CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 117

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rant, who has always lived in a
lower-income community in St.
Andrew said, “… you just come off
as feminine even when you’re not
using it in a certain tone. English
to some people is just feminine,
or not masculine enough …”

Grant grew up and lives in a home in western St.
Andrew with his mother, father and a younger
sister.

“I live in a certain area. I use English there…
The shops are normally in areas you would
consider ghetto[s] … I went to the shop , said,
‘Good afternoon’ and was asking for something.
I don’t quite remember what I was asking for,
but me saying good afternoon and the way I
asked for what I wanted in English, two guys
[who] were there asked: ‘Yo dawg, ah how yuh
talk suh [Why do you speak like that]?’ So I
was wondering how I talk. He said something
that basically suggested it’s women who talk
like that.”

Grant’s story is not unique, as several other
Jamaican men who spoke with CARIMAC
Times said they are at odds with the English
Language; they have been forced, in some way,
to romanticise Jamaican patois in a bid to put
forward the manliest version of themselves.

Grant explained that this is also a common
experience in popular fast food restaurants and
on public transportation, buses in particular.
He said it is just now that he is understanding
that many people in Jamaica believe it is only
acceptable for women to speak English and
men must use Jamaican patois.
Grant said he is forced to speak the Jamaican
Language in order to fit in with the members
of his community.
“Whenever I go back to the shop, I only use
straight Patois; not even good morning I can
say to them, because it is not normal to them …”
But language use in his home is not as rigid.

His mother speaks English, but not consistently,
and his father never uses it. However, his sister
rarely uses the Jamaican dialect.

Crisis, culture and context
In recent times, Jamaican media highlighted
the results of a 2015 British Council survey that
showed Jamaican boys and men believe there
is a relationship between being proficient in
the English language and effeminacy.
The report presented findings of an increasing
preference for patois among Jamaican boys — a
move, which has contributed to what is said to
be a decline in their performance in mastering
the English Language.
Professor Silvia Kouwenberg, lecturer and
researcher in the Department of Language,
Linguistics and Philosophy at the Mona Campus
of the University of the West Indies (UWI), told
Carimac Times that before any conversation
can be had around the attitudes of Jamaican men
to particular languages, the context in which
the languages operate must be understood.
“… Jamaica is bilingual in the sense that two
languages operate in the society. One is Jamaican

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