gwine

[Salikoko S. Mufwene]

In the mid-1980s, when I started my field work on Gullah and was
checking all sorts of sources to determine which particular forms or
constructions identified as "creole" could still have their origins in
colonial English, I think I saw "gwine" in /Tarheel Talk/, Norman
Ellsworth Eliason. The form may have been "guine." Since I have not
worked yet on time reference in Gullah, I have not bothered to check
whether it is not attested in some nonstandard British dialect.

Sali.

Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Sali, we are on the same linguistic wavelength here. I feel rather the same about the literary analysis as well.
>
>  The discussion began when Wilson raised the question of whether "gwine" could have been merely the invention of tin-eared, wise-assed white fellows.
>
>  JL
>
>"Salikoko S. Mufwene" <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU> wrote:
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Salikoko S. Mufwene"
>Subject: Re: gwine
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I have missed part/most of this discussion, but I can't help expressing my
>shock at the contents of this posting.
>
>At 08:34 AM 3/7/2006 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
>>>From Henry Louis Gates, Jr., _Figures in Black_ (1987; rpt. N.Y.: Oxford
>>U. P., 1989), p. 191 ( The author is considering the appearance of
>>"gwine" in an old spiritual :
>>
>>"Gwine to sit down at the welcome table,
>>Gwine to feast off milk and honey." ) :
>>
>>"Gwine," for instance, is still commonly found in Black speech.
>>
>>
>
>SSM: Where? in North America? as part of African American vernacular
>speech? not even in Gullah, I think. Well, I heard "gwine" a couple of
>times during my field work (second half of the 1980s) but it is far less
>common than the alternative "go" (pronounced with a schwa) that is the
>dominant way of expressing FUTURE.
>
>
>
>>It is basically untranslatable, yet, with a little reflection, we must see
>>that the full import of the word goes far beyond its referent 'I am going
>>to,' and implies far more. "Gwine" implies a filial devotion to a moral
>>order but also the completion, the restoration, of harmony in a universe
>>out of step somehow. "Gwine" asserts a reordering, again this restoration
>>rhythmic, its diphthong heightening its force on the heels on the
>>breathily spoken "gw" sound, the "w" tempering the hard "g." "Gwine"
>>connotes unshakeable determination, the act to come made certain to come
>>by the act of speech. "Gwine" leaves no room for doubt, for question, for
>>vacillation...."Gwine" contains a concept, a way of looking at the world,
>>not fully translated by "I am going to." With "gwine," people accept their
>>primal place in the bosom of God.
>>
>>
>
>SSM: This is beyond everything I have been able to detect and understand
>after years of studying Caribbean English creoles, Gullah, and AAVE... but
>then one must be prepared to learn something new every day.
>
>Sali.
>
>
>
>
>>JL
>>
>>
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>>
>
>**********************************************************
>Salikoko S. Mufwene s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
>Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
>University of Chicago 773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
>Department of Linguistics
>1010 East 59th Street
>Chicago, IL 60637
>http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
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--
**********************************************************
Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
**********************************************************

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org