In answer to this question I looked up a webpage with a lot of
 info on the subject. I am cross posting it as this seems to
 answer most of the questions.

 This also applies largely to Ebonics. The big difference being,
 the Gullah Islands were more isolated, so the dialect survived
 better.

 GP> On (07 Dec 05) BOB KLAHN wrote to GEORGE POPE...
 BK>>  GP> Yours was Cajun?

 BK>>  No, Gullah.

 GP> What's that?

 Googled for "gullah". This is one of the first that came up.

 http://www.co.beaufort.sc.us/bftlib/gullah.htm
 **************************************************************************

 Beaufort, SC

 Beaufort County Public Library

The Gullah Dialect
and Sea Island Culture
Part I:
The Gullah Dialect

 by Dennis Adams Information Services Coordinator

 and Hillary Barnwell Beaufort Branch Manager
 ...
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Background:

 Gullah is a creole form of English, indigenous to the Sea
 Islands of South Carolina and Georgia (the area extends from
 Georgetown, SC to the Golden Isles of Georgia above Florida).
 Like all creoles, Gullah began as a pidgin language,
 transforming into a language in its own right with the first
 generation born in America. A similar form of plantation creole
 may have been widespread at one time in the southern United
 States, but Gullah now differs from other African-American
 dialects of English (which do not vary greatly from the standard
 syntax, pronunciation and vocabulary). Though creole languages
 the world over share a surprisingly similar structure, the
 speakers of one creole can seldom understand speakers of another
 on first contact.

 According to David Crystal in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
 Language, the word "comes from Portuguese crioulo and originally
 meant a person of European descent who had been born and brought
 up in a colonial territory. Later, it came to be applied to
 other people who were native to these areas, and then to the
 kind of language they spoke." Creole languages have been spoken
 on every inhabited continent, and are "English based," "French
 based" ? even "Romany based" like Sheldru, used by Gypsies in
 England. Krio , spoken in Sierra Leone, is just one
 example of an English-based creole with many similarities to
 Gullah -- the creole language of the Sea Islands.

 Most of Gullah vocabulary is of English origin, but the grammar
 and major elements of pronunciation come from a number of West
 African language, such as Ewe, Mandinka, Igbo, Twi and Yoruba.
 The name, "Gullah", itself probably derives from "Angola" (and
 possibly from the large number of slaves who arrived from that
 part of Africa in the early 1800s). "Geechee" -- another name
 for the language and culture of black Sea Islanders -- comes
 from a tribal name in Liberia. Traditions, language and myth
 stayed longer with the coastal Carolina Gullahs, who were
 allowed a greater latitude of self-sufficiency and were
 relatively isolated on the Sea Islands.

 Most Beaufort slaves in the first decades of the 1800s may have
 been first-generation African arrivals. So it was not merely
 the remoteness of the Sea Islands that preserved the African
 culture and language influences among Gullah speakers. 23,773
 slaves came to South Carolina from Africa between 1804 through
 1807, and 14,217 of these originated from Angola, Congo, or
 "Congo and Angola". The newly arrived slaves breathed new life
 into African traditions already established on the islands. A
 new infusion of pidgin influences would have had a profound
 impact on the existing creole language.

 As with many minority languages the world over, television,
 education and increased social contact have all undermined
 Gullah to a large extent. Gullah speakers now use various Black
 American English dialects in dealings with non-Islanders, though
 Gullah is the language of home, family and community. Whatever
 its fate as a living vernacular, Gullah will live on with the
 general public as the language of Uncle Remus in Joel Chandler
 Harris's Bre'r Rabbit tales and of the fiction of South
 Carolina's Ambrose E. Gonzales.

 Sources:

    *

 The African American Encyclopedia. Marshall Cavendish, 1993.

    *

 Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Volume I: North America. G. K.
 Hall & Co., 1991.

    *

 The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume 1,
 1514-1861 by Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore and George C.
 Rogers, Jr. University of South Carolina Press, 1996.

    *

 "Vignettes of African-American History" [Paper given at the
 "Lowcountry Traditions and Transitions Symposium at the
 University of South Carolina at Beaufort, October 4, 1997] by
 Hillary S. Barnwell, Beaufort County Public Library Beaufort
 Branch Manager. © 1997, Hillary S. Barnwell.).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Some Examples of Gullah:

 The words, goober (peanut), gumbo and yam all have
 West-African/Gullah roots. The following example is a Gullah
 rendition of a familiar text (spelling has been greatly
 simplified from a transcription in phonetic symbols -- the
 actual Gullah pronunciation differs much more than this
 simplification indicates):

 Ow-uh farruh, hu aht in heh-wm, hallow-ed be dy name, dy
 kingdom come, dy will be done on ut as it done in heh-wn. Jih-w
 us dis day ow-uh daylih bread, an fejih-w dohz truspuss ajens
 us. Lead us not into temptation, but dihlih-wuh us fum all ting
 like e-wull. Dyne dih kingdom, pahwuh, an dy glorih.

 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
 come, thy will be done on earth as it done in heaven. Give us
 this day our daily bread, and forgive those trespass against us.
 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all thing like
 evil. Thine the kingdom, power and thy glory.

 A Few Gullah Expressions:

 beat on ayun: "mechanic"; literally, "beat-on-iron"
 troot ma-wt: "a truthful person"; literally, "truth mouth"
 hush ma-wt: "hush mouth"; literally, "hush mouth"
 sho ded: "cemetery"; literally, "sure dead"
 tebl tappa: "preacher"; literally, "table-tapper"
 ty oonuh ma-wt: "Hush, stop talking"; literally, "Tie your
mouth"
 krak teet: "to speak"; literally, "crack teeth"
 i han shaht pay-shun: "He steals"; literally, "His hand is short of
 patience"

 Source:

    *

 Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect by Lorenzo D. Turner. Arno
 Press, 1969.

 Gullah and Krio

 Compare these versions of Luke 6:29 in Gullah and Krio, an
 English-based creole language  spoken in Sierra Leone:

 GULLAH
 (Sea Island Translation and Literacy Team version):

 Ef anybody knock one side ob oona face, mus ton de oda side an
 leh um knock de oda side too. Ef somebody take oona coat, mus
 gem oona shat too.

 KRIO
 (Lutheran Bible Translators version):

 If enibodi slap una na wan ja, una fo ton di oda wan gi am fo
 mek i slap insef. If enibodi tek una klos we ana wer pantap,
 una fo gi am di wan we de botom, mek ih tek insef.

 BIBLE
 (Revised Standard version):

 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and
 from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your coat
 as well.)

 Source:

    *

 The Legacy of Ibo Landing: Gullah Roots of African American
 Culture, edited by Marquetta L. Goodwine. Clarity Press, 1998.)

 Gullah Links on the Internet:

 http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet

    *

            An Abridged Gullah Dictionary
            http://www.gullahtours.com/gullah_dictionary.html>
            from Gullah Tours of Charleston

    *

    Avery Research Center for African American History & Culture
 (http://www.cofc.edu/~averyrsc/" target="new">http://www.cofc.edu/%7Eaveryrsc/>(http://www.cofc.edu/~averyrsc/)
 of the College of Charleston , an archives and small museum
 established to document, preserve and make public the unique
 historical and cultural heritage of South Carolina Lowcountry
 African Americans.

    * Explore Gullah Culture in South Carolina with Aunt
 Pearlie-Sue! http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet> Children and
 adults can listen to the Gullah language, and hear stories and
 music on this SCETV Commission Web page.

    *

    Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition
 http://members.aol.com/queenmut/GullGeeCo.html>
 (http://members.aol.com/queenmut/GullGeeCo.html)

    *
     Gullah Net http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet>
 (http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet) from Knowitall.org and SC
 ETV. Explore Gullah culture with Aunt Pearlie-Sue: music,
 folktales and sound files of Gullah words. The site includes
 bibliographies, teacher resources, Web links, and other
 resources.

    * Gullah Sentinel
 http://users.aol.com/gullgeeco/Gullah_Sentinel.html>
 (http://users.aol.com/gullgeeco/Gullah_Sentinel.htm) (Beaufort,
 SC)

    *

 Gullah Prayers http://www.gullahtours.com/prayers.html>
 (http://www.gullahtours.com/prayers.html) from Gullah Tours of
 Charleston.

    *
    Introducing Folknography: A Study of Gullah Culture
 http://www.southern.ohiou.edu/folknography/gullah/index.htm>
 A Web site Dr. Charles W. Jarrett and Dr. David Lucas of Ohio
 State University, incorporating the principles of folknography,
 which "search(es) for the 'voice of the people,' listening
 carefully for ?emergent themes? and ?collective interpretations?
 of a particular ?folk'" (particular population or specific
 ethnic group), toward "an 'empathetic understanding' of their
 attitudes, their beliefs, their values, their views, their
 rituals, and their mode of interactive communication."

    *
      A Little Lesson in Gullah
      http://www.gullahtours.com/phrases.html>
 "Som' Gullah fuh unrabble yuh mout' wid" ("Some Gullah to talk
 with") from Gullah Tours of Charleston.

    *

            Penn Center
            http://www.angelfire.com/sc/jhstevens/penncenter.html>
            (http://www.angelfire.com/sc/jhstevens/penncenter.html)
            onSt. Helena Island, Beaufort County, SC.

    *

            Ron and Natalie Daise Web site
            http://www.gullahgullah.com/meet2.html>

 from the creators of Nickelodeon's "Gullah, Gullah Island"
 children's television series. This link takes you to Ron and
 Natalie's list of Gullah Web links (Click on Learn more about
 Gullah culture and Beaufort, South Carolina!").

    *
      South Carolina ? African-Americans ? Culture, Heritage
      http://www.sciway.net/afam/culture.html>
      (http://www.sciway.net/afam/culture.html) A directory of links
      from SCIway, "South Carolina's Information Highway".

 (http://www.southern.ohiou.edu/folknography/gullah/index.htm):

 **************************************************************************



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... They're all our people, there's only one human race.
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