Part of the pronunciation section of Patwa Partner — how to physically make the sounds of Jamaican Patois.
H a di trickiest one, because it move BOTH way, an it carry social weight. Inna plenty deep-country an basilect speech di H drop off ('ouse, 'and) — an sometimes it get ADDED to a word weh never have one (hegg fi egg). Nearer di light, formal end a di dial, di H land di English way.
🔤 Di symbol dem, explained
/h/ — Nuh really a tongue sound at all — just a plain breath pushed out while yuh mouth already inna di shape a di vowel weh coming next.
👅 Mek di sound
Fi MEK an H: set yuh mouth up fi di vowel first (fi hand, set up fi a). Now push a plain puff a breath out through it. No tongue contact anywhere, no buzz inna di throat.
Fi DROP it: skip di puff entirely an start straight pon di vowel. hand → 'an. house → 'ouse. Di word start bare.
Fi ADD it (di hypercorrect one): put dat same puff pon a word weh start wid a vowel. egg → hegg. Dis show up inna older an rural speech — it real, but it nuh universal.
Yuh register dial control dis one. Deep basilect end: H drop plenty. Light end: H stay. Set di dial inna ⚙️ Settings an listen to how Teacha shift.
🎞 Watch di mouthDi side view show yuh di tongue — di one ting yuh cyaan check inna a mirror. Di front view a di one yuh can. Tap any word inna di ladder below fi move di mouth pon dat word.
✋🏾 Feel check — do it nowHold yuh open palm bout two inch inna front a yuh mouth. Seh hand — yuh feel a warm puff hit yuh palm. Seh 'an — no puff at all. Dat puff a di whole H, nutten more.
⚠️ Weh people slipOverdoing it. H-dropping vary hard by speaker, parish, generation, an even by di mood a di moment. Dropping every single H fi sound authentic land as mockery, not fluency. Di better move: listen to weh yuh OWN family do — record dem wid di Interview Kit — an match dem.
🪜 Practice ladder
Step one — one word at a time. Tap ▶ fi hear it, den seh it back.
seh it
JLU
English
'ouse
ous
house
'an
an
hand
'ed
ed
head
hegg
heg
egg (H added)
Step two — di phrase.
PhraseCome inna di 'ouse — Come into the house
Step three — di full sentence. Dis a di one fi record.
SentenceHim 'an dem did cold from morning — His hands were cold since morning
🎙 Seh it backRecord yuhself pon di sentence, den play di two back to back. Yuh own ear a di judge — dat a how di mouth learn.
🎚 Mout Check — look pon weh yuh just didYuh hear yuhself back up top. Dis show yuh di same ting inna two picture yuh ear cyaan draw: weh yuh tongue deh, an how even yuh beat dem run.
Sources
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), p. 36 [fieldwork 1952–59]
h is prefixed to stressed vowels (heggs, hice) and dropped elsewhere ( 'ow, 'igh, 'ouse) — the same two-way pattern this page teaches, with the Cockney parallel noted.
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), p. 41 [fieldwork 1952–59]
A caution: forms like "hood" for wood are NOT h replacing w. They are two unrelated changes — initial w drops, as in 'oman, and the intrusive h then attaches.
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), p. 46 [fieldwork 1952–59]
"eye" has both /hai/ with the added h and /yai/ with a y-onset; "hear" loses its own h and gains a y, giving the yeri of older tales and songs.
The described rules come from the published work above. The teaching, the wording and the animation are mine.