is there a way to

spell patois correctly or do you just spell it as you call it

Jamaica - a ya suh mi baan a ya suh mi a

tan

Complex question. The book mentioned in another post

"Understanding Jamaican Patois" might help with the spelling.

I dont know if the university (UWI) now has a complete

dictionary and fonetic system. Reason is that since Jamaican is a mixture that includes English the way words are spelt as to

how they are said has been hard establish, meaning, when to use english system and when to use Jamaican(African, etc) system

of spelling.

To make matters worse, the spelling of english words is complex and confusing. Jamaican is more direct

and simple and as such conflicts arise when english words are used. For example your speling of "so" (english) vs. "suh" in

Jamaican. Which sounds more accurate?. The rule you use for "suh" should be applied for all words in Jamaica that have the

same sound.

This it one of the reasons why children in Jamaica have a hard time learning english, they get confused

with both language systems. (Especially if only Jamaican is spoken/used in the home)

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One World, One People

The opinions expressed by Samba are not the official opinions of ETJ or its owners.

that's true that both english and jamaican

dialect are confusing, but my question is, for those persons who use both interchagably, is there a standard way to spell and

speak patios

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I don't think there is an official standard. Not

until some cultural body really brings some definate plan of the dialect into schools so persons can start to learn the

reformed dialect.

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but if that's the case wouldn't it to some

extent loose its cultural background

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In the evolvement of the Jamaican language, it has

now gotten to the stage where the written form is in greater demand (especially due to chat rooms ). There have been

efforts in the past to develop a complete standard, but because of the complexity brought on by use of some english words,

which in themselves have flawed rules, it makes the matter a difficult one for education administrators.

However, the

increased use of the written form is now demanding that an official form be completed (if not already done). I sense that the

university has begone to re-focus on this, so they might have a better say in the matter.

It wont be lost per-se, but

many grammatical forms are developing which are not consistent.

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One World, One People

The opinions expressed by Samba are not the official opinions of ETJ or its owners.

NO it wouldn't!

If and when a case study is done this body would have to incorporate the closest African descendants in Jamaica namely the Maroons into these studies. Consider the rastafarians and bobo-dreads as well.

Consider the University's scholars whom have Jamaican History, Culture and Litreture as majors. Consider also the common citizens as well. Their input is also valuable.

Create a common denominator so to speak after considering the varied and many backgrounds, speech patterns etc, come up with one version. Yet a point to note is that despite this 'official version' the people may still speak but if we should apply it to paper than let us do so via the 'official version' so that anyone could pick up the standard patois dictionary and understand what was said or is being discussed.

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in essecense there is a written version but not common to most people.

For instance persons leaving from Japan for Jamaica as teachers do have a patois dictionary, however the flaw is that when it is spoken it does not correspond with what is written. And this creates a problem both for those speaking it and those reading it.

There need to be a common ground where each and everyone can relate to.

Sorry I shouldn't have said the reformed dialect I should have said structured dialect in that way the cultural connection would still be preserved.

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so if it's thought in schools for eg colleges n universitiies, are you saying that the whole culture thing behind the dialect will be preserved.

I think not because it will have to be acredited and the ambiguity of some words will be droped.

Why will some of the words be dropped?. Who do we need accreditation from for our own language?

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One World, One People

The opinions expressed by Samba are not the official opinions of ETJ or its owners.

That is my point we are no asking some foriegn body to come to Jamaica na d formulate or dialect -- we will do it ourselves, plus as a population we can have our say in its development, what the Jamaican literacy body should do is release portions as they progress and get feedback from the nation until its completion.

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Not that i'm against it or anything, but to do this is going to take quite some time to formulate and accredited esp. by our own University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) which by the way just revoked Nothern Carribean University's bachelor in business and Liberal Studites accreditation

what was that? stemusite?

What i'm saying is that it's goona take some time to develop and create our own dialect.
This is so because of our diverse culture. For instance if a survey was to be done about what we think in regards to our dialect, we will get back mixed responses, esp. from our returning residence