Jamaican Creole Proverbs from the Perspective of Contact Linguistics

DATABASE of Jamaican Proverbs The following research material has been collected on the basis of Beckwith’s (1925) collection of proverbs and Cleary’s (1975) collection of Jamaican proverbs. 1. A bald head soon shave. [GKm] [A bald head is soon shaven.] 2. A choose burden nebba felt. [GKm] [A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt.] 3. A hint to an old horse is as good as a lick. [GKa] [A hint is as good as a nod.] 4. A stitch in time saves nine. [GKa] [In the following forms a is not the independent article but an abbreviated particle used as an introductory particle or for into, on, etc., and pronounced like a very weak open a.] 5. A de quiet cow de butcher kill. [GKm] [It’s the quiet cow the butcher kills.] 6. A de willing horse dem saddle the most. [GKm] [It’s the willing horse they saddle the most.] 7. A fast mek Anansi deh a house-top. [LW, AS] [Impertinence caused Spider to live in the house-top.] 8. A greedy mek fly follow coffin go a hole. [LW] [Greed causes a fly to follow a coffin into the grave.] 9. A me come ti dis a me beg fe it. [GKb] [I have got what I begged for.] 10. A no all bush hate rabbit. [GKb] [Not all green growth is poisonous to rabbits.] 11. A no because cow no hab tongue mek cow no talk. [GKm] [It’s not because cow has no tongue that she can’t talk, Implying that one is silent from prudence rather than ignorance. The cow is really a wise animal, but its voice is so loud every-

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE5NDY5MQ==