The Jamaican accent

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

The Jamaican Accent

Objectives:

- You will be able to point out specific features of the Jamaican accent

- You will understand the social-historical influences on the Jamaican accent

What is an Accent?

accent.gmu.edu

Historical background:

• First inhabitants: Taino people (from South-America) – left very few words in the language (e.g. Guave)
• Spanish colonisations – wiped out Taino people but didn’t find Jamaica interesting enough to make a mark on the language
• 1655-1962 – British colonization – English language became main way of communication
• British brought in West-African slaves who also influenced the language (accent + Patois)
• British also brought in Irish – also influenced the language (placenames + surnames)
• American English – minor influence

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• -er and -ar ending words are changed to an -a at the end of the word = dropping of the r at the end of unstressed syllables and before a consonant (semi-rhoticity)
   

 sister – sista

 molecular – molecula

 water – wata

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• Th changed to a d-sound, except when at the end of a word, then it is dropped completely   
   

 father – fada
 the – di
 south – sout
 month – mont

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• -ing endings are changed to -in. (no tongue hitting the roof of your mouth)
   

 reading – readin
 anything – anytin

Features of the Jamaican Accent:

• tt is pronounced like British English, with a t-sound  (unvoiced) - instead of the American d-sound (voiceless)  
   

 butter – butta

"Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be especially controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures" 

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation

This lesson has no intention to appropriate. Our goal is to learn and understand with respect for the culture and to enhance our ability to communicate with members of this culture in the future!

"I went to the shop and bought some butter and milk."

"My mother kicked me out of the house and I am living with my aunt."

First use the discussed features of the Jamaican accent to analyze how to pronounce these sentences in correct Jamaican. (Tip: write it out the way you would pronounce it). Then try to pronounce it yourselves.

• Work in groups of 3
• Record what you think is the best pronunciation in your group
• Send the recording to me on Teams
• We will analyze each recording together in class

Presentation assignment:

• I will make groups of 4-5
• You will be given an accent to study
• You will prepare a presentation in which you include (at least) the following information:
  

- Geographical / Sociocultural information

- Distinctive features 

- Example (e.g. YouTube)

• You will be graded on this presentation individually 
• Each person speaks for 3 minutes

• You will be given one lesson to start up your presentation together. 
   
• After that you have exactly one week to prepare your presentation by yourselves and for homework.

• The presentations will be held on 28 and 31 May. I will pull names on the 28th so it could be any of you. You must therefore be ready to present that day. If not you automatically lose 10 points.

Justification of choices:
 

• Time: 2 lessons
• CEFR descriptor for sound articulation --> B2: Can articulate a high proportion of the sounds in the target language clearly in extended stretches of production; is intelligible  throughout, despite a few systematic mispronunciations.      
• Lesson goals:
  --> Students will be able to point out specific features of the Jamaican accent

    --> Students will understand the social-historical influences on the Jamaican  

          accent

Justification of choices:
 

• Jamaican accent is an accent students generally like - songs, funny pronunciation, interesting culture 
• Interesting history - target group should already know about slavery and colonisation, but not immediately about its influence on languages
• Good material to be found
• Distinct differences between Jamaican and B/E and A/E which makes it a good accent to point out the features
• The video is funny which is a good starting point for the students to want to try it themselves and get over the threshhold of having to pronounce an accent
• Exercise: recording it is less scary. Analyzing first from paper and then from speech will help them notice particular features better. They will have some fun and a positive experience.