Title

Gullah-Geechee Accents in English on Daufuskie and Sapelo Islands.

Authors

Preeshl, Artemis

Abstract

In Gullah-Geechee accents in English, centralizing, rounding, backing, and lowering vowels, monophthongizing diphthongs, and simplifying consonant cluster were expected in comparison with the So-Called General American (SCGA) accent. Five Sapelo Island interviewees and three Daufuskie Island interviewees from Gullah-Geechee communities read "Arthur the Rat" and told stories about growing up. Centralization, rounding, raising, backing, and monophthongization were realized more often than lowering and unrounding. Several interviewees unrounded vowels in stories about growing up. Devoicing initial and/or final consonants, and substituting plosives for SCGA fricatives or affricates, connected this accent to Gullah creole and Krio. Sapelo interviewees centralized, monophthongized, diminished rhoticity, and sibilant endings, and/or shortened nasal and lateral endings in "Arthur the Rat," adding raising, backing, substituting plosives for affricates, and simplifying consonant cluster in spontaneous speech. Daufuskie interviewees significantly varied realizations. Sapelo interviewees incorporated more Gullah-Geechee features than Daufuskie interviewees in Gullah-Geechee accents in English.

Subjects

ENGLISH language; SPEECH; ISLANDS; VOWELS; CONSONANTS; SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Publication

Voice & Speech Review, 2024, Vol 18, Issue 1, p44

ISSN

2326-8263

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1080/23268263.2022.2130294