Jamaicans have proverbs, expressions, and commentary on just about everything. Marital woes? Workplace drama? The frenzied pace of life? You name it–they’ve probably got an opinion. Some of these ...

Most words in Jamaican patois, like other English Caribbean patois, are English words filtered through a distinct phonetic system with fewer vowels and different consonant sounds. Patois is written ...

What’s worse than a bad movie? If you ask linguist Joseph Farquharson, he might say a movie that makes a caricature of the distinct patois of Jamaican accents. When asked to be an advisor on the new ...

As Jamaica continues to loosen its ties with the British monarchy, momentum is building to make Patois the country's official language alongside English. The proposal was recently floated by the ...

We may not think of Jamaica as a bilingual society, but local bloggers are assuring us that it is. English and Patois—or Patwa, as it's often written—are widely spoken, but the Jamaican mother ...

What is Jamaica’s true “official language”? Does it have two? Should it acquire a “second language” and if so, what should it be? These questions have had Jamaican commentators tied up in knots for ...

Around the world, people of Jamaican heritage are starting to reconnect with the island's powerful language – and its complex history. "Check di English bwoy dem try fi speak Patwa" – "Check these ...

Growing up as a first-generation West Indian, it’s always tickled me (but made me proud) to see my culture in mainstream spaces, especially if it didn’t include Bob Marley, weed or Jerk Chicken. And ...