The West Indian Bible Society (based in Kingston, Jamaica) recently launched an audio version of the Gospel of Luke in Jamaican patois or dialect This is part of an ongoing project to produce the whole of the New Testament by 2012, in time for the 50th independence celebrations of the island.
On May 22, The Reverend Courtney Stewart, general secretary of The West Indian Bible Society talked about the project on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He countered the claims made by traditionalists that this was a ridiculous project. Listen to the interview here:
The Reverend takes the view that the Bible in your own language – whatever that might be, is a sign that your language has moved from the informal into a prestigious domain. He makes it clear that it is not that Jamaicans don’t understand the King James Bible – a revision it self, of course, not even in the original ‘dialect’; it is that to have the Bible in your ‘heart language’ – the language that you first go to school with, is to connect with the word of God more thoroughly.
The Gospel of Luke (the patron saint of communicators, as well as the medical profession) was launched at a church in Hackney, east London on Pentecost Sunday.
I really enjoyed the symmetry of this, as Pentecost Sunday is the day “When all were filled with the Holy Ghost and begun to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4)
You can hear some of it as well as download the whole gospel free from this link:
I realise, of course that this is my ‘heart language’, and to hear in this way is the most delightful thing. As with your average non-church going Church of England person, I wear my religion extremely lightly, nothing more than the Sunday Service (from the radio), where if I can understand anything beyond the second line of the dirge of the hymns, then I know that it is most likely because it’s a hymn that I sang long ago in Sunday school classes or at school. On the whole, though the sermons themselves are thoughtful and a good start to a Sunday, while I am waiting for The Archers. That I had not until now heard the Bible in my ‘heart language’ had never occurred to me.
For decades in the hallway of our house used to hang one of those biblical pennants and on it was the start of The Magnificat from Luke 1: 46-47
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
How much better it sounds as:
Me praise the Lord with all me heart
Me soul praise God wey save me.
I am also totally amused by how Luke 1:52:
He hath put down the mighty from their seats;
And exalted them of low degree.
Becomes:
Him scatter, scatter the boasy people, God hall down them of a them high tune.
And lift up people wey nobody think say they don’t matter.
And I irreverently wonder if St John 11:35 ‘Jesus wept’ will become ‘Jesus bawl’ or ‘Him cry out.’ I guess that they will decide to stick with two words, so that it is still the shortest verse in the Bible.
In the press release, The Reverend goes on to say “This is the first time in our history that a serious work has been expressed in our language.” And so that is where he and I part ways, however you cut it, the Jamaican patois is in fact a derivation of English. It’s not a separate language. I support this project up to the point where you get to hear the Bible, in the fulsome expressiveness and turn of phrase of everyday Jamaican. When I hear that millions of dollars is to be spent defining how to punctuate Jamaican patois and setting out how the grammar should work, all funded by the West Indian Bible Society, I lose heart. That is money that could better spent on people that really need it.
Image: Nativity, a painting by Joseph Manana
That is not a cloud above Joseph it’s the flash from my camera.
"the Jamaican patois is in fact a derivation of English. It’s not a separate language." By this logic, English is in fact a derivation of German, Latin, Greek etc. hence not a separate language! Louise Bennett advocated many years to get this point across and although controversial till her death, she has won converts and she is celebrated especially in Jamaica. The real question that underlies your judgment might be what constitutes a language? It is a common way of communicating between people. So here you can even see that signing is a language. For a more nuanced definition you can see http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_2.htm where you can learn the distinction between language, dialect, pidgin, creole etc. I think what you are saying about patois not being a language is not the technical aspect but more a denial of the positives of this communication mode. If such is real issue I would encourage you to check out what some learned individuals have to say about patois- you can start by watching the youtube video ("the Jamaican patois is in fact a derivation of English. It’s not a separate language." By this logic, English is in fact a derivation of German, Latin, Greek etc. So English is not a separate language! Now that the fallacy of what you are saying is behind us- the real question might be what constitutes a language? It is a common way of communicating between people. So here you can even see that signing is a language. For a more nuanced definition you can see http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_2.htm where you can learn the distinction between language, dialect, pidgin, creole etc. I think what you are saying about patois not being a language is not the technical aspect but more a denial of the positives of this communication mode. If such is real issue I would encourage you to check out what some learned individuals have to say about patois- you can start by watching this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJKYgiR1FcA) and considering the ideas and efforts of the linguist and translators.
ReplyDeleteThank you for you comment, which I enjoyed reading. I see this post as very much a celebration of the 'positives of this communication' mode' to use your own words. I also remain comfortable with maintaining that Jamaican patois is a localised form of English. However, in the end the final point of my post still stands, which is that while I enjoyed the bits of the Bible in translation that I heard, I think the Bible Society could be doing far more useful things with its money to support the people of Jamaica, rather than document the language.
ReplyDeletebest, Tricia