Research on varieties of Jamaican English

[himbol]

Hi,

I'm a masters student currently studying at the linguistics department of
the University of York in England. For my thesis I am conducting research
into varieties of Jamaican and was wondering if anyone would be
able to assist me in my research.

As a part of my project I need to collect the intuitions of speakers of
Jamaican as to the acceptability of various sentences. In order to
do this I have set up an online test which should only take about 10
minutes to complete. Would people please take the time to complete this
test. The only requirement is that you be of Jamaican origin.

You can find the link to the test here:

http://zuma.york.ac.uk/webexp/release2/information.htm

Please note you need to have JAVA downloaded onto your machine for this to
work. The initial page of the test may on rare occasions take a couple of
minutes to load, but it should all run smoothly from there on. Also please
be aware that the solid black lines in the test phase are supposed to be
solid black lines. The actual sentences don't appear until the actual
experiment begins.

If you could find the time to participate in my research it would be much
appreciated. Also, if you know of anyone else who might be willing to participate, could you please send this link on to them.

All the best,

William Harwood

[Blackstar*]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Hi Will, and welcome.

You could also search the boards for various discussions of Jamaican Creole. There have been many debates as to whether it is a language in its own right or "broken English".

I would love to participate in the survey, but don't live in either the UK or JA, plus I learned patois at home, so am not sure if I'd be considered a native speaker.

Anyway, good luck with your research and be sure to post the results of your findings.

[evanovitch]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Pity u cannot do onthespot recorded research.. I have always been intrigued by the different accents to be found in Ja n their co-relation with the type of Britishers who settled in the areas they live in.. e. g have always thought the Irish n Scottish accents r heard in the inflections of St Bess patois.. was always intrigued to lissen to oldsters tawk wen mi had to mek dat yearly trek as a chile to the red dirt parish..den sentences were someting to hear... at least dat is how it has always seemed to me

[RcOmK]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BlackStar</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hi Will, and welcome.

You could also search the boards for various discussions of Jamaican Creole. There have been many debates as to whether it is a language in its own right or &quot;broken English&quot;.

I would love to participate in the survey, but don't live in either the UK or JA, plus I learned patois at home, so am not sure if I'd be considered a native speaker.

Anyway, good luck with your research and be sure to post the results of your findings. </div></div>


I think this person is doing a survey on Jamaican <span style="font-weight: bold">English</span> as in how Jamaicans SPEAK <span style="font-weight: bold">ENGLISH</span>, <span style="color: #990000">not</span> Jamaican Creole (Patois/Patwa).

Furthermore, I would assume that if he/she is a graduate linguistics student, they would already be fully aware that Jamaican Creole is a language.

[himbol]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Hi everyone. Thanks for showing interest in my research. Iron Man is right, I'm conducting research on how Jamaicans speak English. I'm still hoping to see some influence from the creole, but it's definitely not the pure creole that I'm after.

BlackStar, could you still take the test for me please. I know it says certain criteria, but because I've had such a low number of responses, I've broadened the domain so that anyone who is of Jamaican origins can take part.

In a lot of the literature that I'm citing for my thesis there's a big debate about the status of the creole. Some academics consider it to be a dialect of English, others believe there to be too much West African influence for it to be classed as English. There's lots of theoretical problems that come with both of these approaches too. If creole is English, it should be formed from the same underlying grammar as standard English, for which current syntactic theories cannot account, and if its a separate language, it's difficult to locate where the segregation occurs between English and creole due to the continuum of variation that exists to link the two together.

[Magician]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Interested to learn how your results will differ from the theories contained in this book as there is a one generation gap between their research and yours.

[CeaBee]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">BlackStar, could you still take the test for me please. I know it says certain criteria, but because I've had such a low number of responses,<span style="font-weight: bold"> I've broadened the domain so that anyone who is of Jamaican origins can take part.</span> </div></div>

ok. I'll take a look at the test.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Interested to learn how your results will differ from the theories contained in this book as there is a one generation gap between their research and yours. </div></div> It is not the same thing the book covers.
The book actually covers patwa, nicknamed Jamaican English. He is trying to investigate how the Jamaicans who speak English differs from what he knows as standard English.
I think it may be in the area of difference in evaluate pronunciation,accent,and vocabulary,

[CeaBee]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

yes, more patlish than patwa.

[j-kid]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Will</div><div class="ubbcode-body">.....but because I've had such a low number of responses, I've broadened the domain so that anyone who is of Jamaican origins can take part.

</div></div>

Maybe if you provides an incentive you would get more responses. Why not offer something free at the END of the survey?

Something like say, a free Jamaican screen saver, an unsusual article that is not readily availy to the general public, a small video, etc. I think you get the point.

Make it worth the participants time.

[Magician]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

While the dictionary part of Cassidy's work concentrates on patois, the front page of the book talks about pronounciation and sentence construction that Jamaicans apply even when speaking standard English.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Interested to learn how your results will differ from the theories contained in this book as there is a one generation gap between their research and yours. </div></div> It is not the same thing the book covers.
The book actually covers patwa, nicknamed Jamaican English. He is trying to investigate how the Jamaicans who speak English differs from what he knows as standard English.
I think it may be in the area of difference in evaluate pronunciation,accent,and vocabulary, </div></div>

[Blackstar*]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Thanks for the clarification, Will &amp; Iron Man. I must admit this bit was a bit confusing for me:<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-style: italic">For my thesis I am conducting research into varieties of Jamaican</span></div></div>hence the mixup with Creole and English.

So what do I win if I fill in the survey?

[RcOmK]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Will</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hi everyone. Thanks for showing interest in my research. Iron Man is right, I'm conducting research on how Jamaicans speak English. I'm still hoping to see some influence from the creole, but it's definitely not the pure creole that I'm after.

BlackStar, could you still take the test for me please. I know it says certain criteria, but because I've had such a low number of responses, I've broadened the domain so that anyone who is of Jamaican origins can take part.

In a lot of the literature that I'm citing for my thesis there's a big debate about the status of the creole. Some academics consider it to be a dialect of English, others believe there to be too much West African influence for it to be classed as English. There's lots of theoretical problems that come with both of these approaches too. If creole is English, it should be formed from the same underlying grammar as standard English, for which current syntactic theories cannot account, and if its a separate language, it's difficult to locate where the segregation occurs between English and creole due to the continuum of variation that exists to link the two together.

</div></div>

Have you referred to the <span style="font-weight: bold">University of The West Indies Linguistics Department/ Jamaican Language Unit</span>? They've <span style="font-weight: bold">ALREADY IRONED OUT </span>these things that you're researching... In fact, they've already developed a <span style="font-weight: bold">standard</span> writing system for Jamaican Creole. <span style="font-weight: bold"> Why re-invent the wheel??? </span>

[tsophra]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

Hi Will..

re did you grow up in jamaica.. what age do you considering &quot;growing up&quot;?

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Research on varieties of Jamaican English

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Iron_Man</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Will</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hi everyone. Thanks for showing interest in my research. Iron Man is right, I'm conducting research on how Jamaicans speak English. I'm still hoping to see some influence from the creole, but it's definitely not the pure creole that I'm after.

BlackStar, could you still take the test for me please. I know it says certain criteria, but because I've had such a low number of responses, I've broadened the domain so that anyone who is of Jamaican origins can take part.

In a lot of the literature that I'm citing for my thesis there's a big debate about the status of the creole. Some academics consider it to be a dialect of English, others believe there to be too much West African influence for it to be classed as English. There's lots of theoretical problems that come with both of these approaches too. If creole is English, it should be formed from the same underlying grammar as standard English, for which current syntactic theories cannot account, and if its a separate language, it's difficult to locate where the segregation occurs between English and creole due to the continuum of variation that exists to link the two together.

</div></div>

Have you referred to the <span style="font-weight: bold">University of The West Indies Linguistics Department/ Jamaican Language Unit</span>? They've <span style="font-weight: bold">ALREADY IRONED OUT </span>these things that you're researching... In fact, they've already developed a <span style="font-weight: bold">standard</span> writing system for Jamaican Creole. <span style="font-weight: bold"> Why re-invent the wheel??? Isn't that reason do further research it? </span> </div></div> What??!
At that rate the majority if new research that disprove previous work wouldn't have bean done?
I have pored over lots of research work, and every one of them have many different individual discoveries from others previously done.