Emancipation of Patois

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Emancipation normally means the process where someone is liberated from the control and restrictions of authority. It therefore involves the conceding of the guidance and supervision of the relenting master or jurisdiction. With regards to the Jamaican creole, Patois, it clearly falls within the definition of a liberated language.

Emancipation requires that you are not circumscribed by the rules and limitations of your ex- governors. Patois, obviously, has gained independence as a world-impacting language, being the central mode of communication in all 14 parishes of Jamaica – whether in expressing happiness or sorrow, in bonding with old friends, or in forming new acquaintance. Whether as the dialect of energy or in doing business transactions, the Jamaican creole is the single thread that has weaved the island’s social fabric together.

Opponents may cite its international shortfall to discredit its true autonomy as a language, yet, the same insufficiencies could be used against economic or other versions of independence. Emancipation does not require you to renounce interacting and growing along with your neighbours, but that you maintain your identity even when a language bridge requires some compromise. Patois obviously is not claiming to be all things to all men, nor any kind of language panacea, which no language can truly claim, but it is its own man, or woman, a unique dialect that has gained autonomy by emancipating itself from the rules and restrictions of the English language. Maybe no man is an island, and perhaps it could be said that no island is even an island. Patois doesn’t have to be perfect ‘to all men’ to be an emancipated dialect.

HOMER SYLVESTER

Elmsford, New York