Ou fi Riid Jamiekan: Di Kyasidi-JLU Sistim

The following is a summary of the Cassidy-JLU writing system for Jamaican

Single vowels

a similar to a in bat

e similar to e in bed

i similar to i in it

o similar to o in love

u similar to oo in cook

Doubling of vowels indicates a holding of the sound for a prolonged period of time.

aa similar to a in bath

ii similar to ee in teeth

uu similar to oo in boot

Jamaican also has what are called double vowel sounds. These are a combination of two single vowel sounds.

ai similar to sound in bite

ie similar to sound in nail

ou similar to sound in cow

uo similar to sound in throat

b as in bag / d as in den / ch as in chat / f as in fat / g as in gad

h as in hat / j as in jam / k as in ke / l as in lap / m as in men

n as in nag / ng as in sing / p as in pat / r as in ran / s as in save

sh as in sham / t as in tag / v as in van / w as in wet / y as in yam

z as in zam / zh as in version

or similar to the sound in early

hn is used to represent nasalisation in words such as in kyaahn, waahn, naahn