Heading south from US E coast
Right....Beaufort, in SC is pronounced B(long)u-Fut
South Carolinians have a similar heritage to British colonies like
Maine. They don't prounounce R either. Bu-fut
Charleston has a special dialect called Geechee. You can also hear it
in Norfolk, Va, (pronounced in Geechee Nofuk, which is where the Navy
sailors got it, not from their sexual discoveries).
Charleston, here, is properly pronounced Chao-stun.....
After you have mastered Geechee, come south about 60 miles to Beaufort
and learn Gullah. I had a friend that did and I learned to understand a bit of
it.
I checked out a Gullah talking book at the library and it was basically the Brer
Rabbit, Uncle Remus stories in the Gullah dialect. It is a lot of fun to
listening
to it. Gullah is peculiar mostly to the sea islands of southern SC. Not spoken
by the younger people any more which is a shame. At one time they were
paying college students to take the class to learn it.
Leanne - on P'troyal Island
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