Endangered Language Profile: Gullah

   Video: A Story Told in the Traditional Gullah Language at the African American Heritage Day

 

For almost 350 years Africans from across central and western Africa were kidnapped and forcibly relocated to the Americas as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  The number of Africans stolen from the continent is estimated to be in the millions, although only a fraction of those individuals actually made it across the ocean.  This is not an unknown or unfamiliar story to many readers, but it is central to the topic of today’s blog post: the endangered language of Gullah (also known as Geechee).

 

Gullah (aka, Geechee, but herein referred to as Gullah) is the name of both the ethnic group and language spoken by the descendants of enslaved Africans who settled along the coastal islands of the American south.  The Gullah resided on and continue to call the islands along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia home, although there are some who say that they also occupied areas along northern Florida.  These populations established their communities in these areas beginning in the 1700s, intermixing their unique cultural traditions, beliefs, and values from the various African nations they came from with English and other European languages and ways of life. 

 

The Gullah remained largely in isolation until the 1950s.  This was partially due to involuntary and voluntary factors.  The islands they resided on were difficult to get to, creating barriers to both entering and leaving the islands.  There were also strong prejudices against the Gullah and their language, both of which were labeled as “low class” or uneducated, leading to many not to reach out to the Gullah.  The Gullah also preferred the isolation as it enabled them to practice their culture and religion and speak their language free from prejudice and/or judgements.  This isolation fostered a unique culture and language that was shared and passed down through the generations among the Gullah, which remained largely unchanged until almost 75 years ago.  With the creation and construction of bridges, however, these islands were better connected to the mainland, leading to increased contact, and the changing economic landscape forced many Gullah to leave their ancestral homes.  This led to various cultural and linguistic changes.

 

While various linguists studied the Gullah language it is the pioneering work of Lorenzo Dow Turner that is considered the most influential.  This is because he was the first scholar to identify the African elements that were present in the Gullah language.  Linguists who had studied Gullah previous to Turner concluded that no such elements remained, and that the language was a broken and poorer version of English.   Turner’s work demonstrated that Gullah is derived from English by borrowing English words, but there exist strong connections in vocabulary and grammatical elements to various west and central African languages, including Mandinka, Fula, Mende, Vai, Akan, Ewe, Kongo, and Kimbundu.  This makes Gullah the only known and recorded American English creole language.  Furthermore, Turner’s work, which was completed throughout the beginning and mid-20^th century, documents the language prior to more consistent contact from mainlanders as Turner recorded various native speakers for his research.

 

Unfortunately, Gullah is considered an endangered language.  It is estimated that there are only several hundred native speakers left, although there are several thousand semi-speakers of Gullah.  For a long time younger generations showed little interest in learning Gullah, citing it as the language of the elderly.  There were also efforts by American educational institutions to discourage the speaking and learning of Gullah.  Additionally, because Gullah is largely an oral language it is difficult to learn if one does not have a native speaker available to teach it. 

 

These are challenges that are not without solutions, however, as the Gullah are taking various steps to preserve their language.  Younger generations are encouraged to learn the language to preserve it and the culture associated with it.  Gullah language and culture is richly steeped in oral history and storytelling, which has initiated a cultural festival wherein Gullah stories and language are shared through various art forms.  There remains hope that this language will not be lost through Turner’s and various other’s recordings, but the risk of extinction remains.  Hopefully the efforts of the Gullah themselves, as well as Gullah and non-Gullah scholars, does not allow that outcome to occur.

 

Works Cited

Campbell, Emory S. "Gullah Geechee Culture: Respected, Understood and Striving: Sixty Years after Lorenzo Dow Turner’s Masterpiece, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect." The Black Scholar (2011): 77–84. Print.

Endangered Languages Project. Gullah-Geechee, Endangered Languages Project. 2021. Electronic. 2 January 2024.

"Gullah." Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications (1975): 468–480. Print.

Kelley, Jason. "Lorenzo Dow Turner, PhD’26." University of Chicago Magazine November-December 2010. Electronic.

National Park Service. Low Country Gullah Culture Special Resource Study and Final Environmental Impact Statement. Atlanta: NPS Southeast Regional Office, 2005. Print.

Smithsonian Journeys. "Photo: Language and Storytelling Southern Style." Smithsonian Journeys 26 January 2010. Electronic.