The Jamaican Language Unit in the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Mona has just completed an island-wide survey of language attitudes across Jamaica. The survey sample was 1,000 men and women between the ages of 18 – 80+ years, from rural and urban centres in 3 regions of the country (western, central, eastern). The survey indicates that the majority of Jamaicans recognise Jamaican patwa as a language and contend that Ministers of Government should deliver speeches in patwa. 68.5% of those surveyed felt that patwa should be made an official language of Jamaica alongside English. 67.8% thought the Prime Minister or Minister of Finance would “communicate better with the public” if speeches were delivered in Jamaican in Gordon House. Some of the reasons cited for this view were “people who understand English will understand patwa but not vice versa”.
Given the option of schools that teach children to read and write in Jamaican and English as opposed to schools which teach children to read and write in English only, 71.1% of the population polled would like to have bilingual schools. The results also show that 78.6% of Jamaicans polled declared themselves speakers of both Jamaican and English. Only 10.9% and 10.5% respectively of the entire population polled declared themselves to be speakers of English only or Jamaican only. Slightly more women (11.8%) than men (10.0%) declared themselves to be speakers of English only.