Wah Gwan restaurant on Troost Avenue is raising donations via a GoFundMe to support families in St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa damaged the island.

The battle lines have softened somewhat, but there is still substantial opposition to patois in the pulpit. Critics say it will dilute Scripture and undermine the already weak hold many poor Jamaicans have on standard English. Advocates see it as a bold, empowering move that will finally affirm the indigenous tongue as a distinct language in Jamaica.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Walk into any government office, courtroom or classroom in Jamaica, and you’ll be expected to speak the official language, English. But venture into the street, tune into a radio talk show or flip through the pages of Di Jamiekan ...

A young Harry Belafonte was preparing his repertoire of Caribbean songs in the 1950s and looking for expert input, when he sought out Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly, known affectionately as Miss Lou and hailed as the mother of Jamaican culture. Bennett ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Was reggae icon Bob Marley singing entirely in English when he recorded his classic "Trench Town Rock"? Linguists say no -- the Jamaican singer was using patois, a mixture of English and West African tongues spoken by slaves who were ...

Analisa Novak is a content producer for CBS News and the Emmy Award-winning "CBS Mornings." She specializes in covering live events and exclusive interviews for the show. Analisa is a United States Army veteran and holds a master's degree in strategic ...

Most words in Jamaican patois, like other English Caribbean patois, are English words filtered through a distinct phonetic system with fewer vowels and different consonant sounds. Patois is written phonetically to approximate these differences.

Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams is encouraging more Jamaicans to learn a second language so as to expand opportunities for employment and better relate to other cultures. According to Williams, in a globalised world where cross-cultural ...

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the