Dialects in the United States

Directions:

• Read summaries that are provided

• Click to access websites when directed

• Answer questions that are asked on your assignment sheet.

Dialects: Arthur the Rat

• Listen to the story of Arthur the Rat read by several people with different dialects. Match the reader to the correct dialect.

• Answer the questions on the worksheet

Arthur the Rat Answers

1. A

2. E

3. B

4. C

5. I

6. G

7. H

8. D

9. F

• Go to http://accent.gmu.edu/

• Click on browse, then atlas/regions

• Click on the USA, by clicking on the red flags, choose a person from five different regions in the United States then complete the table.

• Listen to a few non-American dialects.

Dialects: American Regional

Announcing the 2010 Gullah/Geechee Festival

A Gullah performance at Boone Hall Plantation

Most of the Gullahs' early ancestors in what is now the United States were brought to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry through the ports of Charleston and Savannah as slaves. Charleston was one of the most important ports in North America for the Transatlantic slave trade. Up to half of the enslaved Africans brought into what is now the United States came through that port. A great majority of the remaining flowed through Savannah, which was also active in the slave trade.http://www.beaufortsc.org/attractions-culture/gullah-history.stml

Weaving baskets

The Gullah are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African-American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure; Gullah storytelling, cuisine, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, all exhibit strong influences from West and Central African cultures.

• Go to http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet/main/index.html

• Under “Gullah History” click “What is Gullah?”– Where is the Gullah Culture?– What is the difference in Gullah and Geechee?

• Continue by clicking “Learn more about..”– Which area of Africa are most of the Gullah from?– What were the major crops grown in the Gullah area

of South Carolina before the Civil War?

Gullah

• Continue by clicking “Learn more about…”– After the Civil War, what situation provided an

opportunity for the Gullah culture to be preserved?

– After 1950, how did life on the Sea Islands change?

• Continue by clicking “Learn more about…”– Describe the roots of the Gullah language.– Which languages influenced Gullah?– In which language family would you place

Gullah?

• Continue by clicking “Learn more about…,” then click on “Storytelling and Song"

• Watch the video of Auntie Pearl Sue– Can you understand the whole story? Could

you follow part of the story? Which part was harder to follow?

• Click “Gullah Tales” Choose a story and let Auntie Pearl Sue tell you another story in Gullah (click the right arrow at the bottom of the screen to advance the story)– Did the story differ from the traditional English

story? How?

Gullah Culture

• Go to http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/gullah.html

• How has the language and dialect of Gullah people had the opportunity to be preserved historically?

• Click to read the transcript “Gullah Culture”• How many Gullah people are there, and on what

islands do they live?• Why were the ancestors of the Gullah people,

slaves, more isolated than other slaves in the South?

• How has their physical and cultural landscape impacted the maintenance of their culture (ex. Language, lifestyle, food, etc)?

• Why is the Gullah culture in jeopardy?• How has the value of the land changed?• How has this culture turned into a commodity?