Dr. Andre. Coy

A new study by The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, has sought to establish Jamaican Standard English as a distinct variation of the English language.

The study focuses on the acoustic properties of Jamaican English, and was part of a multidisciplinary project at the Department of Physics to develop an automated literacy tutor for Jamaican children.

“The broader context is that we want to be able to use speech and language technologies, such as speech recognition or speech synthesis, in the assistance with education in Jamaica.

“We have the capacity at The UWI, Mona to use and develop speech recognition and synthesis technologies. Why not employ them to assist with vulnerable groups, such as children who are struggling to read or with the disabled, to develop assistant technologies for them,” senior physics lecturer in The Faculty of Science and Technology, Dr Andre Coy told the Jamaica Observer.

The research, which involved the collation of speech models from 360 primary school students across 12 schools in the Kingston and St Andrew area, found that Jamaican English had its own distinct phonetic qualities compared the American and British Standard English.

“The fact is that we in Jamaica have developed our own unique variety of English, even though we were told to speak the Queen's English because of Jamaica being a former British colony. But our version of English has become its own unique brand of English with its own acoustic nuances,” said postgraduate student at the UWI Mona, Stefan Watson.

The electronics major explained that he conducted the study to determine the efficiency of current speech recognition technology in deciphering Jamaican English.

Mr. Stefan Watson

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