Background information about the African languages that contributed to Gullah.
Gullah (or Geechee or Sea Island Creole English) formed separately on the Sea Islands off the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida throughout the 18th and 19th centuries among enslaved Western Africans. They developed a language that combined grammatical, phonological, and lexical features of the non-standard English varieties spoken by white slaveholders and farmers in that region of the United States along with those from numerous Western and Central African languages. According to this view, Gullah developed separately, or distinctly, from African American English and varieties of English spoken in the South.
Why was English first introduced?
English was first introduced in these sea islands and surrounding areas due to the large amount of West African slaves that were taken from their home country that had many different dialects (Wolof, Malinke, Mandinka, Bambara to name a few). Due to the difference in dialects a similar language was needed for them communicate so English was used as it was a prevalent and accessible language commonly spoken by slaveholders.
The Southern American English Variety.
Gullah developed from Southern American English. Which originated from a combination of immigrants from the British Isles, who moved to the American South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and from prior creole or post-creole speech of African slaves.
References:
Otterbourg, Ken. “Being
One cause was that englosh men use natives as there slaves, but there were lots of negitives with having them as slave including there knowledge of the land so it was easy for them to escape and know where there going and there there population was very high so they could over throw there land owner and there fighting skills when most english men had little skill, but africans how ever they did not have knowledge of the land was limited so
This paper will discuss on the language used widely by Ali G. After reading and watching his video, it is quite apparent that he always used the Jamaican Creole to communicate with people. Basically, the section below will cover the phonological, lexical and grammatical analysis of Ali G speech on the basis of his video. Sebba (2007) mentioned that
Futhermore, at first slaves were both Indians and Africans. Since the Natives started getting sick and dying from diseases the colonist spread, the colonist started to import people from Africa. The colonist have not explored most of Africa. There were more people that they could use as slaves and the people
Have you ever thought about how to learn about Chaldean culture? This paper will provide you the reader with this knowledge. I will discuss Chaldean traditions and how my family have brought them to the United States. The Chaldean tradition derives from the ancient civilization and though it has little change my family is very fortunate to practice this unique culture. We as a family lived in the Middle East (Iraq “majority”, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran …), and nowadays are spread all over the world after the recent wars and challenges in the region that they live, especially those of Iraq. The Chaldean community like myself have migrated to the United States and live in two major Cities (Detroit in Michigan, and San Diego in California. The majority of Chaldeans like my family and I that have lived in USA came from the Northern part of Mesopotamia in a small village called, “Tilkef”. I am a Chaldeans like many of my relatives that are Christian Catholics, and we speak a language of Aramaic (The language that Jesus was speaking), which is also called Chaldean. The Aramaic is one of the oldest, continually spoken languages in the world. People think that Arabic and Chaldean languages are the same thing, actually they are nothing alike, and you will not be able to understand Arabic just because you speak Chaldean. I can speak both of these two different languages, and the use of this language is only because the Chaldean used to live with the Arab people for hundreds of
The Africans, on the other hand, were also forced from their homes and into slave labor. The English captured Africans bringing them to the New World on the Middle Passage. The Africans were brought to the New World as a form free labor to help build the colonies. The English did use the Indians for labor, but found it hard to work with them and they were susceptible to illness and were not as strong as the Africans. The Africans suffered through sickness and lack of understanding secondary to the language barriers with the English. They also had problems
(1) The use of natural dialect can be seen throughout the slave narrative interviews through words and phrases used that were common during the period of slavery, but are not used today. One example can be seen in the dialect used by former slave Mama Duck, “Battlin stick, like dis. You doan know what a battling stick is? Well, dis here is one.” Through incomplete sentences and unknown words the natural dialect of the time can be seen. Unfamiliar words such as shin-plasters, meaning a piece of paper currency or a promissory note regarded as having little or no value. Also, geechees, used to describe a class of Negroes who spoke Gullah. Many examples can be seen throughout the “Slave Narratives”
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It was a hot, muggy day like any other in southern Louisiana, right near the Atchafalaya Basin, and between the run-down gas stations and Spanish Moss-covered trees, there was something buzzing in the air, mingling with the hum of the mosquitoes. It was Zydeco, tricking out from the radios that were scattered around the rest station. Between the bars of the music, Louisiana Creole (a language with French, African, Spanish, and American Indian roots) intertwined with guitars and
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