Patrick, PL and Payne-Jackson, A (1996) 'Functions of Rasta Talk in a Jamaican Creole Healing Narrative: 'A Bigfoot Dem Gi Mi'.' Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 6 (1). pp. 47-84. ISSN 1055-1360

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Abstract

Personal narratives are sites for the negotiation and construction of cultural and linguistic norms, and healing stories recontextualize bodily struggles as social and spiritual conflicts. We argue that a narrative of supernatural illness and cure told in Rasta Talk, a style of Jamaican Creole which is undergoing functional expansion, applies a historical critique of colonialism and racism to the health-care system, while allowing the teller to reposition himself discursively to alleviate suffering and stigma. Creative performance in the genre of illness narrative provides an opportunity for linking the diffusion and transformation of speech styles and registers such as Rasta Talk to the strategic extension of their social functions.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Language and Linguistics, Department of
SWORD Depositor:	Elements
Depositing User:	Elements
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2015 14:31
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2022 13:36
URI:	http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/11711

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