Vocabulary
See also: List of African words in Jamaican PatoisJamaican Patois contains many loanwords.
Primarily these come from English, but are also borrowed from Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Arawak and African languages as well as Irish.
Examples from African languages include /se/ meaning that (in the sense of "he told me that...." = /im tel mi se/), taken from Ashanti Twi, and /dopi/ (duppy) meaning ghost, from the Twi word adope. The pronoun /unu/, used for the plural form of you, is taken from the Igbo language. Red eboe describes a fair-skinned black person because of the reported account of fair skin among the Igbo. Soso meaning only comes from both Igbo and Yoruba. From Igbo comes Obeah, a form of African shamanism (and also used as a popular scapegoat for common woes) originating from the Igbo dibia or obia ('doctoring') herbalists and spiritualists.
Words from Hindi include nuh, ganja (marijuana), and janga (crawdad). Pickney or pickiney meaning child, taken from an earlier form (piccaninny) was ultimately borrowed from the Portuguese pequenino (the diminutive of pequeno, small) or Spanish pequeño ('small').
There are many words referring to popular produce and food items—ackee, callaloo, guinep, bammy, roti, dal, kamranga. See Jamaican cuisine.
Jamaican Patois has its own rich variety of swearwords. One of the strongest is blood claat (along with related forms raas claat, bomba claat, claat and others—compare with bloody in Australian English, which is not considered swearing).
Homosexual men are referred to as /biips/ or batty boys.
Read more about this topic: Jamaican Patois
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“A new talker will often call her caregiver “mommy,” which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn’t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them “mommy” is understandable.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“The vocabulary of pleasure depends on the imagery of pain.”
—Marina Warner (b. 1946)
“I have a vocabulary all my own. I “pass the time” when it is wet and disagreeable. When it is fine I do not wish to pass it; I ruminate it and hold on to it. We should hasten over the bad, and settle upon the good.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)