A Beginner's Guide To Gullah 

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            Gullah Creole, sometimes referred to as “Geechee,” originated during the 18th century on South Carolina rice plantations due to the rapid contact of slaves from different parts of Central and West Africa (Mufwene, 2016). Slave masters/plantation owners purposely brought slaves from different regions of Africa due to the previous uprising of enslaved Native Americans. Unsurprisingly enough, these slaves did not share a common language and for the most part, were not given the opportunity to learn their master’s language. With the need to communicate, slaves were forced to make a pidgin language (Nichols, 2004, p. 135). The Gullah creole was born when “children who were born into the pidgin speaking community adopted the language as their native language and a more complex grammar evolved” (Nichols, 2004, p. 135).

            Due to the necessity of a fertile growth environment for the rice plantations, Gullah Creole is concentrated along the coast lines and Sea Islands of South Carolina. It is estimated that in about the last decade of slavery, 90,000 slaves resided in these locations, however, it is uncertain to say because a typical Gullah speaker has a lot of variability in the languages they use during their life (Nichols, 2004, p.136). Currently, Gullah Creole is still heard along the coast of South Carolina, but is primarily spoken by the young and old. Once a young Gullah is enrolled in school,  they are taught in English, and often codeswitch (Grosjean and Heinlein, 2004, p. 11). However, eventually many move away to pursue jobs in urban centers, the military, etc. using primarily standard English, but come back for retirement and resume their use of Gullah as their dominant language.

            In the 1890s, Gullah Creole faced difficulties in maintaining their culture and language due to the liberation of slaves during the Civil War and large floods that ruined the rice plantations in the years thereafter (*See Figure 1* Source: National Weather Service, Lee, 2019) (Abdou, 2014, p. 59).

Figure 1: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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*Timeline created by Author based on Source figures*

**Population figures were not available**

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This led to a huge migration out of the native Gullah areas, but also the building of bridges which led to contacts of other cultures with what was a previously isolated society. However, the Gullah people were, and are, strongly committed to retaining their language, culture, and customs. The Gullah language still remains one of the strongest Creole languages with about 250,000 native people today. Despite not having a written language, they pass down customs, traditions, and stories from generation to generation and even have their own translation of the new testament (Richard, 2019). Another factor that helped aid the retention of the Gullah language is that even though there was an influx of white people moving into the islands because of the construction of bridges, there was very minimal contact between the whites and blacks. When contact did occur, the Gullah would simply just code switch (Abdou, 2014, p. 60).

            One may ask, what are the distinct features of Gullah Creole? One feature is syntactical: the absence of the pronoun it (Jones-Jackson, 1983, p. 295). Gullah creole uses ee and um to replace its subjective and possessive use of it (Nichols, 2004). Um can also be used to substitute the times the English language would use the pronouns her and him (Jones-Jackson, 1983, p. 295). An example would be as follows:

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Example A:

Gullah: Ee hurt ee foot

English: It hurt its foot

Example B:

Gullah: That dog bit um

English: That dog bit him

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Another example of a linguistic feature is its phonology (Stevens, 2005, p. 2). The Gullah language is known to have dipthongs in their speech intonation by raising their pitch at the end of a declarative sentence – similar to one of a question (Abdou, 2014, p. 61). Additionally, there are variances in the “th” sound in Gullah.

Example C:

            “Thank you” in Gullah would produce the “t” sound and be tank yu

            “This,” “that,” “them” in Gullah would produce the “d” sound and be dis, dat, dem

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These phonetic and grammatical features are typical in many West African languages which is Gullah’s substratum. Interesting to note as well, is the similarity between Gullah and the language of Krio (FonteFelip, 2015). Krio is the language of the settlement, Sierra Leone, where many Jamaicans and free Blacks resided. However, it is thought that Krio has a stronger resemblance to Gullah than Jamaican. They share similar lexicon such as bigyai (greedy), pantap (on top of), ohltu (both) as well as names for their people (Opola). Although seemingly obvious, this attribution can be made because although Sierra Leone is currently comprised of many Jamaicans and free blacks after the liberation, originally many slaves were imported from the geographic location of Sierra Leone into the plantations of South Carolina.

            In conclusion, there is no doubt about the strength in Gullah today as the Gullah people continue to seek out isolation to preserve its long-standing language and culture. Unfortunately, there have been mixed reviews on the United States’ dedication to protecting the native lands of the Gullah people. In 2019, it was written that there is a rise in development of the coastal areas for agriculture, driving the Gullah out. The Queen Chief of Gullah has mentioned the harm in people viewing the land as “profit and not one of cultural significance and heritage” (Queen Chief, Cary, 2019). One can only hope that the threats to their current isolation do not endanger their rich culture, and language. The pride among the Gullah people still remain strong and what was once a language that was looked down upon as “socially inferior,” hopefully can continue to stand as a symbol for many years to come.