How do teenage speakers of Jamaican English use language Essay Example
I aim to find out how Jamaican English is used in terms of identity by teenage speakers. By recording a group of teenagers in different environments I intend to find out how language is used and why it used in certain situations.
In many cases language can be used as a marker of identity. The language that is spoken and how we speak it often demonstrates the groups that we belong to and who we share commonalities with. Le Page and Tabouret-Keller (1985) argue that speakers of Creole strategically use Creole to belong to particular social groups. (1985: 115)
Most British born adolescents of Afro-Caribbean descent are speakers of British English. The use of Creole is not encouraged by older speakers but is often used alongside British English. For adolescents Creole is used for a number of different roles which are mostly related to it
...s symbolic significance as a marker of black identity (Sebba, 1993:18)
Although there are accounts to show that the existence of Black Caribbean people in Britain goes as far back as the 12th century it was not until the 18th century that there was a major influx of Caribbean communities in Britain. (Sebba, 1993:1)
During the 1950 and 1960s, due to shortages in labour in Britain at that time the influx of Afro-Caribbean people increased. It is thought that around a quarter of a million Afro-Caribbean people settled in Britain at the time, however the largest of these communities settled in Birmingham and London. Smaller communities had settled in Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds and Leicester.
Along with the arrival of Afro-Caribbeans to Britain came several different varieties of Creoles. Creole language had developed in the West Indies
as early as the seventeenth century. (Freeborn, 2003:51) At this time Pidgin was used as a form of communication during slavery times. Pidgin is a language which has limited vocabulary and straightforward grammar. It comes about when two different languages come into contact and there is difficulty understanding what is being said. Over time pidgin becomes the first language for its speakers and this is when it is called a Creole. (Singh, 2000: 2)
Afro- Caribbean's who came to Britain from places such as Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Grenada and Antigua spoke creoles which have distinctive accents, vocabulary and grammar, and still do speak these Creoles today in their day to day conversations . For some of these Afro-Caribbean's Creole would have been their first language or dialect before they arrived in Britain with Standard English being something that was learnt through education. However Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English, often referred to as 'patois', is the main Creole spoken in the Caribbean community in Britain as the majority of Afro- Caribbean immigrants were from Jamaica.
Research Question and Aims
This research project highlights the use if language among teenage speakers of Jamaican English. My hypothesis is that my participant will use Jamaican Creole as a marker of identity and that this will be most frequent when she is in the presence of family in informal situations.
* How do teenage speakers of Jamaican English use language as a marker of identity?
Literature Review
Zimmerman (1998) states that there are three different types of identity:
1. Discourse identity which is determined by the discourse spoken by the hearer and speaker
2. Is situational identity which is created by the situation and environment
3. Transportable identity which
looks at ethnicity, age and gender
Creole language was developed in the West Indies as early as the seventeenth century (Freeborn, 1993:51). During slavery ships from Europe travelled to Western Africa to exchange goods for slaves. Slaves were then taken to America and the Caribbean islands in return rum and molasses. These ships then returned to England which then created an Atlantic triangle (Crystal, 2003:39). These slave traders did not want the slaves to speak the same languages in fear that they would make plans to escape. This resulted in the use of pidgin.
Pidgin is a language which had limited vocabulary and straightforward grammar. It came about when two different languages came into contact and there was difficulty understanding what was being said. Over time Pidgin became the first language for its speakers and this was when it was called a Creole (Crystal, 2003:346).
Within the literature of Jamaican Creole two different models have been discussed. These are diaglossia and Creole continuum. Expanded by DeCamp in 1971, Jamaican Creole was used as an example and explained as 'a spectrum of speech varieties'. (1971:350)
There are distinct differences between Jamaican English and British English:
* Use of [(] and [(] in place of [(] and [(] e.g. [t(n] for [((n]
* Verbs containing no tense for example walk instead of walked
* Vocabulary for example 'fi' meaning 'to', 'pan' meaning 'for' and 'tief' meaning 'steal'
(Sebba,1993:17)
Jamaican English is often perceived as informal English and is not acknowledged as an official language. As there is a resemblance of Creole languages and Standard English it is often looked down upon and often seen as colloquial speech and slang however Jamaican English and Creole is present
in the media today such as in music and television. (Sebba, 1997:1)
Sutcliffe argues that there is a definite generational difference between young speakers and older speakers of Jamaican English. He looked at how Jamaican English was used by teenagers and found that it is used more when the teenagers were amongst their friends.
A study conducted by Viv Edwards observed a group of young black people in Dudley. Edwards looked at these young people in five different situations which she believed would create different styles of language use.
Edwards wanted to find out when these young people switched in and out of patois and if this was affected not only by the different situation but the effects of different researchers. 'Both black and white interviewers were used in formal and informal situations. Informants were interviewed in small, single-sex groups in a researcher's flat, and in one situation they were left to discuss on their own. (Deumert et al, 2000:172)
As there are features of British English in the language used by teenagers of Afro- Caribbean origin, Sebba states that what is actually happening is a code-switch between Jamaican Creole and English. 'The principal means whereby the two language varieties interact in conversation is through language alternation in the form of code-switching.' (1993: 97)
Sebba describes code-switching as 'a common type of behaviour among bilinguals in many communities where the use of two or more languages is widespread and stable. It assumes the existence of at least two distinct languages or language varieties. (1993:33). He then goes on to say that in the large amount of literature written on code-switching hardly any of this concentrates on Creole and 'that amongst
researchers for code-switching to take place, speakers must recognise at least two distinct codes, i.e. two distinct language systems.'(1993:33)
Myers-Scotton explains that code switching is defined as a mixing of different codes by speakers in a conversation. Code switching can take place at any language differentiation for example registers, style and grammar (Myers-Scotton, 1993).
Most black young people are aware of Jamaican English whether or not that is where their parents originate from. Jamaican English is used as a form of identity and solidarity. (Le Page and Tabouret- Keller, 1985: 115)
Auer discussed at how London Jamaican and London English is used
'London Jamaican and London English is used differently by speakers within the same turn in conversation. We will show that broadly speaking, participants in a conversation orientate to LJ stretches embedded in a basically LE turn as having differential status from the adjacent LE material, providing the principal message content' (1999:266)
Methodology
In order to conduct this research and find out if young speakers of Jamaican English use language as a marker of identity I have chosen to use qualitative research as I feel that my research will be more personal in doing this. Qualitative research is relevant to my research as it explores topics in more detail than quantitative research. It is also unobtrusive and allows the participants to carry on with the research without being disturbed.
Corbin and Strauss explain that qualitative research as 'any type of research that produces findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other means of quantification. It can refer to refer to research about persons' lives, lived experiences, behaviours, emotions, and feelings' (1998:10)
However qualitative research does have its disadvantages. There is a
possibility that there will be conflict between the observer and the participant and qualitative research can also be demanding as it takes up time and the participants may not always be available to take part in the research.
My data was collected through a one hour tape recording of the participant and her friends and family. During the beginning, the recording was made unknown by the participants so that there would be uninterrupted and natural speech. After a while the participants noticed that I was recording them and after a while they forgot that the tape recorder was even there.
To analyse my data I will be using discourse analysis. I feel that discourse analysis is the pre-eminent technique to use as Silverman suggests 'discourse analysis describes a heterogeneous range of social science research based on the analysis of recorded talk' (1993: 120)
