Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
A MAJORITY of Jamaicans think parliamentarians should deliver their speeches in Gordon House in the local dialect, patois in order to communicate better with the public.
This is according to an islandwide survey, which was conducted recently by the Jamaica Language Unit at The University of the West Indies, Mona.
According to the findings of the survey, "people who understand English will understand patwa (patois) but not vice versa",
"Piipl no tuu ondastan di spiiki spoki ... Most Jamaicans speak patwa," said a respondent from an eastern parish.
One thousand men and women between the ages of 18 and 80 plus years, from rural and urban centres across Jamaica were surveyed.
When asked whether or not Jamaican (patois) was a language 80 per cent of respondents agreed. A further, 69 per cent felt it should be made an official language of Jamaica alongside English and 71 per cent of the population would like to have bilingual schools.
According to the Language Unit, "79 per cent of Jamaicans polled declared themselves speakers of both Jamaican and English, thereby recognising the bilingual nature of the language situation in the country". There was little variation in responses across all age groups.
Only 10.9 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively of the entire population polled declared themselves to be speakers of English only or Jamaican only. Slightly more women (11.8 per cent) than men (10.0 per cent) declared themselves to be speakers of English only.
