LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

[X]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

ok.. assumed you were in toronto.

While some do, you'll find that many persons on this site do not live in Jamaica.
The Jamaica Star discussion board http://jamaica-star.com/ however does tend to have quite a few contributors who are living on the island.

[johnnycakes]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">yes. patwa in jamaica is looked on as inferior expression by the Standard English establishment folks. It may be the same for Quebec French - the English speakers may see it as the lesser language - dunno, is that your thesis? is joual still a phenomenon in Quebec, and if so, do speakers of &quot;standard French&quot; look down on it? that's a closer analogy to Jcan patwa. </div></div>


MGee, all,

I have a friend who comes from France. He thinks of Canadian/Quebec French as someone from England would think of the English spoken in West Virginia; often barely understandable. This may be also comparable to King's English vs Jamaican patois but I get the sense that Jamaican patois as spoken between two Jamaicans is even further from understandability than is Canadian French to a Frenchman.

The French are notoriously fussy about their language do not care to have it played with as do les Quebecois. For instance the French try to coin French words for words that come into France from outside, in other languages. Still, words like le drugstore persist in France from popular use and preference..


I tend to think that outside of Jamaica, Jamaican patois being limited in its use to Jamaica would be a disadvantage for those who emigrate to countries where American or UK English is used exclusively perhaps only for the American?UK person listening and trying to understand certain words and expressions that take on a different sound in patois. The word LAWYER or any word with the &quot;oy&quot; sound becomes a word with an &quot;aye&quot; sound. Lawyer (aptly) becomes &quot;liar&quot;. The man's name Lloyd becomes Lied.
This can be confusing to those who are not exposed to patois.
The word vex, rarely used in the United States is quite commonly used in Jamaica but becomes even more difficult for an American/UK person to catch in an ongoing conversation because in patois it is pronounced more like &quot;bex&quot;.


I would also imagine that the Creole spoken in Haiti gives the Haitians a limiting disadvantage when they emigrate since no country outside of Haiti speaks that dialect.

Interesting stuff this.

[ackeepod]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

Please don't assume &quot;ALL&quot;&quot; take pride in belittling others. But you do have to have the ability to defend your position in this forum.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Aleks</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body">U all take pride in keeping the language stactic in the 17th centuary.....Wow.... </div></div>

Our language is not static, new words and expressions come in every year. Tho at least it still looks like what FRENCH is supposed to look like. You all take pride in dissing a nation you don't even know. </div></div>

[mountaingal]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Aleks</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well maybe my grand-grandparends have known people speaking Joual. But I haven't heard of it in ages. There's tons of different french accents here, People from Saguenay, from Abitibi or even Montreal VS Quebec (the town of Quebec, not the whole province). But none of them is looked as a lesser language.

How about Jamaican schools? Is there schools that teach in Patwa or they're all English? Because from what I have found so far on the internet, ALL schools are English. </div></div>

the schools don't teach patwa, and officially, don't teach IN patwa. but i've heard from more than one source that some teachers, to make subjects more understandable, resort to using patwa with their students.

all politicians in jamaica use patwa on the campaign trail and save English for the television interviews.

the newspapers in jamaica are now transcribing man or woman in the street commentary in the original patwa.

[Alex32123]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: haki</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Please don't assume &quot;ALL&quot;&quot; take pride in belittling others. But you do have to have the ability to defend your position in this forum.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Aleks</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body">U all take pride in keeping the language stactic in the 17th centuary.....Wow.... </div></div>

Our language is not static, new words and expressions come in every year. Tho at least it still looks like what FRENCH is supposed to look like. You all take pride in dissing a nation you don't even know. </div></div> </div></div>

By &quot;you all take pride&quot; I meant &quot;He takes pride&quot; just to clarify.

[Wahalla]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

I questioned ur assumption.. not belittle.. (well u are Kanadian)

so let me get this straight.. u speak French like it is supposed to be spoken ? and this is based on the fact it was derived from 17th century french.. So in other words the Francophile Africans who speak a varieties of French speak improper French...

Then u acknowledge that there was a version of French called Joual that is close to extintion, is this thus an equally improper form of French as u assert that the French speak.?..

All Jamaicans speak patwa.. Patwa has evolved and has changed.. Across my life time alot has changed. alot of words have gone extint. I particular identify the period where the rastafication of the patwa.. when the I bizness came in. Funny enough a lot more &quot;african&quot; dervived words were winnowed out in the attempt to revolutionise the language.. And there was a reduction in &quot;Patwa&quot; vocabulary... while leaving in place the structure. I am of the opnion that more english words are used in the gramatical structure... and the syntax has remained constant....



There is no value of teaching in Patwa, this is a poltical red herring to hide poor teaching is being.excused by the claim. Personally it has always strucked me as odd that the nationalism factor of the debate misses a historical president, where the Soweto riots were sparked by the desire to be taught in English not in &quot;ossified&quot; flemish, a form of french...

the parameters of language is not static. the need for orthodoxy of grammar is a tool by the semi literate to claim superiority. The functionality of language is to communicate. ... By demanding a fosilised spelling is one such of the sign posts of xenophobia. This nazification of language is gateway complaint of anti immigration, rascism.. Almost always it is seen as the tool of the

French is but a derivitised latin after all, a patwa of latin in fact.. Much as castillano or catalan... It strikes me ur language evolved from 18th centuary French much more isolated from its metropole begining than say French spoke in Cameroon.

It is thus on a different path of development...

[MsPeaches]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

Greetings, fellow Boardites and VISITOR(?!) Aleks. Aleks, how long are you going to stand in the door without coming in to sit down with the rest of us??

It seems that this has turned into a very interesting discussion since I was last here. Right now I'm pressed for time but I'll be back with my two cents for what it's worth a bit later on. Carry on, people, and have a fine day!

[FrenchTickla]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

diss likkle [censored]'n tail pickney is trying fi tell oonu seh, juss like di ress of fi dem gingeration, dem a look fi di path of least resistance. dem nuh ha nuh time fi get fi know u. di object of dis whole exercise is A+ nutten else. spen a hour pon di phone, gimme di right answer and be gone.

oonu have time! walk good.

[mountaingal]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

den FT, u no see seh wi a disabuse him of the notion?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: FrenchTickla</div><div class="ubbcode-body">diss likkle [censored]'n tail pickney is trying fi tell oonu seh, juss like di ress of fi dem gingeration, dem a look fi di path of least resistance. dem nuh ha nuh time fi get fi know u. di object of dis whole exercise is A+ nutten else. spen a hour pon di phone, gimme di right answer and be gone.

oonu have time! walk good. </div></div>

[Stormmey]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: FrenchTickla</div><div class="ubbcode-body">diss likkle [censored]'n tail pickney is trying fi tell oonu seh, juss like di ress of fi dem gingeration, dem a look fi di path of least resistance. dem nuh ha nuh time fi get fi know u. di object of dis whole exercise is A+ nutten else. spen a hour pon di phone, gimme di right answer and be gone.

oonu have time! walk good. </div></div>

lawd Frenchie... same so I was at eighteen..... we change as we get older

[Alex32123]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

Oh god, most of you guys seriously have some social anxiety / xenophobia problems. Oh someone asks about me, he must have bad intentions. Seriously just read the title of the thread. You guys must know what correspondance is, right? According to wikipedia, it is: &quot;In general usage, non-concurrent, remote communication between people, including letters, email, newsgroups, Internet forums, blogs.&quot; I don't know about you, but I consider &quot;communication between people&quot; an exchange, from both side. I didn't say: SOMEONE TELL ME YOUR PERSONAL INFOS SO I CAN GET A GOOD MARK. I only asked if one was willing to share some infos, not considering that maybe 18 years old canadian's student's life might interest any of you guys. And I feel like I may have been right. Most of you just don't care about me <span style="font-weight: bold">, so why complain about me NOT OFFERING to share my infos with you in return? You're just having fun dissing me as soon as I walk in. If you did care about me why not just ask about me, huh? </span> .

Now about that A+ comment, cause yes I do understand what you say when you write in patwa, the work is only worth about 5% of my final mark. I don't care about those points as long as the subject I choose interests me. If I did care about the points I would have chosen any random language that is spoken by european countries and about which google and wikipedia are full of information.

I feel really sad for you guys. Feeling all attacked when someone wants to get to know you. I didn't ask: Give me statistics about your language. Teach me simple words from your language. What I need to know is if there's any nationalism attached to the language, how do people feel about english vs their language. It's about yourself, it's got nothing to do with any studies people have done before, it's got nothing to do with statistics, my god do you always get this offensive everytime someone asks about your language? Do you even like your language? 'Cause if you do, why are you scared of sharing it?

Anyways, I'm not even trying anymore, I'll find Patwa speakers somewhere else. Bye. <span style="font-weight: bold"> </span>

[Stormmey]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

unnos si how unnos run wey di newbie dat looking di patwa help Alekssssss comeeeeeee back mi miss u areddi

awwwww Aleks hush u 'ere .....I know u will be back patwa na betta na wey else dan yahso

[remo]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

sumting funny bout Alexs..First his written english is impeccable an he seems to understand written patwa quite well...

[Gen]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

I told you to post your questions here and instead you decided to join a debate \o/

[MsPeaches]

Re: LOOKING FOR A CORRESPONDANT

(Waving @ remo)

I guess Aleks is multilingual like most Ghanaians. Here school is taught in English even though probably most Ghanaians don't speak it. But it's not at all uncommon for people here to speak five or six local languages. And in Canada we think we're oh so wonderful to be able to speak only two. I am living here in a <span style="font-style: italic">Ga</span> community ( this rhymes with the French word for <span style="font-weight: bold">bread</span> ). I know enough Hausa to do my grocery shopping in it, and the standard greetings, a few words and social necessities in <span style="font-style: italic">Ga</span> but I still only get a few words of what ppl are saying. And I am told that, unlike Hausa, it's a difficult language to learn. In fact, &quot;If you're not careful you'll insult your grandmother!&quot; (This gives us pause)

I remember in Jamaica hearing as many versions of patwa as there are parishes, and even more. Some were close to standard English, some more 'opaque' and then there was the really heavy stuff they spoke when they didn't want me to understand what they were saying, (although by now that wouldn't work anymore )
And no doubt it has changed over the years, as has joual.

An historical anecdote:
When I was a 'small girl', and this was 'way before les Quebeqois had their own political parties, we lived on a busy highway about five miles from Ottawa, but across the river 'on the Quebec side'. Every now and then a trucker would break down on the road and troop into our place to use the teleophone.

One day this fellow knocked on our door with the usual request. I happened to hear what he was saying, and it was thus:

&quot;Piiayyyyyyre!...........(pause)......MON TRUQUE EST STUQQUAYE DANS L'AYLMER ROAD!!!!&quot;

As you can see, I was astonished and never forgot it.
But that was before les Seperatistes and I don't think you'd hear that sort of thing anymore.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body">How can u be home sick for Kanada living in Africa....!!!!!!!!!</div></div>

I hear you loud and clear And that's why the only thing that can get to me is hearing that much beloved <span style="font-weight: bold">accent</span> (not joual, just the accent). It really pulls on my heartstrings.