~Gullah: Sea Island Creole~

Gullah: Sea Island Creole

Nouns Verbs Pronouns Tense
Word Order Gender Glossary Speaking Gullah

NOUNS
A. Number

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Practically all Gullah nouns have the same form in the plural as in the singular. Distinction is made by the use of a qualifying demonstrative pronoun or a numeral adjective: e.g. dem bai "those boys", faiw dag "five dogs."

There is precedent for this practice in many West African languages.

In Ibo the singular form of a noun is the same as the plural. When it is necessary to make a distinction, one method is to prefix a word to the noun to indicate the plural: e.g. nwoke 'man,' ndi nwoke 'men' (ndi meaning 'those' or 'people'). A less common method is to use a reduplicated form of the singular.

In Ewe the plural of nouns is formed by adding to singular the third personal pronoun wo 'they': e.g. ame 'human being', amewo 'human beings'; ati 'tree', atiwo 'trees'.

NOUNS
B. Case

Gullah nouns have the same form in all cases. They are uninflected: di cif mare 'the chief's mother', di fare brere 'the father's brother.'

In Ewe, in names of relationship, the genitive is similarly uninflected: e.g. fia dada 'the chief's mother,' fofoa nevi 'the father's brother'.

In Ibo only its position in the sentence can show the case of a noun. For the genitive case, one form of nike 'of' is sometimes used, especially when the possessor is a person; but it may be omitted.

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