Sea Island Creole English

As seen in class, several of the African American tales we read had quite an interesting and distinct dialect. Some of those stories included Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear and Brer Wolf. As can be recalled from each of the readings, they told stories of clever and determined animals designed to be associated with human traits. This was used, in part, to teach morals and of course to entertain. Interestingly enough, this type of linguistic writing comes from Sea Island Creole English, also called Gullah. Although there are many assumptions in terms of the origin of this particular dialect, it seems that most agree that it is North America specific. Over the years the language has most likely experienced some changes; however, Gullah is still used by a portion of the population. Most notably would probably be Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. No doubt, the fact that Justice Thomas still speaks with a Gullah dialect shows this particular culture's resistance to fade with time. This is further reinforced by the fact that the aforementioned stories have also survived the test of time. Inevitably, as time passes many different cultures become so intertwined together it becomes nearly impossible to separate them. Of course, much of this intermingling is dependant on exactly how determined a group of people are to adhering to their cultural roots by passing such things as dialect or folk tales along.