Acknowledgements

This book is the result of my long fascination with Jamaican language, culture, and radio. It is a revised version of my dissertation, which has been submitted and accepted by the University of Münster, Germany. The accomplishment of this book would not have been possible without the help and support of a number of people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my doctoral supervisor Dagmar Deuber for her continuous support, sincere supervision, patient and detailed proof-reading, always constructive feedback, and academic guidance. Lars Hinrichs aroused by linguistic interest in the Caribbean and helped me to study in Jamaica in 2007. Christian Mair drew my attention to the UWI Radio Education Unit and their archive, which sparked my enduring fascination with language on Jamaican radio, and has supported my interest in Jamaica and linguistics. Throughout my engagement with language on Jamaican radio I have had many insightful discussions with Axel Bohmann about the project, linguistics, and beyond.

I value the lively academic environment and the exchange of ideas with my colleagues at the University of Münster. I especially would like to thank Rudolf Owen Müllan for his persistent proofreading as well as Eva Hänsel for the many fruitful discussions about our projects, checking my transcriptions, and her dedicated proofreading.

I am also grateful to Stephanie Hackert for her interest in my work and for accepting this book into the Varieties of English Around the World series. Her detailed feedback and an anonymous reviewer’s suggestions were very helpful in the revision process of this book.

I would like to acknowledge funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a two-month field trip to Jamaica in 2012. I would like to thank Silvia Kouwenberg for her support and help before and during the field trip. Carol Williams and Hermine Tyrell at the International Students Office have been very kind and helpful during both of my stays at UWI. I am very grateful to all radio staff, production managers, and speech trainers who shared their insider knowledge with me. I am also very thankful to IRIE FM, Newstalk93FM, and RJR for giving me the permission to use broadcast excerpts for this publication and make them available to the readers on an accompanying website. I would like to thank all the Jamaicans who filled out the questionnaires, patiently answered all my questions, or helped me in any other way. This book would not exist if it had not been for you sharing your beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and kindness with me.

Thank you Mama for your enduring interest and support.