The Kromanti Language of the Jamaican Maroons (Final edit)

[fuckyou1621]

I'm telling you man this doesn't sound like the language the maroons speak in Surinam this guy pronounces it different not the like the maroons living in surinam some words he says are similar though but thats because all English Creole languages developed the same way when he splits the alcohol that looked familiar to me because the maroons in Surinam do that too

[TheDonikue]

He is actually not Jamaican but Guyanese. Jamaicans and Guyanese sound alike I have observed.

[123Killpretty]

@TheDonikue umm..that's in Jamaica. And I was born and raised in Jamaica and can tell you that Jamaicans and Guyanese sound a LOT different.

[MASSIVE100]

@TheDonikue Yardees & GT's sound very much different. The only accent that sounds similar to Jamaicans are Antiguans. Guyanese and Trinidadians sound somewhat familiar.

[dawebni]

I am mixed race from Martinique french west indies, and i remember my mom's oncle was like that man in the video! pure african roots just spread out from them and make you feel like a trip back to your roots that's so special! we still speak "Creole" here and we supposed to be a mix of yoruba (benin nigeria) and bantu from congo but with also senegal&guinea's influences... Where he would say "Mi sa" we would say "Mwen ka or Man ka" and when he splits the alcohol we still have that in the vodoo!

[roseblossom999]

sound just like how some vincentian talk. I wish more people could embrace language like that. I know they say that to sound smart you have to speak standard/ queen english but i love to hear de caribbean people speak.

[tigerone1970]

You should check out the work of Prof. Clyde Winters (Olmec98):

Clyde Winters on the Akan in Ancient America Part 1

watch?v=KMAbFAwVbdc

Akan in Ancient America Part 2

watch?v=ZXkHQ1DQAbw

Afro- Mayan Kings

watch?v=wU2OslyBhck

[jamaica8799]

imagine di man a fool evybody an himjust mad loool

[Rasprogress]

Interesting. I recall my dad saying in his youth he encountered a light skinned man speaking Twi and Ewe with astounding proficiency. When it was discovered that the man was Jamaican, it became very baffling to his mates. It seems given the same chances of interaction, Jamaicans can revive the usage of Twi and Ewe. Already u have words such as 'bissey' for cola nut and dukunu in wide use.

[africasfinest52]

Wow! I am astonished as how they preserved the language im a Ghanaian and i picked some twi words.

[kadjatu5000]

In Akan language of Ghana,(OBRONI) means White men!!!

[blackarawak83]

The Akan based language of the Maroons doesn't represent Jamaican Patois as a whole as you find as well Igbo,Mende,Wolof,Fulani, Kru and Bantu words. We can safely say that most non-Maroon Jamaicans trace their ancestry from a mix of these African Tribes.

[fineguh]

@blackarawak83 awww kru is a tribe from liberia :) I'm half Liberian & that is the tribe I'm from.

[Xaymaicana]

@blackarawak83 Kru? fulani?? HUH?! which words? I know about Wolof, Bantu, Mende, Igbo and even Yoruba but Kru and fulani?

[blackarawak83]

@Xaymaicana the word Juk(to "spur" or "hook" is of Fula origings which may have come thru the neighbouring tribes like the Wolof.Mandingo and Mende tribes. By the way, Liberia's Kru language is a tonal language which has some similarities to the Mende speaking groups of Sierra Leone.

[Xaymaicana]

@blackarawak83 LOL ok cool. I just remembered i did some research about jook/juk and fulani. I went back and referred to my notes and totally forgot about that. thanks bro.

[Raine0323]

I love how I am an 18 year old first born American with Jamaican heritage and I understand almost everything he says. I thank my great grandparents for that. Much love <3

[1honeychild]

Is he sober?

[kahledyouth]

@1honeychild not funny.if you are trying to be a smartass.

[qweyceefly]

YOU GUYS MAKE UR RESEARCH WELL EVERY BODY IS FROM SIERRA LEONE LOL

THIS GUYS ARE SPEAKING AKAN CANT YOU SEE IS AKAN

AH VISIT GHANA YOU GUYS WILL SEE IT

O BECAUSE OF THE DIAMOND THAT WHY ALL MOF YOU ARE FROM THERE AH

[Xaymaicana]

@qweyceefly what are you talking about?

[foodovision]

@mainforce88 Didn't sound like "perfect English" to me (I'm an American, from the Northeast), it sounded like it as in good part Creole, although it was different enough from what Im used to hearing that I coulnd't understand his Creole without subtitles.

[foodovision]

But so sad he hasn't passed the language down to his children or grand-children! Unless a baby is born in his household and he speaks to that child in Kromanti exclusively for ~18 years, it's over I'm afraid.

[noease1985]

What other towns did he mention, besides Moore Town?

[maaruz1979]

give thanks for posting this knowledge so the youth can remember & keep what aspects of the old culture still survives

[noease1985]

@alliance I appreciate your comments and your protecting African identity. If some blades of grass could subdue us with their sharp edges, it seems some of my people would assume we are descended from that grass, and use similarities in our genetic material, metabolic processes, cell structure, etc as evidence.

[MegaBlueman1]

@noease1985 For real.

[noease1985]

@smoothcurls there is no reason to assume Africans are descended from Hebrews.

Contact with hebrews could not have been established by Africans, during an indigenous tribal period, and only an indigenous period can an account for the biological and cultural autonomy recorded by European and Middle Eastern invaders.

[noease1985]

@hairh20 the ijaw are in the niger river delta of nigeria, not the kongo river.

[WaterJumping]

I need to get that DNA test quick because my father thinks Nigeria but he looks like he might be from Gambia and my mother's side looks more Hausa from Niger

[WaterJumping]

The British also took many from from Niger and Gambia to Jamaica. After slavery in Jamaica alot of people do not realise that Indentured servants also came from Africa and I believe they came from Senegal.

[jahblessIful]

amazing and so important

[allianceFiLifeDotCom]

Portland has a very strong presence of Congo-Angola Africans so I am not too sure if the language is more Koronanti as oppose to being more influenced by languages from Congo-Angola area...that is just my thought. I would like to hear someone from the Larger Akan western Jamaica to the Eastern part of Jamaica. I would love to take a course with this professor on this subject I partially studied it in African American language and African religions courses.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom The Eastern parts of Jamaica is Akan. Yoruba and igbo is more West Jamaica. Congo is Haiti and Brazil.

[buttercup5773]

@HairH2O I have to let you know that I am from Southern Jamaica and I understand everything he says. If the language he's speaking is Akan, then the Africans who spoke that language weren't just in Eastern Jamaica, but in Southern Jamaica as well.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I will check out the DNA tests but that is what I am sure of. Angola I have never heard of in Jamaica. After slave some from Senegal came. Now that I remember some came from Angola but they were sucidal because of their culture and the thought of slavary traders did not have intrest in them, because they had to alway watch over them. The Spanish took most of their slaves from the Congo and what I read the Spanish never really used Jamaica as a slave island, like Haiti.

[allianceFiLifeDotCom]

@HairH2O The 3rd Largest group of Africans in Jamaica are Kongo-Angola decent Kumina is the strongest African based religion in Jamaica and it is descended from Congo-Angolans. Many words in the Jamaican language can be traced back to west-central Africa. They were not a minimal nor were they suicidal. If they were Brazil and much of Jamaica would not exist in its current state.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom No Congo was French. Haiti Brazil and much of the Spanish French Caribbean have Congo decent. Jamaicans are of Ghana, Gamabia, Niger, South Nigera. The Congo look you speak of might be the little amounts of Ijaws who came to Jamaica.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I have never seen Y A,B on the DNA list for Jamaica. But I see Y R, E1b1a. That West African but not central or south. Ask the professor to do a DNA research you will see.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I ment E1b1a. R is India

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I will give you the name of the tribe who would rather commit sucide than become a slave. It was part of their tribal belief on slavary.

[HairH2O]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom You should know Jamaica more than me because I do not live there but that is what I know from the DNA lists and old books I read.

[Xaymaicana]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom dont pay that h20 person any mind. the congolese definitely had a role in the slave trade and you are right the third highest amount of our ancestry is from the congo/angola.

[SmootherCurls]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom E1b1a DNA is Isrealites DNA they are the same tribes you read about in the old testament who fled because of war.

[allianceFiLifeDotCom]

@SmootherCurls We have nothing to do with Israelites keep that bull to youself. Keep that old testament bull to yourself too. We are descendants of west and west-central Africans we have nothing to do with the bible nor any tribes in the bible.

[SmootherCurls]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I never stated all, I stated E1b1a they first appeared in West Africa 3000 years ago. There are other DNA in Africa. Jews are mixed with E1b1a. You have not seen the curlly hair. You would not know unless you tested.

[SmootherCurls]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom They fisrt appeared 30,000 years ago. I ment

Akan - Esau

Igbo - Jacob

Tribes in West Africa

[MegaBlueman1]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom I am of Akan heritage and the language he is speaking is very much Akan. I hear it very clearly. I am sure there are some Congolese influences but the greater majority of it is Akan. What he is saying is very clear to me and I am sure to others of this heritage.

[MegaBlueman1]

@allianceFiLifeDotCom Alliance I like the way you go about this. Alot of people here making comments obviously have not done the proper research and if they have they have tried to substitute certain groups for others because they do not like what they have read. It is obvious that the Akan have to a large extent influenced the culture and language of Jamaica weather it be in the western portion or eastern portion of the country. Congolese influence exists but not to the extent that akan

[Xaymaicana]

@MegaBlueman1 if i am not mistaken you were indirectly throwing shots at me. Someone like my who has not only studied Caribbean culture but African culture to the extent that I can guess (accurately) where someone in Africa is from based on features, traditions and language is NOT ignorant to my history as a Jamaican. We Jamaicans are a mixture of Africans from west and central regions. We speak a language that shows this. Kumina is Conglese and a huge part of our culture just as Kromanti is.

[Xaymaicana]

@Xaymaicana *someone like me

[MegaBlueman1]

@Xaymaicana Not really taking shots at you. I respect you I am just telling like it is. Of course there is a mixture but lets be real, despite this mixture Akan culture has dominated all others. Even the Congolese tradition of "kumina" is an Akan word. (Akom Nana) or in english "ansestors have gone within" This name was given to the tradition of the Congo language and traditional/spiritual dances they performed by Some Akan/Jamaicans who witnessed these acts and named it.

[ElsHouse]

You can hear the strong tribal African intonation when he mispronounce the English words. It goes to show the slaves came with their language and did not lose it completely.

[funsahara]

My mum is Ashanti Akan (ghana) and I can see the similarities

[keithcookstv]

powerful!

[OtunbaAtoodimu]

Thanks JLU for engaging this tremendously important task of documenting our " folk " heritage .

[citygirl212]

im from surinam and i understand everything he is saying ..it sounds so similar !

[Xaymaicana]

@citygirl212 really?

[extrapressure]

wow, this is amazing. i am trying to learn about west african culture and language and to know that there are still some people in the caribbean that speak it is very uplifting and inspiring. i wish kromanti was taught in schools from very young so all the jamaican black diaspora could benefit. but too much interference could destroy the maroon way of life. we should learn from them, and learn kromanti, and teach our children, but not interfere with their way of life.

[dsheena89]

There was no need for those weird spelling translations, some people can tell the word as is, you don't have to write near as 'nier'. Not because we pronounce it different mean seh it affi spell differently

[microdac]

This video so very, very important. You have done what I hope to do more of; to make videos highlighting the great things about Jamaica. Thanks very much for sharing!

[TB4be]

Wow!! Big up all true Maroons in the UK - We should get together - and blow some abeng!!!!!!

[90Graff]

@TB4be Big ups from to you in the UK we should smoke some Grapes, ha

[LeonDuhaney]

This is what my grandparents speak........I only understand it........i can't speak it.

Where is chickie, when i need a translator.?

Miss you granny.

[saxywale]

at 4.32. ''Unu'' means ''you'' in igbo language. Sabi is the maroon language is probably a mix of different west african language. and ''Sabi means to know'' is a word derived from ''saber'' from portugese/spanish sailors trading on the coast of west africa

[TheLineOfDefence]

@saxywale onu means 'you' in TWI (Ashanti's of Ghana) aswell.."Abeng" means "TRUMPET" or "HORN" and "OBRONI" means 'WHITE MAN' or foreigner... so much similarities between those two cultures it amazes me..i need to keep on researching.. I'll visit Ghana again to try and find the link

[nate4367]

it sounds alot like patois

[frenzyfizzykid]

In regards to the ABENG.. its a similar practise by the ashanti's in Ghana and they call it ABEN.. I can now see the similarities between the two.. even the way the man was singing, the melody and shaking of head is the same..

[mainforce88]

SEE HOW HE SWITCHES TO PERFECT ENGLISH?? JAMAICANS ARE THE BEST WITH A RICH HISTORY..

[mainforce88]

MI DEH YAH A WONDA HOW DI RAAS MI UNDASTAN WEH HIM A SEH..LOL. BOY THE LANGUAGE OF JAMAICA IS A LOST ART IM TELLING YOU.

[mainforce88]

LOVE THIS..

[Masmuda1967]

Yes!!!!!!

[sexysuzie26]

@Masmuda1967 interesting indeed!