Talk:Gullah language

message: Is there a connection between the Gullah name and people, and the Gur language of Ghana? Especially considering that the letters L and R are interchangeable in many African languages.MrSativa (talk) 05:04, 28 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Gullah and Gur

message: The Gullah language article was created from the "Language" section of Gullah.  The relevant items from Talk:Gullah were moved to this page. Jorge Stolfi 00:00, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Moved language portions from Gullah article

message: I don't know anything about the structure of Gullah but looking at the examples of African influenced constructions, there are two that dont seem to me to belong there. The first is the so-called Topicalization construction, which is actually an instance of left dislocation, since the clause-initial phrase is resumed by a pronoun. The English literal translation is perfectly grammatical so I dont know why this particular construction is an instance of African influence.
"Da' big dog, 'e bite'um -- "That big dog, it bit him" (Topicalization)"
Also, the focus fronting example looks alot like a cleft (Im not sure but "duh" looks alot like "that"), which we also have in English, e.g. the gloss.
Duh him cry out so -- "It is he who cried out that way" (Front Focusing)
--Maziart 23:01, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I would like, with respect, to see a reference for Sorie's last statement, though I can't provide any for my following argument.  I have a little familiarity with Gullah, and much with African-American Vernacular English, and it seems to me that [də] (spelling it duh seems belittling and, at best, suggests an aspirate that isn't there) is precisely that with the copula elided or merged:  in [də im kɹɔɪ out soː], [də] could easily derive from that was or that were (3rd p. sing. in many Br. Eng. dialects) via [dat wə] --> [da wə] --> [də].  Disappearance of terminal /ɹ/, /s/, and /t/ is very well documented in AAE and Gullah.  P.S.:  Forgive me if my IPA is off--the computer I'm using doesn't have all the fonts for it, and I'm pasting characters that I can't see. Jdcrutch (talk) 01:41, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: African constructions in Gullah

message: I haven't actually done any research into the matter, but it seems likely that the Gullah langauge is in fact a full creole, and not just a pidgin. Anyone know more than I do?
:My college history text says it's a dialect of english, but my teacher (whose specialty is african american history says it's a full language and definitely is NOT a pidgin language.
===It *is* a Creole, and maybe its own Language===
The Difference between a Creole and a Language is essentially in the degree of mutual intelligibility. For some speakers of Southern AAVE (African American Vernacular English), Gullah may be more easily understandable, and hence would classify as a Creole; however, for most speakers of the Standard English dialect, Gullah would qualify as a separate Language, because of the lack of mutual intelligibility.
Quoting my friend Anne Charity,
"The two [notions] (speaking about the distinction between Creoles and actual languages) are not mutually exclusive...There are many languages that are Creole in origin. But if you mean is it a dialect of English vs. a language, that is a difficult question depending on who you ask because mutual intelligbility will vary (i.e. Southern AAVE speakers have more in common with Gullah than white speakers from the midwest.) All this technicality put aside, most linguists and locals alike agree that Gullah is a language that is a Creole in origin and historical classification.
Here are some good, brief definitions:"
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node1.html
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node3.html#SECTION00012000000000000000
"In the Creole literature, the ideas of mutual intelligibility are phrased in terms of the creole continuum. The first part of this web page give a good overview:"
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/papers/TestingContinuum.html
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me with questions.
nela@dartmouth.edu
I would suggest that most speakers of Southern American English, and not just Southern AAVE, would easily be able to understand Gullah, though some features would be unusual or sound more West Indies. It certainly can't compare, say, to Belizian Creole. Janko 19:41, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Has anybody actually conducted any research to determine this? My hypothesis would be that most English speakers, wherever they are from, will get 99% of it. I did. "Gufa hoe" threw me at first, until I figured out he was saying "gopher hole." Ocanter 19:59, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Pidgin or creole?

message: The Difference between a Creole and a Language is essentially in the degree of mutual intelligibility. For some speakers of Southern AAVE (African American Vernacular English), Gullah may be more easily understandable, and hence would classify as a Creole; however, for most speakers of the Standard English dialect, Gullah would qualify as a separate Language, because of the lack of mutual intelligibility.
Quoting my friend Anne Charity,
"The two [notions] (speaking about the distinction between Creoles and actual languages) are not mutually exclusive...There are many languages that are Creole in origin. But if you mean is it a dialect of English vs. a language, that is a difficult question depending on who you ask because mutual intelligbility will vary (i.e. Southern AAVE speakers have more in common with Gullah than white speakers from the midwest.) All this technicality put aside, most linguists and locals alike agree that Gullah is a language that is a Creole in origin and historical classification.
Here are some good, brief definitions:"
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node1.html
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/messeas/handouts/pjcreol/node3.html#SECTION00012000000000000000
"In the Creole literature, the ideas of mutual intelligibility are phrased in terms of the creole continuum. The first part of this web page give a good overview:"
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/papers/TestingContinuum.html
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me with questions.
nela@dartmouth.edu
I would suggest that most speakers of Southern American English, and not just Southern AAVE, would easily be able to understand Gullah, though some features would be unusual or sound more West Indies. It certainly can't compare, say, to Belizian Creole. Janko 19:41, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Has anybody actually conducted any research to determine this? My hypothesis would be that most English speakers, wherever they are from, will get 99% of it. I did. "Gufa hoe" threw me at first, until I figured out he was saying "gopher hole." Ocanter 19:59, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: It *is* a Creole, and maybe its own Language

message: There are 250,000 speakers, up to 10,000 of which are monolingual and 1 to 5% literate, that means that there are 100 to 2,000 people that are monolingual and could contribute in the written form, in addition to 2,500 to 12,500 speakers that are literate total, and for a first world country like the united states that is a lot of people that are online, im sure we can find some people interested in starting a "gullah test wikipedia" at wikipedia incubator, if so let me know here or on my talk page and we can start the project. i think with the level of proudness and self-awareness this community has for its cultural heritage it will prosper. so let me know, any thoughts? comments?MY♥INchile 06:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The hard part comes with being able to find them and let them know that there's now a test Wikipedia for their speech; assuming they're not shamed by the outside from pursuing it (I say this as an Appalachian speaker). —ᚹᚩᛞᛖᚾᚻᛖᛚᛗ (ᚷᛖᛋᛈᚱᛖᚳ) 00:50, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Start a Gullah Wikipedia?

message: I would really like to know just how accurate the examples of English to Gullah translations in this article are. It all sounds like "Amos and Andy". I realize that Gullah is a bona-fide language; I would just like to know if anyone with a genuine fluency in Gullah has contributed to this article. Furthermore, do we know how correct the spelling is? Is Gullah written as it is spoken? I truly think that this article is in need of attention from an expert. One more thing; I've heard that there is a sizeable portion of Gullah speakers in New York. Does anyone know if this is true?Mk5384 (talk) 20:56, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The gold standard for "classic Gullah" for Wikipedia purposes is Lorenzo Dow Turner's book, which was rather influential.  Of course, people's manner of speech has probably changed somewhat since 1949... AnonMoos (talk) 21:15, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I am not doubting the veracity of the source. I would, however, like to know, who decided that it is "the gold standard for Wikipedia purposes".Mk5384 (talk) 09:48, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Sources

message: The history Channel has a show called "The States" and during the episode about S. Carolina they gave an example of the Gullah language.  Now I've never been to South Carolina, but when the man was reading from the Gullah Bible I understood it perfectly even before he translated anything.  I was shocked to hear it still has the same exact sing-songy maner as they do in Barbados. Most Caribbean islands say Barbadians talk like they're singing when speaking, but I heard the exact same thing when the guy on TV was giving an example of the Gullah language from the Gullah language Bible.  It is not a given since I cannot understand when Jamaicans talk in a really raw accent.)  Do any speakers of Gullah notice the similarities in the example below??
Here for example, is the Barbadian comedian Alfred Pragnell who has some videos uploaded on Youtube. 
*How Maisie Ross Get Save
*A Telephone Conversation
I think it's cool that even though Barbadians first settled in the Carolinas in the 1600s the languages are still very similar today.
CaribDigita (talk) 01:16, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: There was a piece on Gullah language on History Channel

message: The section "African grammar influence" claims to showcase sentences that illustrate the influence of "African grammar" on Gullah. Considering that there is no such thing as a language called "African", and since the languages spoken in Africa are so diverse, I think this section is misleading. Moreover, it makes no illustration of the source languages used to make the claim, thus providing a possible basis for a POV assessment.
I am going to edit it to remove the references to "African grammar", unless clear connections and citations are included.
Wanyonyi (talk) 06:09, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems fairly obvious that the grammar of specific (West African) languages was intended, not the whole continent of Africa indiscriminately; however, the languages should be named... AnonMoos (talk) 18:20, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

text: I wish some qualified editor or editors would follow up on these suggestions by , which don't seem to have been addressed in the article.  I would also appreciate it if somebody would add citations, as the article sorely lacks them.  This is an important topic, and it's a crying shame that it isn't better covered on Wikipedia. J. D. Crutchfield | Talk 22:26, 28 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: "African" Grammar?

message: but, wow, this article is why I love wikipedia! My Funk and Wagnell's kinda missed this one... by about a thousand light years:)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by FunkyWags (talk • contribs) 03:07, 15 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  delete this if you feel it necessary 

message: The infobox says 550 native speakers, while the article text says 250,000 speakers. Even accounting for the latter including non-native speakers, that's quite a range of estimates. Are there any better sources for this? --Delirium (talk) 07:45, 5 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  number of speakers 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I am a student in a linguistics class. I am adding the sounds of this language for a class assignment.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jz916 (talk • contribs) 04:22, 22 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Phonology