Talking black in america roots
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https://www.pbs.org/video/talking-black-in-america-roots-ec5bbt/
The final project in this class will involve a number of assignments over several weeks. Your final project will need to focus on issues related to the place of Bahamian Dialect (what linguists refer to as Bahamian Creole English) in the Bahamas. Your first assignment in this assignment sequence, however, is a response to the recent PBS documentary on the connections between Black American English, Gullah (spoken on the in coastal Carolinas), Bahamian Dialect, and west African languages.
Your first assignment is a 450-600 word response to Talking Black in America: Roots. In your response, focus on what you thought about and what you learned by watching the video.
Sample Solution
After watching Talking Black in America: Roots, I was fascinated by the vast array of similarities between Gullah, Bahamian Dialect and Black American English. It was incredible to see how each dialect has evolved over the years while still retaining its core elements. The documentary provides a historical context for how these languages came to be, tracing their roots back to West African languages and cultures. Additionally, it highlighted how language can serve as an important tool to understanding one’s identity and sense of self.
What stood out most for me was when Dr. Major analyzed Gullah words that have kept their original pronunciation from many centuries ago—such as “Kumbaya” which he described as originally being said ‘kum ba yahmya’ or ‘come by here my Lord Jesus’. This gave me immense appreciation for how culture, language and traditions are all intertwined with one another; illustrating that just because something is thousands of years old doesn’t mean it’s not relevant today.(PBS 2019).
It was also interesting to learn more about the cultural influences of creole cultures on what we now call Black American English (BAE). For instance the connection between BAE and Caribbean Creoles such as patois—which is rooted in French but contains both Native American and West African lexicon at same time —was especially enlightening since not only did this shed light onto why certain phrases used BAE may come off different than standard English versions but also simply provided better understanding behind why some particular pronunciations exist due influence from various languages/cultures prior colonization attempts took place (Sebastian-Gonzalez 2016) .
In conclusion, after watching PBS documentary Talking Black America:Roots I learned great deal about connections between Gullah, Bahamian Dialect & black American English regarding their respective origins & histories which further helped appreciate importance culture traditions–especially when comes preserving your own personal identity even if it means speaking differently from those around you.
