Jamaican Maroon language, Maroon Spirit language, Kromanti, Jamaican Maroon Creole or Deep patwa is a ritual language and formerly mother tongue of Jamaican Maroons. It is an English-based creole with a strong Akan component, specifically from the

Asante dialect Asante, also known as Ashanti, Ashante, or Asante Twi, is one of the principal dialects of the Akan language. It is one of the three literary dialects of Akan, the others being Akuapem dialect, Akuapem and Fante language, Fante. There are over 3. ...

of modern day

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. It is distinct from usual Jamaican Creole, being similar to the creoles of Sierra Leone ( Krio) and

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such as Sranan and Ndyuka. It is also more purely Akan than regular

Patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...

, with little contribution from other African languages. Today, the Maroon Spirit language is used by Jamaican Maroons and Surinamese Maroons (largely Coromantees). Another distinct ritual language (also called Kromanti) consisting mostly of words and phrases from Akan languages, is also used by Jamaican Maroons in certain rituals including some involving possession by ancestral spirits during Kromanti ceremonies or when addressing those who are possessed and sometimes used as a kind of code. The term "Kromanti" is used by participants in such ceremonies to refer to an African language spoken by ancestors in the distant past, prior to the creolization of Jamaican Maroon Creole. This term is used to refer to a language which is "clearly not a form of Jamaican Creole and displays very little English content" (Bilby 1983: 38). While Kromanti is not a functioning language, those possessed by ancestral spirits are attributed the ability to speak it. More remote ancestors are compared with more recent ancestors on a gradient, such that increasing strength and ability in the use of the non-creolized Kromanti are attributed to increasingly remote ancestors (as opposed to the Jamaican Maroon Creole used to address these ancestors). The language was brought along by the maroon population to Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) to

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in 1796, where they were sent in exile. They eventually traveled to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in 1800. Their creole language highly influenced the local creole language that evolved into present day Krio.

Some phonological characteristics of Jamaican Maroon Creole

Bilby discusses several phonological distinctions between Jamaican Creole and Jamaican Maroon Creole. Vowel epithesis: Some words in the Maroon Creole have a vowel in the final syllable, compared to Jamaican Creole. Some examples are: * "to fight" * "forest" * "mouth" Liquids: Many words that have a lateral liquid /l/ in Jamaican Creole have a trill /r/ in Maroon Creole. Some examples are: * "pleased" * "black" * "belly" /ai/ to /e/: There are several instances where the "deep creole" uses /e/ while the "normal creole" uses /ai/.

References

* English-based pidgins and creoles Jamaican Maroons Languages of Jamaica Ritual languages Extinct languages of North America Languages of the African diaspora Spirit possession {{pidgincreole-lang-stub

Some phonological characteristics of Jamaican Maroon Creole

See also

References