A comparison between Jamaican English Creole and American English, phonological views

1.  “Me wanna a capocofee. A very ha copocoffi; wit two
sugar, plIz”.
...You wanna a capocofi too?, veri ha tu? Wit how many suga?
Regular or diet suga?”
 (I want a cup of coffee. A very hot cup of coffee; with two
sugar, please). (Do you want a cup of coffee too? With how
many sugars? Regular or diet sugar?)
 This is an example of a common expression of the
everyday words and phrases spoken in the Jamaican and
the English Creole Caribbean. In this presentation some
phonological considerations will be considered as basic
differences of American English and Jamaican-Caribbean
English Creoles, in terms of word (sound) grouping,
proximity of sounds and omissions of initial /h/ sounds as
well as final consonant sounds /s, r, and t/.
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon
English 6499 Dr. Y. Rivera
University of Puerto Rico 1

2. : “[MI wanna E kapo kofI, E very hƆtʰ kopokofI,
E very jƆtʰ kopokofI, wI tʰ tU ʃugaʴ, plIz…]”
It is a vivid linguistic illustration of how
proximity of vocalic sounds, tend to omit final
consonant sounds /s, r, and t/.
(A.E.: “I want a cup of coffee, a…, please…”)
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 2

3. 08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 3
(I want a cup of coffee. A very hot cup of coffee; with two
sugar, please).
“[MI wanna E kapo kofI, E very hƆtʰ kopokofI, E
very jƆtʰ kopokofI, wI tʰ tU ʃugaʴ, plIz…]”

4. 08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 4
In JEC Example both time and soudwaves are shorter (4.721 secs.)
In AE Example both time and soudwaves are longer than JEC (5.544
secs.)

5. 08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 5
so with me having, getting that bit of knowledge, things
comes easy to me
they were in the process of, uhm, finding homes for people
that just arriving, new arrival in this country and, uh, helping
them settle down and finding jobs
I start working as a conductor — I was one of the first black
person to, uhm, start it on the Sheffield Tramway
and then you just automatic, automatically got into the swing
and accept what you've seen here
my relative_, they were involve in this Community Association
business

6. feature explanation sound file
 TH-stopping
 <th> in words such as think and three is
pronounced using a <t> sound and in words
such as this and that using a <d> sound
 so with me having, getting that bit of
knowledge, things comes easy to me
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 6

7. feature explanation sound file
 H-dropping
 <th> in words such as think and three is
pronounced using a <t> sound and in words
such as this and that using a <d> sound
 so with me having, getting that bit of knowledge,
things comes easy to me
 initial <h> is deleted in words such as happy and
house
 they were in the process of, uhm, finding homes
for people that just arriving, new arrival in this
country and, uh, helping them settle down and
finding jobs
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 7

8. feature explanation sound file
 rhoticity
 the <r> sound is pronounced after a vowel in
words like hard, corn and nurse
 I start working as a conductor — I was one of
the first black person to, uhm, start it on the
Sheffield Tramway
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 8

9. feature explanation sound file
 unreduced vowel in weak syllables
 vowels in unstressed syllables are not reduced,
so that speakers use a comparatively strong
vowel on words such as about, bacon or arrival
and on grammatical function words, such as in
the phrases lot of work, in a few days and in the
kitchen - a very subtle feature that contributes to
the characteristic rhythm or „lilt‟ of Jamaican -
Caribbean English
 and then you just automatic, automatically got
into the swing and accept what you've seen here
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 9

10. feature explanation sound file
 zero plural marker
 nouns are left unmarked for plurality
 my relative_, they were involve in this
Community Association business
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 10

11.  Aditional examples of Jamaican-Caribbean
Phonology of English based Creoles at:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case
-studies/minority-ethnic/caribbean/.
 In this link, there appear voice recordings
from BBC studios (sound files), of interviews
taking place within spontaneous
conversations.
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 11

12. Alleyne, M.C. (2005): Caribbean Popular Vernaculars in CARIBBEAN
COMMUNICATION: Vol. II Language in Caribbean Communication
British Library, UK:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/regional-voices/
Eckman, Fred R. (2008): Typological markedness and second
language phonology. In Jette G. Hansen Edwards & Mary L.
Zampini (eds.). Phonology and second language acquisition, 95-
116. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Labov, Ash, & Boberg (2006),in The Atlas of North American
English: Phonetics, Phonology and sound change (Chapter 22).
Sound files: BBC Studios sound files: (recorded interviews)
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-
studies/minority-ethnic/caribbean/.
Wavepad Sound Editor Resource:
http://www.nchsoftware.com/es/index.html
08/05/2014
By Pablo Fernandez Colon English
6499 Dr. Y. Rivera 12