Jamaica 8

Listen to Jamaica 8, a 52-year-old woman from Jamaica, and New York City, New York, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 52

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 28/01/1963

PLACE OF BIRTH: Jamaica

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Black Jamaican

OCCUPATION: housekeeper

EDUCATION: high school

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject has lived in New York City (Brooklyn), New York, United States, for 30 years.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject’s residence in New York City has likely had some influence on her speech, though her Jamaican accent is still quite strong.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Barrie Kreinik

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/01/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Growing up in Jamaica, trust me, to me, it was like, now I realize, it was like — it’s a great feeling, ’cause sometimes I sorta get depressed, and I go back, in my head I go back, because, those are treasures. You know, it’s like — you could go pick a fruit, an orange, you could just run around, you could go play ball with your friends, you could do jump rope, you know. The food, the food was like, awesome, when my mom cooked? You could stay a mile and smell it. It’s just simple stuff, but it, you know, it’s, it, it was great, it — I miss it; I do miss it, and I try to go back as often as I can. The beaches? The food? That’s why I go back. But growing up in Jamaica, I, I don’t regret it, you know. I wouldn’t give it up for anything else. Jamaica to me is home.

Well, patois is — it’s English slash patois; it’s almost the same, but it’s spelt different, and, you know, it’s, you know instead of saying “what,” you would say “wha.” A sentence like, “Me a go downtown” is “I’m going downtown.” Uh. “Me want some food.” Can I have some food, you know, can I have something to eat. I use it; my kids don’t really, but they try to, you know, they ask me certain things, and, you know, I explain it to them and all that. But patois is nice; when I go back home, I laugh, because hearing people talk in it, it’s so hilarious; it’s funny, especially the kids, ’cause some — you have different accent from different parts of the island; people say things differently. Like, you would say, uptown, uptown is like the classy side of Kingston — Kingston which is the capital of Jamaica, properly. Downtown is like, they drag it, it’s like, “Wheyaa gooo?” Where other s- other parts would say, “Where you going?” Or they would just say, “Wheya go.” But they don’t drag it like the downtown Kingstonians; they would like, “Wheyaa goo? You no see me I come back, we come check you.” You know, stuff like that. And, and, and some people would like [subject speaks patois phrases]. That means if that person is like, you know, came abroad and, you know, went back home and, people might expect, oh, they came here, they got money, so, you know, you know, some people say …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Barrie Kreinik

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/01/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

The archive provides:

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.

• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.

• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.

• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.