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 ...

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 ...

The battle lines have softened somewhat, but there is still substantial opposition to patois in the pulpit. Critics say it will dilute Scripture and undermine the already weak hold many poor Jamaicans ...

Jamaicans have proverbs, expressions, and commentary on just about everything. Marital woes? Workplace drama? The frenzied pace of life? You name it–they’ve probably got an opinion. Some of these ...

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 ...

When Saffron Jackson went to buy her daughter a doll, she was frustrated at the dearth of options for black girls. So Jackson, a 38-year-old Jamaican teacher who resides in the United Kingdom, decided ...

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 ...

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 ...

Chet Hanks is defending his use of speaking in a Jamaican patois in a chaotic Clubhouse appearance. Tom Hanks' son has made controversial headlines recently for speaking with a Jamaican accent despite ...

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’ ...

When Adele shared a photo of herself earlier this week wearing a Jamaican-flag bikini and Bantu knots while celebrating what would have been the Notting Hill Carnival, it drew a lot of attention on ...