Sylvia Wynter's Dream

The popular Netflix movie “Sprinter” (2018) shed some light on how language is used to represent people. The story revolves around a hopeful teen (Akeem) living with his unstable father (Garfield) and unruly older brother (Germaine), and his budding track and field career being the foundation of reuniting with his mother who ‘ran off’ to America.

The movie highlights the different dynamics in which our language is used, which was a joy to see on the big screen. The highlight of how the language is used is truly interesting and demonstrates how a as we include more Standard Jamaican English into our dialogue the more we move away from characters of the lowers class.

The dialogue in the movie is shown to be very flexible; from different versions the patois dialect to the Standard Jamaican English. Coming from middle class families, Akeem and his classmates’ dialect reflect more Standard English and we mainly hear Jamaican Creole spoken more plainly during times of frustration or heightened emotions.

In the film, Germaine is shown in a group of scammers. It was interesting to note the switch from patois to Standard English in a matter of seconds. In order for the scam to be more believable the callers had to sound as if they also American and therefore can be trusted. The American accent is subsequently mimicked but is not perfect as we hear the strength of the Jamaican accent behind it.

When the location of the story moves to America, we see that Akeem did not change his accent. He was there representing his country and, unlike many are made to feel, did not see the need to change the way he spoke. It really highlights that we don’t need an American accent to be understood or to fit in and be more ‘professional’.

In a way, Sprinter shows how language travels and just how we can coexist with are varying dialects. Maybe we do not need to change our language to adapt to our surroundings. We are Jamaica, an English speaking country. Let others take the time to listen and adapt to us.