Misconception about Patois
THE EDITOR, Madam:
THERE SEEMS to be a misunderstanding among some Jamaicans regarding the reasons for Patois in understanding and accessing the English language. They obviously think that any inclusion of Patois in the school curriculum would have an immediate disastrous effect on English. They apparently see it as a rival dialect that will add further poison to the already shortcomings that they claim beset the English language. “Teach English!” is the admonition. “Let the focus be on English!” Yet, ironically, those who urge the use of patois in teaching English may have no dispute with such calls. They are not urging that the Jamaican Creole be its own destination, but the roadway to the target – which is English.
For example, a child comes across the word ‘abundance’. It asks: “What does abundance mean?” In a purely English environment a teacher may respond by saying, “’Copious’, ‘many’, ‘plenty’, and so on, carry a similar meaning to abundance.” Yet, for a child who is more conversant with expressions such as ‘nuff’, it would be obvious that using the word ‘nuff ’ instead, would give a more immediate and precise approximation of ‘abundance’? And even the best English illustration would have a nil effect if it did not explain by using something the audience already knows about. It probably would clarify a matter as much as asking, “Do you know what ‘live and direct’ means’?” and while answering, “Well, it means live and direct!” The importance of Patois in a classroom setting, especially for children from homes where the language is the more often used expressions, is that it makes them more at ease in transitioning from the mother tongue to the Queen’s vernacular.
The concern that the use of Patois would have a deleterious effect on international trade and global commerce is also unfounded. If someone is not proficient in English, without having any knowledge of Jamaican Creole, they would still be at a disadvantage where English is required. Patois couldn’t, therefore, be blamed for that handicap, but the absence of English could. This could be mended not by beginning from the top, but starting from the foundation vocabulary and moving up.
HOMER SYLVESTER Elmsford, New York