Jamaican+(Zak)

__**Roots:**__ The language developed in the 17th century when slaves from West and Central Africa were exposed to, learned and nativized the vernacular and dialectal forms of English spoken by their masters. Jamaicans themselves usually refer to their dialect as patois, a French term without a precise linguistic definition.


 * __Culture:__** Significant Jamaican-speaking communities exist among Jamaican expatriates in Miami, New York City, Toronto, Hartford, Washington, D.C., Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama (in the Caribbean coast), and London.


 * __History:__** Although British English is used for most writing in Jamaica, Jamaican has been gaining ground as a literary language for almost 100 years. Jamaican pronunciation and vocabulary are significantly different from English, despite heavy use of English words or derivatives.