Bob W wrote:
Hi,
As I said in my response to Graywolf, I was strictly
referring to SPELLING and to my knowledge are two standards
of spelling in English.
Accents, slang, pronunciation and the use of different words
for the same object (e.g. lorry vs. truck) are not included
in spelling.
By "spelling" I mean cheque vs. check, tire vs. tyre, and is
there a "u"
in colour, honour, armour, etc., and where do you put the R in centre?
Anyway I can knock at least one example off your list.
Standard English spelling in Jamaica is the one that
Americans refer to as "British"
spelling.
(The fact that neither major Jamaican newspaper seems to
employ a copy editor does not imply a different spelling standard.)
the Jamaican newspapers are probably not written in Jamaican English.
Google for 'jamaican spelling', you'll get plenty of examples, many of them
from academics & linguists. For instance:
http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/herbold.html
--
Cheers,
Bob
Jamaican "patois" is not "Jamaican English" in the first place; in the
second place it doesn't have any standard spelling scheme; in the third
place I don't need to google it. I lived there for eighteen years and
still maintain close ties to the country.
But after writing the previous sentence I looked up the link you posted
and found that the article neither used nor even cited "Jamaican
English" as a name for the dialect. I also found there the same point I
just mentioned to you -- that there IS no standardized spelling for
terms in that dialect.
If, however, you wish to find a use for the term "Jamaican English" then
it should surely be "the form of the English language understood by the
most Jamaicans" and of course that's what the newspapers would be using
(after all, they are intended to be read!)
