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Patois (/ ˈ p æ t w ɑː /, pl. same or / ˈ p æ t w ɑː z /) [1] is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics.As such, patois can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant.
Female patois speaker saying two sentences A Jamaican Patois speaker discussing the usage of the language. Jamaican Patois (/ ˈ p æ t w ɑː /; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with influences from West African, Arawak, Spanish and other languages, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Jamaican literature is its use of the local dialect — a variation of English, the country's official language. Known to Jamaicans as "patois", and now sometimes described as "nation language", this creole has become an important element in Jamaican fiction, poetry and theater.
Jamaican English, including Jamaican Standard English, is the variety of English native to Jamaica and is the official language of the country. [1] A distinction exists between Jamaican English and Jamaican Patois (a creole language), though not entirely a sharp distinction so much as a gradual continuum between two extremes. [2]
However, a minority of linguists argue that the vernacular shares so many characteristics with African creole languages spoken around the world that it could have originated as a creole or semi-creole language, distinct from the English language, before undergoing decreolization. [19] [20] [c]
Like any language, creoles are characterized by a consistent system of grammar, possess large stable vocabularies, and are acquired by children as their native language. [6] These three features distinguish a creole language from a pidgin. [7] Creolistics, or creology, is the study of creole languages and, as such, is a subfield of linguistics ...
Several studies have shown the Edo language is the major African component that constitutes the foundation of the creoles of the Gulf of Guinea.
Caribbean English (CE, [note 3] CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and most countries on the Caribbean coasts of Central America and South America.