By Dr. Carolyn Cooper, ContributorThe following is an edited version of a lecture entitled 'Professing Slackness: Language, Authority and Power Within the Academy and Without'given recently at the University of the West Indies.
LISTEN, NO, fi mi step-mother seh, "English come een like dress up clothes an patwa a yard clothes." Me tek fi mi yard clothes turn fashion an dress up mi language inna pretty-pretty bashment stylee fi go out a street an up a university. A dat Marcus Garvey mean when im seh wi fi emancipate wiself from mental slavery. Nobody naa dweet fi wi. A wi ha fi dweet. An wi no fi fraid fi test wiself an show off di power a wi language an wi culture.
Den di one an few a wi weh go a university ha fi mek sure seh di people dem outa road understand fi true di work wi a do ya so. Nobody much naa read di academic paper dem weh wi a write an a publish inna fi wi lickle journal dem. So wi ha fi use radio an TV an newspaper fi spread di word. An wi ha fi use language weh people understand. It no mek no sense we a write inna newspaper an a use big word an long sentence, weh di subject a malice di verb, an yu ha fi a read di sentence over an over fi ketch di meaning. Dat a pure foolishness.
'INTELLECTUAL GHETTO'
A it mek all like my fren Wilmot Perkins a tek step wid wi a call wi University 'intellectual ghetto.' Di 'ghetto' part no bother me to dat. All it mean a district. Oxford English Dictionary no sure weh di word come from. Dem tink it coulda come from Italian, borghetto; di first part a dat deh word come from borgo meaning borough - like dem nuff borough a New York. An di etto mean 'little'. Di original ghetto was a lickle district inna di city dem inna Italy weh dem force di Jew dem fi live. Inna Jamaica no Jew naa live inna ghetto. Well uptown maybe. Not downtown. A poor black people who naa no money fi step up inna life a live inna fi wi ghetto dem.
An a so Mutty a jook we now, a seh wi pauperise up a University; wi naa use wi brains fi do nothing fi deal wid di whole heap a problem dem inna di country. A dat vex me. Cau nuff a wi a do serious work. Respect juu. An di problem dem we have inna Jamaica, no start tideh. A long time story.
All like di language problem inna di school dem. Wa a go happen to dem pikni a go primary school dis ya year whofa teacher a go try teach dem inna English, one language weh di pikni dem no understand? An some a di teacher dem no know to dat. Me know seh some a unu a go seh mi a defend slackness. An a no man an uman story mi a talk bout. Hmmm.
Me know seh we naa go "unlock the potential of the Caribbean region" so til we learn fi respect di pikni dem heart language, dem yard language, fi dem owna language an teach dem inna Jamaican fi di fos, mek dem learn fi read an write an tek een all a di odder subject dem. An den wi teach di pikni dem English. One next language, one next subject weh dem ha fi learn. Look how long di language specialist dem a show wi seh Jamaican a no bad English. A one next, good-good language.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH
A it mek wi have so much problem right ya so inna University. Whole heap a di student dem ha fi a tek one course, "Fundamentals of English," becau nobody never teach dem English di rightful way. Me know seh when yu a teach English inna Jamaica yu ha fi member seh English a no di pikni dem yard language. A dem school language. English a no dem fos language. A dem second language. Yu kyaan gwaan like dem done know English an a ongle lickle fix-up fix-up wanting. Yu ha fi teach dem English like how di school dem inna Canada teach di English pikni dem French an di French pikni dem English. Serious ting. No joke business.
An it cost money. If we naa di money fi teach di whole a di primary school pikni dem English di way mi a talk bout, a use Jamaican, me sure wi coulda find couple people well woulda willing fi mek Govament practise pon dem pikni inna one special patwa primary school. Di way Jamaica people love buy lottery ticket now, me feel seh dem wi tek a chance wid dem pikni education. It can't worse dan wa a gwaan right now.
An mi know some a unu a go vex wid me now. But some time mi ha fi wonder if wi waan everybody inna Jamaica fi learn English fi true. Becau if all a di pikni dem cyan flex - English when it suit dem, or Jamaican the one an few a wi now, weh know English good, naa go able fi go have nothing over dem. We kyaan show off pon dem inna wi nice-nice English. Dem wi able fi brandish English to. An me know seh a through some a wi feel seh a English a gi wi power over certain people, a it mek wi no waan put no value pon di Jamaican language. Becau everybody done know it already an wi naa go have no big stick fi lick people inna dem head seh dem a eedyat becau dem naa no language. Mi go a one Primary School fi gi one talk Heritage Week and mi decide fi talk Jamaican. Yu must see how di pikni dem face light up. Mi know a di fos time any big smaddy ever come a dem school come talk to dem like dat. Yu waan hear dem a ask when me a come back. And di headmistress she ask me a good question. She say she cyaan understand how it alright fi use all Miss Lou poem dem inna class but you not suppose fi use di language inna school otherwise.
Den she tell mi seh one day she see a lickle boy a run inna di school yard an she stop im an ask im, "Whose class are you in?" Di pikni look pon are an seh "Eeeh Miss?" She ask im again. Im seh di same ting. An she tell me seh, she all a tell im seh, im no fi seh "eeeh." Dat a no English. And den she catch up herself an she ask di pikni "Who a yu teacher?" An im tell her same time.
Me know seh a disya language problem a stop plenty a di bwoy pikni dem from learn. Di girl dem have di problem to. But girl pikni bring up different from bwoy pikni. Di girl dem wi sidong wid dem book an try; di bwoy dem outside a play. A so dem turn play-play man.
A long time now Professor Errol Miller write one book weh im call The Marginalization of the Black Male.
You see "marginalization?" It come een like seh yu a write one composition inna yu exercise book bout di different-different work wa man an woman do inna Jamaica.
Ascorden to wa Professor Miller seh, wa uman do woulda full up di whole page a yu exercise book. Wa man do woulda dis hitch up inna di lickle space side a di line dem, weh lef fi teacher mek correction. A so-so correction fi di man dem. An no me seh so. A Professor Miller.
See part two next week.
