Sea Island Creole English

GUL

developing

Alternate Names: Geechee, Gullah

Dialects: None known. Intelligibility with other English-based creoles is undetermined. Reportedly similar to Bahamas Creole English ,. Lexical similarity: 90% with Afro-Seminole ,.

Genealogy:

Creole
English based
Atlantic
Eastern
Northern

Demographics: 350 (2010 census). 10,000 in New York City (Holm 1989). Ethnic population: 250,000.

Language Use: Vigorous. Barely understandable with standard English [eng]. Government bilingual education program begun.

Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1%–5%. Literacy rate in L2: 75%–100%. Government bilingual education program begun. Dictionary. NT: 2005.

Writing System: Latin

Nation of Origin: United States

Other Comments: Linguistic influences from Fula ,, Mende ,, upper Guinea coast, and Gambia River area (Hancock 1987).