Jamaica History 1

Listen to Jamaica History 1, a recording of Wyllie Longmore, a well-known English actor and drama-school principal who grew up in Jamaica.

Longmore reminisces about his life in the English theatre and his first 20 years of life in Jamaica.

If you are a dialect researcher, or an actor using this sample to develop your skill in the accent, please see Paul Meier’s instruction manual at www.paulmeier.com. As the speaker in this sample is a unique individual and has many more sounds that are more commonly associated with Standard British English, it is highly unlikely that he will conform to Paul’s analysis of the Jamaican dialect in every detail. But you will find it interesting and instructive to notice which of Paul’s “signature sounds” and “additional features” (always suggested only as commonly heard features of the accent) are widely used by most speakers of the dialect and which are subject to variation from individual to individual.

For more information on this subject and a partial transcription, see Jamaica 15.

Run time: 1 hour, 6 minutes, 21 seconds.