A September 6, 2015 story in The Jamaican Gleaner about Jamaican boys resisting English because it is considered “girlish” is at once surp...
A
September 6, 2015 story in The Jamaican Gleaner about Jamaican boys resisting
English because it is considered “girlish” is at once surprising and familiar
to me. It is surprising because I had always thought Jamaica was a native
English-speaking nation. I had no idea that most people in this Caribbean
nation of nearly 3 million descendants
of enslaved West Africans are so wedded to their English creole (called Patois
or Patwa), which is similar to Nigerian Pidgin English, that they don’t give a
care for the English language.
But
the feminization of English proficiency in Jamaica doesn’t surprise me because
a somewhat parallel attitude exists in predominantly black communities in
America, where speaking Standard English is often derided as “acting white” or
being “bourgie.” As I wrote in my
February 16, 2014 article titled “25 Black American English
Expressions You Should Know,”
“Bourgie (pronounced boo-zhee)… is a corruption of the Marxist term
‘bourgeoisie.’ American blacks use the word to describe someone who has
pretentious airs and taste, who is fake. It is also used to describe black
people whose politeness, cultivated manners, and courtesy are considered
contrived, excessive, not natural. ‘She bourgie’ is a common putdown for girls
that are considered pretentious.”
So
while working-class black Americans consider speaking Standard English as
“acting white” or being “bourgie,” their cousins in Jamaica consider it
“girlish” or “sissy.” What is it considered in Nigeria? I hear young people
call it “forming” nowadays. Whatever it
is, English has become the passport to social mobility in today’s world. You
ignore it at your expense.
Snippet:
"A recent survey by the British Council has found that
the tendency of Jamaican boys to view reading and language proficiency as a
mark of effeminacy has contributed to the decline in students' performance in
English over the last few years.
The survey, which was a precursor to the
implementation of a 'Teaching teachers to teach English' programme in Jamaica,
saw language consultants from outside the island visiting six non-traditional
high schools, one primary school, one traditional high school and two
teacher-education colleges to do assessments.
The team noted in the report of its findings that the
decline in students' performance in English was being fuelled by a non-reading
culture, the use of Patois as refuge against standard Jamaican English, as well
as boys seeing reading and language proficiency as effeminate.
These factors, the team found, have contributed to the
inability of some Jamaicans to speak English and a less-than-stellar
performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) English."
To read the rest of the article, click here.
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