The development of Jamaican Creole English and its popularity and recognition

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Potsdam (Institut fuer Anglistik), course: Languages in Contact, language: English, abstract: In this paper I want to provide a short introduction to the linguistic history of Jamaica. Moreover I will talk about the Standard Jamaican English, which is the official language of Jamaica. In this paper I will focus on Jamaican Creole English, therefore I will explain the social status and provide a sociolinguistic analysis of the creole. In the last point I will discuss the topic introduced at the top of this paper again - the popularity of the Jamaican Creole English and the recognition of the language in the world. In this paper I don't want to give a full linguistic analysis of Jamaicas languages, but I want to give an insight to the linguistic diversity of Jamaica. In my research I want to find out, if Jamaican Creole English is only "broken English" or if the impact of music and popular culture changed it into the standard language of Jamaica.The latest American Volkswagen advertisement depicts a white middle class man speaking to his colleagues with a Jamaican Creole English accent to cheer them up. He is supposed to display a satisfied and happy Volkswagen driver. The clip was released as a pregame Super Bowl advertisement in January 2013 and was received controversially. Whereas many Jamaicans saw the ad as an victory for the recognition of their creole language, others considered the clip as cultural offensive and racist (McFadden 2013: 1). However, the association western countries have towards Jamaican Creole English is a positive one - it is understood as a joyful and upbeat language. The positive image of the language is mostly created by popular Reggae and Dancehall artists like Bob Marley or Shabba Ranks, who helped Jamaican Creole English to gain recognition in the world. Even in the Volkswagen ad we can find a reference to the reggae idol. The white worker is paraphrasing lyrics from Bob Marley's song "Three Little Birds" when standing in the elevator and saying "No worries, mon. Everything will be all right". (McFadden 2013:1). Jamaican Creole English changed its image from "broken English" to a popular Creole language which became the tool of communicating music and Jamaican culture.