Patwa

E155061

Patwa is a creole language spoken primarily in Jamaica, blending English with West African and other linguistic influences.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Patwa canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (58)

Predicate Object
instanceOf English-based creole
creole language
natural language
developedDuring transatlantic slave trade era
hasAlternativeName Jamaican Patois
surface form: Jamaican Creole

Jamaican Dialect
Jamaican Patois
Jamaican Patois
surface form: Jamaican Patwa

Patwah
hasGrammaticalFeature copula deletion in some contexts
lack of verb conjugation for person and number
plural marking with "dem"
postposed definite article
serial verb constructions
use of preverbal tense-aspect-mood markers
hasInfluenceFrom Arawakan languages
Hindi
Portuguese
Spanish
hasLinguisticAncestor Plantation English varieties of the 17th–18th centuries
hasOfficialOrthography Jamaican Standardized Orthography
hasPhonologicalFeature non-rhoticity in many varieties
vowel reduction patterns distinct from English
hasSociolinguisticFeature often stigmatized in formal contexts
part of a creole continuum with Jamaican Standard English
strong marker of Jamaican identity
hasStatus de facto national language of Jamaica
not an official language of Jamaica
hasSubstrateInfluenceFrom Akan
Igbo
Kikongo
Twi
West African languages
Yoruba
hasSuperstrateInfluenceFrom English
ISO639-3Code jam
isSubjectOf creole linguistics research
isUsedAs language of everyday informal communication in Jamaica
languageFamily English creole
lexifierLanguage English
primaryCountry Jamaica
region Caribbean
Jamaican diaspora communities
spokenIn Canada
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica
Jamaica
Other Caribbean territories
Panama
United Kingdom
United States of America
surface form: United States
usedByEthnicGroup Jamaican Americans
surface form: Jamaican diaspora

Jamaican
surface form: Jamaicans
usedIn Jamaican popular culture
dancehall music
dub poetry
reggae music
writingSystem Latin alphabet
surface form: Latin script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.