#nation language

[bahok]

বিতর্ক: হিন্দি কি ভারতের রাষ্ট্রীয় ভাষা হওয়া সম্ভব? - বাহক

বাহক নিউজ় ব‍্যুরো: স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী অমিত শাহ সম্প্রতি বলেন যে, হিন্দি ভারতে ইংরেজির বিকল্প হিসাবে ব্যবহার করা উচিত এবং হিন্দি শুধুমাত্র আঞ

ইস্যু পুরনো, বিতর্কের ঘা সর্বদাই দগদগে, শুধু একটু ধাক্কা লাগার অপেক্ষা...

[astranemus]

Paradoxically, in the Caribbean (as in many other ‘cultural disaster’ areas), the people educated in this system came to know more, even today, about English kings and queens than they do about our own national heroes, our own slave rebels, the people who helped to build and to destroy our society. We are more excited by their literary models, by the concept of, say, Sherwood Forest and Robin Hood than we are by Nanny of the Maroons, a name some of us didn’t even know until a few years ago. And in terms of what we write, our perceptual models, we are more conscious (in terms of sensibility) of the falling of snow, for instance—the models are all there for the falling of the snow—than of the force of the hurricanes which take place every year. In other words, we haven’t got the syllables, the syllabic intelligence, to describe the hurricane, which is our own experience, whereas we can describe the imported alien experience of the snowfall. It is that kind of situation that we are in.

Edward Kamau Braithwaite, Nation Language

[apoeticmindset]

In this competition dey was lookin for poetry of worth for a writin that could wrap up a feelin an fling it back hard with a captive power to choke de stars so dey say, 'Send them to us but NO DIALECTS PLEASE' We're British! Ay! Well ah laugh till me boushet near drop Is not only dat ah tink of de dialect of de Normans and de Saxons dat combine an reformulate to create a language-elect is not only dat ah tink bout de part of my story dat come from Liverpool in a big dirty white ship mark AFRICAN SLAVES PLEASE! We're the British! But as if dat not enough pain for a body to bear ah tink bout de part on de plantations down dere Wey dey so frighten o de power in the deep spaces behind our watching faces dat dey shout NO AFRICAN LANGUAGES PLEASE! It's against the law! Make me ha to go an start up a language o me own dat ah could share wid me people Den when we start to shout bout a culture o we own a language o we own a identity o we own dem an de others dey leave to control us say STOP THAT NONSENSE NOW We're all British! Every time we lif we foot to do we own ting to fight we own fight dey tell us how British we British an ah wonder if dey remember dat in Trinidad in the thirties dey jail Butler who dey say is their British citizen an accuse him of Hampering the war effort! Then it was FIGHT FOR YOUR COUNTRY, FOLKS! You're British! Ay! Ay! Ah wonder when it change to NO DIALECTS PLEASE! WE'RE British! Huh! To tink how dey so dunce an so frighten o we power dat dey have to hide behind a language that we could wrap roun we little finger in addition to we own! Heavens o mercy! Dat is dunceness oui! Ah wonder where is de bright British?

Merle Collins, No Dialects Please

[butseriously1-blog]

Jamaica's patois Bible: Who's it for?

I am a faux linguist who believes in the importance of preserving "nation language." Of all such languages, I find Jamaican patois to be one of the most unique and, when spoken by the right person, one of the sexiest Caribbean nation languages one could listen to.

With that said, it goes to reason that I'd fully support the translation of the Holy Bible into Jamaican patois. Further, I think that similar moves to make mainstream literature more accessible and understandable through the use of nation language should be encouraged, particularly if the intention is to appeal to those whose literacy in English is not up to scratch. The problem is, I'm not sure that this was the intention with the Patois Bible.

In my opinion, the phonetic spellings of some words in the Patois Bible are nothing short of mind-boggling, and require the reader to possess as much (or even more) literary competence than s/he would need to understand a rendering of the Bible in Standard English.

An example from the Book of Luke is pasted below:

"ienjel" (angel)? "nyuuz" (news)? "Mieri" (Mary)? REALLY? (Rilli?!) It's almost like deciphering a secret code.

When deciphered, it's amazing how authentically Jamaican even I sound while reading it, but I'm willing to bet that this book presents all of the same challenges to the much-less-literate as the Bible's modern-English versions.

So, on to my question. Is this Bible meant to be any easier for the less-literate masses to comprehend, or is it just meant to be a symbolic triumph for Patois academics? Or, perhaps, it is meant to be read for the masses by such academics? If either of the latter two scenarios is true, there really is no benefit redounding to the Patois Bible's purported end-user.

I admit, I am not Jamaican and I've only lived there for three years. Perhaps some actual Jamaicans could shed some light.

Photo credit: BBC