"The word Gullah derives from the word Gul which was a Creole language formerly spoken by the Gullah, an African-American community of the Sea Islands and the Middle Atlantic coast of the United States. The word is said to be a corruption of the African Gola or Gora, names of African tribes living in Liberia, but it may also be derived from Angola, whence many of the Gullahs ancestors came"(Encarta.com). The word Gullah also refers to the people of the coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Northeastern Florida who were brought to America largely from different communities on the Rice Coast of West Africa. The Gullah language came about during the time when the slave trade took place. Communication was a very important part of the slave trade. Many of the slaves spoke similar, but distinctive languages, therefore in order for slav

dash away - to get rid of a bad habit

the grave is not yet finished; let his heart be perfectly at peace

Gullah has formed into a language through changes in grammar, vocabulary, idiom, and pronunciation. These four factors are the very backbone of the Gullah language. When one studies the grammar of the Gullah language the can recognize that it is just a simpler form of the English grammar. There is a reduction in the distinctions of person, number, gender, case, and tense. Nouns: "As a rule the singular of a noun does duty for the plural, Example: "Duh roostuh crow" may mean one rooster or ten roosters or any number of roosters" (Johnson 35). Adjectives and Adverbs: "Most adjectives are the same as in the standard language, occasionally an ending is corrupted, Example: brinly (brindled), speckly (speckled), cackly (cackling), etc" (Johnson 36). Pronouns: "The nominative and objective forms of the personal pronouns are often reversed, Example: "Him sent dis to we," "me said to he," "him an' me went," etc (Johnson 36). Verbs: "The endings are cut to the minimum in Gullah. With scarcely any exception one form of a verb serves for all tenses, Example: "E run" means that he, she, or it ran, has run, runs, is running, and sometimes will run (Johnson 39). Conjunctions: "In addition to the standard uses, the following peculiarities occur. Than is often expressed by nuh (nor), as it was, in fact still is, in England. Example: "Tek care mo' bettuh nuh be sorry" (to take care is better than to be sorry) (Johnson40). These are just a few examples of the affect that grammar had on the language. Vocabulary is another important feature that has contributed toward the Gullah language. The largest published glossary with Gullah vocabulary is by Gonzales. It lists about two thousand words that are commonly used in the dialect of the Edisto Island region. "If these words be divided arbitrarily into appropriate classes, the following distribution results: I. Standard English words pronounced in standard way or as in English dialect of 18th century...92%. II. Corruptions and mutilations of Standard English words (some of these corruptions are no doubt of English dialect origin)...6%. III. Archaic and obsolescent English words...2%. IV. African words...less than 0.5%" (Johnson 42). Lorenzo Turner did research that showed Gullah words and there African origin. Here are some examples from the Gullah vocabulary:

plat-eye - a prowling ghost or evil spirit

Pronunciation plays an important part in the formation of the Gullah language.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Amen Wolof, Gullahcreolehtml Gearty's, Gullah Africa, Adjectives Adverbs, English Gullah, African Americans, English Negroes, Sea Islanders, Gullah Gullah, Example Tek'e, gullah language, standard english, english dialect, language gullah, african americans, ha suh wileego, word gullah, formed language, suh wileego, sea islanders, ha suh, wakuh muh monuh, ah wakuh muh, monuh kambay yah, yah lee luh,
Approximate Word count = 2153
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)