Describes major features of pronoun usage, verbs, and nouns in contemporary Gullah. Points out that most research on Black dialects has focused on northern inner city Black speech, and that this variety of Black English is different from the creole-based language patterns prevalent among Blacks in the southeastern United States. (GC)

Criticizes Herskovit's "Myth of the Negro Past" and Turner's "Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect" for their emphasis on trait diffusion, lack of any index of relative linguistic significance of specific items, failure to assess the importance of the dominant White culture, and failure to maintain historical and cultural…

Reviews the debate between Herskovits, Turner, and Johnson on Africanisms in Gullah. Suggests that Whinnom's approach, which considers pidgins and creoles under the rubric of "linguistic hybridization," is a more appropriate model with which to view Gullah, making irrelevant the question of whether it is an African or European language.…