Chester Burgess, ContributorIN A day that is gone I would hopefully write articles about the use and misuse of English in Jamaica, offering suggestions for improvement, and even going so far as to recommend the launch of a national Operation English in the land. I was disturbed by the realisation that expression in Jamaica was taking three distinct and divergent forms: what is called Jamaican today and is used nationwide; Yahoolingua, that quality of English spoken by persons who insist, despite the evidence to the contrary, that they can speak proper English when the occasion arises; and Standard English, spoken by a minority representing a decreasing percentage of the population. My efforts were against overwhelming odds, like the case of the 480 B.C. 300 Spartans at Thermopylae.
Today patois is accepted at all levels of life and in all contexts of association, public or private, formal or informal, official or non-official. The media written, oral, visual serve to promote it, and this is very much welcomed in a land given to indiscipline in word and deed and in which such things as politesse, refinement and grace are in decline.
The 2003 Emancipation-Independence presence in Jamaica of Dr. The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley will now serve to concretise its status as a language Jamaican, the language of Jamaica. Be that as it may, on the increasingly globalised planet called Earth, Jamaica is listed as an English-speaking country, a country whose language is English and whose people, at home or abroad, are expected to communicate with the rest of mankind in recognisable and acceptable English. Bear in mind that English is the most widely spoken language on Earth today, and is daily becoming more so. So that, irrespective of the merits of patois, glorification of its status and intensification of its usage will only serve to decrease and dilute English-speaking capability in Jamaica and reduce our rating on some WLS (World Language Scale).
Is the rest of the world expected to recognise Jamaican as a member of the family of languages? Can we expect that in time TV stations such as CNN, ESPN and Discovery will resort to presentation in Jamaican patois? Jamaica is one of the less well-off countries of the Caribbean, the Western Hemisphere and Planet Earth. We may be encouraging a conception of Jamaica as a poor country with a population grappling with speech and language. Will there be missionaries in our midst?
Which brings us to Yahoolingua, the spoken language of the people who know better and should do better but cannot, for they haven't got what it takes. In all areas of life they let Jamaica down pronunciation-wise, whether it be from prepared documents or ad lib, in such as commercial, professional, educational or political contexts. Demonstration of this would require a bookshelf of volumes. But to take a single case: before and during the general elections of last year and the Parish Council elections of this year an amazing array of personalities in the above-mentioned categories failed to pronounce the word 'electoral' correctly.
Study international TV programmes and acknowledge that level for level persons whose native languages aren't English can express themselves in English and in a majority of instances pronounce better than their equivalents in Jamaica would and are doing day by day today. At home here in Jamaica, for example, just listen to some of the people who should talk better as they hold forth on 'The Breakfast Club'. I am satisfied that Jamaicans speak, if not the worst English in the world, then something quite close to it.
I had just about given up when something happened that urged me to put pen to paper. Calabar High School celebrated its 90th anniversary in May of this year. In a Gleaner-published tribute bearing the signature of Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, there was the following sequence of words: "The school's motto 'The Utmost for the Highest' must reflect the core values of all whom pass through its hallowed corridors on Red Hills Road". Now, as a boy in elementary school I had learnt that 'whom' is objective and cannot therefore be the subject of a sentence or clause. At Kingston College this knowledge was strengthened: 'whom' and its derivatives are Accusative and cannot perform Nominative function. Had I been consulted I would have advised 'who'. Can you imagine the gasps of horror if at some international conference of Education Ministers ours was to say something like "Congratulations to all whom have contributed to the success of this conference"? Perhaps it was a Gleaner (Thursday, May 29) misprint?
I held off going to press, and then lightning struck a second time. John Junor, Minister of Health, who has responsibility for those institutions that take care of children, was quoted in The Gleaner on Monday, July 1, 2003 as saying "where there are shortcomings, whomsoever has to answer will have to answer". Here again there is misuse of 'whom' on request I would have advised 'whoever'. Unless, of course it's a case of Gleaner misprint. However, I suspect that The Gleaner is innocent in both instances.
Now, recently attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of Government administrative entities have been employing special consultants, advisors and what have you, ostensibly for the betterment of performance of function. It is difficult to believe that there was an English Language consultant at either Education or Health. If there was, whoever it was that advised within those hallowed walls should be made to answer. If there was indeed no such mentor there appear to be reasonable grounds for the appointment of same. And I earnestly request whoever is so commissioned to reach out to a most eminent member of the Cabinet and advise that person how to pronounce the words 'ancestors'.
Some years ago a Cabinet Minister was reported to have suggested, presumably under the spell of juvenile enthusiasm, that each Member of Parliament be provided with a laptop computer. Perhaps what should be done today is to furnish each Cabinet Minister with a grammar book and dictionary, for the double purpose of improving language and pronunciation. This could prove to be a justifiable and even welcome addition to the current taxpayers' burden.
Despite near despair, I can only hope that failure in an elementary case like the use of the word 'whom' will not serve as a broom to sweep us in gloom into the English language tomb, but that if we groom the upcoming generations, starting from the womb and using an appropriate language loom, they may bloom and even zoom into achieving admissibility into the English-speaking room.
Chester Burgess is an Honorary Director of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce.
