Gullah Research Paper
Gullah Creole English
Gullah is an English based creole spoken by approximately 250,000 African Americans living in the Sea islands and the coastal low country region of South Carolina and Georgia. Gullah stems from the West African Pidgin English that was formed in the 18th century during the slave trade to allow the English speaking British traders to communicate with the local African traders. The language became a common language among different African tribes. Gullah later arose when African slaves on the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia needed to communicate with each other. The language combined the English spoken by the plantation owners with the West African Pidgin as well as their west and central African languages they brought with them. …show more content…
Linguists have found that Gullah Creole English is based off of English but has been heavily altered by many African substrate languages including Mandinka, Wolof, Bambara and many more.
These languages have influenced the grammar and sentence structure of Gullah, and have provided a sizable minority of the vocabulary. For example, the Gullah phrase “Kumbayah”(“Come by here”) has gained much popularity in the U.S. due to the song of the same name. During the 1930’s and 40’s, linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner did a study of the language and found over 300 words borrowed from various other African languages. He also found that Gullah speakers could recite songs and phrases in the Mende, Vai, and Fulani languages. Turner has published four editions of his findings between 1949 and 2002. Before Turner’s work, Gullah was viewed as substandard English including mispronounced words and corrupted grammar used by uneducated African Americans to copy the speech used by their slave owners. Now, Gullah is recognized and studied as a separate creole
language. Gullah is still spoken today, but is much less prevalent than it was a century ago. Now, it is generally only spoken by the Gullah people within their own homes and communities. This has lead to the decreolization of the Gullah language. However, in recent years, Gullah people have begun speaking Gullah openly again as a symbol of cultural pride. There is also a strong link between Gullah and the Jamaican, Barbados, Bahamian, Trinidad, and Virgin Island Creoles. It is speculated that this is because many of the people inhabiting these Caribbean islands are descendants of slaves brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American Revolution.
References:
"The Gullah Language." The Gullah Language. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/06.htm
"CCPL - Charleston County Public Library - South, Carolina." CCPL - Charleston County Public Library - South, Carolina. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013.http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?id=15717&catID=6042&action=detail
Gullah is an English based creole spoken by approximately 250,000 African Americans living in the Sea islands and the coastal low country region of South Carolina and Georgia. Gullah stems from the West African Pidgin English that was formed in the 18th century during the slave trade to allow the English speaking British traders to communicate with the local African traders. The language became a common language among different African tribes. Gullah later arose when African slaves on the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia needed to communicate with each other. The language combined the English spoken by the plantation owners with the West African Pidgin as well as their west and central African languages they brought with them. …show more content…
Linguists have found that Gullah Creole English is based off of English but has been heavily altered by many African substrate languages including Mandinka, Wolof, Bambara and many more.
These languages have influenced the grammar and sentence structure of Gullah, and have provided a sizable minority of the vocabulary. For example, the Gullah phrase “Kumbayah”(“Come by here”) has gained much popularity in the U.S. due to the song of the same name. During the 1930’s and 40’s, linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner did a study of the language and found over 300 words borrowed from various other African languages. He also found that Gullah speakers could recite songs and phrases in the Mende, Vai, and Fulani languages. Turner has published four editions of his findings between 1949 and 2002. Before Turner’s work, Gullah was viewed as substandard English including mispronounced words and corrupted grammar used by uneducated African Americans to copy the speech used by their slave owners. Now, Gullah is recognized and studied as a separate creole
language. Gullah is still spoken today, but is much less prevalent than it was a century ago. Now, it is generally only spoken by the Gullah people within their own homes and communities. This has lead to the decreolization of the Gullah language. However, in recent years, Gullah people have begun speaking Gullah openly again as a symbol of cultural pride. There is also a strong link between Gullah and the Jamaican, Barbados, Bahamian, Trinidad, and Virgin Island Creoles. It is speculated that this is because many of the people inhabiting these Caribbean islands are descendants of slaves brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American Revolution.
References:
"The Gullah Language." The Gullah Language. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/06.htm
"CCPL - Charleston County Public Library - South, Carolina." CCPL - Charleston County Public Library - South, Carolina. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013.http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?id=15717&catID=6042&action=detail