The African Heritage of American English

by Joseph E. Holloway, Winifred K Vass (Primary Contributor)

The African Heritage of American English provides a detailed compilation of Africanisms, identified linguistically, from a range of folklore, place names, food culture, aesthetics, religion, loan words. Presenting a comprehensive accounting of African words retained from Bantu, Joseph Holloway and Winifred Vass examine the Bantu vocabulary content of the Gullah dialect of the Sea Islands; Black names in the United States; Africanisms of Bantu origin in Black English; Bantu place names in nine southern states; and Africanisms in contemporary American English. These linguistic retentions reflect the cultural patterns of groups imported to the United States, the subsequent dispersion of these groups, and their continuing influence on the shaping of American culture.

193 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993