MESSAGE BY THE HONOURABLE OLIVIA GRANGE, CD, MP MINISTER OF CULTURE, GENDER, ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

21 February 2022
 
International Mother Language Day affords us an opportunity to focus on Jamaican Language, our ‘Patwa’. Our Mother Language is the product of a complex and even painful past. A legacy of our ancestors, the Jamaican Language provides insights into our people’s unique identity, power, determination, resilience, beauty and richness, as well as culture. Through this indigenous expression, we have fashioned a language which resonates universally as a sound for mobilisation, freedom, survival, one love, among other expressions of the human condition.

It is impossible to speak about our Jamaican Language without paying homage to our Mother of Jamaican Culture, the late Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverly, for the extensive and expansive work she did in bringing dignity and integrity to the language. Miss Lou understood that the Jamaican Language contained the world view and thought processes of our people. From “tek kin teet kibba heart bun” or “one han’ cyan clap” or “doh yu cyan stop flyin’ crow fedda from drop, yu can ‘inda crow from mek nest pon yu head top”, the Jamaican Language has assisted our people to express and respond to the many experiences of their lives.

Today we use the opportunity to celebrate and honour the Jamaican language, as a beautiful and dynamic expression which has built a bridge across which our people have consistently travelled to accomplish learning, knowledge and prosperity.

The fact that the church community has integrated a ‘Patwa Bible’ as relevant literature in our modern religious expressions, has given further credence to the need for us to use all means, including digital, to promote the Jamaican Language for all areas of erudition and official social interaction. This may not be interpreted as a plan to reduce the significance of English as our official language but rather to establish and promote bilingualism as a natural element of the Jamaican culture and character. As such, I commend educators and artistes who consistently promote the value of our Mother Tongue in all social encounters.

In closing, memba dis – “De house wha’ shelta yu wen a rain, yu fi look fe ‘im wen sun hot”.

God bless our Jamaican Language. God bless Jamaica Land We Love!

Olivia Grange, CD, MP
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport