Translating the New Testament into Gullah

There are about 10,000 speakers of Gullah (LA Times, free subscription), an English dialect going back to the seventeenth century. It’s spoken mostly in the Sea Islands off South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The total number of speakers may reach as many as 250,000. Now they even have the New Testament (De Nyew Testament) in Gullah, sometimes also called Geechee. The language may have developed as a statement of defiance as slaves talked without their masters understanding. For some, it developed as a practical way of communicating. About 3,000 copies of the De Nyew Testament have been sold.