Patwa als Ausdrucksmittel jamaikanischer Identität: Eine makro-soziolinguistische Studie über ethnisch-kulturelle Identität in Jamaika

• Published in: Language in Society Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 274 - 275
• Main Author: Moll, Andrea
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Cambridge University Press 01-04-2012
• Subjects: BOOK NOTES
• ISSN: 0047-4045; 1469-8013
• DOI: 10.1017/S0047404512000115

In keeping with this tradition, Stefanie Krause's macrosociolinguistic study of Patwa als Ausdrucksmittel jamaikanischer Identität [Patois as a means of expression of Jamaican identity] focuses on Jamaica's multicultural roots and explores their actual impact on the nexus of language and ethnic identity. Despite its focus on the linguistic description of Jamaican Creole, her concern with social issues is also discernible in Ch. 6, where, in addition to a discussion of the creole continuum and the phenomenon of code-switching, Krause draws attention to the absence of a standardized orthography, which she regards as an explanatory factor for the high rate of illiteracy in Jamaica. In this context, the author successfully manages to address a variety of both local and global phenomena, ranging from Rastafarian Dread Talk and Jamaican Maroon language to the use of Jamaican Creole in the British diaspora as well as its world-wide presence in popular culture, including Reggae music and the international film industry.