Gullah

creole language based on English, spoken by former black slaves and their descendants (also called Gullahs and Geechees, West African tribal names) on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia and on the mainland nearby. Gullah consists of an English pidgin base characteristic of 17th- and 18th-century British colonists' speech, with additional vocabulary and some grammatical forms derived from various West African languages, including Vai, Mende, Twi, Ewe, Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Kikongo, and others. The influence of these African languages on Gullah is seen in the sound system, syntax, word intonation, grammar, vocabulary, and formation of new words.

Nearly 6,000 African words have been identified in Gullah, most of them used as personal names; examples are Abiona “born by the wayside” (Yoruba), Anyika “she is beautiful” (Vai), and Pitipa, a Mende name given to children born during a rain. Many African words in Gullah have been passed on from Gullah to English, such as cooter (“tortoise”), goober (“peanut”), gumbo (“okra”), juke (as in “jukebox”), and voodoo (“witchcraft”). Gullah speakers simplify English words and constructions, speak rapidly with no Southern drawl, and use an intonation unlike that of English. Representative sentences in Gullah are Dey fa go shum (“They went to see her,” literally “They take go see her”); Shishuh tall pass una (“Sister is taller than you”); and Uma-chil' nyamnyam fufu an t'ree roll-roun', but 'e ain't been satify (“The girl ate mush and three biscuits, but she wasn't satisfied”).