Gullah language facts for kids

Gullah (also called Gullah-English, Sea Island Creole English, or Geechee) is a special language. It is spoken by the Gullah people, who are African-Americans living along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. You can also find Gullah speakers in parts of Florida and North Carolina.

A creole language like Gullah is a mix of different languages. It forms when people who speak different languages need to communicate. Over time, this mix becomes a new, full language.

How Gullah Began

Gullah is a blend of English and languages from Central Africa and West Africa. Experts have a few ideas about how Gullah started:

• Some think Gullah grew on the Sea Islands of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Enslaved Africans created it in the 1700s and 1800s. They combined parts of English spoken by slaveholders with words and grammar from many African languages.
• Another idea is that some enslaved Africans already spoke a language called West African Pidgin English before they came to America. This language was used for trade along the West African coast. It helped Europeans and Africans, and different African groups, talk to each other. This pidgin might have been the starting point for Gullah.

Gullah Words

Most Gullah words come from English. But many words also come from Niger-Congo and Bantu languages of Africa. These words have survived for hundreds of years.

Some African words in Gullah include:

• cootuh (meaning "turtle")
• oonuh (meaning "you" when talking to more than one person)
• nyam (meaning "eat")
• buckruh (meaning "white man")
• pojo (meaning "heron", a type of bird)
• swonguh (meaning "proud")
• benne (meaning "sesame")

Gullah is very similar to Sierra Leone Krio, another English-based creole spoken in West Africa. Linguists, who study languages, found that about 25% of Gullah words are like those in Sierra Leone. Also, some Gullah songs have been traced back to the Mende people in Sierra Leone.

Lorenzo Dow Turner's Study

In the 1930s and 1940s, a linguist named Lorenzo Dow Turner did an important study of Gullah. He traveled to Gullah communities in South Carolina and Georgia.

Turner discovered that Gullah was strongly shaped by African languages. This was true for its sounds, words, grammar, and how sentences were built. He found over 300 loanwords (words borrowed from another language) from various languages of Africa in Gullah. He also found almost 4,000 African names used by Gullah people.

Turner even found Gullahs in faraway communities who could sing songs, tell parts of stories, and count in languages like Mende, Vai, and Fulani.

In 1949, Turner published his findings in a famous book called Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Before his work, many scholars thought Gullah was just "bad English." They believed it was a mix of mispronounced words and poor grammar. Turner's detailed research changed their minds. After his book came out, many experts started studying Gullah language and culture.

Gullah Grammar

Gullah has its own unique grammar rules. Here are some examples of how verbs work:

• Uh he'p dem — "I help them" or "I helped them"
• Uh bin he'p dem — "I helped them" (meaning "I've been helping them")
• Uh gwine he'p dem — "I will help them" (meaning "I'm going to help them")
• Uh done he'p dem — "I have helped them" (meaning "I've done helped them")
• Uh duh he'p dem — "I am helping them" (meaning "I do help them")
• Uh binnuh he'p dem — "I was helping them" (meaning "I've been helping them")

Here are some examples of how sentences are built in Gullah from the 1800s:

• Da' big dog, 'e bite'um — "That big dog, it bit him."
• Duh him da' cry out so — "It is he who cried out that way."
• Uh tell'um say da' dog fuh bite'um — "I told him, said that dog would bite him."
• De dog run, gone, bite'um — "The dog ran, went, bit him."
• Da' duh big big dog — "That is a big, big dog." (Repeating words like "big big" makes them stronger.)

Gullah Storytelling

The Gullah people have a rich tradition of storytelling. Their stories are influenced by African oral traditions and their history in America.

• Many stories feature animal tricksters like "Brer Rabbit", "Brer Fox", and "Brer Wolf". These characters often use their cleverness to get out of trouble.
• Other stories are about human tricksters, often enslaved people who were smart and stood up for themselves.
• There are also morality tales. These stories teach children important lessons about right and wrong.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some white American writers collected Gullah stories. Charles Colcock Jones Jr. and Albert Henry Stoddard made some of the best collections. They grew up speaking Gullah with the enslaved people on their families' farms. Another collection was made by Abigail Christensen, who came to the area after the Civil War to help the newly freed slaves.

Even though some people question how perfectly these writers captured the language, their works still give us the best look at how Gullah was spoken long ago.

Gullah Today

Today, about 5,000 people speak Gullah in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Around 300 people are native speakers. While Gullah is still a unique creole language, some of its older African-influenced grammar might be less common now.

For many years, outsiders made fun of Gullah speakers. They thought the language showed a lack of education or low social status. Because of this, Gullah people often spoke their language only at home or within their communities. This made it hard to count how many speakers there were.

US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas grew up speaking Gullah in Pin Point, Georgia. He once shared that the teasing he got for his Gullah speech as a young man made him listen more than speak in public.

In recent years, educated Gullah people have started to promote their language openly. They see it as a symbol of cultural pride. In 2005, Gullah leaders finished translating the New Testament into modern Gullah. This project took over 20 years!

In 2017, Harvard University even started offering Gullah/Geechee as a language class. It is taught by Sunn m'Cheaux, a native speaker from South Carolina.

Gullah Examples

Here are some examples of how Gullah was spoken in the 1800s:

Here is a story called Brer Lion an Brer Goat, first published in 1888:

Brer Lion bin a hunt, an eh spy Brer Goat duh leddown topper er big rock duh wuk eh mout an der chaw. Eh creep up fuh ketch um. Wen eh git close ter um eh notus um good. Brer Goat keep on chaw. Brer Lion try fuh fine out wuh Brer Goat duh eat. Eh yent see nuttne nigh um ceptin de nekked rock wuh eh duh leddown on. Brer Lion stonish. Eh wait topper Brer Goat. Brer Goat keep on chaw, an chaw, an chaw. Brer Lion cant mek de ting out, an eh come close, an eh say: "Hay! Brer Goat, wuh you duh eat?" Brer Goat skade wen Brer Lion rise up befo um, but eh keep er bole harte, an eh mek ansur: "Me duh chaw dis rock, an ef you dont leff, wen me done long um me guine eat you". Dis big wud sabe Brer Goat. Bole man git outer diffikelty way coward man lose eh life.

And here is what it means in modern English:

Brer Lion was hunting, and he saw Brer Goat lying on a big rock, moving his mouth and chewing. He crept up to catch him. When he got close, he watched him carefully. Brer Goat kept chewing. Brer Lion tried to find out what Brer Goat was eating. He didn't see anything near him except the bare rock he was lying on. Brer Lion was surprised. He waited for Brer Goat. Brer Goat kept chewing, and chewing, and chewing. Brer Lion couldn't figure it out, so he came closer and said: "Hey! Brer Goat, what are you eating?" Brer Goat was scared when Brer Lion appeared in front of him, but he stayed brave and answered: "I am chewing this rock, and if you don't leave me alone, when I am done with it I will eat you." These strong words saved Brer Goat. A brave person gets out of trouble where a scared person loses their life.

The Bible in Gullah

Here is a passage from the New Testament translated into Gullah:

Now Jedus been bon een Betlem town, een Judea, jurin de same time wen Herod been king. Atta Jedus been bon, some wise man dem dat study bout de staa dem come ta Jerusalem fom weh dey been een de east. 2An dey aks say, "Weh de chile da, wa bon fa be de Jew people king? We beena see de staa wa tell bout um een de east, an we come fa woshup um op." Wen King Herod yeh dat, e been opsot fa true. An ebrybody een Jerusalem been opsot too. He call togeda all de leada dem ob de Jew priest dem an de Jew Law teacha dem. E aks um say. "Weh de Messiah gwine be bon at?" Dey tell King Herod say, "E gwine be bon een Betlem town een Judea. Cause de prophet write say [...]

This is what it means in modern English:

Therefore when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, lo! astronomers, came from the east to Jerusalem, and said, Where is he, that is born [the] king of Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. But king Herod heard, and was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And he gathered together all the princes of priests, and scribes of the people, and inquired of them, where Christ should be born. And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by a prophet [...]

Kumbayah

The famous song "Kumbaya" gets its name from the Gullah phrase Kumbaya, which means "Come By Here." It is believed the song started with the Gullah people.

Languages Like Gullah

Gullah is similar to other English-based creole languages. These are spoken in West Africa and the Caribbean Basin. Some examples include Krio from Sierra Leone, Bahamian Creole, and Jamaican Patois. These languages use mostly English words, but their sentence structure is often influenced by African languages.

Gullah is most closely related to Afro-Seminole Creole. This language is spoken by Black Seminole communities in Oklahoma, Texas, and Northern Mexico. The ancestors of the Black Seminoles were Gullah people. They escaped slavery in South Carolina and Georgia long ago and fled to Florida. Later, they moved west. Their descendants today speak a form of Gullah that is very similar to the language spoken by enslaved people in the 1800s.

Experts also discuss how Gullah relates to African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Some think a Gullah-like "plantation creole" might have been the start of AAVE. Others believe different British English dialects had more influence on AAVE.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma gulá para niños