What is the meaning and use of “seh” in Caribbean dialects of English?
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I have heard "seh" used in Jamaican English but I think it's probably used in other parts of the Caribbean too. I know that in many cases, it is simply the equivalent of standard English "say". However, it is also used in sentences like:
"Mi know seh dem nuh like mi", meaning "I know that they don't like me"
In this case, "seh" seems to be used as an equivalent of standard English "that", rather than "say". But I would like to know whether I'm right, whether it has any other uses, and when people might choose to use "seh" instead of "that".
I'd also be interested to know about the etymology of the word.
Hopefully there are some Caribbeans on here who can shed some light on it.
dialects caribbean-english
add a comment |
up vote
21
down vote
favorite
I have heard "seh" used in Jamaican English but I think it's probably used in other parts of the Caribbean too. I know that in many cases, it is simply the equivalent of standard English "say". However, it is also used in sentences like:
"Mi know seh dem nuh like mi", meaning "I know that they don't like me"
In this case, "seh" seems to be used as an equivalent of standard English "that", rather than "say". But I would like to know whether I'm right, whether it has any other uses, and when people might choose to use "seh" instead of "that".
I'd also be interested to know about the etymology of the word.
Hopefully there are some Caribbeans on here who can shed some light on it.
dialects caribbean-english
The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
3
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48
add a comment |
up vote
21
down vote
favorite
up vote
21
down vote
favorite
I have heard "seh" used in Jamaican English but I think it's probably used in other parts of the Caribbean too. I know that in many cases, it is simply the equivalent of standard English "say". However, it is also used in sentences like:
"Mi know seh dem nuh like mi", meaning "I know that they don't like me"
In this case, "seh" seems to be used as an equivalent of standard English "that", rather than "say". But I would like to know whether I'm right, whether it has any other uses, and when people might choose to use "seh" instead of "that".
I'd also be interested to know about the etymology of the word.
Hopefully there are some Caribbeans on here who can shed some light on it.
dialects caribbean-english
I have heard "seh" used in Jamaican English but I think it's probably used in other parts of the Caribbean too. I know that in many cases, it is simply the equivalent of standard English "say". However, it is also used in sentences like:
"Mi know seh dem nuh like mi", meaning "I know that they don't like me"
In this case, "seh" seems to be used as an equivalent of standard English "that", rather than "say". But I would like to know whether I'm right, whether it has any other uses, and when people might choose to use "seh" instead of "that".
I'd also be interested to know about the etymology of the word.
Hopefully there are some Caribbeans on here who can shed some light on it.
dialects caribbean-english
dialects caribbean-english
edited Dec 12 at 14:08
asked Dec 3 at 13:52
Tim Foster
50912
50912
The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
3
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48
add a comment |
The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
3
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48
The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
3
3
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48
add a comment |
2 Answers
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The meaning of seh
In Jamaican Patois at least, seh is a cognate of say.
For example, from JamaicanPatwah.com¹:
seh
English Translation
say
Definition
Saying
Example Sentences
Patois: Wah yuh seh?
English: What are you saying?
and from The Poetry Archive:
Nouns
In Creole, where a noun refers to a class of persons or things, as such, or where it is preceded by a number or some other expression of quantity, nothing is added to indicate plurality.
Dem seh / wi commandeer cyar
They say / said we commandeered cars
('Di Great Insohreckshan', Linton Kwesi Johnson)
So in your example, Mi know seh dem nuh like mi, I'd read this as I know they say they don't like me, rather than your reading of that.
Etymology
Linguists have used the term "lexifier" for the relationship between English and Jamaican patois or creole: that is, English supplies most of the words to the patois. Then they're subject to the phonology of that dialect.
Patois does interesting things with word-ending vowels, but I'm not versed enough to name the specific phonological alterations that produce "seh" from "say"; sufficed to say, the source (etymology) of "seh" in patois is "say" in English.
But, just like any other word, seh has evolved organically over time, and diverged from straight English say. Below, I'll review a couple of these extensions.
In set phrases
In certain set phrases, it has a different meaning, but that's more a function of the idiomacity of the phrase (taken as a whole) as opposed to the word.
From TheCultureTrip.com, 15 Jamaican Patois Phrases To Know:
Weh yuh ah seh
Literally translated as what are you saying, but actually meaning how are you doing. For example: Weh yuh a seh? Mi deh try call yuh means, How are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you.
To make the difference between a standalone word and a set phrase clearer, consider an AmE example: you could say "bucket" has a different definition in the phrase "kick the bucket", but that's misleading: it's the set phrase which has a specific meaning, and should be treated as a indivisible word (technically a lexeme).
Other
Here's a case where seh apparently has an entirely different meaning, and I don't know how to class it.
From Paxton Belcher-Timme, Rhetoric of Reggae, Patois: the language of Jamaica (December 1, 2009):
Patois: cooh deh, dem ah galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten
English: Look at that! They are behaving as if they do not have anything.
Cooh Deh! = Look at that!
Deh ah = They are
Galanga lakka she = Behaving as if
Here, note the example sentence has Galanga lakka seh, but the "English translation" has Galanga lakka she.
So I don't know:
- which is the typo (meaning, this might not be discussing the word seh at all, but rather she),
- or whether this is a set phrase,
- or an entirely different meaning for the standalone word seh.
- Though I find lakka seh for like saying a plausible semantic broadening to "acting like" (it's like they're saying for acting as if²).
Possibility as a function word
Janus Bahs Jacquet, one of our resident linguists, in a comment, made an interesting connection to generic complement markers in Japanese:
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican.
It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc.
Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
I'm in no better position than Janus to corroborate this theory, but from the few examples I've examined today, it feels plausible.
¹ Patwah here being patois for Patois
² I didn't look this up, but if I had to guess, galanga is derived from "going along", "proceeding". Thus, galanga lakka say would be "going along like they're saying", i.e. proceeding as if. But again, this is speculation.
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
10
down vote
Seh means 'is the case' or 'that', as well as being a way to say 'say'. Hence, "galang lakka seh" = behaving as if X is the case, and "me know seh" = I know that this is the case.
- Native Patois speaker
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
2
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active
oldest
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active
oldest
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up vote
20
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The meaning of seh
In Jamaican Patois at least, seh is a cognate of say.
For example, from JamaicanPatwah.com¹:
seh
English Translation
say
Definition
Saying
Example Sentences
Patois: Wah yuh seh?
English: What are you saying?
and from The Poetry Archive:
Nouns
In Creole, where a noun refers to a class of persons or things, as such, or where it is preceded by a number or some other expression of quantity, nothing is added to indicate plurality.
Dem seh / wi commandeer cyar
They say / said we commandeered cars
('Di Great Insohreckshan', Linton Kwesi Johnson)
So in your example, Mi know seh dem nuh like mi, I'd read this as I know they say they don't like me, rather than your reading of that.
Etymology
Linguists have used the term "lexifier" for the relationship between English and Jamaican patois or creole: that is, English supplies most of the words to the patois. Then they're subject to the phonology of that dialect.
Patois does interesting things with word-ending vowels, but I'm not versed enough to name the specific phonological alterations that produce "seh" from "say"; sufficed to say, the source (etymology) of "seh" in patois is "say" in English.
But, just like any other word, seh has evolved organically over time, and diverged from straight English say. Below, I'll review a couple of these extensions.
In set phrases
In certain set phrases, it has a different meaning, but that's more a function of the idiomacity of the phrase (taken as a whole) as opposed to the word.
From TheCultureTrip.com, 15 Jamaican Patois Phrases To Know:
Weh yuh ah seh
Literally translated as what are you saying, but actually meaning how are you doing. For example: Weh yuh a seh? Mi deh try call yuh means, How are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you.
To make the difference between a standalone word and a set phrase clearer, consider an AmE example: you could say "bucket" has a different definition in the phrase "kick the bucket", but that's misleading: it's the set phrase which has a specific meaning, and should be treated as a indivisible word (technically a lexeme).
Other
Here's a case where seh apparently has an entirely different meaning, and I don't know how to class it.
From Paxton Belcher-Timme, Rhetoric of Reggae, Patois: the language of Jamaica (December 1, 2009):
Patois: cooh deh, dem ah galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten
English: Look at that! They are behaving as if they do not have anything.
Cooh Deh! = Look at that!
Deh ah = They are
Galanga lakka she = Behaving as if
Here, note the example sentence has Galanga lakka seh, but the "English translation" has Galanga lakka she.
So I don't know:
- which is the typo (meaning, this might not be discussing the word seh at all, but rather she),
- or whether this is a set phrase,
- or an entirely different meaning for the standalone word seh.
- Though I find lakka seh for like saying a plausible semantic broadening to "acting like" (it's like they're saying for acting as if²).
Possibility as a function word
Janus Bahs Jacquet, one of our resident linguists, in a comment, made an interesting connection to generic complement markers in Japanese:
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican.
It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc.
Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
I'm in no better position than Janus to corroborate this theory, but from the few examples I've examined today, it feels plausible.
¹ Patwah here being patois for Patois
² I didn't look this up, but if I had to guess, galanga is derived from "going along", "proceeding". Thus, galanga lakka say would be "going along like they're saying", i.e. proceeding as if. But again, this is speculation.
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
20
down vote
The meaning of seh
In Jamaican Patois at least, seh is a cognate of say.
For example, from JamaicanPatwah.com¹:
seh
English Translation
say
Definition
Saying
Example Sentences
Patois: Wah yuh seh?
English: What are you saying?
and from The Poetry Archive:
Nouns
In Creole, where a noun refers to a class of persons or things, as such, or where it is preceded by a number or some other expression of quantity, nothing is added to indicate plurality.
Dem seh / wi commandeer cyar
They say / said we commandeered cars
('Di Great Insohreckshan', Linton Kwesi Johnson)
So in your example, Mi know seh dem nuh like mi, I'd read this as I know they say they don't like me, rather than your reading of that.
Etymology
Linguists have used the term "lexifier" for the relationship between English and Jamaican patois or creole: that is, English supplies most of the words to the patois. Then they're subject to the phonology of that dialect.
Patois does interesting things with word-ending vowels, but I'm not versed enough to name the specific phonological alterations that produce "seh" from "say"; sufficed to say, the source (etymology) of "seh" in patois is "say" in English.
But, just like any other word, seh has evolved organically over time, and diverged from straight English say. Below, I'll review a couple of these extensions.
In set phrases
In certain set phrases, it has a different meaning, but that's more a function of the idiomacity of the phrase (taken as a whole) as opposed to the word.
From TheCultureTrip.com, 15 Jamaican Patois Phrases To Know:
Weh yuh ah seh
Literally translated as what are you saying, but actually meaning how are you doing. For example: Weh yuh a seh? Mi deh try call yuh means, How are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you.
To make the difference between a standalone word and a set phrase clearer, consider an AmE example: you could say "bucket" has a different definition in the phrase "kick the bucket", but that's misleading: it's the set phrase which has a specific meaning, and should be treated as a indivisible word (technically a lexeme).
Other
Here's a case where seh apparently has an entirely different meaning, and I don't know how to class it.
From Paxton Belcher-Timme, Rhetoric of Reggae, Patois: the language of Jamaica (December 1, 2009):
Patois: cooh deh, dem ah galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten
English: Look at that! They are behaving as if they do not have anything.
Cooh Deh! = Look at that!
Deh ah = They are
Galanga lakka she = Behaving as if
Here, note the example sentence has Galanga lakka seh, but the "English translation" has Galanga lakka she.
So I don't know:
- which is the typo (meaning, this might not be discussing the word seh at all, but rather she),
- or whether this is a set phrase,
- or an entirely different meaning for the standalone word seh.
- Though I find lakka seh for like saying a plausible semantic broadening to "acting like" (it's like they're saying for acting as if²).
Possibility as a function word
Janus Bahs Jacquet, one of our resident linguists, in a comment, made an interesting connection to generic complement markers in Japanese:
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican.
It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc.
Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
I'm in no better position than Janus to corroborate this theory, but from the few examples I've examined today, it feels plausible.
¹ Patwah here being patois for Patois
² I didn't look this up, but if I had to guess, galanga is derived from "going along", "proceeding". Thus, galanga lakka say would be "going along like they're saying", i.e. proceeding as if. But again, this is speculation.
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
20
down vote
up vote
20
down vote
The meaning of seh
In Jamaican Patois at least, seh is a cognate of say.
For example, from JamaicanPatwah.com¹:
seh
English Translation
say
Definition
Saying
Example Sentences
Patois: Wah yuh seh?
English: What are you saying?
and from The Poetry Archive:
Nouns
In Creole, where a noun refers to a class of persons or things, as such, or where it is preceded by a number or some other expression of quantity, nothing is added to indicate plurality.
Dem seh / wi commandeer cyar
They say / said we commandeered cars
('Di Great Insohreckshan', Linton Kwesi Johnson)
So in your example, Mi know seh dem nuh like mi, I'd read this as I know they say they don't like me, rather than your reading of that.
Etymology
Linguists have used the term "lexifier" for the relationship between English and Jamaican patois or creole: that is, English supplies most of the words to the patois. Then they're subject to the phonology of that dialect.
Patois does interesting things with word-ending vowels, but I'm not versed enough to name the specific phonological alterations that produce "seh" from "say"; sufficed to say, the source (etymology) of "seh" in patois is "say" in English.
But, just like any other word, seh has evolved organically over time, and diverged from straight English say. Below, I'll review a couple of these extensions.
In set phrases
In certain set phrases, it has a different meaning, but that's more a function of the idiomacity of the phrase (taken as a whole) as opposed to the word.
From TheCultureTrip.com, 15 Jamaican Patois Phrases To Know:
Weh yuh ah seh
Literally translated as what are you saying, but actually meaning how are you doing. For example: Weh yuh a seh? Mi deh try call yuh means, How are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you.
To make the difference between a standalone word and a set phrase clearer, consider an AmE example: you could say "bucket" has a different definition in the phrase "kick the bucket", but that's misleading: it's the set phrase which has a specific meaning, and should be treated as a indivisible word (technically a lexeme).
Other
Here's a case where seh apparently has an entirely different meaning, and I don't know how to class it.
From Paxton Belcher-Timme, Rhetoric of Reggae, Patois: the language of Jamaica (December 1, 2009):
Patois: cooh deh, dem ah galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten
English: Look at that! They are behaving as if they do not have anything.
Cooh Deh! = Look at that!
Deh ah = They are
Galanga lakka she = Behaving as if
Here, note the example sentence has Galanga lakka seh, but the "English translation" has Galanga lakka she.
So I don't know:
- which is the typo (meaning, this might not be discussing the word seh at all, but rather she),
- or whether this is a set phrase,
- or an entirely different meaning for the standalone word seh.
- Though I find lakka seh for like saying a plausible semantic broadening to "acting like" (it's like they're saying for acting as if²).
Possibility as a function word
Janus Bahs Jacquet, one of our resident linguists, in a comment, made an interesting connection to generic complement markers in Japanese:
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican.
It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc.
Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
I'm in no better position than Janus to corroborate this theory, but from the few examples I've examined today, it feels plausible.
¹ Patwah here being patois for Patois
² I didn't look this up, but if I had to guess, galanga is derived from "going along", "proceeding". Thus, galanga lakka say would be "going along like they're saying", i.e. proceeding as if. But again, this is speculation.
The meaning of seh
In Jamaican Patois at least, seh is a cognate of say.
For example, from JamaicanPatwah.com¹:
seh
English Translation
say
Definition
Saying
Example Sentences
Patois: Wah yuh seh?
English: What are you saying?
and from The Poetry Archive:
Nouns
In Creole, where a noun refers to a class of persons or things, as such, or where it is preceded by a number or some other expression of quantity, nothing is added to indicate plurality.
Dem seh / wi commandeer cyar
They say / said we commandeered cars
('Di Great Insohreckshan', Linton Kwesi Johnson)
So in your example, Mi know seh dem nuh like mi, I'd read this as I know they say they don't like me, rather than your reading of that.
Etymology
Linguists have used the term "lexifier" for the relationship between English and Jamaican patois or creole: that is, English supplies most of the words to the patois. Then they're subject to the phonology of that dialect.
Patois does interesting things with word-ending vowels, but I'm not versed enough to name the specific phonological alterations that produce "seh" from "say"; sufficed to say, the source (etymology) of "seh" in patois is "say" in English.
But, just like any other word, seh has evolved organically over time, and diverged from straight English say. Below, I'll review a couple of these extensions.
In set phrases
In certain set phrases, it has a different meaning, but that's more a function of the idiomacity of the phrase (taken as a whole) as opposed to the word.
From TheCultureTrip.com, 15 Jamaican Patois Phrases To Know:
Weh yuh ah seh
Literally translated as what are you saying, but actually meaning how are you doing. For example: Weh yuh a seh? Mi deh try call yuh means, How are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you.
To make the difference between a standalone word and a set phrase clearer, consider an AmE example: you could say "bucket" has a different definition in the phrase "kick the bucket", but that's misleading: it's the set phrase which has a specific meaning, and should be treated as a indivisible word (technically a lexeme).
Other
Here's a case where seh apparently has an entirely different meaning, and I don't know how to class it.
From Paxton Belcher-Timme, Rhetoric of Reggae, Patois: the language of Jamaica (December 1, 2009):
Patois: cooh deh, dem ah galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten
English: Look at that! They are behaving as if they do not have anything.
Cooh Deh! = Look at that!
Deh ah = They are
Galanga lakka she = Behaving as if
Here, note the example sentence has Galanga lakka seh, but the "English translation" has Galanga lakka she.
So I don't know:
- which is the typo (meaning, this might not be discussing the word seh at all, but rather she),
- or whether this is a set phrase,
- or an entirely different meaning for the standalone word seh.
- Though I find lakka seh for like saying a plausible semantic broadening to "acting like" (it's like they're saying for acting as if²).
Possibility as a function word
Janus Bahs Jacquet, one of our resident linguists, in a comment, made an interesting connection to generic complement markers in Japanese:
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican.
It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc.
Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
I'm in no better position than Janus to corroborate this theory, but from the few examples I've examined today, it feels plausible.
¹ Patwah here being patois for Patois
² I didn't look this up, but if I had to guess, galanga is derived from "going along", "proceeding". Thus, galanga lakka say would be "going along like they're saying", i.e. proceeding as if. But again, this is speculation.
edited Dec 3 at 18:25
answered Dec 3 at 14:10
Dan Bron
26k1286121
26k1286121
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
|
show 1 more comment
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
2
2
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
I have nothing really to back it up, but it seems likely to me that ‘say’ has been reinterpreted as a generic marker of certain types of complement clause in Jamaican. It ‘feels’ similar to how the marker と to functions in Japanese: its primary use is to mark direct speech, but it’s also used for things that can sort of be loosely compared to direct speech, such as the objects of sense and impression verbs, loose comparisons (act like, be like, look like), etc. Assuming that seh is the right word in the last example, I think that and the one in the question are actually the same usage.
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
Dec 3 at 15:33
2
2
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
Related: The Complementizer say in Nigerian Pidgin English – Traces of Language-internal Processes or Areal Features?
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:37
3
3
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
In this Patwa grammar guide, point 8.6 notes that se is a complementizer "after the psychologically-related verb-types of speech, thought, emotion or perception", and that it cannot co-occur with the verb se "to say".
– Michaelyus
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
@Michaelyus Niiiice! Thank you! I’ll edit this in later today. Great stuff, thank you for finding it an bringing it to us.
– Dan Bron
Dec 3 at 18:41
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
"Say" in English is also used as "for example" in the sense "[one might] say", so "galang lakka seh dem nuh ha nutten" -> "Going along like, one might say, they don't have anything".
– Ben
Dec 4 at 9:22
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
10
down vote
Seh means 'is the case' or 'that', as well as being a way to say 'say'. Hence, "galang lakka seh" = behaving as if X is the case, and "me know seh" = I know that this is the case.
- Native Patois speaker
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
add a comment |
up vote
10
down vote
Seh means 'is the case' or 'that', as well as being a way to say 'say'. Hence, "galang lakka seh" = behaving as if X is the case, and "me know seh" = I know that this is the case.
- Native Patois speaker
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
add a comment |
up vote
10
down vote
up vote
10
down vote
Seh means 'is the case' or 'that', as well as being a way to say 'say'. Hence, "galang lakka seh" = behaving as if X is the case, and "me know seh" = I know that this is the case.
- Native Patois speaker
Seh means 'is the case' or 'that', as well as being a way to say 'say'. Hence, "galang lakka seh" = behaving as if X is the case, and "me know seh" = I know that this is the case.
- Native Patois speaker
answered Dec 4 at 6:05
RukiyaMeria
1013
1013
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
add a comment |
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
fascinating stuff !
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:49
add a comment |
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The standard English is not equivalent. It should be something like: "I know they say they don't like me" which has a slightly different meaning.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:49
3
On a side note, the thing that helps a lot in understanding these dialects is understanding that 'them' (or 'dem') is often used to pluralize. E.g. "Horse them" meaning multiple horses. Once I learned this, phrases that were previously indecipherable to me became understandable.
– JimmyJames
Dec 3 at 17:55
"I know .. say them .. don't like me". "say them" is "they are saying". (A bit like "Say's who? - say's me!")
– Fattie
Dec 4 at 8:48