Spelling Jamaican the Jamaican way

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Spelling Jamaican the Jamaican way

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HANDOUT:

Spelling Jamaican the Jamaican way

Spelling the vowels There are five short vowels. Single Vowel

Jamaican Word

English Translation

i e a o u

sik bel ban kot kuk

‘sick’ ‘bell’ ‘band’ ‘cut’ ‘cook’

The vowel o above is sometimes pronounced a bit differently when it comes before the sound r, as in vorzhan ‘version’. The sound of o before r is made with the lips spread rather than round as is the case for its other pronunciation. There are three long vowels. Long Vowel

Jamaican Word

English Translation

ii aa uu

tii baal shuut

‘tea’ ‘ball’ ‘shoot’

There are four double vowels. Double Vowels

Jamaican Word

English Translation

ie uo ai ou

kiek gruo bait kou

‘cake’ ‘grow’ ‘bite’ ‘cow’

There is one vowel marker, which is a letter which comes after the vowel in certain words and is used to mark such vowels as nasalized. Vowel Marker

Jamaican Word

English Translation

hn

kyaahn

‘can’t, want’

Have you ever wondered how to write the funny sound that comes at the end of sentences as Im fuul iihn “He is foolish, isn’t he!’? You now know how to. That sound is a nasalized ii. We mark it as nasalized by using the double consonant hn vowel marker after the vowel to produce iihn.

© 2001 Jamaican Language Unit

HANDOUT:

Spelling Jamaican the Jamaican way

Spelling the Consonants There are 22 consonants, made of 18 single and 4 double consonants. Consonant

Jamaican Word

English Translation

b d ch f g h j k l m n ng p r s sh t v w y z zh

biek daag choch fuud guot (see below) joj kait liin man nais sing piil ron sik shout tuu vuot wail yong zuu vorzhan

‘bake’ ‘dog’ ‘church’ ‘food’ ‘goat’ ‘jugde’ ‘kite’ ‘lean’ ‘man’ ‘nice’ ‘sing’ ‘peel’ ‘run’ ‘sick’ ‘shout’ ‘two’ ‘vote’ ‘wild’ ‘young’ ‘zoo’ ‘version’

In the above list, h has a peculiar status. For some speakers of Jamaican, notably those in the western and central areas of the country, this is a sound which is used purely for emphasis. For these speakers, the form hen with the h is simply an emphatic version of en ‘hen, end, the letter n’. For many speakers in Western Jamaica, however, hen can only mean ‘hen’, with en meaning ‘end or the letter n’. Writers should use the letter h in writing according to the manner in which they use it in their speech.

© 2001 Jamaican Language Unit