Episode 5

Even though whites made fun of blacks through their caricatures depicting blacks in nicer clothes than they actually had and making fun of their spin on english (black english), many upper class whites had a creole influence in their speech. The whites pointed out that black english was "lazy and ungrammatical"yet black english still crept into the lives of the whites. The Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina are homes to many blacks because during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, it was created as a place where blacks could settle without "disturbing" the whites. As a result of this isolation, this people's language has been "nearly unchanged for three-hundred years." A comment on this video is "they sound remarkably like us carribean blacks." This would be because since the slave trade of so long ago, these people in the Sea Islands are most likely decendents of the slaves from the Carribean. The Carribean slaves passed down their heritage and language to their deseendents who can only preserve  this by passing it down. This is why they people in the video sound like Carribean blacks. "Why were the subtitles necessary? I could understand everything those two were saying," was also a comment on the video. This person is probably used to hearing this type or a similar type of language and so sees no need to have the subtitles. Even though it is English, I still had a hard time understanding some things becauase they tended to mumble and use some different words I didn't know. Their speaking would be even harder for those learning English or not very good at it. Becasue of the slave trade bringing a new kind of people with a new kind of language to America, it influenced the English language and the effects are still seen today.

Info:
Armstrong, Edward. "The Story of English Episode 5 - Black on White - Part 1 / 7." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Aug. 2009. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.