Jamaican English

the popularity of U.S. cultural offerings, including film, music, and televised dramas and comedies and tourism.

[7] Non-rhoticity (the pronunciation of "r" nowhere except before vowels) is highly variable in Jamaican English and can depend upon the phonemic and even social context.

is very open [a], similar to its Irish variants, while BATH, PALM, and START all use this same sound too, but lengthened,[15] and perhaps slightly backed;[16] this distinction can maintain a London-like TRAP–BATH split.

GOAT and FACE vowels in the standard educated dialect are long monophthongs: respectively [oː] and [eː].

[18] Before the low central vowel [a], the velars [k] and [ɡ] can be realized with palatalisation, so that cat can be pronounced [khat ~ kjat] and card as [kha:d ~ kja:d]); while [ɡ] and [ɡj] coexist, as in gap [ɡap ~ ɡjap] or guard [ɡa:(ɹ)d ~ ɡja:(ɹ)d].

These variations are distinct phonemes in Jamaican Patois before [a]: [ɡja:dn̩] is garden while [ɡa:dn̩] is Gordon; [kja:f] is calf while [ka:f] is cough.

Hoewever, vowel length can be a relevant factor, since it is possible to hear forms like [kjat] for cat, [kjaɹɪ] for carry, [kjaɹaktʌ] for character, and [kjaɹɪbiǝn] for Caribbean, but affluent or aspiring middle-class speakers tend to avoid [kja:ɹ] for car due to its longer vowel.

Jamaican Patois has a standardised orthography as well,[24] but has only recently been taught in some schools, so the majority of Jamaicans can read and write standard English only, and have trouble deciphering written Patois (in which the writer tries to reflect characteristic structures and pronunciations to differing degrees, without compromising readability).

Written Patois appears mostly in literature, especially in folkloristic "dialect poems"; in humoristic newspaper columns; and most recently, on internet chat sites frequented by younger Jamaicans, who seem to have a more positive attitude toward their own language use than their parents.

[citation needed] Between the two extremes—"broad Patois" on one end of the spectrum, and "perfect" Standard English on the other—there are various in-between varieties.

Code-switching can also be metacommunicative (as when a Standard-dominant speaker switches to a more heavily basilect-influenced variety in an attempt at humor or to express solidarity).