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Relative markers in spoken Standard Jamaican English

  • Ulrike Gut
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Variation in the Caribbean
This chapter is in the book Variation in the Caribbean

Abstract

The aim of the study is to test the claim that Jamaican Creole is the dominant shaping influence on the emerging spoken Standard Jamaican English (SJE) and the opposing claim that its structural properties are the result of contact with standard English in schooling and literacy. Focussing on relativization strategies, a total of 4,287 relative clauses with overt relative markers were analysed, drawn from the Jamaican component of the International Corpus of English (Greenbaum 1996). No direct or indirect influence from Creole was found in spoken SJE. Rather, there is ample evidence that the relativization strategies of spoken SJE reflect influences from the written English standard.

Abstract

The aim of the study is to test the claim that Jamaican Creole is the dominant shaping influence on the emerging spoken Standard Jamaican English (SJE) and the opposing claim that its structural properties are the result of contact with standard English in schooling and literacy. Focussing on relativization strategies, a total of 4,287 relative clauses with overt relative markers were analysed, drawn from the Jamaican component of the International Corpus of English (Greenbaum 1996). No direct or indirect influence from Creole was found in spoken SJE. Rather, there is ample evidence that the relativization strategies of spoken SJE reflect influences from the written English standard.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Variation and linguistic systems
  5. Revisiting variation between sa and o in Sranan 13
  6. Inherent variability and coexistent systems 39
  7. Putting individuals back in contact 57
  8. Relative markers in spoken Standard Jamaican English 79
  9. Part II. Variation and identity
  10. “Flying at half-mast”? Voices, genres, and orthographies in Barbadian Creole* 107
  11. The creole continuum and individual agency 133
  12. Language attitudes and linguistic awareness in Jamaican English 163
  13. Part III. Variation and the community
  14. The varilingual repertoire of Tobagonian speakers 191
  15. On the emergence of new language varieties 207
  16. ‘Creole’ and youth language in a British inner-city community 231
  17. Le Page’s theoretical and applied legacy in sociolinguistics and creole studies 251
  18. Name index 273
  19. Subject index 275
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.37.06gut

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Variation and linguistic systems
  5. Revisiting variation between sa and o in Sranan 13
  6. Inherent variability and coexistent systems 39
  7. Putting individuals back in contact 57
  8. Relative markers in spoken Standard Jamaican English 79
  9. Part II. Variation and identity
  10. “Flying at half-mast”? Voices, genres, and orthographies in Barbadian Creole* 107
  11. The creole continuum and individual agency 133
  12. Language attitudes and linguistic awareness in Jamaican English 163
  13. Part III. Variation and the community
  14. The varilingual repertoire of Tobagonian speakers 191
  15. On the emergence of new language varieties 207
  16. ‘Creole’ and youth language in a British inner-city community 231
  17. Le Page’s theoretical and applied legacy in sociolinguistics and creole studies 251
  18. Name index 273
  19. Subject index 275
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