Nation language
"Nation language" is the term coined by scholar and poet Kamau Brathwaite[1][2] that is now commonly preferred to describe the use of non-standard English in the work of writers from the Caribbean and the African diaspora, as opposed to the traditional designation of it as "dialect", which Brathwaite considered carries pejorative connotations that are inappropriate and limiting.[2]
Not to be confused with National language or Regional language.
In the words of Brathwaite, considered the authority of note on nation language and a key exemplar of its use:[3]
Writers who also notably use nation language include Samuel Selvon, Louise Bennett, John Figueroa, Archie Markham, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Marc Matthews, John Agard, Jean Binta Breeze, as well as others of a younger generation. Poet and scholar Mervyn Morris ("one of the first academics to espouse the importance of nation language in helping to define in verse important aspects of Jamaican culture", according to Ralph Thompson)[4] identifies V. S. Reid's 1949 novel New Day as the first literary work to use Jamaican vernacular as the language of narration.[5]
In his History of the Voice (1984), Brathwaite discusses the prominence of pentameter in English poetic tradition, claiming that since the time of Chaucer, and with a few notable exceptions, pentameter has been the prevailing rhythm of English poetry. Brathwaite suggests that such imported literary forms may not be suitable to express the Caribbean experience. He writes, "The hurricane does not roar in pentameters."[6] It is here that nation language becomes of use to the Caribbean poet:
Brathwaite describes reading an article by the Martinician poet and critic Édouard Glissant, in which Glissant describes nation language as a "forced poetics" because it was used strategically by slaves in order to both disguise and maintain their culture.[8][9]