Editing Gullah language (section)

==Today==
Gullah is spoken by about 5,000 people in [[South Carolina Low Country|coastal South Carolina]] and [[Golden Isles of Georgia|Georgia]].<ref name = gullah-language>{{Cite web|last=Wolfram|date=2021|title=Gullah language|url=https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/10943|website=Endangered Language Project}}</ref> As of 2021, an estimated 300 people are native speakers.<ref name = gullah-language/> Although some scholars argue that Gullah has changed little since the 19th century and that most speakers have always been bilingual, it is likely that at least some [[decreolization]] has taken place. In other words, some African-influenced grammatical structures in Gullah a century ago are less common in the language today. Nonetheless, Gullah is still understood as a creole language and is certainly distinct from Standard American English.

For generations, outsiders [[social stigma|stigmatized]] Gullah-speakers by regarding their language as a mark of ignorance and low social status. As a result, [[Gullah]] people developed the habit of speaking their language only within the confines of their own homes and local communities. That causes difficulty in enumerating speakers and assessing [[decreolization]]. It was not used in public situations outside the safety of their home areas, and many speakers experienced discrimination even within the Gullah community. Some speculate that the prejudice of outsiders may have helped to maintain the language.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Others suggest that a kind of valorization or "covert prestige"<ref>Labov, W. (1966). The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.</ref> remained for many community members and that the complex pride has insulated the language from obliteration.

[[US Supreme Court]] Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] was raised as a Gullah-speaker in coastal [[Pin Point, Georgia]]. When asked why he has little to say during hearings of the court, he told a [[high school]] student that the ridicule he received for his Gullah speech, as a young man, caused him to develop the habit of listening, rather than speaking, in public.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/politics/14TWOR.html |title=In His Own Words: Justice Clarence Thomas |date=December 14, 2000 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 5, 2010 |archive-date=April 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403082027/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/politics/14TWOR.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Thomas's English-speaking grandfather raised him after the age of six in Savannah.<ref name="Toobin">Jeffrey Toobin, ''The Nine,'' Doubleday 2007, at 106<br /></ref>

In recent years educated Gullah people have begun promoting use of Gullah openly as a symbol of cultural pride. In 2005, Gullah community leaders announced the completion of a translation of the New Testament into modern Gullah, a project that took more than 20 years to complete.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Montagne |first1=Renee |title='New Testament' Translated into Gullah |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5283230 |access-date=11 November 2015 |agency=NPR |date=16 March 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224515/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5283230 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2017, [[Harvard University]] began offering Gullah/Geechee as a language class in its African Language Program. It is taught by Sunn m'Cheaux, a native speaker from South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alp.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunn-mcheaux|title=Sunn m'Cheaux|website=The African Language Program at Harvard|publisher=[[Harvard University]]|access-date=October 9, 2018|archive-date=October 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031165001/https://alp.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunn-mcheaux|url-status=live}}</ref>