The Gullah, aka Geechee, are real people. I had to limit conversations with them in book 3, Going South, because they are one of the many peoples in America that need subtitles when they speak! I have experienced several of the subtitle-needing people.
Having first-hand experienced the Gullah, I haven't a clue how to write that dialogue. The conversation had to be translated for me by city African Americans. Even a guy from New Jersey understood better than me, but Northern African American are rooted in the South -- their old country, as we call it where I'm from, though usually in reference to European or Asian countries.
A Gullah woman weaving a sweetgrass basket.
With characters like Chris Higgins, I can alter the grammar to get the message across of how an NC redneck speaks, when not code switching for city folk. The first experience I had with an NC redneck, I could not understand a damn word!!! He was older, so he didn’t know how to code switch for me. The younger generations can code switch.
Not that everyone needs to code switch for me like I'm that freaking special. My ear just hadn’t tuned to them. Later, when I lived in the UK, my ear tuned to even something called Geordie, the people of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north of England. They had a unique way of speaking, which most Americans cannot decipher if their lives depended on it. Tuning to it, I suddenly understood Elizabethan Shakespeare. I went to plays, and I laughed at the same time as everyone else. I got the jokes! Very proud of myself for that. I’ve sadly lost the ear since returning to the States many, many moons ago.
I wish I could have shown more of the Gullah in book 3. But the word count was getting too high. Presumably, Chris could translate for the Northerners who’d not have a clue what the Gullah were saying. It’s a Southern thang. We Yankees wouldn’t understand. (Yankees being everyone not born in the South).
😊
I used to be able to code switch between American English and British English. Apparently, I still stumble over spellings to this very day, which various editing and spell check programmes show me.
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