Gullah (also known as Geechee) is an important Creole developed in the coastline and islands from the Carolinas, Georgia and northeastern Florida. Gullah language was developed in the XVIII century by the reunion of slaves from West Indies, Irish and Scottish settlers.
Most of the vocabulary is based on English and the grammatical structures are derived from the West African languages. According to the African American Registry, the gestures, rolling rhythm, variations in tone and strong storytelling practices are important characteristics of Gullah language and culture.
In the XIX and most part of the XX century, Gullah was a target of prejudice, but the language survived because the geographic isolation of the african-american speakers community, called “Gullah Nation”.
Since the decade of 1980, the interest in Gullah language and culture grew higher and, nowadays, the Gullah Nation has a leader with the title of Queen Quet which participates in United Nations forums.
Even so, the construction of vacation homes and golf courses in the south coastline are threats to traditional spaces and practices of the Gullah Culture in the XXI century.
Jeff Stevens, from University of Washington, in his article “Gullah” described some gullah language characteristics.
As the phonology:
and the syntax:
The Gullah Tours has a glossary of Gullah words as:
Noura F. Abdou, from University of Regensburg, made a very interesting analysis of Gullah and made a comparison between a English text from the Bible and the equivalent part in Gullah language:
Storytelling is a important aspect of Gullah culture. Bellow, a video of the Charleston Museum about the Gullah story Foot too Crooked.
More materials about Gullah Language:
Jeff Stevens article describe Gullah language
principal structures: http://faculty.washington.edu/wassink/gullah.pdf)
Noura F. Abdou present a complete article about
Gullah language with historical background, demographic setup and language
description: http://www.hrpub.org/download/20140105/LLS3-19301860.pdf
Gullah Tours has a interesting material as a
glossary and recordings in Gullah Language: http://gullahtours.com/gullah/gullah-words
In this video, from National Geographic, the Gullah
storyteller Theresa Jenkins Hilliard testify about the Gullah language
formation in the slaves communities and the difficult life in XVIII and XIX
century plantations. Images and songs are important part of the reconstruction
of the Gullah past. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/magazine/141015-ngm-ace-basin-gullah
The Gullah speaking territory are considered a
national heritage area, a space for cultural and historical conservation and
development. The Gullah Geechee Corridor website offers information about the
gullah language, culture and relevant visiting sites.
Joseph A. Opala offers as historical review about
the Gullah language and the studies about it. Also, he offers a interesting
connection between Gullah and african languages as krio from Sierra Leone:
