Gullah Bible Reading - John 1:1-14

Invisible readings I did to a dear friend of the opening to the Gospel of John, but read from the Gullah Bible.

As you'll soon hear, I am not Gullah. I've lived as a neighbor to the Gullah people in my South Carolina town for a few years, but despite the pleasure I had in hearing it, I never really considered the language (or any language) till I began studying linguistics and got a hold of the Gullah translation of the Bible. So this is a stumbling effort and forgive me for my Northern accent often slipping in. I in no way capture the language with my slow tongue, but hopefully touch upon the heart of this translation, which I feel is one of the most personal of the Bible I've ever come across.

The Gullah Bible is NOT a translation from The King James or any English Bible, but from original Greek manuscripts.

FYI, according to Wiki:

"Gullah (also called Sea Island Creole English and Geechee) is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people (also called "Geechees" within the community), an African American population living on the Sea Islands and the coastal region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Florida.

Gullah is based on English, with strong influences from West and Central African languages such as Mandinka, Wolof, Bambara, Fula, Mende, Vai, Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Kongo, Umbundu, and Kimbundu."

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[litwriter100]

Excuse me, who is reading this? A woman? Girl? Boy? Seldom have I heard a reading of these versus expressed with such feeling; such seeming conviction. It is all the more effective as standard English speakers must concentrate to understand totally. Just wonderful! Please identify this wonderful reader, if not by name then by station. Is he or she a native Gullah speaker? Thanks!

[Ramanujan88]

@litwriter100 thank you for your lovely comment. I'm reading it (female, 23 yr old). No, I'm not a Gullah speaker. I cam across the Gullah Bible several months ago. Reading or speaking really moves me in a personal sense. Thank you for listening.

[ramsaybaggins]

This sounds so spiritual. It's beautiful.

[litwriter100]

@Ramanujan88 On the contrary, thank you! As I said, it's most inspiring. It almost sounds like the reader (you!) is sitting around a campfire reciting the account from firsthand knowledge rather than reading from the Book (as must be the case). Have you ever considered trying your hand at acting? I am recommending it to others! P.S. Sorry for the typo in my first post. That should have been "verses" (er, versus "versus"!)