“Enty,” “ent,” “yent,” sometimes “ain’,” serve for isn’t, aren’t, didn’t, don’t, doesn’t. “Ent you shum?” “enty you shum?” may mean didn’t you see? or don’t you see? him, her, it, or them.
Preceded by a soft vowel sound, “iz” and “ent” are changed to “yiz” and “yent;” as: “him iz,” “him ent,” become, by the substitution of “’e” for him, “’e yiz,” “’e yent.
“’Cep’n’” is except or excepting, and so is “’scusin’” or “excusin’.”
There is no nephew in the Gullah vocabulary, “niece” being used instead.
“Wunnuh,” “yunnuh,” “oonuh,” “unnuh,” occasionally “hoonuh,” probably from one and another, is used for you and ye, usually in addressing more than one, though sometimes also in the singular.
Except along the Georgia and Carolina seacoast and the outlying islands, the older Negroes are almost invariably addressed as “uncle” and “auntie” by the whites of all ages, and by the younger Negroes, but, wherever the Gullah dialect predominates, “daddy” and “mauma” take their places. For that reason, perhaps, white children in the low-country never call their fathers “daddy,” pa or papa frequently taking the place of the more formal “father.”
Where the name of the person addressed or spoken of is used, “mauma” is changed to “maum,” as “Maum Kate.”
The simple name of the month is seldom sufficient, but must be fortified by the addition of “munt’,” as: “Uh hab da’ gal een June munt’.”
Second, third, etc., are seldom used, the preferred forms being “two-time,” “t’ree-time,” etc. “Uh done tell oonuh fuh de two-time fuh lef’ da’ gal ’lone”—I’ve told you for the second time to leave that girl alone; and “two-time” is invariably used for twice. “Uh done call you two-time”—I’ve called you twice. The third Tuesday in August would be “De t’ree Chuesday een Augus’.”
“Onrabble ’e mout’”—unravel her mouth, for it’s always a feminine skein that’s to be unwound—is as comprehensive as it is picturesque. At times the verbal tide flows on unchecked from a full ball of yarn; again, the ravelings are pulled angrily, jerkily, from the warp of a threadbare subject. “Onrabble ’e mout’!”