When we discussed an article about the creole Gullah in my linguistics class last semester there was a lot of issues when it came to race and language. There was one person in our class who was convinced that Gullah and multiple variations of AAVE (African American Vernacular English) should not be assisted in a professional education.
The creole Gullah began to develop the tribesmen brought from Africa by the slave traders, which was it pidgin in its own. As many of the tribesmen were sold into slavery in the West Indies, their pidgin language became influenced by the various creoles spoken by the natives in these islands. Throughout time, many of the slaves were brought by plantation owners in the American colonies. This is where their language was further influenced by the English dialects used by the overseers on these plantations. Finally, from the leveling of all these linguistic influences, a new language developed. The language became a creole in the mid 1700s when a second generation began speaking the language.
Contrary to the belief of my classmate, Gullah is not poor, or broken English. It is not a dialect of any other language, neither is it Black English. Gullah possesses every element necessary for it to qualify as a language in its own right. It has its own grammar, phonological systems, idiomatic expressions, and an extensive vocabulary. Since this language was never intended to be written, there are no hard and fast rules governing its standardized way of writing of Gullah.
To describe the language, Gullah is spoken softly, with a rolling rhythm. Since this language is an English-based, or English-derived creole, it sounds like English, but there is a certain flavor of the West African coast in its intonation and stress. This is where a lot of speculations come from because since the language is spoken in an English dialect but is still flavored with West African many, many believe that Gullah is a language that is a part of Black English. On hearing it for the first time you are apt to think you are listening to the Krio spoken in Sierra Leone, or the Jamaican or Barbadian creoles spoken in the West Indies. The vocabulary of Gullah is mostly English with only a few words from African languages reminiscent of its pidgin stage.
I really enjoyed this article and these discussions (without the ignorance of my classmate) because there was history combined with controversy of language and education. A idea that I want to point out from this article is that Gullah is still mostly a language passed down through oral translations. As the language was never intended to become a written language, clearly there are going to be deficits in teaching those born into Gullah, hearing and using it every day, and trying to have these speakers learn to write in what is commonly seen to be “professional English.”
Unlike Gullah, AAVE has no specific origins, but the language is considered a creole by multiple linguists. It is quite clear that AAVE does have similarities to Southern American English, but there still are characteristics of the language that leave all its origins up for debate. AAVE has been a strong influence in American education both in literature and in court. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God are all considered canonical texts in the high school classroom and contains AAVE. Court cases files have also been filled with the questions of whether AAVE should be incorporated with those who speak the language in the classroom. Educators have asked for both AAVE to be discouraged in the education system but also they are asking for more resources of how to help those students who speak/use AAVE. As a student in the education program I understand both of these concepts. As AAVE is being used constantly throughout certain areas of the nation it is important that the teachers understand why students do not understand English grammar, or pronunciation. But on the other hand, as state governments are forcing teachers to teach toward a test in order for student to show progress, training students to become more bilingual becomes time consuming and adds more pressure in the classroom.
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