges the understanding of this matter, and adds phrases which amalgamate also other vowels and diphthongs, which in fast tempo produce long vowels, such as [aː] or [iː]. Phonetic realization of [aː] as a product of coalescence is visible in phrases such as ‘go along’ [galaːŋ] or ‘you are going to (the) salt springs’ [yuː de gaː sal spriŋ], while [iː] can be seen in the phrase ‘you hear’ [yiːr]

(p.29).

Another formation which may occur as an outcome of the vowel coalescence is glide formation. It may seem to be restricted to forms ‘go’ and ‘do’, and applies to round vowels preceding other vowels (Akers, 1981, p.30). This process consists in converting the vowel /u/ into semi-vowel /w/, which is superimposed on the preceding consonant, producing forms such as ‘Go on’ [gwaːn]16 , ‘go now’ [gwaːnoː] or ‘go away’

[gweː]. The very same rule applies to sequences of /u+i/, producing tautosyllabic [w+iː], as can be seen in ‘you had not done it’ [ju neva dwiːt], ‘what is the matter with him’ [a wa dwiːm], or ‘do it’ [dwiːt]).Vowel coalescence, as well as glide formation are absent in

SJE, therefore phrases ‘see it’, ‘do it’, and ‘go on’ are realized as [siː it], [duː it], and

[goː ɔːn], respectively (Devonish & Harry, 2004, p. 457-458; Akers, 1981, p. 30-31).

16 Identical with Akers‘ (1981) ‘ go‘ 48

Due to difficult applicability of these phrases in the questionnaire, only one the aforementioned variables was included, that is ‘go away’. The following forms were heard by the respondents as [goːˈawɪeː ~ ˈgoːˌaweː ~ ˈgoː ˈawieː], therefore, no instance of vowel amalgamation was documented.

5.3.6 Final Vowel Insertion

Final vowel insertions occurs as an alternative process to final consonant deletion, and it is a solely basilectal feature (Akers, 1981, p.28). This process is documented by Akers (1981), and it seems to be contributing to the overall rhythmic and impression and intonation of produced speech. This is accomplished by inserting an open vowel [aː] or a closed vowel [iː] into final position, thus maintaining rising intonation instead of falling in words such as ‘like’ [laika], ‘hear’ [yeriː], ‘have’ [habiː], or ‘talk’ [taːkiː] (p.28–29). Akers (1981) also proposes place adverbial phrases such as

‘this here’ [dis+iː+ya], or ‘come here’ [kom+iː+ya], to prove the peculiar phonetic realization of ‘here’ in a phrase. He also demonstrates basilectal use of the prepositions

‘in’ and ‘at’, realized in the following phrases as ‘in the woods there’ [ina diː wudz de] or ‘at one time’ [ina wan taim] (p.29).

In the questionnaire was included the variable ‘have’ and the preposition ‘in’ occurring with ‘the’. In the text are also three instances of the variable ‘like’, one of which occurs in the environment of the article ‘a’, therefore the insertion of final vowel here is disputable. In unmonitored speech of one respondent occurred also the variable

‘talk’.

Not taking into account the aforementioned instance of ‘like’ occurring with ‘a’, two instances of final vowel insertion occurred. The first instance was documented in unmonitored speech of Kamara, who in the fast tempo produced the variable ‘have’ as

[habiː]. The second variable ‘in’ was realized by Nadesha also in unmonitored speech

49 with final vowel as [ina] in phrase ‘in not finding...’. The variable ‘talk’, however, was realized in unmonitored speech without final vowel insertion as [tɔːk].

5.4. Consonant Systems of Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English

To illustrate the diversity of phonemic inventories of consonants in Jamaican

Creole were used the same three sources as in subchapter 5.3., i.e. Devonish & Harry’s

(2004, Fig. 9.), Akers’ (1981, Fig.10.), and Cassidy & Le Page’s (1980, Fig.11.) works.

Differences between these are predominantly orthographical, e.g. Akers’ /č/ opposed to

Devonish & Harry’s /tʃ/. However, what is more important is the inclusion of voiced palatal stops /ky/ and /gy/, by both Cassidy & Le Page (1980), who add /ny/ as well, and

Akers (1981). Devonish & Harry (2004) do not include these in their inventory due to their belief that /ky/,/gy/ and /ny/ are rather “sequences of stops and semi-vowels” (cited in Schneider & Kortmann, 2004, p. 465). This issue will be further elaborated in subchapter 5.4.4.

Devonish & Harry (2004) propose that Jamaican Creole has 21 phonemic consonants, two of which are semi-consonants, namely /w/ and /j/. Voiceless glottal fricative /h/ in their inventory is noted in parentheses, which is explained by its geographical delimitation, i.e. Wells’ (1982) observation of its occurrence in Western varieties of JC, where /h/ is consistently used at all social levels, while in eastern varieties it is “employed for a different phonological function” (Devonish & Harry,

2004, p. 466). This issue will be closely analyzed in subchapter 5.4.3.

50

Figure 9 Devonish & Harry’s (cited in Kortmann & Schnieder, 2004) phonemic inventory of consonants of JC

Figure 10. Aker’s (1981) phonemic inventory of JC’s consonants

51

Figure 11. Cassidy & Le Page’s phonemic inventory of JC’s consonants Devonish & Harry (2004) propose that Jamaican English has 24 consonants in its phonemic inventory (Fig.12.). The major discrepancy between the consonant systems of Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English is three consonant phonemes, /θ/, /ð/ and /ʒ/.

The consonants are blocked from occurring in JC by the process of ‘th-stopping’.

Instances of this matter are offered in subchapter 5.4.5.

Due to the extensive investigation of phonetic realizations and differences, which will follow this chapter, as well as Cassidy & Le Page’s eloquent interpretation

(fig.11.), I have decided not to include a table similar to the tables 1 and 2, which described vowel inventories of JC and SJE.

52

Figure 12. Phonemic inventory of SJE (Cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p. 473)

5.4.1 Final Consonant Deletion

As was hinted upon in subchapter 5.3.3., deletion of word-final consonants is not an unusual process in Jamaican Creole. Word-final consonants may be deleted in basilectal JC, yet also to some extent in SJE, in which it is “not uncommon to find cluster reduction before a following vowel at a very high rate even in very formal context” (cited in Irvine, 2004, p.13). Deletion of word-final clusters is thoroughly analyzed by Irvine (2004), who evaluates the omission and presence of [nt] word-final cluster, and Akers (1981), who devotes majority of his work predominantly to this issue17, analyzing various types of word-final deletion. Akers (1981) investigates forms of word-final consonant deletion produced by basilectal-dominant speakers, while

Irvine (2004) considers forms produced by both JC and SJE speakers.

Irvine (2004) distinguishes two types of function that [nt] cluster plays, i.e. phonogical, in words such as ‘government’, ‘important’ or ‘rent’, and morphological, in

‘don’t’, ‘can’t’, and ‘aren’t’. In basilectal JC, the cluster is “typically absent in words

17 See Akers, G. A. (1981). Phonological variation in the Jamaican continuum. Ann Arbor: Karoma.

53 like ‘can’t’ or ‘don’t’, most often heard as [kjãː] and [duon]” (Irvine, 2004, p.13), where the former can be attributed to the process of compensatory vowel nasalization. Akers

(1981) lists four examples of the deletion of “nasal plus obstruent sequences with compensatory nasalization of the preceding vowel”, i.e. ‘send’ [sẽ] ‘want’ [wãː], ‘jump’

[dʒõ], realized also without nasalization as [dʒom], and ‘when’ [wẽ], maintaining thus his focus solely on the phonological function of word-final clusters. Akers further specifies the notion of deletion of single final consonant, evident in words such as

‘poor’ [poː], ‘give’ [giː], ‘will’ [wiː], ‘where’ [we], ‘have’ [ha], ‘let’ [le], ‘for’ [fa],

‘what’ [wa],and ‘that’ [da] (p.30–31). Wells (1982) states that the word-final deletion of

/t/ has social meaning comparable to that of a glottalized /t/ or vocalized /l/ in England, and he adds the instances of ‘left’ [lɛf], ‘nest’ [nɛs], and ‘act’ [ak] (p.564–566).

Irvine’s (2004) study proves that omission of word-final cluster [nt] is, to some extent, possible even in SJE, however phonetically realized differently than basilectal word-final deletion, in which the whole [nt] cluster is omitted. The peculiar variety of

[nt] cluster produced in acrolectal speech is perceivable in words ‘can’t’ and ‘don’t’ phonetically realized as [khãː(n)] and [ dõ(n)]. Irvine (2004) differentiated between two types of acrolectal speakers, i.e. tertiary educated frontline staff of JAMPRO18 and non- frontline staff of the same company. The study has proven that “tertiary educated frontline staff are more consistent in their use of phonological clusters here than non- frontline staff” (Irvine, 2004, p. 14), which is predictable, due to the need of the former to be intelligible in communicating with a whole variety of clients, who speak predominantly English.

Deletion occurs basilectally not only in word-final position, yet also in word- initial position, where voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ followed by an obstruent (usually

18 Jamaica Promotions, Irvine (2004) collected the data in this company 54

/t/) is deleted. This process is non-existent in acrolect. Akers (1981) offers a few instances of the word-initial /s/ deletion in words such as ‘stop it’ [tap iː] ‘story’ [toːriː]

‘stand’ [tan] ‘start’ [taːt] and ‘stink’ [tiŋ].

To test the deletion of final cluster, the variables ‘can’t’ and ‘don’t’ were placed in the text. These also occurred in unmonitored speech of some of the respondents.

Variation of the former in monitored speech was [kaːnt~ kjaːnt], therefore no final cluster deletion for this variable was detected. In unmonitored articulation, two instance of this variable were observed, one produced by Kamara, and one by Nadesha, therefore the only instance in which consonant cluster deletion occurred for this variable was the latter. The same cannot be stated for the variable ‘don’t’, realization of which is illustrated in the Table 3.

Monitored speech [doːnt] [doːn] All respondents 37.5 % 62.5% Unmonitored speech [doːnt] [doːn] Shamar, Nadesha, and 20% 80% Kamara Table 3. Pronunciation of the variable ‘don’t’ The variation in deletion of final consonants was investigated on the variables

‘poor’, ‘give’, ‘will’, ‘where’, ‘have’, ‘that’, ‘jump’, and ‘for’, which occurred twice in

Kamara’s unmonitored speech. Not a single instance of this phenomenon was observed, and the aforementioned variables were realized in all cases as ‘poor’ [pʊoːr~ phoːr~ poːr], ‘give’ [giv], ‘will’ [wɪl~wil], ‘where’ [wheːr], ‘have’ [hav~av~ev], ‘that’ [dat],

‘jump’ [dʒomp], and ‘for’ [foːr].

Deletion of word-initial consonants was tested on the variable ‘start’. However, no such pronunciation occurred, and word-initial /s/ was never omitted.

5.4.2 Rhoticity and Liquids

The rhoticity of a dialect is determined by whether frictionless continuant [r] is or is not pronounced in word-final position or when followed by a consonant, e.g. 55

‘ear’, ‘chair’, ‘hard’ or ‘stark’, yet pronounced when followed by a vowel, e.g.

‘serious’ or ‘glory’. RP, South-eastern England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and, variably, the southern United States and eastern New England are non-rhotic.

Northern and western England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada, and most of the

United States are rhotic (Kreidler, 1989, p.50).

In Jamaican situation /r/ is retained in basilect in all positions, excepted weak syllables, i.e. in near, square, fourth and pour /r/ is pronounced, however, not in letter and father (Wells, 1982, p.577). Wells (1982) further claims that on basilectal level historical /r/ is lost in words such as ‘beard’ and ‘court’, pronounced homophonous with ‘bathe’ [biɛd], and ‘coat’ [kuɔt] (p.577). Devonish & Harry (2004) argue that

“post-vocalic syllable final /r/ occurs in items lexically specified to bear it. The immediate preceding segment in the nucleus in such cases has to be either /ia/,/ua/, /aa/, or /o/” (p.470), thus demonstrating the preservation of rhoticity on basilectal level in words such as ‘four’ or ‘pear’, to which Wells (1982) objects and claims that the final

/r/ in ‘four’ is sometimes omitted, thus making ‘four’ and ‘foe’ homophonous. The occurrence of /r/ is not preserved in words with nuclei consisting of /a/, /ii/, /uu/, /ai/ and

/ou/ (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p. 471). To demonstrate acrolectal use,

Wells (1982) uses the lexical sets ‘short’ and ‘start’, realized basilectally as [ʃaːt] and

[staːt], while mesolectally and acrolectally as either [ʃɔːrt] and [sta:rt] or [ʃɔːt] and [staːt]

(p.577). Therefore, acrolectal rhoticity can be understood in its use as irregular, which makes it an indicator rather than a social stereotype, thus negligible in comparison with

JC.

Another notable process is mentioned by Akers (1981), who argues that liquids are replaced by /y/19 in archaic basilectal speech and Rasta talk, i.e. ‘red’ phonetically

19 Although Akers (1981) notes the phonetic realization as [y], it is in fact the semi-vowel [j] 56 realized as [yediː], ‘road’ as [yoːd], ‘little’ [yikl̩ ], and ‘look’ [yuk]. In Rasta talk may be found forms [yait] as a phonetic realization for ‘night’, and ‘now’ realized as [you]

(p.31).

Rhoticity has been investigated in the research through the variable ‘start’ in monitored speech, and through arbitrary production of other words in unmonitored speech, on which can be demonstrated rhotic or non-rhotic tendency, e.g. ‘earned’,

‘article’, ‘early’, ‘after’, ‘more’, ‘tertiary’, ‘enter’, or ‘whatever’. Out of these only three were produced as non-rhotic, ‘after’ [aːftə ~ ˈafˌtə], ‘whatever’ [ˈwɔtevɜː], and

‘enter’, which was produced by Shamar as non-rhotic [ˈɛntɜː], as well as rhotic [ɛntɜːr] in the same utterance. The remaining five words were all rhotic, realized as ‘earned’

[eːrnəd], ‘article’ [ˈaːrtiˌkl], ‘early’ [ˈɛ:rlɪ], ‘more’ [moːr ~ muoːr], and ‘tertiary’

[tɜːrʃari]. The aforementioned variable ‘start’, which was included in the text, was produced as [staːrt] in all cases. Therefore, it can be concluded that tendency for applying rhoticity was predominant and prevailed in both monitored and unmonitored speech of all respondents.

Two variables were included in the text to test the liquid replacement, i.e. ‘little’ and ‘look’. However, not a single instance of such process was documented, thus ‘little’ was produced as [ˈlitl̩ ], and ‘look’ as [lʊk ~ lukˈəl̩ ] by all respondents.

5.4.3. /h/- Dropping and /h/- Insertion

/h/-dropping or ‘/h/-deletion’ (Akers, 1981, p. 32) is an overtly stigmatized process, which is characteristic of England’s southern Cockney accent and North

England, where /h/ less forms are regarded as incorrect and socially important (Wells,

1982, p. 569; Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p. 127).

57

In Jamaica this process is “virtually identical with the same phenomenon in

England” (Wells, 1982, p. 568). Phonemic /h/ is non-existent in popular speech for many varieties of JC, even though [h] as a speech sound is used regularly. On the contrary, phonemic /h/ is fully employed in Western varieties, where /h/ dropping is unknown (Irvine, 2004, p. 5; Wells, 1982, p. 568–9). Word-initial /h/ is also observed by Irvine (2004) as being infrequently dropped by educated frontline staff, thus supporting the notion of its social denunciation. Akers (1981) enumerates several instances of /h/ dropping in basilectal speech, among these are ‘high’ [aj], ‘home’

[oːm ], ‘his’ [iz], ‘who’ [uː], ‘how’ [ou], ‘have’ [av], ‘he’ [iː], ‘himself’ [imself], and

‘history’ [istʃriː] (p.32).

Due to the aforementioned social indictment, hypercorrect forms of [h] are being employed in some cases. Irvine (2004) notes 11 (out of 82) instances of hypercorrect [h] in her recordings, used in words ‘owning’ [honɪn] and ‘out’ [haʊt] (5). Akers (1982) enlarges this list and adds words ‘English’ [hiŋglis], ‘only’ [hoːnliː], ‘eggs’ [hegz], ‘ask’

[haks], and ‘ice’ [hais] (p.32). Wells (1982) argues that this phenomenon does not necessarily have to be attributed to hypercorrection, but the [h] insertion can be seen as

“merely an emphatic device used whenever a word beginning phonologically with a vowel is emphasized” (p.569), which corresponds with Devonish & Harry’s (2004) assumption that /h/ functions as a marker of emphasis, the so-called ‘[h]empatic /h/’.

In the questionnaire, /h/- dropping was a rather peculiar issue, which can be mostly attributed to the intrapersonal variation, i.e. “contextually determined stylistic variation by the individual in association with changing social environment and speech function” (Akers, 1981, p.15). In the practice, this means that the individual dropping of

/h/ was in some cases somewhat uneven. The variables which were placed in the text are ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘have’, ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘home’.

58

The variable ‘he’ was produced as [hiː] by all of the respondents in all cases, i.e. sentence initially and centrally, preceding and following both initial consonant and vowel. This form was perceivable even in unmonitored speech of one of the respondents. Therefore no /h/ deletion is observed to occur in this variable.

The variable ‘him’, on the other hand, seems to vary quite a lot. The peculiarity is that the environment seems to have a great impact on the production of /h/ in this variable. In the text him were present following phrases containing this variable; ‘give him trouble’, ‘send him’, ‘hear him out’, ‘deceive him’, ‘give him’, ‘offer him’ and

‘enslaves him’. Phonetic realization of these is illustrated in the Table 4, where |+| means that /h/ is pronounced, whereas |-| signalizes the /h/-dropping. In unmonitored speech, the variable ‘him’ was used only by Shamar, who pronounced it without /h/- dropping.

Phrases Crystal Shamar Nadesha Kamara ‘Give him - + - - trouble’ ‘Send him’ - + + + ‘Hear him out’ + - + + ‘Deceive him’ - + + + ‘Give him’ + + + + ‘Enslaves him’ - + + + ‘Offer him’ - + + + Percentage 28.6% 85.7% 85.7% 85.7% Table 4. Occurrence of /h/ in the variable ‘him’ As for the variable ‘how’, no /h/ deletion occurred in the speech of any of the respondents. Produced forms were [ˈhɔʊ ~ˈhoː~ ˈhaʊ]. However, one instance of /h/- dropping in the variable ‘who’, was observed in the monitored oration of Crystal, who produced it as [ˈuː]. The variables ‘home’ and ‘have’ occurred with /h/ dropping only in the pronunciation of Crystal, whose phonetic realization showed a great deal of variation, predominantly in the variable ‘have’ , realized in monitored speech as [ˈev], and in unmonitored as [ˈav] and [hav], both following the personal pronoun ‘they’, the

59 latter occurring sentence initially. Also, the most peculiar pronunciation of ‘have’ was produced by Kamara, and analysed in subchapter 5.3.6.

5.4.4 Palatalization

Palatal glide is heard between a velar consonant and a following open vowel /a/, which Akers (1982) perceives as historically front, while Irvine (2004) as central. The process of palatalization can be defined as an alteration of the vowels /i/ and /u/ into the corresponding semi-vowels /j/ and /w/, variably appearing after initial fronted /k-/ and

/g-/ and before low vowels /a/ and /aa/ (cited in Kortmann & Schnieder, 2004, p.466;

Patrick, 1999, p.83).

The observed instances of palatalization with the semi-vowel /j/ can be seen in words such as ‘car’, realized as [kjaːr], ‘cat’ [kjat], ‘garden’ [gjaːdn̩ ], and ‘gas’ [gjas],

‘girl’ [gyal] and ‘can’t’ [kyaːn] (Wells, 1982, p.569; Akers, 1981, p. 33) Irvine (2004) distinguishes minimal pairs contrastive in basilect, i.e. ‘garden’ [gjaːdn]20 and ‘Gordon’

[gaːdn], ‘calf’ [kjaːf] and ‘cough’ [kaːf] (p.9). The comparison and variability of pronunciation of palatal glides with /j/ is shown in figure 13. In figure 14 are acknowledged minimal pairs of palatal realizations with /w/.

Acrolectal use is documented by Irvine (2004), who observes that educated, affluent speakers avoided [kj] before the long vowel, but more consistently produced

[kj] before the short [a], which would entail acrolectal acceptance of ‘cat’ [kjat], but not

‘car’ [kjaːr] (p.9–10). Miller’s (1987) study has shown that [kj] was produced for 44.3% of items and more by upper middle class men21 than by other groups (cited in Irvine,

2004, p.9). This statement is in contrast to Akers’ (1981) claim that acrolectal forms of words ‘girl’, ‘cat’ or ‘gas’ occur only with velar stops /k/ and /g/ (p.33).

20 According to Wells (1982) palatal realizations of ‘garden’ are becoming obsolete. 21 Miller‘s (1987) study found out that men tend to palatalize more than women (cited in Patrick, 1999, p.95) 60

Two variable patterns in the use of palatal glides are distinguished by Patrick

(1999). The first one is labelled as ‘prestige’, upwardly mobile and highly educated

(acrolectal), while the other one is called ‘traditional’, rural-oriented, lower class

(basilectal), As for the former, use of the palatal glide correlates positively with the speakers’ high socio-economic status’. The latter, however, “cannot predict where the glide may occur through phonological distinctions, but must learn it word by word”

(Patrick, 1999, p.87). This observation sheds a different light on the process, which resembles an endeavour to use acrolectal forms by basilectal speakers, therefore it can be seen as a special kind of hypercorrection. This hypothesis is perceivable in basilectal pronunciation of [kj] with long [aː] in ‘car’ or ‘garden’, where it would be deemed incorrect by acrolectal speakers, however not socially stigmatized.

Figure 13. Palatal glides with /j/ in JC and JE (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.474)

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Figure 14. Palatal glides with /w/ in JC and JE (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.475) In the questionnaire was present only one variable concerning palatalization, which is ‘can’t’. However, to support Irvine’s analysis of contrastive pairs in basilectal creole, the word ‘cough’ was also included. Surprisingly, solely one instance of mild palatalization was documented on the variable ‘can’t’, produced as [ˈkjaːnt] by Kamara.

As for the word ‘cough’ the pronunciation observed in the speech of all of the respondents was [ˈkoːf ~ ˈkaːf ~ ˈkɔːf].

5.4.5 Fricative Replacement, Affricativization, and /r/ Deletion

Th-stopping is a common feature of Jamaican Creole. It can be also observed in

Newfoundland English, South African Indian English, New York, Northern America, and some varieties of Irish English, where it is highly stigmatized (Kortmann &

Schneider, 2004, p.376, 486, 979; Trudgill & Hannah, 1994, p.53). In Jamaican Creole alveolar and labial stops [t, d, and b] are used for both dental fricatives [θ, ð], and for labiodentals [v] , resulting in variation in words such as ‘thick’ [tɪk~ θɪk], ‘that’

[dat~ ðat ] or ‘vex’ [beks ~ veks], and in the homophonous pronunciation of pairs thin- tin, faith-fate, and though-dough (Wells, 1982, p.565;Akers, 2004, p.32).This process can be contrasted with Cockney’s th-fronting, which replaces dental fricatives with labiodentals fricatives [f, v], producing thus forms such as brother [brʌvə], bother

[bɒvə ] or thin [fɪn] (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004, p.240).

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Noted occurrences of dental fricatives replacement by alveolar stops in Jamaican

Creole are ‘the’ [diː], ‘father’ [fada], ‘bother’ [bada], ‘other’ [ada], ‘although’ [aldoː],

‘weather’ [weda], ‘those’ [doːz], ‘this’ [dis], ‘thief’ [tiːf], ‘teeth’ [tiːt], and ‘youth’ [yut].

Attested examples with labial stops are ‘have’ [hab], ‘love’ [lub], ‘victuals’ [bikl̩ ], ‘live’

[lib], ‘understanding’ [oːbastandin], ‘every’ [ebriː], ‘favour’ [fieba], ‘give’ [gib], ‘river’

[riba] (Akers, 1981, p.33).

Irvine (2004) argues that it is generally suggested that stop variants are not a part of acrolect, which is supported by Wells’ (1982) claim that in th-stopping “the high prestige and careful fricatives vary with the lower prestige and informal plosives”

(p.565). However, Devonish & Harry (2004) in their analysis list that alveolar stops in

JC correspond to both dental fricatives and alveolar stops in JE, therefore the realization of words, ‘thank’ and ‘then’ is variable in acrolect, i.e. [taŋk ~θaŋk] and [den~ ðen].

Irvine (2004), however, admits the possibility that th-stopping is not used solely on basilectal level, its utilization is vastly different for voiced dental fricative [ð] and voiceless [θ]. Her analysis has proven that educated frontline staff’s production of

[ð] is balanced (50 % [ð] , 50 % [d]), while the production of [θ] is greatly unequal, i.e.

93 % [θ] and 7 % [t] (p.7–9).

Even in the matter of th-stopping there are signs of hypercorrection, Wells

(1982) observes the variation in the words ‘foot’ [fʊθ], ‘tongue’ [θʌŋ] and ‘bed’ [beð]

(p.565), to which Irvine (2004) adds the noted pronunciation of ‘truth’ [θrut] and

‘terrorism’ [θɛrərɪzm] (p.8). Peculiarity of this is that the hypercorrection in th-stopping does not occur in basilect, but in acrolect, speakers of which perceive the “interdental fricative to be ‘correct’” (Irvine, 2004, p. 8).

Th-stopping presented a common feature of all respondents in monitored speech, which was tested through the variables ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘those’, and ‘that’. Fricative

63 replacement with labial stops was investigated on the variables ‘have’, ‘live’, ‘favour’,

‘understanding’ and ‘give’. In unmonitored speech occurred instances of ‘the’, ‘think’,

‘they’, ‘them’, ‘those’, ‘that’, ‘everything’, and ‘though’. Also the variable ‘bed’ was added to see if some of the respondents would pronounce it hypercorrectly, however no such instance was documented.

In the first set, i.e. the variables ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘those’, and ‘that’, all respondents realized voiced alveolar plosive /d/ instead of voiced dental fricative /ð/, thus the observed forms were [də~diː], [dis], [doːz], and [dat], respectively.

In the second set, i.e. the variables ‘have’, ‘live’, ‘favour’, ‘understanding’ and

‘give’, are phonetically realized as [ˈev ~ˈav ~ hav], [ˈliv], [ˈfeɪˌvɜːr ~ ˈfeɪvɜː ~ ˈfeɪvər],

[ˌandəˈstandiŋ ~ˌʌndəˈstendɪŋ ~ˌondəˈstandiŋ], and [giv], respectively. Therefore not a single instance of labiodental fricatives by labial stops was documented in the sample.

Another related feature of Jamaican Creole is labelled as ‘affricativization’ by

Akers (1981), who describes it as a basilectal realization of underlying acrolectal /t/ as

/tʃ/ when preceding /r/. Examples of this feature are: ‘through’ [tʃruː], ‘three’ [tʃreː],

‘throw’ [tʃroː], ‘throne’ [tʃroːn]. Wells (1982) adds also homophonous pairs train-chain, and thrill-chill (p.565).

Closely connected with the issue of affricativization is the frequent deletion of

/r/ after word-initial affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ in basilectal creole. Attested forms are ‘true’

[tʃuː], ‘truck’ [tʃak], ‘trash’ [tʃas], ‘try’ [tʃai], ‘draw’ [dʒoː ], ‘trouble’ [tʃobl̩ ], ‘trousers’

[tʃoːziz]. After affricativization : ‘three’ [tʃiː] or ‘through’ [tʃuː] (Akers, 1981, p. 34).

Two of these variables were inserted in the text, i.e. ‘try’ and ‘trouble’. Two instance of /r/ deletion were produced in these variables. The variable ‘try’ was realized as [tʃai] by Nadeesha, and ‘trouble’ was realized as [tʃoːbl] by both Crystal and

Nadesha.

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5.5. Prosodic Features

Prosodic, or suprasegmental, features comprise the notions of pitch, length and loudness, which are expanded over larger segments of utterance, and used as a premise for the concepts such as tone, intonation, or accent (Cruttenden & Gimson, 2014, p.52).

Accent, or stress, in Jamaican Creole is described by Akers (1981) as non-distinctive, and favouring an alternating pattern (p.34). Wells (1982) observes that in Jamaican broad Creole is a tendency to shift the surface stress rightwards by one syllable. This is demonstrated on the word ‘kitchen’, which is front-stressed /ˈkɪtʃɪn/ when occurring with ordinary stress and intonation, however, when occurring with special, emphatic intonation the first syllable /kɪ/ has medium or low pitch, and /tʃɪn/ high fall, thus giving the auditory effect of /kɪˈtʃɪn/ (p.573). In West Indian English, Wells (1982) notes that there are words which receive final stress, even though they have initial stress in RP or

GA, e.g. rea’lize, cele’brate, or agri’culture (p.572).

Only few peculiarities concerning words stress have been documented in the research. These have been observed on the variables ‘black’, ‘look’, and ‘relax’. The former two do not receive any stress in RP nor in GA, however in the sample were stressed in final position by some respondents, thus producing forms such as [blaːˈkə ~ blaˈk], and [lukˈəl̩ ]. The word ‘relax’ has a stress on the second syllable in RP and GA, which was reflected in the sample, yet with an addition of secondary stress in the final position: [riˈlaːˌks].

Cruttenden & Gimson (2014) characterize intonation as a product of different pitch contours, which result in difference of attitudinal or discoursal meaning, and “while tone is a feature of syllables or words, intonation is a feature of phrases or clauses

“(p.52). West Indian English differs from others not only in stress but also in intonation, even though it approximates RP in the notion of distinction between declarative and

65 interrogative utterances. In Jamaican Creole, rising intonation substitutes RP’s falling intonation in isolated words, or words in declarative utterance final position. Perception of the former intonation as a rising one can be attributed to unaccustomed audition of

English speakers, who expect to hear a falling cadence in the positions where JC applies even intonation (Cassidy & Le Page, 1980, xliv).

In the research, this tendency has been clearly observable in both monitored and unmonitored speech. Documented instances, e.g. Graduates don’t want to apply for minimum salary jobs’, or ‘The government in this case, can’t see the wood for the trees’, were in the pronouncement of some respondents realized with the utterance final rising intonation, i.e. [...ˈminɪməm ˈsaləri ↗dʒɒbz] and [... dəˈwʊd foːr də ↗ˈtʃriːz], respectively.

6. Social Factors

The correlation of social stratification and language use is evident in Jamaica’s post-creole situation. This statement is diachronically contingent by the perception of language in Jamaica in the course of some 350 years. Bearing in mind the historical course of events, the binary perception of creole was present since the slave-master situation permitted its creation, and “as the creole society developed homogeneity and common behavioural patterns, some systematic markers and lexical items would become generally stigmatised and others acquire general prestige” (Le Page, 1974, p.55).This assumption is supported by John J. Gumperz (cited in Wardhaugh, 1992) who shows how “rather small differences in speech can effectively distinguish sub- groups in society” (p.144).The 20th century Rastafari movement and growing sense of nationalism proved that “language is essentially a very political tool” (Rahim & Lalla,

2009, p.19), which sometimes resulted in ‘hypercreolisation’, i.e. “nationalism which

66 adopts the creole as its cultural badge in opposition to the former model language” (Le

Page, 1974, p.54).

Patrick (2000) describes the creole continuum model as “one of the several designed to test the idea that variation in linguistic behaviour correlates with variation, and more especially stratification, along a social hierarchy” (p.1). To define such stratification, and how it correlates with the language use, Wardhaugh22 (1992) defines

‘quantifiable factors in society’, i.e. age, gender, social class membership, residence, and education. Also, ethnicity is listed among these23, due to its relevance in multicultural societies, however it would be hardly relevant to include it since all of the respondents are of African origin and natively Jamaican. These factors will be used in following chapter to demonstrate how each of them correlates with the use of particular linguistic variables.

6.1. Age

This factor comprises predominantly the notion of maturing, which can be observed also in language. Children tend to adopt some norms of the language as they grow older, yet “the process of acculturation goes on long after language acquisition is completed, and discrepancies between two age groups may be resolved by the acculturation process rather than representing the diffusion of an innovation in the community” (Chambers & Trudgill, 1998, p.152). Patrick (2000) observes the different mentality of youth regarding the social mobility, of which they seem to speak optimistically. This view is not shared by the elderly and retired homeowners. The former, in order to support their upward social mobility, show an endeavour to use standard language, which “projects an image of respectable, educated youth who are deserving an opportunity” (p. 15).

22 As well as Chambers &Trudgill (1998), Patrick (2000), and Wells (1972) 23 See Bell, 2013, p.176–178 67

All of the respondents are in their 20s, and since no significant difference in the age is present, it is hardly possible to demonstrate whether the youth accommodate their speech and tend to use different forms of variables than elderly. However, what can be proved is the endeavour of one of the respondents, Kamara, to ‘standardize’ her speech in monitored oration, which can be correlated with the desire for upward social mobility

(closely analysed in subchapter 7.4). Kamara is the youngest among the respondents, being 23 years old. The remaining respondents demonstrated lesser endeavour in producing some of the acrolectal features in their monitored speech (illustrated in the

Table 5).

Speaker Age /h/dropping Final consonant Th-stopping cluster deletion (voiceless d. fricative) Crystal 29 + - + Nadesha 25 - + + Shamar 25 - + + Kamara 23 - - + Table 5. Variation in monitored speech24 However, this endeavour is not necessarily reflected in unmonitored articulation, which produced different results (Table 6). Therefore, no direct relation between age and social mobility can be established in the context of unmonitored speech, which strives to simulate relaxed conditions.

Speaker Age /h/ dropping Final cluster Th-stopping deletion (voiceless d. fricative) Crystal 29 + + + Nadesha 25 /not stated/ + + Shamar 25 - - - Kamara 23 - + - Table 6. Variation in unmonitored speech

24 in the case of inconsistency, the +/- is given if the majority of the variables were pronounced in such manner 68

6.2 Gender

Chambers & Trudgill (1998) observe that sex differentiation is perceivable predominantly in the fact that women tend to use more higher-status variants than men do (p.61). This observation is supported by the already mentioned fact, documented by

Miller (cited in Irvine, 2004), that the palatalized [kj] was produced for 44.3% of items and more by upper middle class men than by other groups, which is contradicted by

Wassink (1999), who claims that Kingston women used palatalized forms more frequently than men (p.218).

Since no male respondents participated in the research, an objective conclusion is hardly reached. Only one of the four female respondents has shown a degree of palatalization in the variable ‘can’t’, which was produced in both monitored and unmonitored speech.

6.3. Education

The notion of education is crucially correlated with the language use. Irvine

(2004) lists that a high level of education and a proper use of English are among the quintessential social factors which are directly connected to the membership in the ranks of the frontline staff (p.4). High level of formal education is directly associated with higher status of a speaker. This statement entails the stigmatization of Patois in the places of education, therefore its use in schools is seen as a sign of failure in the

Jamaican education system (Irvine, 2004, p. 2). This observation would explain why the majority of respondents in Wassink’s (1999) analysis states that they would never use

Patois in school (Figure 15). This strict separation is best illustrated by the ironic statement of the minister of education, who warned George Lamming in the occasion of his lecture to “Doh bring no broken English to my school, please” (Rahim & Lalla,

2009, p.19).

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Figure 15. Responses of mesolectal and acrolectal speakers to the question “Are there any places where you would use Patois? (from Wassink, 1999) In the research, three of the respondents have claimed tertiary education, while one has claimed secondary. The degree of influence of education was observed on monitored speech, since it simulated formal conditions.

Crystal, who has claimed tertiary education, produced frequent /h/ dropping in monitored articulation, however, she realized variables such as ‘face’, ‘boat’ and

‘smoke’ acrolectally. Kamara, who is also tertiary educated, seldomly ‘dropped her

/h/s’, and also realized the aforementioned variables acrolectally. No final cluster deletion was present in her monitored speech. Nadesha, who claimed secondary education, displayed final cluster deletion even in monitored speech, yet her /h/ dropping was minimal. She also did not articulate any diphthong in ‘face’, although she did pronounce one in ‘boat’. Shamarr, who is tertiary educated, produced frequent final cluster deletion in monitored speech as well. The /h/ dropping in her case was a rare occurrence.

Therefore, no general conclusion about the affiliation of reached level of education with certain variety can be draw, since only one of the respondents, Kamara, realized all of the aforementioned variables acrolectally.

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6.4. Geographic Variation

Regional variation seeks to define how geographical delimitation affects language change, and to determine the boundaries of such change. Dialect geography is premised on diachronic linguistics’ observation that languages “differentiate internally as speakers distance themselves from one another over time and space” (Wardhaugh,

1992, p.133). The quintessential notion here is that of an ‘isogloss’, a dividing line

“drawn across a region will show two areas on either side which share some aspect of linguistic usage but which disagree with each other” (Chambers & Trudgill, 1998, p.89). Based on this, Wardhaugh (1992) defines a ‘focal area’, which is the source of linguistic variation, and ‘relic area’, which appears to be unaffected by this variation.

This designation can be correlated with the terms ‘rural area’, which preserves conservative approach to language change, and ‘urban area’, which is linguistically unstable and innovative (p.135–136).

Some degree of regional variation can be seen in Jamaican Patois, instance of which is documented by Wells (1982) and observed in subchapter 5.4.3. The phoneme

/h/, which was thought to be inexistent in Patois and realized only as an emphatic [h], is existent and employed in certain Western parishes at all social levels. Although, in

Kingston the former is the case, and /h/ dropping is frequent.

Since all of the respondents are presently residing in the eastern part of Jamaica, no geographical variation can be observed regarding their current location. However, not all of the respondents were born within the same geographical area they are now inhabiting (Table 7). Judging by this fact, it is possible for the respondents to retain some of the phonetic features of their provenance, which can be demonstrated on

Crystal, who was born in Kingston, and currently living in St. Catherine. Her /h/ dropping is noticeable in both monitored and unmonitored speech. Nadesha, who was

71 born in Saint James Parish and is currently living in St. Catherine, preserves the phonemic /h/ in monitored speech (no occurrence of word containing /h/ in her unmonitored speech).

Speaker Born Residence /h/ dropping Crystal Kingston St. Mary, then St. + Catherine Shamar St. Andrew St. Catherine - Nadesha St. James St. Catherine - (Portmore) Kamara St. Ann St. Andrew - Table 7. Provenance and current residence of the respondents 6.5. Social Class and Mobility

Socialization in Jamaica in the slave-master situation was a difficult process, which arose mainly from the limited identification of the creole speaker with upper- class speakers. This situation has significantly improved with the onset of education, which permitted the possibility of economic improvement, yet, as was demonstrated in previous chapter, contributed to even sharper binary opposition between creole as a

‘wrong’ version and standard as a model, ‘correct’ version. This resulted in two approaches, either the creole speaker tried to project his vernacular on to the grammar of the model language, or studied the model language, but perceived it as very artificial, a ‘white man’s trick’ which had to be mastered. The aftermath of this was that the model presented the rules, and the behaviour of the individual in his vernacular is the result of a failure to obey these rules (Le Page, 1974, p.57–65). Thus two social pulls constrained the speaker, on one hand the endeavour for upward economic mobility, and on the other the patriotism and conformism expressed by using patois. Therefore, to achieve both, a speaker had to adopt a significant amount of code switching or stylistic variation, which permits him to differentiate between various surroundings and adapt accordingly his variety of speech along the continuum. According to Deuber (2014) this feature is typical of higher status speakers, and the style-shifting can be correlated with

72 emotional involvement of the speaker (p.134). The tendency of certain people for upward social and economic mobility results in hypercorrection, which Wardhaugh

(1992) describes as the over-extension of a particular usage in trying to emulate others

(p.144).

Social class membership is designated by Wardhaugh (1992) as the “most complicated factor of all” (p.145), which can be attributed mainly to the difficulty of classification of an individual into certain social scheme according to his occupation or income. Nevertheless, Wardhaugh (1992) employs two classification scales, i.e. occupational and educational, which, however, are hardly relevant for this work, since his division is too broad and inapplicable in this context. Rather a preferred analysis of social class categorization would be Patrick’s (2000), who divides society into Middle

Strata (MS), differentiated into 6 groups; Petty Burgeoisie (PB), divided into 4;l6 and

Working Class (WC), divided into 6 (p.7). Patrick’s (2000) division is also not ideal nor entirely objective, however, it is fairly applicable in this work, since he lists example jobs affiliated with each occupational group. Relevant occupational groups are MS-4

Secretarial & accounting clerks, and WC-1 Foremen & Higher Service Work, the former being characteristic of Shamar, while the latter of Nadesha (Table 8).

The main reason for the difficulty of classification of social class is that affiliation with such class is not permanent and for some individuals is changing quite frequently. This can be ascribed to social mobility, which is observed in this work primarily via two factors, i.e. momentary satisfaction with income and future plans

(Table 8), and secondarily via the aforementioned education, age, and gender. These factors are then correlated with the presence or absence of certain linguistic variables in both monitored an unmonitored speech.

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Speaker Occupation Satisfaction with Future plans earnings Crystal Student Not satisfied Planning on acquiring MA Shamar Clerical Assistant Satisfied Staying in job, but planning on getting additional education Nadesha Chef Satisfied Upgrade in both occupation and education Kamara Student No Answer Staying in job, but planning on getting additional education Table 8. Profession, contentment and impending plans of the respondents

7. Individual Evaluation

7.1. Crystal

Crystal is 29 years old, undergraduate student, who is planning on getting additional education, more specifically MA degree. Crystal was more cautious in her monitored speech, where her endeavour to read the phrases and segments according to standard was obvious. Her geographic predisposition may be a cause for/h/ dropping in some areas, which has however never occured phrase initially nor in the variable ‘him’.

Crystal was also inconsistent in the omission of final consonants in the variable ‘don’t’, in which she pronounced final [nt] cluster in monitored speech, however she did not pronounce it in unmonitored articulation. She applied th-stopping in all forms, never producing either voiced or voiceless dental fricative. As for the rhoticity, Cristal’s speech was rhotic in nearly all forms, even though she pronounced the word ‘trouble’ as

[tʃoːbl]. Her performance could be evaluated as mesolectal, with certain endeavour to pronounce some variables and phrases acrolectally, producing forms such as [ˈfeːs],

[ˈboːt], and [ˈsmoːk], yet with basilectal/mesolectal occurrences of /h/ dropping and final cluster deletion.

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Socially, her monitored pronunciation partially corresponds with the social mobility which she strives to achieve, due to her discontent with the current income and the fact that she is planning on pursuing additional education. In unmonitored speech, she affiliaties rather with a lax lower mesolectal speech, which can be attributed to the informal nature of the environment.

7.3. Shamar

Shamar is 25 years old, tertiary educated clerical assistant, who wishes to pursue an additional education. Only one instance of /h/- dropping occurred in her speech, which appeared in very fast tempo in the phrase ‘hear him out’, realized very strangely as [ˈʃhɛːrˌim ˈɔut]. Another peculiarity was that of final cluster deletion, which was applied in monitored speech for the variable ‘don’t’ [doːn], yet not for ‘can’t’, which was realized without palatalization as [ˈkaːnt]. In unmonitored speech the former was realized without final cluster deletion as [doːnt]. As for the final consonant deletion,

Shamar showed none in monitored oration, and realized the variable ‘most’ as [moːst].

However, in unmonitored speech, the very same variable was articulated as [ˈmoːs].

This variation is understandable since ‘most’ preceded the word ‘jobs’, initial consonant of which supplied the final consonant of the former. No th-stopping occurred in unmonitored speech for the voiceless dental fricative /θ/, i.e. ‘think’ [θink], yet the voiced dental fricative /ð/ was replaced by voiced alveolar plosive /d/ in ‘this’ [dis] or

‘those’ [doːz]. Another distinctiveness which was documented in Shamar’s speech is that of ‘linking r’, a trace of which appeared in unmonitored speech in phrase ‘I agree’, pronounced as [aɪʳˈagriː]. Acrolectal tendency was perceived in the variables ‘face’

[feːs], ‘boat’ [boːt], ‘smoke’ [smoːk], ‘talk’ [tɔːk], and ‘snake’ [sneːk].

No final cluster deletion, no th-stopping in voiceless dental fricative, and no /h/ dropping in unmonitored speech entail their use in relaxed language, therefore Shamar

75 showed clear acrolectal predominance, which would correspond to her ambitions for upward social mobility, as well as current social position. However, a peculiar omission of final cluster in the variable ‘don’t’ in monitored speech can signal Shamar’s perception that deleting the final cluster is the ‘correct’ standard way.

7.3. Nadesha

Nadesha is also 25 years old, secondary educated, and working as a chef. She is satisfied with her earnings, but also wishes to ‘upgrade’ her education and job position in further unspecified future. Nadesha was consistent in the omission of [nt] cluster in the variables ‘don’t’ and ‘can’t’ (not palatalized) in both monitored and unmonitored speech, as well as in the deletion of final consonant in the variable ‘most’ [moːs].

However, only one instance of /h/-dropping occurred in the text, which was heard in the phrase ‘give him trouble’, read in fast tempo as [givˈim ˈtʃobl]. The conscious acrolectal tendency could be observed on the variable ‘smoke’, which Nadesha realized as

[sˈmoːk], thus not inserting vowel following the initial tautosyslabic /s/, yet making there a stop, which I transcribed as a primary stress. Similar stop could be perceived in the variable ‘black’ [blaˈk]. Acrolectal realization, a more natural one, was also heard in variables ‘face’ [feːs], ‘for’ [foːr], and ‘train’ [ˈtʃreːn]. Basilectal tendency could be seen in ‘boat’ realized as [ˈbuoːt]. Th-stopping was applied in all positions and forms in both monitored and unmonitored articulation. Two instances of /r/ deletion were detected in Nadesha’s speech, i.e. ‘try’ [tʃai], and ‘trouble’ [tʃoːbl], which are acknowledged by Akers (1981) as strictly basilectal (p.34).

Nadesha’s articulation may be correlated either with her lax approach to social mobility, which can be demonstrated by the frequent use of basilectal forms in her monitored speech, even though she consciously strives in certain variables for acrolectal

76 pronounciation, which can be seen either as a characteristic of her demarcated plan for upgrade in the future or as a taught feature from school.

7.4. Kamara

Kamara is 23 years old, tertiary educated, and currently staying in her job, but also endeavours to obtain an additional education. Kamara’s inconsistency in the production of final consonant clusters was observable in monitored speech, where she produced the variable ‘don’t’ in two ways, once as [doːn] preceding the phrase ‘just want’, and the second time as [doːnt] occurring in similar environment, preceding the word ‘want’. She preserved the final cluster in variable ‘can’t’, yet realized it, as the only one of the respondents, with slight palatalization as [ˈkjaːnt], in both monitored and unmonitored articulation. In unmonitored speech Kamara omitted the final cluster in

‘don’t’. No significant /h/-dropping was heard in Kamara’s articulation, except for one instance in monitored speech, where she pronounced the phrase ‘give him trouble’ as

[givˈim ˈtʃrobl]. Acrolectal tendency was documented in the variables ‘face’ [feːs],

‘boat’ [ˈboːt], ‘for’ [foːr], ‘snake’ [sneːk], and ‘smoke’ [smoːk]. However, strictly basilectal pronunciation of the variable ‘have’ occurred in Kamara’s unmonitored speech, when in fast tempo she realized this variable as [habiː], thus applying final vowel insertion described by Akers (1981, p.28), and analyzed in subchapter 5.3.6.

Kamara substituted every voiced dental fricative with its correspondent plosive, yet did not substitute voiceless dental fricative in the word ‘think’ [θink]. Rhoticity was applied rather infrequently in Kamara’s speech, realizing the variables such as ‘understanding’ or ‘government’ as [ˌondəˈstandiŋ] and [gɒvəˈment ], but ‘for’ or ‘hear’ as [foːr] [ˈheːr]

Kamara’s relaxed and serene articulation could be observed even in the monitored speech, when she firstly produced the variable don’t without final consonant, but shortly after that she corrected herself. The acrolectal tendency in almost all

77 variables in monitored speech, except for one instance of /h/-dropping in fast tempo, may be a signal of her awareness that the written text should be read according to the standard, which can be directly correlated with her desire for upward social mobility.

However, her unmonitored oration included a mixture of acrolectal and basilectal features, the former observable in no th-stopping for the voiceless dental fricative, while the latter in phonetic realization of ‘have’ as [habiː] or the omission of final cluster in

‘don’t’. This could be attributed to Kamara’s informal relationship with the interlocutor, which caused her to shift to her ‘lower’ variety of speech, yet still preserving some of the acrolectal features (voiceless dental fricative), which could be therefore regarded as her natural way of pronunciation.

8. Conclusion

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the impact of social premise on

Jamaican post-creole continuum. The extent to which the social basis exerts influence on the language use in Jamaica has been analysed through the investigation of certain phonological variables, which have been subsequently correlated with particular social factors. The aforementioned hypothesis has been evaluated through research, the aim of which has been to observe phonetic realizations in monitored and unmonitored speech of the respondents, and to correlate their personal information concerning age, gender, education, etc. with these realizations.

Prior to evaluating this repercussion, the analysis of linguistic background has been realized and located within the historical framework of Jamaica. Sections one and two (chapters 3 and 4) demonstrate that the inclusion of Jamaica into the English speaking world in 1655, and influx of African slaves which followed, gave way to linguistic contact between people speaking mutually intelligible languages. This

78 situation created an optimal basis for the emergence of pidgin. Subsequently, this pidgin began to be utilized for a variety of functions and acquired native speakers, hence became subjected to the process of creolization.

With the gradually rising consciousness of slaves of African origin, an abolitionist movement started to form and emancipation followed. The linguistic outcome was the detestation of English. However, the adoption of creole as a symbol for these movements was a matter of individual perception. This view has progressively changed with the emergence of Reggae music, which became popular by the time of

Jamaican gained its independence in the year 1962. Reggae music addressed political issues, poverty, and glorified Africa as the mother land, while abhorred English as the

‘babylon’. Language utilized in this music was not Patois, but rather restructured

English, with the inclusions from Patois. However, the linguistic significance was reflected in wider acceptance of Jamaican Creole and its use as a national symbol.

Nevertheless, the diglossic situation remained diachronically intact and English was still perceived as the formal, model language utilized in the domains of writing and education, while Creole occupied the function of ‘L(ow)’ language, thus used in informal context and stigmatized in formal situations. With subsequent approximation of the latter to the model English, this situation transformed into continuum, which later under the influence of decreolization became designated as post-creole continuum.

The third section (chapter 5) aims at phonetic description and variation of

Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English. To demonstrate the fluctuation of certain phonetic realizations, linguistic variables are chosen, first presented by Akers

(1981), Devonish & Harry (cited in Kortmann & Schneider, 2004), and Irivne (2004).

After the description of each of these variables, a practical analysis of the research follows. Vowel variation is documented on the issues of nasalization, final vowel

79 insertion, vowel epenthesis, and vowel assimilation across syllables. Apart from these, also basilectal substitution of the long vowel in the variables ‘face’, ‘boat’, ‘poor’ and

‘more’ for diphthong was included. Variation occurring in consonants was documented on the final consonant deletion, rhoticity and liquids, /h/ dropping and /h/ insertion, palatalization, and fricative replacement, which comprised the notions of affricativization and /r/ deletion. This chapter is concluded by an analysis of prosodic features.

In the following section (chapter 6) the social factors comprising age, gender, education, regional variation and social class are described and evaluated according to their applicability in the research. This is done in order to establish whether the speaker afilliates with a certain variety in unmonitored speech, and whether this variety is subjected to phonetic alteration in monitored oration. Some of the aforementioned social factors have hardly been relevant in the research, e.g. gender, as all of the respondents are female.

The research has proves that these factors cannot be evaluated as individual determinants of affiliation with a particular variety. Rather, the combination of these would be ideal. The most applicable of these factors have been regional variation and social class, which proved that provenance, satisfaction with earnings, and future plans can be associated with the particular realizations of certain variables.

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Appendix A

Transcripts of the recordings

The following documents comprise the transcriptions of recordings taped by my

Jamaican friend, Leodon, who interviewed four respondents. The text and additional questions were supplied by the author of the thesis. In the text, linguistic variables are marked in bold and transcribed in accordance with IPA (fig.1.). In unmonitored oration all comprehensible parts were transcribed textually as well as phonetically.

Incomprehensible or muffled parts are marked as *incomprehensible* in textual transcription and excluded from phonetic transcription.

Speaker 1: Crystal

Young people leaving schools are better educated than they used to be. Not only

[ˈoːnli] do they have [ˈev] a better understanding [ˌandəˈstandiŋ] of current issues, but they also expect to apply this [*noise*] understanding [ˌandəˈstandiŋ] in practice.

They don’t [dõːnt] just want to know what [ˈnoː ˈwat] to do; they want [ˈwant] to know [ˈnoː] why, who [ˈhuː], where [ˈwhe:r], and how [ˈhɔʊ]. Graduates don’t [ˈdont] want [ˈwant] to apply for minimum salary [ˈsaləri] jobs. The [ˈdə] real challenges are the [də] economy and democracy. In democratic society, the more [ˈdə ˈmʊoːr] prominent job positions with appropriate salary [ˈsaləri] should favour [ˈfeɪˌvɜːr] only

[ˈoːnli] those [doːz] who [ˈhuː], are trained and educated, and shouldn’t [ˈʃudənt] be occupied by the [ˈdə] incompetent. Most [moːs] of these students are ready [ˈredi] to jump [ˈdʒomp] on a boat [ˈboːt] in the [ˈdiː] economic sea and start [ˈstaːrt] their career, not just to lie [ˈleː / ˈlei] in bed [ˈbed] or try [ˈtʃraɪ] their luck [ˈlok] and live

[ˈliv] in poor [ˈphoːr / ˈphʊːr] conditions with little [ˈlitl̩ ] to no salary [ˈsaləri]. The government [dəˌgɒvɜːrˈment], in this [dis] case, can’t [ˈkaːnt] see the wood [dəˈwuːd] for the trees [tʃʳiːz].

81

Let’s take a look [ˈluk] from the student’s perspective. He [ˈhiː] would like

[ˈlaɪk] to expand his horizons [izˈoraɪzns] and apply the acquired knowledge, to enter the job market and be able to make use of economic mobility, be like a [ˈlaɪkˌa] snake

[ˈsneːk] climbing an economic ladder. The smoke [ˈsmoːk] and mirrors of job market can deceive him [ˈim] on this [dis] way, give him trouble [givˈim tʃoːbl]and send him

[sendˈim] to financial point zero, but he [ˈhiː] will [wil] face [ˈfeːs] these misfortunes, and it will [wil] give him [givˈhim] strength. He [ˈhiː] would be glad for [fɔːɾ]25 the opportunity of self-expansion, which also provides the possibility to go away [goːˈawɪeː] and find an equally prominent job overseas. After receiving tertiary education and acquiring a degree, he [ˈhiː] expects and wants [ˈwɑːnts] to be in the black [blaːˈkə], to come home [komˈoːm], relax [riˈlaˌks], and go to [ˈgoːˌtu] bed [ˈbed] with the feeling that [dat] the time dedicated to acquiring the degree was well spent. The [ˈdə] need to

‘cough [ˈkɔːf] up’ some [ˈsom] money is omnipresent, it enslaves him [im], and if there is nobody who [uː] will hear him out [ˈhiːr him ˈoʊt] and offer him [im] job position in the [inˈdə] field of his study, it gives the idea that [dat] having [ˈaviŋ]26 a tertiary education is rather unsatisfying and unnecessary.

Questions

I: How do you yourself view this issue? Do you agree that Jamaica’s education system does little to prepare students for real jobs, or do you disagree?

C: I agree. [aɪ ˈagriː]

I: Do you think the problem is in early childhood education? If so, please provide reasons.

C: No, I don’t. [ˈnoː aɪˈdõːn]

I: Why not?

25 In this environment (preceding ‘the’), Cristal pronounced ‘for’ with voiced alveolar tap[ɾ] 26 Identical with Cockney /h/ deletion 82

C: Because... the problem is, it is after they have finished the tertiary education, and to find a job.*incomprehensible* early childhood. They have been more trained, but it’s for them to, to *incomprehensible*

[biˈkɔːz dəˈprɒblɛm iz itˈiz ˈafˌtə deɪˈav finiːʃəd dəˈtɜːrʃari ˌediˈkɪeʃan anˈtə ˈfaɪnˈə

ˈdʒɒb ɜːrli ˈtʃaɪlhud |ˈdeɪ hav bɪːn moːr ˈtʃreːnd bat its foːr ˈdem tʊː tʊː]

I: What is the role of a teacher?

C: To teach a student, . . . , to educate a student, . . . , to train a student.

[təˈtiːtʃˈa ˈstudɛnt | təˈedikeɪt aˈstudɛnt | təˈtʃreɪnˈa ˈstudɛnt]

Speaker 2: Shamar

Young people leaving schools are better educated than they used to be. Not only

[ˈoːnli] do they have [hav] a better understanding [ˌʌndəˈstendɪŋ] of current issues, but they also expect to apply this [dis] understanding [ˌɔndəˈstendɪŋ] in practice. They don’t [doːn] just want [ˈwɔnt] to know [noː] what to do; they want [ˈwɔnt] to know

[noː] who [ˈhuː], where [ˈwheːr], and how [ˈhaʊ]. Graduates don’t want [donˈwan(t)] to27 apply for minimum salary [ˈsaləri] jobs. The [ˈðə/ də] real challenges are the [diː] economy and democracy. In democratic society, the more [ˈdəˌmuoːr] prominent job positions with appropriate salary [ˈsaləri] should favour [ˈfeɪvɜː] only [ˈoːnli] those

[doːz] who [ˈhuː] are trained and educated, and shouldn’t [ˈʃudənt] be occupied by the

[də] incompetent. Most [ˈmoːst] of these students are ready [ˈredi] to jump [ˈdʒomp] on a boat [ˈboːt] in the [də] economic sea and start [staːrt] their career, not just to lie

[ˈleːi] in bed [ˈbɛd] or try [ˈtʃrai] their luck [ˈlok] and live [liv] in poor [ˈpho:r ] conditions with little [ˈlitl̩ ] to no salary [ˈsaləri]. The government [ˌdəˈgɒvəmɛnt ], in this [dis] case, can’t [ˈkaːnt] see the wood [ˌdəˈwud] for [foːr] the trees [tʃriːz].

27 Not sure whether final /t/ in ‘want’ was deleted or not, due to the following /t/ in ‘to’ 83

Let’s take a look [lʊk] from the student’s perspective. He [ˈhiː] would like

[ˈlaɪk] to expand his horizons [ˈhɪsˌoraɪzns] and apply the acquired knowledge, to enter the job market and be able to make use of economic mobility, be like a28 [ˈlaɪkˌa] snake

[ˈsneːk] climbing an economic ladder. The smoke [ˌdəˈsmoːk] and mirrors of job market can deceive him [ˈhim] on this [dis] way, give him trouble [ˈgiv him ˈtʃrobl] and send him [ˈsɛnd ˈhim] to the [*skipped*] financial point zero, but he [ˈhiː] will

[ˈwil] face [ˈfeːs] these misfortunes, and it will [ˈwil] give him [ˈgiv ˈhim] strength. He

[ˈhiː] should be glad for [foːr] the opportunity of self-expansion, which also provides the [də] possibility to go away [ˈgoːˌaweː] and find an equally prominent job overseas.

After receiving tertiary education and acquiring a degree, he [ˈhiː] expects and wants

[wɒnts]to be in the black [ˈblaˌk], come home [ˈkomˌhoːm], relax [riˈlaks], and go to

[ˈgɔːˌtʊ] bed [ˈbɛd] with the [ˈdə] feeling that the [ˈdatˌdə] time dedicated to acquiring the [ˈdə] degree was well spent. The [ˈdə] need to ‘cough [ˈkɔːf] up’ some [ˈsom] money29 is omnipresent, it enslaves him [ˈhim], and if there is nobody who [ˈhʊː] would like [*skipped*] to hear him out [ˈʃhɛːrˌim ˈɔut] and offer him [im] a job position in the [inˈdə] field of his study, it gives the idea that [dat] having a tertiary education is rather unsatisfying and unnecessary.

Questions

I: How do you yourself view this issue? Do you agree that Jamaica’s education system does little to prepare students for real jobs, or do you disagree?

S: To some extent I agree that the system does little to prepare students for jobs. I think that

28 Shamaar pronounced this segment as [laika] , yet I am afraid it was due to the environment of [a] directly following ‘like’ 29 May be lost due to the environmental /m/ following 84

[tə ˈsom ˈeksˌtɛnt aɪʳˈagriː ˈdat dəˈsistem dos ˈlitl̩ təˈprəpeːr stʊdɛnts foː ˈdʒobz | ˈaɪ

θink dat] more could be done in terms of giving students a more majestic view on what it is like to

[ˈmuoːr kʊd biː ˈdɔn in ˈtɜːrmzˌɔf ˈgiviŋ ˈstʊdɛnts ˌaˈmɛːrˌmæˈdʒɛstik vjʊː ɔn wɒt it iz

ˈlaɪk ˈtə] be schooled and to enter a job. Plenty to understand that though you may be qualified

[biː ˈskʊːld anˈtəˌɛntɜːr əˈdʒɒb | ˈplɛnti təˌondərˈstand ˈdat ˈdoːˌjʊː meɪ biː ˈkvɔlifaɪd] that you may have to enter most jobs at entry level, to garner the experience and to climb that datˈjuː meɪˈhavˌtə ˈɛntɜː moːsˈdʒɒbz adˈdə ɛntʃri ˈlevl̩ | tə ˈgarnəˈdə ɛksˈpiːrɪens anˈtʃuː

ˈklaɪm ˈdat] organizational ladder that is required. [ˈɔrganizeɪʃnal ˈladɜː ˈdat iz ˈriˌkwaɪɚd |]

I: Do you think the problem is in early childhood education? If so, please provide reasons.

S: No, I don’t think the problem is in early childhood education. I think the problem usually

[ˈnoː | aɪ ˈdo:nt θink ˈdə ˈprablem izˈin ˈɛ:rlɪ ˈtʃaɪlhuːd ˈɛdjukeɪʃn | aɪ ˈθink də ˈproblɛm juːʒʊəli ] begins between secondary and tertiary education. I think early childhood education prepared

[biˈgiːns biˈtwi:n ˈsekondari anˈtɜːrʃəri ˌedʒuˈkeɪʃɔn | ˈaɪ θink ˈɛːrli ˈtʃaɪlhuːd

ˌedʒuˈkeɪʃɔn prəˈphɛːrd] you just a stepping stone to enter into primary education.

[jʊː ˈdʒasˈa ˈstɛpiŋ ˈstoːn ˈtə ɛntoː intuː ˈpraɪməri ˌedʒuˈkeɪʃɔn |]

I: What is the role of a teacher?

85

S: The role of a teacher is to...motivate and to teach, also to guide, and in some errors to be a

[ˈdə ˈroːl ofˈaˈtɪːtʃər ˈiz tuː | moːtiˈveːt aːndˈtə ˈtiːtʃ | oːlsoˈtə ˈgaɪd | anˈin ˈsom ˈɛrɜːʳz təˈbiː] counsel or, I am trying to find a correct word, as a counsel, but someone who he can talk to

[ɑˈkɒnˈsɜːl ɔr | aɪˈam ˈtʃraɪŋ təˈfaɪn aˈcorekt ˈwɜːrd | azˈa kɒnsɜːl bot ˈsamwɑn huːˈhiː kɛn tɔːkˈtu] and confide in, someone who can facilitate whatever questions or *incomprehensible* that he may

[anˈkɔnfaɪdˈin | ˈsamwonˈhuː kɛn faˈsiliteɪt ˈwɔtevɜː ˈkwestɪanzˈor | ˈdatˈhiː meɪ] have regarding subject area ... or life itself, and to help him to move forward the next step.

[ˈhav riˈgaːrdiŋ sobdʒekts eːrɪa | or ˈlaɪf ˌitˈself | end ˈtə ˈhɛlpˈhim tʊː ˈmʊːv ˈfɔrwɜːd təˈdə ˈnekst ˈstɛp]

Speaker 3: Nadesha

Young people leaving schools are better educated than they used to be. Not only

[ˈoːnli] do they have [ˈhɑv] a better understanding [ˌandəˈstɑndiŋ] of current issues, but they also expect to apply this [dis] understanding [ˌɔndəˈrstɑndiŋ] in practice.

They don’t [doːn] just want [ˈwant] to know [ˈnoː] what to do; they want [ˈwant] to know [ˈnoː] why, who [ˈhuː], where [ˈwheːr], and how [ˈhaʊ]. Graduates don’t want

[doːnˈwant] to apply for minimum salary [ˈsaləri] jobs. The [ˈdə] real challenges are the [dɛ] economy and democracy. In democratic society, the more [dəˈmuoːr]

86 prominent job positions with appropriate salary [ˈsaləri] should favour only those who

[ˈfeɪvɜːr ˈoːnli doːz huː] are trained and educated, and shouldn’t [ˈʃudət] be occupied by the [də] incompetent. Most [ˈmoːs] of these students are ready [ˈredi] to jump

[ˈdʒomp] on a boat [ˈbuoːt] in the economic sea and start [ˈstaːrt] their career, not just to lie [ˈleːi] in bed [ˈbed] or try [ˈtʃaɪ] their luck [ˈlok] and live [ˈliv] in poor [ˈpoːr] conditions with little [ˈlitl̩ ] to no salary [ˈsaləri]. The government [diːˈgɒvəmɛnt], in this [dis] case, can’t [ˈkaːnt] see the wood [dəˈwʊd] for the trees [ˈtʃʳiːz].

Let’s take a look [ˈlʊk] from the student’s perspective. He [ˈhiː] would like

[laɪk] to expand his horizons [hisˈoraɪznz] and apply the acquired knowledge, to enter the [də] job market and be able to make use of economic mobility, be like [laɪk]30 a snake [ˈsneːik] climbing an economic ladder. The smoke [sˈmoːk] and mirrors of job market can deceive him [ˈhim] on this [dis] way, give him trouble [givˈim ˈtʃobl] and send him [ˈsɛnd ˈhim] to financial point zero, but he [ˈhiː] will [wəl̩ ] face [feːs]31 these misfortunes, and it will [ˈwil] give him [gifˈhim] strength. He [ˈhiː] would be glad for

[foːr] the [*skipped*] opportunity of self-expansion, which also provides the possibility to go away [ˈgoː ˈawieː] and find an equally prominent job overseas. After receiving tertiary education and acquiring a degree, he [ˈhiː] expects and wants [ˈwɒnts] to be in the black [blaˈk], to come home [kʌm ˈhoːm], relax [rəˈlaks], and go to [goːtu] bed

[ˈbed]with the feeling that [dat] the time dedicated to acquiring the degree was well spent. The need to ‘cough [ˈkaːf] up’ some [ˈsam] money is omnipresent, it enslaves him [ˈhim], and if there is nobody who will hear him out [ˈhe:r him ˈaʊt /oʊt] and offer him [ˈhim] job position in the [inˈdə] field of his study, it gives the idea that [dat] having a tertiary education is rather unsatisfying and unnecessary.

30 Like+a may result in basilectal [laika] 31 Read too carefully, not in natural way of pronunciation 87

Questions

I: How do you yourself view this issue? Do you agree that Jamaica’s education system does little to prepare students for real jobs, or do you disagree?

N: I agree. [ai ˈagri:]

I: Do you think the problem is in early childhood education? If so, please provide reasons.

N: The problem is in not finding a job. Everything earned *incomprehensible* ambition, but as * incomprehensible * in this article, after tertiary education.

[ˈdə ˈproblem iz inaˈnat ˈfaɪndiŋ aˈdʒoˌb | ˈɛvritiŋ eːrnəd | amˈbiʃan | batˈaz | inˈdis

ˈaːrtiˌkl | aːftə ˈteːrʃəri ˌediˈkieʃan |]

If you can’t find employment I wouldn’t be afraid that the problem would be the early childhood * incomprehensible * econ...omics, the government

[ˈif jəˈkaːn faɪn ɛmˈploɪment aɪ ˈwudnˈbiː əˈfreːd dat də ˈproblɛm wʊd biː də ˈɜːrli

ˈtʃaɪlhʊd | ɛkoˈnomiks | dəˌgɒvəˈmɛnt |]

I: What is the role of a teacher?

N: Role of a teacher is to train and educate students

[dəˈruol ofˈa tiːtʃa iz tə ˈtʃreːn anˈedjukeːt ˈstjuːdɛnts ]

Speaker 4: Kamara

Young people leaving schools are better educated than they used to be. Not only

[ˈoːnli] do they have [ˈhav] a better understanding [ˌondəˈstandiŋ] of current issues, but they also expect to apply this [dis] understanding [ˌondəˈstandiŋ] in practice.

They don’t [doːn] just want [ˈwant] to know [noː] what to do, they want [ˈwant] to know [noː] why, who [ˈhʊː], where [ˈwheːr], and how [ˈhoː]. Graduates don’t [ˈdoːnt] want [ˈwaːnt] to apply for minimum salary [ˈsaləri] jobs. The [ˈdə] real challenges are

88 the [də] economy and democracy. In democratic society, the more [dəˈmʊoːr] prominent job positions with appropriate salary [ˈsaləri] should favour only those who

[ˈfeɪvər ˈoːnli ˈdoːz ˈhʊː] are trained and educated, and shouldn’t [ˈʃudənt] be occupied by the [diː] incompetent. Most [ˈmoːs] of these students are ready [ˈredi] to jump

[ˈdʒomp] on a boat [ˈboːt] in the economic sea and start [*skipped*] their career, not just to lie [ˈleː] in bed [ˈbed] or try [ˈtʃʳaɪ] their luck [ˈlok] and live [ˈliv] in poor

[ˈpʊoːr] conditions with little [ˈlitl̩ ] to no salary [ˈsaləri]. The government

[dəˈgɒvəˈment ], in this [dis] case, can’t [ˈkjaːnt]32 see the wood [dəˈwʊd] for the trees

[ˈtʃriːz].

Let’s take a look [lukˈəl̩ ] from the student’s perspective. He [ˈhiː] would like

[ˈlaɪk] to expand his horizons [ˈhiz ˈoraɪznz] and apply the acquired knowledge, to enter the [də] job market and be able to make use of economic mobility, be like a

[ˈlaikˌa] snake [ˈsneːk] climbing an economic ladder. The smoke [ˈsmoːk] and mirrors of job market can deceive him [ˈhim] on this [ˈðis/dis] way, give him trouble [givˈim

ˈtʃrobl] and send him [ˈsɛnd ˈhim] to financial point zero, but he [ˈhiː] will [ˈwɪl] face

[ˈfeːs] these misfortunes, and it will [ˈwil] give him [ˈgiv ˈhim] strength. He [ˈhiː] would be glad for [foːr] the opportunity of self-expansion, which also provides the possibility to go away [ˌgoːˈawɪeː] and find an equally prominent job overseas. After receiving tertiary education and acquiring a degree, he [ˈhiː] expects and wants

[ˈwɒnts] to be in the black [ˌblaˈkə], to come home [ˈkam ˈhoːm], relax [riˈlaːˌks], and go to [goːˈtʊ] bed [ˈbɛd] with the [*noise*] feeling that [*noise*] the [*noise*]time dedicated to acquiring the degree was well spent. The need to ‘cough [ˈkoːf] up’ some

[ˈsom] money is omnipresent, it enslaves him [him], and if there is nobody who [ˈhuː] will hear him out [ˈheːr ˈhim ˈoʊt] and offer him [ˈhim] job position in the [inˈdə]

32 Not sure whether palatalization occured or not 89 field of his study, it gives the idea that [dat] having a tertiary education is rather unsatisfying and unnecessary.

Questions

I: How do you yourself view this issue?

K: I believe that the learning * incomprehensible * is little. [ˈaɪ bilˈiːv dat də ˈlɜːrniŋ | iz

ˈlitl]

I: Do you agree that Jamaica’s education system does little to prepare students for real jobs, or do you disagree?

K: It depends, I don’t fully agree, I don’t fully disagree. It depends on the area that the person

[itˌdiˈpheːndz | aɪˈdoːn ˈfʊli ˈagriː | aɪˈdoːn ˈfʊli ˌdisˈagriː | it ˌdiˈpeːndz onˈde ˈeːrɪaˈdat dəˈpɜːrˈson]

study, because some areas that are more practical and they do prepare persons, but

[ˈstʊdi | biˈkɔːz som eːrɪazˈdatˈɜː moːr ˈprʌktikal enˈdeɪ dʊː prəˈpɪer ˈpɜːrsənz | bat]

some areas they have too theory intensive and they don’t really prepare

[ˈsom ˈeːrɪazˈdeɪ habiː ˈtʊː ˈthiːori inˈtenziv anˈdeɪ doːn ˈriːli prəˈpɪer]

persons for the practical world, and they will help *concern* because empires want

[pɜːrsənz foːr dəˈprʌktikal ˈwɜːʳld | anˈdeɪ wɪl hɑlp kɒnˈsɜːrn biˈkɔːz ˈempaɪɜːz want]

*incomprehensible*, cannot just know about it, because they can’t do it.

[| notˈdʒast no:ˈabɔʊt it | kɔːzˈit kjaːn ˈduː it]

I: Do you think the problem is in early childhood education? If so, please provide reasons.

K: No, I don’t think it’s there too much. I mean all remembers what they learned there, all little *incomprehensible* /laugh/

90

[no: aɪˈdoːn ˈθink its ˈdɪeːr tʊː ˈmatʃ | aɪˈmiːn ɵ:l riˈmembaːz wɒtˈdeɪ lɜːrnəd ˈdɪeːr | oːl

ˈlitl̩ | ]

I: What is the role of a teacher?

K: At what level?*incomprehensible* different level. In early childhood it’s about impartings,

[aˈwat ˈlevl̩ | difaːnt levl̩ | inˈɜːrli ˈtʃaɪldhʊd its ˈabɔʊt imˈpaːrtingz | ]

giving information, giving information when it reach like especially in the tertiary level it is

[giviŋ infɒrˈmeɪʃan̩ | wenˈit riːtʃ laɪk əˈspeʃali inˈtɜːrʃəri levl̩ its ]

more about *factitive/ facilitating * learning, so it’s an important for all those

*irrespective* of the level.

[ˈmoːr ˈabɔʊt ** lɜːrning | soː itsˈan imˈpoːrtʃɑnt foːr oːl doːz iriˈspektivˈof dəˈlevl̩ |]

91

Appendix B

Recorded Answers of the Respondents Concerning Their Personal Information

Appendix C

CD

The included CD of all recordings taped by Leodon. Firstly, the respondents answer questions regarding their personal information, which are noted in the Appendix B, then they proceed to read the written text. After they have finished reading, they are asked to answer three questions, which are listed in the Appendix A. The recordings are organized in the same manner as in the Appendix A for easier collocation.

92

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Summary

The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of social perception on

Jamaican post-creole continuum. This repercussion is analysed through research, which has been carried out externally in Jamaica. The methodology of this research comprises the insertion of linguistic variables into the written text, and three questions following this text, which serve for documentation of unmonitored speech. The phonetic realization of the variables present in monitored and unmonitored oration is then correlated with respondents’ personal information and evaluated according to age, gender, education, regional variation, and social mobility.

The theoretical section of this work consists of four sections, the latter two being intertwined with the practical part. The two former parts describe the diachronic alteration of language situation in Jamaica, and how the social perception evolved with this alteration. The latter two sections consist of a detailed analysis of phonetic features and their variation in Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English. In this section are established linguistic variables which are then used in relation to the aforementioned social factors.

The research has shown that the aforesaid social factors are only viable when employed collectively. The most applicable social factors were regional variation, which proved that provenance can be a cause of phonetic predisposition, and social class, or mobility, which demonstrated endeavour of those who wish to upgrade their social position to pronounce according to Standard Jamaican English in their monitored articulation.

Keywords: Post-creole continuum, Social mobility, Jamaican Creole, Standard

Jamaican English, Social factors

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Souhrn

Cílem této práce bylo zhodnotit vliv sociální percepce na jamajské post-kreolské kontinuum. Tento vliv je zkoumán prostřednictvím výzkumu, který byl vykonán externě na Jamajce. Metodika tohoto výzkumu zahrnuje vložení lingvistických proměnných do psaného textu a tři otázky, které slouží na dokumentaci přirozeného projevu. Fonetické realizace proměnných, které se nacházejí jak v monitorovaném tak i přirozeném projevu, jsou spojené s osobními informacemi respondentů a vyhodnoceny podle věku, pohlaví, vzdělání, regionálních rozdílu a sociální mobility.

Teoretická část se skládá ze čtyř částí, z čehož poslední dvě se prolínají s praktickou části. První dvě části opisují diachronickou změnu vnímání jazyka na

Jamajce, a jak se sociální percepce vyvíjela společně s touto změnou. Druhé dvě části se skládají z detailní fonetické analýzy a její variace v jamajské kreolštine a jamajské angličtině. V této sekci jsou zavedené lingvistické proměnné, které jsou pak použité ve vztahu k výš uvedeným sociálním faktorům.

Výzkum prokázal, že výše uvedené sociální faktory jsou relevantní, pouze pokud jsou použité společně. Nejrelevantnější z těchto sociálních faktorů byla regionální variace, která dokázala, že původ může byť příčinou fonetické predispozice, a sociální třída, neboli sociální mobilita, která prokázala snahu vyslovovat proměnné dle kritérií standardní jamajské angličtiny v monitorované promluvě u těch, který mají snahu zlepšit svoje společenské postavení.

Klíčová slova: Post-kreolské kontinuum, sociální mobilita, jamajská kreolština, jamajská angličtina, sociální faktory

98