Introduction

Welcome to Learn Gullah blog!

Gullah is a thriving culture and language in the South-East of the United States, in the coastal area of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Florida. Gullah is a direct descendant from African enslaved peoples, and Gullah language presents a unique mixture of African and English words and roots. The very special social and historical events in the Southern States (slavery, abolition, segregation) have led Gullah to become a unique example. Here you can have a sneak peak at the many important events of Gullah: 

It is beyond the scope of this blog to teach you how to speak Gullah. Even if we tried, legend goes that native Gullah speakers are quick to detect foreigners. Nonetheless, at the end of this blog, you'll have a list of resources you can turn to for a more linguistic description. 

What this course is all about is culture and language, and how they interact, intermingle, and affect each other. After a very brief introduction to the basic terms and concepts of sociolinguistics, we'll dwell into Gullah culture and how the many different aspects have made it special. As we move along history, we'll propose a series of activities to help you fully understand some of the key concepts, and to give you a broader experience of Gullah: listening to songs, a passage from the bible, or a movie trailer! Then, at the end, you'll be given a wide range of sites and books where you will find more information about Gullah. 

Beware, however, that the goal of this course is not to allow you to speak Gullah, not even to understand Gullah. We want you to listen to Gullah as spoken by native speakers, we want you to appreciate the interlock between history, culture, and language. As such, we've prepared a range of activities that, we expect, will allow you to, once completed, tackle material of high complexity with understanding, and also to read popular material critically. 

Now, you can navigate this side using the right-hand bar in the blog. You can follow the order of the units, or jump from part to part to check out our activities and have some fun. Whatever you decide, we hope that you remain with us for a long time! 

Welcome home! 

Jaime and Silvia

(Instructors)