Reflection

I learned a lot of good things over the course of this project. I learned that language develops with the people who teach it. When the slaves came over from from Africa, they used a mix of African language and English to communicate with each other called Gullah. This language developed over time and is still used today on the coast of the Carolinas. Some Gullah words like juke, jumbalaya, and tote are used in the English language. We are now taking from Gullah, because we gave Gullah the means to form itself. This was a fun project and I learned a lot!

Reccomendations

I think researchers as a whole should use more audio and video to get a point across as well as their own opinions because, by using opinions of ourselves and the opinions of others, we can gain new ideas and formulate better opinions and gain new ones. Research is a great thing!

Conclusions

From my research we can learn that just because you don't know or haven't heard a specific dialect or language doesn't mean that you don't use those words. People use words from Latin and Greek everyday and don't even know it. You can be speaking some of a language and not know you are speaking it.

Interpretation of Data

My data shows that even though people may not have heard the Gullah dialect before, they still use some words that are part of it and are native to it. Gullah originated from African language and English combined, so it proves that dialects can originate from two languages mixing together.

Gullah Video

Gullah Data

Did you like how Gullah sounded if you heard it spoken?

Gullah Data

Where have you heard the Gullah dialect before?

Gullah Data

Have you heard the Gullah dialect spoken before?

Gullah Survey

Have you heard Gullah spoken before?

If so, where?

Did you like how it sounded when you heard it spoken?

Do you use words like juke, jumbalaya, and tote?

Are these words you use in everyday life or just use a few times?

Secondary Research

This article is about the history of the Gullah dialect and about a lot of the people who speak Gullah are the black descendants of African slaves. Gullah is also considered a culture to some people. Some examples of this are their way of life, like the different names. There are also different words in the Gullah dialect like: jumbalaya, goober, juke, and tote.

Source

Author:Mark Allwood

Title:Gullah Studies

Date Accessed:October 2 and 3

URL:www.ebscohost.com/src/detail?

My Research Plan

I will answer my questions by looking up articles about the Gullah dialect. I hope to find good articles that tell about the history of the Gullah dialect and what people speak it. I will interview people around Decatur High school and ask them questions about the Gullah dialect that I have come up with.

My Research Question(s)

How does Gullah differ from Standard American English?

Does Gullah sound better that Standard American English? Why/why not?

Which groups of people speak Gullah?

Would it be cool to speak the Gullah dialect?

Is Gullah spoken anywhere else that South Carolina?

My Research Goal(s)

I want to learn more about the Gullah dialect and what it sounds like. I also want to learn the history of the language and what groups of people speak it. I want to know whether Gullah is a variety of the English language or if it is a totally different language all together.

Language Beliefs

I believe that language has power. If you are in a different country and they speak a different language, the people who speak that language are in the majority and you, being one of the only ones who speak that language, are in the minimum. Our guest speaker, Ms. Lewis, told us this and I found it was a good belief and decided to adopt it. This holds a lot of truth for because I went to Russia this summer and experienced this firsthand. I was in a small taxi with a man who knew no English and we knew very little Russian. It was very hard to communicate with him, and I felt powerless because we needed to tell him where we wanted to go and couldn't because of the fact that we didn't speak his language. We had to get people on the phone to tell him and it took a long time. This was when I found out, through life experience, that language has power.