Gullah

1. Gullah Lo: Know the differences between Gullah and current Standard English.

2. The history of the Caribbean • The slave trade brought Europeans and Africans together in the Caribbean, resulting in the birth of Creole languages. • The relative status of different languages in the Caribbean has reflected the unequal amounts of power possessed by the people who use them. • Read: ‘An outline history of the Caribbean.’ Pp202-207 Language & Power

3. Answer the following questions: • Why do Europeans claim to have ‘discovered’ the Caribbean? • In what other ways beside open rebellion could slaves show their resistance to slavery? • In what ways were the Caribbean islands exploited under colonial rule? • Do you know of any other parts of the world that were treated in a similar way? • In what ways do you think being a poor labourer in the Caribbean ways any different from being a poor labourer in England? • How might ‘a new pride’ in Creole languages show itself in the Caribbean? Is this movement reflected in any other countries that you know of?

4. What’s in a name?

5. Negative attitudes pp213-4 • Why do you think so many British people in history have spent time opposing and attacking Creole languages and saying that they are no good? • Why do you think so many people from the Caribbean are ashamed of their Creole languages and describe them as being ‘not proper languages’? • ‘baby-talk’, ‘broken English’, ‘broken French’. • C1850 schooling in English became widespread in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, Granada, St Lucia etc) and Creole was banned. People were told that speaking Creole was a sign of being badly educated. A consequence was that no standard writing and spelling systems were developed from Creoles.

6. Here are some of the things people say about Caribbean Creole languages. Discuss. argument Counter-argument They do but their systems are different from European langauges Linguists do not accept that language can be ‘corrupt’. All languages develop & change. Creoles grammar & pronunciation follow West African patterns. Any language can be written down. They are used for serious purpose but history and politics have prevented them being used for power. • They are not real languages because they have no grammar • They are corrupted versions of European languages such as English & French • They cannot be written down. • They cannot be used for serious purpose

7. What difference does writing make? • Cockney • Caribbean Creole • Cypriot Greek • Sylheti • Cypriot Greek is a dialect which is stigmatised. Students are required to speak standard Greek in classrooms but can use the dialect in the playground. • There is debate as to whether Sylheti is a dialect of Bengali or a separate language. Sylheti is spoken in Tower Hamlets where it was taught briefly in the 1980s.

8. No dialects please

9. Why do we call Caribbean languages Creole? • Portuguese • Spanish • French • Negro • Negro born in America • A white person born in the West Indies

10. The creation of Caribbean Creole • Africans were taken to the Caribbean • The languages of the Africans • Pidgin language in the Caribbean • From areas now known as: Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Congo and Angola. • African languages from the Niger-Congo family mixed with English, French Spanish, Dutch & Portuguese. • Used between Europeans and slaves waiting for shipment, on slave ships and in sugar plantations. Typically for giving orders or instructions. Also as a lingua franca between Africans who spoke different languages.

11. Other African influences in the Caribbean • West African stories, proverbs (p262-8), songs & religious ceremonies. • E.gAnansi came from Ghana • Ijapa from Yoruba survives in Southern states as Brer Terrapin.

12. Discussion points 1. English has sometimes been called a Creole language. Why do you think this is? • What are the similarities between the history of Standard English and the history of Caribbean Creoles and what are the differences? 2. Have you ever been forced by other people to change the language you used? • Do you know of any other instances in your own lifetime, or back in history, when people have been forced to change their language use? What was the effect on those people?

13. Colonial changes

14. Africa in the Caribbean: Jamaican Creole • Most slaves imported to Jamaica came from Ghana & Nigeria, speaking Fante & Twi from the Akan group which is spoken in Ghana today. Many other Africans of Nigerian origin in Jamaica spoke Igbo or Yoruba. These languages contributed to the structure, vocabulary, tone & pronunciation of Jamaican Creole. The exception was the Maroons who resisted slavery, escaped and settled in remote parts of Jamaica.

15. Followers of Kumina: an African religion in Jamaica. Are known to sing burial songs in Kikongo (an African language)

16. African Words in Jamaican Creole pp254/55 • activity

17. What is Gullah? • A Creole drawing mainly on English vocabulary, used along the USA South-Eastern coast/ Many features in common with West-African Creoles. 150-300,000 speakers. • Cf. Belize Creole. Mainly English vocabulary. Used as a first language in the towns. • Cf. TokPisin.

18. West African Influences on Creole Grammar p.257, 258, 259, 260 & 261 • Plurals, pronouns, ‘Is’ and ‘was’, past tense, • Grouping activity. Compare with Gullah text.