The Jamaica Libraries and Information Network (JAMLIN) has launched a phased Jamaican Sign Language (JSL) training programme ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Walk into any government office, courtroom or classroom in Jamaica, and you’ll be expected to speak the official language, English. But venture into the street, tune into a radio ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The predominantly black country of Jamaica is embracing a controversial Super Bowl ad that depicts a white office worker from the U.S. Midwest feigning the Caribbean island's ...

KINGSTON, JamaicaKINGSTON, Jamaica — When English teacher Faith Linton first proposed translating the Bible into Jamaica’s patois tongue in the late 1950s, most people who heard the idea shook their ...

Most words in Jamaican patois, like other English Caribbean patois, are English words filtered through a distinct phonetic system with fewer vowels and different consonant sounds. Patois is written ...

We may not think of Jamaica as a bilingual society, but local bloggers are assuring us that it is. English and Patois—or Patwa, as it's often written—are widely spoken, but the Jamaican mother ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica – During Sunday church services and private celebrations in Jamaica, Christmas week prayers are being flavored with the first patois version of a familiar biblical account of Jesus' ...

What's worse than a bad movie? If you ask linguist Joseph Farquharson, he might say a movie that makes a caricature of the distinct patois of Jamaican accents. When asked to be an advisor on the new ...

Diversity matters, even when it comes in the form of a doll. With research that shows dolls with unrealistically thin bodies have had negative effects on young girls’ self-esteem, a movement has ...

Ghanaian reggae musician Rocky Dawuni has advised African artistes not to feel pressured to imitate Jamaican accents or ...

A young Harry Belafonte was preparing his repertoire of Caribbean songs in the 1950s and looking for expert input, when he sought out Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly, known affectionately as Miss Lou ...