Lesson 22 of 48 · Trelawny
Name the body parts, say what hurts (mi belly a hot mi), and talk bush-tea remedies.
Fi chat bout yu body, learn di part dem fus: yai (eye), iez (ear), mout, teet, han (hand or whole arm), foot (foot or whole leg), belly, kin (skin), head-top (crown of the head), neck-back (nape), foot-battam (sole), han-miggle (palm), yai-wata (tears). Notice seh han cover arm an foot cover leg — one word fi di whole limb. Fi seh someting a hurt yu, use hot (hurt — from hurt, di r drop an di vowel flat): Mi belly a hot mi (my stomach is hurting me). Mi head a hot mi fram maanin (my head has been hurting all day). Mi back a hot mi, mi cyaan even ben dung (I cannot even bend down). Odda health talk: Mi no feel so good tideh. Mi well tiyad (very tired). Di pickney have run-belly (diarrhea). Mi feel fenneh (faint). Im maga bad (very thin); Miss P get mampi (plump). Now di bush tea part — memba, a folk practice wi a describe, no medicine advice: eena country, di fus ting granny aks when yu sick a wa kind a tea yu drink, caa tea mean ANY hot drink. Cerace bitta no ras, but di ol people seh i wash yu out. Fever grass tea sweet an i good when col a tek yu. Ginger tea settle yu belly. Soursop leaf tea mek yu sleep good, granny seh. Learner error dem: (1) No seh mi stomach is hurting — seh mi belly a hot mi. (2) No confuse hot (hurt) wid hot (temperature) — context sort i out: sun hot vs mi foot a hot mi. (3) Tea no mean ongle English tea — cocoa tea, fish tea, all a dem a tea. (4) Belly can also mean pregnancy: shi have belly — so listen good. Drill di body part dem by touching each one an calling i out loud.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| yai | yai | eye |
| iez | iez | ear(s) |
| mout | mout | mouth |
| teet | tiit | teeth |
| han | han | hand, arm |
| foot | fut | foot, leg |
| belly | beli | stomach; pregnancy |
| kin | kin | skin |
| head-top | hed-tap | crown of the head |
| neck-back | nek-bak | nape of the neck |
| a hot mi | a hat mi | is hurting me |
| run-belly | ron-beli | diarrhea |
| fenneh | fene | feel faint |
| cerace | serasi | bitter medicinal tea vine |
He records that a related adjective regularly serves as the verb in the folk speech ('Him full him long bag'; 'Anancy da dead wid laugh') — the same conversion that lets hot behave as a transitive verb in 'Mi belly a hot mi'. The body-part vocabulary itself is not in this chapter.
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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