Lesson 40 of 48 · Clarendon
Paint action wid ideophone (braps, buff, wiish) an let off feeling wid safe exclamation (cho, aiee, kiss mi neck).
Patois no jus TELL yu weh happen — i mek yu HEAR i happen. Dem likkle sound-word deh name ideophone, an African language dem full a dem same way. Yu drop dem eena di sentence like sound effect: Braps! — sudden happening or arrival: 'Mi a walk go dung di road an braps! — mi buck up Miss P' (suddenly). Buff! — heavy someting drop or lick: 'Di breadfruit drop affa di tree, buff!' Wiish! — someting fly pass quick: 'Di car pass mi, wiish!, an gaan.' Blam! — door slam or loud bang: 'Im shut di door blam!' Chups — a di kiss-teet sound write dung; yu wi see i inna text an story book. Now di exclamation dem — Patois grade dem by strength, an yu haffi know di grade. Cho! — mild vexation or 'come on, man': 'Cho! Di bus late again.' Safe anywhere. Aiee! — pain or surprise: 'Aiee! Di pot handle hot!' Kiss mi neck! an Blouse an skirt! — big surprise, folksy an sweet: 'Kiss mi neck! A yu dat?' Lawd a mercy! an Wat a crosses! — distress. (To) raatid! — 'wow', mild an aright roun most people. Backfoot! — mild steam-valve. One serious warning: yu wi hear di 'claat' word dem — bumboclaat, rassclaat an dem breda. Dem a REAL curse word; dem can cause quarrel or worse. Know dem when yu hear dem, but no use dem — cho an raatid let off di same steam widout di trouble. Learner errors: (1) Di ideophone come WID or AFTA di action, not before — 'im drop, buff!', no 'buff im drop'. (2) Cho no mean 'hello' — a vexation i mean. (3) Watch di melody: Aiee! pitch high; a flat aiee soun like yu naa feel i. Mi wi model each one — yu copy di tune, not jus di letta dem.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| braps! | braps! | suddenly; sound of an abrupt happening |
| buff! | bof! | thud of something heavy falling |
| wiish! | wiish! | whoosh of swift movement |
| blam! | blam! | slam, bang |
| chups | chops | the kiss-teeth sound written down |
| cho! | cho! | mild impatience or disgust (safe) |
| aiee! | aii! | ouch!; cry of pain or surprise |
| kiss mi neck! | kis mi nek! | exclamation of surprise (folksy, safe) |
| blouse an skirt! | blouz an skort! | exclamation of surprise (safe) |
| Lawd a mercy! | Laad a maasi! | goodness! |
| wat a crosses! | wat a kraasiz! | what a trial! |
| (to) raatid! | (tu) raatid! | wow!, mild expletive |
| backfoot! | bakfut! | mild expletive, steam-valve |
| tarra-warra | tara-wara | polite stand-in for omitted bad words |
Free-standing ideophones (braps, buff, wiish) and the exclamation grades are not described. His nearest material is the small class of onomatopoetic reduplications (kap-kap, pooka-pooka), which is not the same construction.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
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