There’s No Tense Like the Present

Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Preface ix
4. Introduction 1
5. Part 1. Texts
6. Texts 23
7. Part 2. Commentary
8. Speaking of Slavery 123
9. Slave Narratives, Slave Culture, and the Slave Experience 133
10. Songs, Sermons, and Life Stories 155
11. The Linguistic Value of the Ex-Slave Recordings 173
12. Representativeness and Reliability of the Ex-Slave Materials, With Special Reference to Wallace Quarterman’s Recording and Transcript 191
13. Is Gullah Decreolizing? A Comparison of a Speech Sample of the 1930s with a Sample of the 1980s 213
14. The Atlantic Creoles and the Language of the Ex-Slave Recordings 231
15. Liberian Settler English and the Ex-Slave Recordings 249
16. There’s No Tense Like the Present 275
17. Appendix 327
18. Bibliography 331
19. List of Contributors 351