Jamaican Maroon Creole

Jamaican Maroon language, Maroon Spirit language, Kromanti, Jamaican Maroon Creole or deep patwa is a ritual language and formerly mother tongue of Jamaican Maroons. It is an English-based creole with a strong Akan component, specifically from the Asante dialect of modern day Ghana. It is distinct from usual Jamaican Creole, being similar to the creoles of Sierra Leone (Krio) and Surinamese Creoles such as Sranan and Ndyuka. It is also more purely Akan than regular Patois, with little contribution from other African languages. Today, the Maroon Spirit language is used by Jamaican Maroons and Surinamese Maroons (largely Coromantees). Another distinct ritual language (also called Kromanti) consisting mostly of words and phrases from Akan languages, is also used by Jamaican Maroons in Myal rituals including some involving possession by ancestral spirits during Kromanti ceremonies or when addressing those who are possessed and sometimes used as a kind of code.^[1][2] Kromanti is also a branch of the Myal religion in Jamaican Maroon communities.

The term "Kromanti" is used by Maroon participants in such Myal ceremonies to refer to their language spoken by ancestors in the distant past, prior to the creolization of Jamaican Maroon Creole. This term is used to refer to a language which is "clearly not a form of Jamaican Creole and displays very little English content" (Bilby 1983: 38).^[3] While Kromanti is not a functioning language, those possessed by ancestral spirits are attributed the ability to speak it. More remote ancestors are compared with more recent ancestors on a gradient, such that increasing strength and ability in the use of the non-creolized Kromanti are attributed to increasingly remote ancestors (as opposed to the Jamaican Maroon Creole used to address these ancestors).

The language was brought along by the maroon population from Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) to Nova Scotia in 1796, where they were sent in exile. They eventually traveled to Sierra Leone in 1800. Their creole language highly influenced the local creole language that evolved into present day Krio.

1. ^ Taylor, Patrick; Ivor Case, Frederick (2013). The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions. University of Illinois Press. p. 479. ISBN 9780252094330.
2. ^ African Language Studies Volume 12. 1971. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. ^ ^{a b} Bilby, Kenneth (1983). "How the "Older Heads" Talk: A Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language and Its Relationship to the Creoles of Suriname and Sierra Leone". New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 57 (1/2): 37–88. doi:10.1163/13822373-90002097. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011.

• Bilby, Kenneth (1983). "How the "Older Heads" Talk: A Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language and Its Relationship to the Creoles of Suriname and Sierra Leone". New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 57 (1/2): 37–88. doi:10.1163/13822373-90002097. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011.

This pidgin and creole language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e