European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 02, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine hot York Tiik Fred k. Conrad classroom sentence in gullah loosely translated it Means Bend Over and take a  the roots of Black English by Wayne King new York times he late fats Walter the legendary jazz Plant is reported to have once observed. One never knows do one Beaulah White a linguistics teacher in Beaufort,. Puts it this Way wha Fuh a is Fuh  she says it with a jamaican lilt which is deceptive because the dialect she is speaking or the language As she pre fers to Call it is not of the West indies. It is gullah the speech of an estimated 250,000 Rural Blacks along the Southeastern coast from South Carolina to the Florida  Fuh a is Fuh a translates More or less literally into Standard English As whatever is for you. Is for you the sentiment translates loosely into italian As Che Sera  Tongue Waller was speaking was american negro. It does not need translating. What makes toe two expressions related beyond the sentiment is that both Are based to greater or lesser degree on languages of West Africa Ewe Fante ibo Bambara Wolot twi Malinke. Elk Yoruba. Such at least is the judgment o mrs. White a serious charming woman of 28 who teaches As a second Lan Guage _ what she somewhat archly refers to As Stan Dard English to 40 gullah Spe Alung Blacks in the heart of the South Carolina Low  students mostly women from 18 to meet each Day in a rambling old Frame House in downtown Beaufort to study both their own language. Gullah and the one they seek to master  special one year program underwritten by a $162, 000 Grant from the United states department of labor is intended to do two things according to the project director John Gadson. We Are actually teaching English because economics require it to get a Job. You have to speak Standard English. But we believe English is being taught in a manner that hurts Black people. We re saying Stop and recognize gullah for what it is a language with an Oral  must be written Down and we Hope that linguists will reduce it to written form and that the teachers win then offer courses in understanding gullah to teach people who speak that language Toals speak English. There is a syntactical pattern that is common to Afri can speech said White leaving behind the crop Quick Pace of the dialect she has been speaking As an example but retaining a hint of the lilt. English is a second Lan Guage to White As Well As to her students. She grew up to Georgetown . And As with the other Blacks m the area the Tongue that came naturally to her was that of Whf warm lugh school. I was constantly told that what i was speaking was bad English. They never re earned it As a valid language. They could t understand what i was saying so i had to speak what they spoke. The approach now is different the attempt is to preserve gullah not stamp it out. Gullah is regarded and Analysed As a valid language. English is taught by comparing it with gullah translating texts Back and Forth Between the two. The students Are also taught to write in gullah forms using English phonetics even though neither it nor the african tongues from which the teachers believe it derives were written  project has developed implications beyond simply improving the language skills of the gullah Blacks. While we re talking Here about gullah on the coast the question of speech among Blacks is a Universal  said Gadson. It is one reason Blacks Don t get into Fields like journalism. They Are turned Down on the basis of speech or writing  Gadson and White believe that the approaches used to teach Standard English to Blacks have failed because the schools failed to recognize Afri can origins of Mack speech patterns origin that have been preserved in direct proportion to Cotton isolation to the group speaking it. That said White explains the Strong similarity be tween the gullah of the Southeastern coast and the speech of Blacks in such places As Jamaica or Barbados which once were isolated colonies of african slaves. Most of the gullah speaking Blacks in South Carolina in a similar manner descended from the slaves held on Island plantations Cut off from the Mainland. Most of our students come from islands like St. Helena and ladies  Gadson said Plantation is lands where you would have maybe 500 or 600 Blacks held by one White family. They were forced to use English words but they held on to the african  of the coastal islands have Only in relatively recent years been accessible by Means other than boats or barges. Such isolation has existed to a lesser degree among even Mainland Blacks. White notes with the result that some Black speech patterns often put Down to ignorance Are actually the result of african patterns that have not yielded completely to English. These patterns of syntax Are african patterns said White. My High school teacher always called one of them the behind preposition things like where you Goin at or where you stay at " such expressions she noted might As easily be heard among Rural Mississippi Blacks or older Harlem Resi dents As among coastal mullahs. The african dialects used a lot of locator words like put that right Down Here on this and Point at the same time for , she said the difficulty some Blacks Mani fest with tenses i be  meaning i have been tired for some time results from the same african roots. They Are african tenses but they Are conveyed by  concept the african genesis of Black English she said has been slow to catch on. Most Early analysts for example tended to explain gullah speech patterns purely on racial if not racist considerations. Monday May 2, 1977 a Sample of Gaul the students at the gullah language Center Are encouraged to keep daily journals to develop writing skills in both gullah and in English some have written verse. The following example was written by Gwendolyn John son in her native speech then translated into Standard English. I in bin Dey i in bin Dey. Yatt  i in bin Dey. Praia Farei in bin Den. A hear. F in bin Dey. Ebem Doe 1 slow Down i in bin Dey. A see Macelh a Orel in bin Dey cause i res awhile i in bin Dey. In i in go quit. Fall might in see a Ihling a  do bid Missah life got Manya Lings f la see yet if a places Coudia say. Dey Woodda Tell Vionna. / in bin Dey. I have not been there i have not been there you know 1 have not been there you hear me toy Soi have not been there. I Don t have the fare. I hone not been there you hear. I have not been there even though 1 slow Down i have not been there you see me catch my breath i hate not been there because i am Retting awhile i have not been there but i am not going to quit. You might not see the thing the Way i do but this life has Many things i foresee yet it the places could say. They would Tell you people i have not been there. The stars and stripes Page 13