Jamaican Creole is not English?

‘It’s broken English’: MP’s attempt to speak Jamaican in parliament sparks language rowParliamentary rule that only English is allowed has reignited debate about language, legitimacy and postcolonial identityNatricia Duncan and Anthony Lugg in Kingston, The Guardian (5/21/26) In this explosive exchange, you can hear the dramatic shift from "Patwa" (patois) to standard English in a 1:17 video included in The Guardian article. When the Jamaican MP Nekeisha Burchell stood up to give her maiden speech, she was keenly aware of how much her country’s parliament mirrored the Westminster version thousands of miles away in London. As in the UK, the session on 12 May had started with the arrival of the ceremonial mace – a 1.7-metre ornamented silver staff representing the British monarch’s authority over parliament – which now rested on a table between the government and the opposition. Despite the heat outside, debate was presided over by the speaker dressed in a ceremonial robe. I witnessed a…