Gullah Language - Gullah Language Today

Gullah Language Today

The Gullah language is spoken today by about 250,000 people in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Although some scholars argue that Gullah has changed little since the 19th century and that the majority of speakers have always been bidialectal, it is likely that at least some decreolization has taken place. In other words, some African-influenced grammatical structures that were present a century ago are less prevalent in the language today. Nonetheless, Gullah is still understood as a creole language and is certainly distinct from Standard American English.

For generations, outsiders stigmatized Gullah speakers, regarding their language as a mark of ignorance and low social status. As a result, Gullah people developed the habit of speaking their language only within the confines of their own homes and local communities, hence the difficulty in enumerating speakers and assessing decreolization. They avoided using it in public situations outside the safety of their home areas and many experienced discrimination even within the Gullah community. Some speculate that the prejudice of outsiders may have helped maintain the language. Others suggest that a kind of valorization or "covert prestige" remained for many community members and that this complex pride has insulated the language from obliteration.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was raised as a Gullah speaker in coastal Georgia. When asked why he has little to say during hearings of the court, he told a high school student that the ridicule he received for his Gullah speech as a young man caused him to develop the habit of listening rather than speaking in public. Thomas's English-speaking grandfather raised him after the age of six in Savannah.

In recent years educated Gullah people have begun promoting use of Gullah openly as a symbol of cultural pride. In 2005, Gullah community leaders announced the completion of a translation of the New Testament into modern Gullah, a project that took more than 20 years to complete.