[EDLING:1359] Speaky-Spokey

[Francis M. Hult]

The Jamaica Observer

Speaky-Spokey

Clyde Mckenzie
Sunday, March 19, 2006
 
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20060318T160000-
0500_100893_OBS__SPEAKY_SPOKEY__.asp

I must confess that I am indeed appalled at what I consider to be the largely 
sterile debate which is being waged in the media on the value of using patois 
as a language of instruction in Jamaican schools.

Many of the participants in this debate seem to express the view that their 
assumed mastery of English confers on them a command of all things reasonable. 
The incongruity of their conclusions on this debate seems to unmask the 
fallacy of such pretensions.

I strongly support Professor Carolyn Cooper's argument that there is hardly 
anyone who speaks perfect English whatever that is. Our extemporaneous speech 
is littered with dangling modifiers, mixed metaphors and verbs in constant 
disagreement with their subjects.

Just a few days ago, I heard a learned lawyer saying on CNN 'the issue will 
soon be behind her and I'. This statement is not much different from 'on 
behalf of my wife and I' one of the most over-used ungrammatical preambles. 
Yet do these fluffs prove ignorance? Perhaps, but do they say much about the 
speaker's intelligence? I doubt it.

It should be noted that the language and reasoning are processed in separate 
parts of the brain. For example there is a condition known as Williams 
Syndrome, a genetic disorder characterised by rich speaking skills and very 
poor reasoning ability.

On the other hand, there is another condition, known as SLI - also believed to 
be genetically based - which is characterised by a deficiency in linguistic 
skills but no impairment to intelligence and reasoning.

There is a condition known as Broca's aphasia which results in the inability 
to understand the simplest grammar but does not retard the capacity to reason.

Damage to the Wernicke area of the brain seems to give rise to a reverse 
condition characterised by the ability to give flowery speech devoid of 
reason. So much for the connection with language and the ability to reason.

There is still a significant number of Jamaicans who find it difficult to 
follow a Standard English conversation. This might have nothing to do with 
their intelligence but with their orientation. Fae Ellington likes to recall 
the interviewer asking the distraught mother whose new born baby had gone 
missing at the hospital about 'closure'. The question according to Fae evoked 
a blank stare followed by 'Whey yu sey?'

The above-mentioned encounter between the grieving mother and the naive 
interviewer provides a poignant lesson in how we sometimes fail to communicate 
effectively in this society.

One index of a civilised society is the efforts it will expend to ensure the 
maintenance of effective communication. If I am giving instructions to someone 
who might not be adept at using English it might make sense to switch to a 
language which he will understand.

Two of the greatest teachers I encountered during my high school days have 
convinced me through their contrasting styles that mastery of ones subject and 
the ability to motivate one's students are more important than ones choice of 
language for instruction.

John Rupley was a tall American who simply brought the subject of mathematics 
to life in his quiet dignified manner. Students came from all across the 
island to attend his Saturday classes a virtual guarantee for success in 
things mathematical save perhaps for the most severely retarded.

He never veered from a Standard English presentation, I doubt he could, and 
his students soaked up the arcana of maths with gusto. Distinctions were often 
more common than failure. Rups, as he was affectionately called behind his 
back, was an icon long before it meant something you clicked on your desktop.

Larkland Tabois, now deceased, also taught us math. Tabs, as he was 
affectionately called, had a degree in Spanish and a mastery of English, he 
spoke Jamaican. Tabs' math instructions were conducted largely in the 
vernacular.

He would tease and cajole his students and had a rather Socratic approach to 
teaching, forcing his students to think and scoffing at those who wanted to be 
spoon fed. His 'horse sense' problems provided his charges with regular 
opportunities to engage in stimulating intellectual exercises.

Both masters brought out the best in their students and had a string of passes 
and distinctions to show for it. Clearly what was paramount was their mastery 
of their subject matter.

That said, it is important to point out that there are situations in which the 
choice of language for instruction would perhaps have been more important 
particularly for teachers who had less facility with their subject areas. 
Sometimes a difficult topic might better come to life if delivered in the 
language in which the instructor has the greatest competence.

Let it be abundantly clear, it is better to master two languages than one. No 
one can discount the value of our having a mastery of English it is the most 
widely spoken language. However we should not give short shrift to what for us 
is our native tongue. It is always so beautiful to hear a Fae Ellington or her 
mentor Leonie Forbes move seamlessly between Jamaican and 'propa inglish'. 
This facility I suppose is what we should all strive for.

However I strongly believe English should be taught in Jamaica as a foreign 
language and my experience as a teacher of Spanish reinforced that position in 
my mind. Immediately after leaving sixth form and waiting on a Harvard 
deferment, I had the privilege and opportunity to teach Spanish at my alma 
mater.

Two things stood out for me from this experience one was that I had to teach 
the students English as a foreign language in order for them to learn Spanish 
and that patois was helpful in imparting the Hispanic tongue.

Most of us are not taught that we conjugate verbs in English and that 'If I 
were you' is an example of the subjunctive mood. I remember explaining to my 
students some of the similarities in the sentence structures of Spanish and 
patois as I sought to teach the imperative mood.

I showed my students that in English we say 'Give it to me' the indirect 
object follows the direct. In Spanish and patois the reverse is true. 'Gi mi 
it' is structurally similar to the Spanish damelo.

In the latter case the direct object follows the indirect one. I could write 
numerous other examples in which I brought the Jamaican dialect to the service 
of my teaching Spanish. What is clear is that many of us operate under the 
misguided notion that we speak and understand English.

Another phenomenon I noted was that many of the students who thought they 
spoke English did not write it very well. What went wrong one might ask?

Well for starters those students who spoke on the vernacular understood that 
there was a distinction between their oral and written presentations. Those 
who believed that they spoke 'proper English' often transferred their 
ungrammatical oral habits to their written expression.

clydepmckenzie at yahoo.co.uk