Jamaican Patois

Patwa

Jamaican Patois is a creole or pidgin, spoken in Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica. Wikidata counts about 3.2 m speakers (2000). Wikidata describes it as “English-based creole spoken in and around Jamaica; it additionally takes influence from various African languages, particularly Akan”.

5 · DevelopingLatn 3.2 m

Wikidata record Glottolog

At a glance

ISO 639-3: jam
Glottocode: jama1262
Family: unclassified
EGIDS: 5 Developing
Centre point: 18.00, -77.00
Wikipedia: 54 language editions

—first-language speakers

—second-language speakers

3countries

2scripts

—levels in the tree

5EGIDS level

Facts

Name	Jamaican Patois · Patwa
Also called	Patois, Patwah, Jamaican Creole, Jamaican Creole English, Jamaican Patwa
All speakers	3,200,000 (2000)
Written in	Latin script, Cassidy/JLU orthography
Official in	Jamaica
Kind	creole or pidgin

Vitality

EGIDS 5 Developing5

Stable. Spoken by all generations at home, with or without schooling — EGIDS 5 and 6a.

Other languages at this level

where it is spoken

Countries

Jamaicaofficial · 4 languages in the index Panama10 languages in the index Costa Rica10 languages in the index

Also spoken in Jamaica

engEnglishIndo-European · 1.13 bn0 · International jcsJamaican Country Sign Languageunclassified8a · Moribund jlsJamaican Sign Languageunclassified5 · Developing