| Also Known As: Geechee,Gullah
Description:
The Gullah language (also called Sea Island Creole English and Geechee) is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people (also called "Geechees"), an African American population living on the Sea Islands and the coastal region of the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia.
Gullah is based on English, with strong influences from West and Central African languages such as Mandinka, Wolof, Bambara, Fula, Mende, Vai, Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Kongo, Umbundu, and Kimbundu.
Scholars have proposed two theories:
Many scholars believe that Gullah arose independently in South Carolina and Georgia in the 18th and 19th centuries when African slaves on rice plantations developed their own creole language combining features of the English they encountered in America with the West and Central African languages they brought with them on the middle passage. According to this view, Gullah is an independent development in North America.
But other scholars maintain that some of the slaves brought to South Carolina and Georgia already knew Guinea Coast Creole English (also called West African Pidgin English) before they left Africa. Guinea Coast Creole English was spoken along the West..... full article at Wikipedia |
