Content
Factsheet
Development of Gullah
Learning Gullah
Black English
Sea Island Culture
Photos
Reference
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| Gullah: Sea Island Creole | ||||||||||||
| Development of Gullah | ||||||||||||
| The British Dialects and Baby-Talk | ||||||||||||
| Many Americans who have attempted to explain Gullah have greatly underestimated the extent of the African element in this strange dialect. Observing many characteristics that Gullah has in common with certain British dialects of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they have not considered it necessary to acquaint themselves with any of the languages spoken in those sections of West Africa from which Negroes were brought to the New World as slaves, nor to study the speech of the Negroes in those parts of the New World where English is not spoken; but rather have they taken the position that the British dialects offer a satisfactory solution to all the problems presented by Gullah. They contend also that Gullah is partly a survival of baby-talk which the white people, during the early period of slavery, found it necessary to use in communicating with the slaves. A few quotations from the productions of some of these writers will explain their theory and reveal the unanimity of their views regarding the origin and nature of Gullah. | ||||||||||||
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