Alternate Names: Bongo Talk, Jamiekan, Limon Creole English, Patois, Patwa, Quashie Talk
Dialects: None known. The basilect and standard English mutually inherently unintelligible (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977, Le Page 1960, Adler 1977). May be partly intelligible to speakers of Cameroon Pidgin , and Krio , of Sierra Leone, spoken by descendants of Jamaicans repatriated between 1787 and 1860. Inherently intelligible to creole speakers in Panama and Costa Rica. Reportedly very similar to Belize Creole ,, similar to Grenada, Saint Vincent, different from Tobago, very different from Guyana, Barbados, Leeward and Windward islands.
Status Notes: De facto language of national identity.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 2,670,000 in Jamaica (2001). Population total all countries: 3,205,000.
Language Use: Vigorous. Dominant language and gaining in prestige. Post-Creole continuum from distinct Creole to provincial English of town dwellers. Positive attitudes. Most consider that they speak standard English [eng]. Also use English [eng].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: High in English. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2012.
Spoken In: Jamaica
Nation of Origin: Jamaica
Other Comments: There is a continuum of variation from basilectal Creole to acrolectal English of the educated. Linguistic influences from Akan , languages in Ghana and Bantu languages (Hancock 1988).