Gullah Culture in America by Eric Crawford

Author:Eric Crawford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blair

These Facebook postings reveal important deviations from the Gullah Geechee spoken by the older generation and those residents Turner interviewed some ninety years ago. These differences are explored in Berry’s dissertation, “Use of Copula and Auxiliary BE by African American Children with Gullah Geechee Heritage.” In instances where Turner uses də for be (is, are), modern-day speakers tend to use be instead. She says, “Although də is a form that I have heard, the speakers who produce this form are typically Gullah adults who are over 65 years.” In examples where Turner uses də for be (was), Berry indicates been as the preferred choice today. An example is the first Facebook posting “Geechee been dead somebody musee wake em up” (If Geechee was dead someone must have woken it up).

According to Berry, speakers from Turner’s study in the 1940s preferred the use of də in place of be forms, whereas modern-day Gullah speakers prefer to use be or been. She calls Gullah an enclave language that experiences evolution and change across time as its speakers become less isolated. In her words, “this change manifests in my perception that the Gullah I speak is different from what is spoken by my grandparents.”23

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