What is the Jamaican language continuum?

The acrolect is a local Jamaican variety of Standard English spoken by educated Jamaicans with high socio-economic status. Mesolectal Jamaican Creole is spoken by the majority of speakers. The Post-Creole continuum is characterized by an implicational hierarchy.

What is basilect Mesolect and acrolect?

basilect, mesolect, acrolect Terms from creole studies to refer to the varieties furthest away from, in the middle and nearest to the standard of the lexifier language respectively.

What does Basilectal mean?

basilect (bs-lkt) The variety of speech that is most remote from the prestige variety, especially in an area where a creole is spoken. For example, in Jamaica, Jamaican Creole is the basilect whereas Standard Jamaican English is the acrolect or prestige language.

What is Acrolectal?

In sociolinguistics, acrolect is a creole variety that tends to command respect because its grammatical structures do not deviate significantly from those of the standard variety of the language. … Contrast with basilect, a language variety that is significantly different from the standard variety.

Is creole and patois the same?

As nouns the difference between creole and patois is that creole is (linguistics) a dialect formed from two languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language while patois is a regional dialect of a language (especially french); usually considered substandard.

What is the meaning of Mi Deh Yah?

I am here ‘Mi deh yah, yuh know’ While the literal translation is ‘I am here’, the implied meaning is ‘everything is ok’, or ‘I’m doing well’.

What is basilect and acrolect?

Thus, a basilect is the form of a variety that is furthest away from the standard. … Thus, an acrolect is the form of a variety that is closest to the standard.

What is Pidgin and creole?

What is the difference between pidgin and creole? In a nutshell, pidgins are learned as a second language in order to facilitate communication, while creoles are spoken as first languages. Creoles have more extensive vocabularies than pidgin languages and more complex grammatical structures.

What is the difference of acrolect and basilect?

As nouns the difference between acrolect and basilect is that acrolect is (linguistics) the variety of speech that is considered the standard form while basilect is (linguistics) a variety of a language that has diverged greatly from the standard form.

What does patois mean in French?

The term patois comes from Old French patois, ‘local or regional dialect’ (originally meaning ‘rough, clumsy or uncultivated speech’), possibly from the verb patoier, ‘to treat roughly’, from pate, ‘paw’ or pas toit meaning ‘not roof’ (homeless), from Old Low Franconian *patta, ‘paw, sole of the foot’ -ois.

What is Ethnolect dialect?

An ethnolect is generally defined as a language variety that mark speakers as members of ethnic groups who originally used another language or distinctive variety. According to another definition, an ethnolect is any speech variety (language, dialect, subdialect) associated with a specific ethnic group.

What is dialectal variation?

Dialectal Variation A dialect is variation in grammar and vocabulary in addition to sound variations. For example, if one person utters the sentence ‘John is a farmer’ and another says the same thing except pronounces the word farmer as ‘fahmuh,’ then the difference is one of accent.

What is the Creole Continuum discuss briefly?

creole continuum in American English noun. Linguistics. a range of language varieties in an area undergoing decreolization showing a continuous gradation from forms more like the underlying creole to those approaching the standard language.

Is pidgin a language?

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of Pidgin is: A language containing lexical and other features from two or more languages, characteristically with simplified grammar and a smaller vocabulary than the languages from which it is derived, used for communication between people not having a common language; a …

What is Sociolect linguistics?

In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language (non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, a profession, an age group or other social group. … Sociolinguists define a sociolect by examining the social distribution of specific linguistic terms.

What race is a Creole person?

Creole, Spanish Criollo, French Crole, originally, any person of European (mostly French or Spanish) or African descent born in the West Indies or parts of French or Spanish America (and thus naturalized in those regions rather than in the parents’ home country).

Is Tok Pisin a pidgin or a creole?

Tok Pisin is considered an expanded pidgin, as complex as a creole, as it is spoken in urban settings as a vernacular rather than as an occasional lingua franca.

Why do Jamaicans speak broken English?

After living their entire lives speaking the native languages of their homelands, the English that the slaves spoke was far from perfect. Slaves were forced to speak English in everyday situations, and because of this, a dialect of broken English came into fruition.

What does my Bredren mean?

/ (brdrn) / noun slang. a friend or comrade. a group of friends or comrades.

What does Irie Mon mean in Jamaican?

It’s a phrase used by Jamaicans to mean I’m doing well. It’s not English.

What does Gwan mean in Korean?

(gwan) (hanja ) government; official; public servant.

What is acrolect linguistics?

: the language variety of a speech community closest to the standard or prestige form of a language.

What is Creole Continuum in sociolinguistics?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A post-creole continuum (or simply creole continuum) is a dialect continuum of varieties of a creole language between those most and least similar to the superstrate language (that is, a closely related language whose speakers assert or asserted dominance of some sort).

What is Mesolect in communication studies?

MESOLECT is the form of Creole with more English derived features than the basilect and is said to be the point on the continuum next to the basilect. It is most often spoken by urban and educated persons. … It is most often spoken in formal situations.

What is a creole woman?

The term Creole can have many meanings, but during the early days of Louisiana, it meant that a person was born in the colony and was the descendant of French or Spanish parents. … In present Louisiana, Creole generally means a person or people of mixed colonial French, African American and Native American ancestry.

What is a blend of languages called?

A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language.

Is English a Creole language?

English is not a creole. A creole is a pidgin language which has become a mother tongue. A pidgin is a grammatically simplified form of a language with elements taken from local languages, used for communication between people not sharing a common language.

What does phonology consist of?

Phonology is defined as the study of sound patterns and their meanings, both within and across languages. An example of phonology is the study of different sounds and the way they come together to form speech and words – such as the comparison of the sounds of the two p sounds in pop-up.

What is meant by national language?

A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connectionde facto or de jurewith a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. … Central language (politolect) used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value.