Content
Factsheet
Development of Gullah
Learning Gullah
Black English
Sea Island Culture
Photos
Reference
Region: Coastal region from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida, and especially on the Sea Islands off the Georgia coast. Small clusters in New York City and Detroit.
Alternate name: GULLAH, GEECHEE
Dialects: Northeast Florida Coast, Georgia, South Carolina.
Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Eastern, Northern.
Comments: Intelligibility with other English based creoles is undetermined. Very close to Bahamas Creole and Afro-Seminole. 90% lexical similarity with Afro-Seminole. In limited contact with English, and barely understandable with Standard English. Government bilingual education program begun. Vigorous. Linguistic influences from Fula, Mende, upper Guinea coast, Gambia River area. Scholars have been predicting its demise for 100 years (W. Stewart). Investigation needed: intelligibility with Bahamas Creole, Afro-Seminole.
Literacy rate: first language 1% to 5%; second language 75% to 100%.