Overview

First published in 1961, Jamaica Talk is a thorough study of the English spoken in Jamaica and, although intended for the general educated reader rather than the linguistic specialist, has a foundation of sound scholarship, which makes it an authoritative classic. The late Professor Cassidy was born and reared in Jamaica and collected most of the material for his book when he was attached to the University College of the West Indies as Fulbright research fellow. There are chapters on the composition of ""Jamaica talk"", on pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. The book is an invaluable reference in all institutions that have language departments, and as a handbook for Jamaicans and for interested visitors to the island.

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9789766401702

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Reviews

"""How did Jamaicans come to talk as they do? The musical lilt and staccato rhythms, the mingling of strange words, the vowel sounds that go sliding off into diphthongs, the cheerful defiance of many niceties of traditional English grammar, the salty idioms, the wonderfully compressed proverbs, the pungent imagery of nicknames and epithets in the bestowal of which these islanders appear to be peculiarly adept - where do all these hail from and how did they come to be?"" - Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk"

How did Jamaicans come to talk as they do? The musical lilt and staccato rhythms, the mingling of strange words, the vowel sounds that go sliding off into diphthongs, the cheerful defiance of many niceties of traditional English grammar, the salty idioms, the wonderfully compressed proverbs, the pungent imagery of nicknames and epithets in the bestowal of which these islanders appear to be peculiarly adept - where do all these hail from and how did they come to be? - Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk

Author Information

Frederic G. Cassidy was Professor of English, University of Wisconsin - Madison, and Chief Editor, Dictionary of American Regional English. He received the Musgrave Silver Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for Jamaica Talk.

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