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This forgotten slave language is seeing a revival thanks to TikTok
NBC News ^ | Aug. 16, 2021 | Bianca Brutus

Posted on 08/17/2021 7:21:23 AM PDT by deport

Tut, a centuries-old forgotten language used by enslaved Black people, has found its way to social media.

In Tut, every letter in the English alphabet becomes a distinct sound. Tut, according to McIlwain's website, may have originated from the word "talk." It’s also been referred to as “Tutnese” and “King Tut.”

For a number of African Americans, learning Tut has built a connection to their ancestors and community. However, with the resurgence of Tut, some say the language should remain underground. When a user on Facebook shared the Tut alphabet, commenters called for the post to be taken down. “This should not be public. It’s for AFRICAN AMERICANS,” one commenter replied.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Education; History; Society
KEYWORDS: language; racism
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History being revived.
1 posted on 08/17/2021 7:21:23 AM PDT by deport
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To: deport

Shameful


2 posted on 08/17/2021 7:23:20 AM PDT by ecomcon
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To: ecomcon

More garbage. The descent into savagery proceeds apace.


3 posted on 08/17/2021 7:24:50 AM PDT by Noumenon (The Second Amendment exists primarily to deal with those who just won't take no for an answer. KTF)
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To: deport
I'm not sure if this can be called silly,nauseating,or both.
4 posted on 08/17/2021 7:25:13 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
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To: deport

This is crap. Its not true. These people could not read. So they could not have a phonetic language based on English. Its possible that a very few people who were just starting to read could speak like this for a while. But a language, no! Somebody is revising history.


5 posted on 08/17/2021 7:26:11 AM PDT by poinq
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To: ecomcon
What we need are translators. LOL


6 posted on 08/17/2021 7:26:48 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: deport
It’s for AFRICAN AMERICANS,” one commenter replied.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what a racist sounds like.

7 posted on 08/17/2021 7:26:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: deport

Oh great! This is what we need right now. Another wedge in the American gut.


8 posted on 08/17/2021 7:27:00 AM PDT by szweig (HYHEY!! (Have You Had Enough Yet))
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To: deport

TikTok is for people who are to stupid to make it on YouTube?


9 posted on 08/17/2021 7:28:20 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: deport

Children.


10 posted on 08/17/2021 7:28:35 AM PDT by LIConFem (Read up on Russia's Oct, 1917 Revolution... And prepare.)
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To: deport

I never heard of such a thing. Is this kind of like Yiddish for the Jewish population worldwide?


11 posted on 08/17/2021 7:29:42 AM PDT by Karoo
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To: deport

“In Tut, every letter in the English alphabet becomes a distinct sound.”

Well, that’s a real innovation right there.


12 posted on 08/17/2021 7:30:32 AM PDT by beef (The Chinese have a little secret—diversity is _not_ a strength.)
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To: deport

Just looked up Tutnese on Wikipedia. Kind of cool, but not that impressive. Seems like anyone could learn it but you would have to be a decent speller.


13 posted on 08/17/2021 7:32:00 AM PDT by far sider
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To: BenLurkin

Sorry, my AA friends, this is soon to be Culturally Appropriated. Deal.


14 posted on 08/17/2021 7:33:19 AM PDT by griswold3 (When chaos serves the State, the State will encourage chaos.)
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To: deport

Another way to divide us.


15 posted on 08/17/2021 7:34:21 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem by far is that most of the news media is hate & agenda driven, not truth driven.)
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To: griswold3

Bfl


16 posted on 08/17/2021 7:35:54 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
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To: deport

Maybe someone can carve a tut/jive/ebonics Rosetta Stone?


17 posted on 08/17/2021 7:42:04 AM PDT by lump in the melting pot
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To: far sider

I checked with Professor Wikipedia as well. It looks intriguing, similar in concept to Pig Latin. I used to have modest fluency in Pig Latin so I can understand how one could learn Tut. The Wikipedia article leaves the sociology questions dangling: how much of tut was a children’s game; how much a clandestine effort to disguise literacy when teaching slaves to read was a crime; and how widely was it actually used as a private language? Children’s word play on a Pig Latin level might well find other uses. I’d be interested in knowing how widespread it was. My guess is that the widest use would have been in situations where there were large, semi-autonomous slave populations as on very large plantations and in the coastal lowlands. In some instances, large slave gangs lived rather independently under the very loose oversight of overseers while absentee owners fled to healthier climes. A private language could easily take root.

Today it would be a colorful bit of cultural history. The idea of keeping it a secret is silly. I suppose some of the tik tok types think if white people learn it, they’ll be able to infiltrate Wakanda and steal the viburnum.


18 posted on 08/17/2021 7:42:33 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: poinq

I don’t think they said it universally used. A “secret language” isn’t something people spoke in everyday life. For many slaves, it may just have come down to a few words used when secrecy was important, something like “Pig Latin.” Slaves who did secretly learn to read developed the code and then passed the words on to others. Maybe “secret code” is more accurate than “secret language,” but that doesn’t generate headlines.


19 posted on 08/17/2021 7:45:35 AM PDT by x
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To: deport

pidgin is still in vogue at the BBC...

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin

President Biden defend decision to pull soldiers out of Afghanistan

US President Joe Biden don defend im decision to pull out of Afghanistan say no-how wey im for hand di war over to di next president.
3 hours wey don pass
Another thing we de for inside dis tori

Wetin cause di war for Afghanistan?
Who be di Taliban wey dey at di centre of di war for Afghanistan?
Kontries wey don evacuate dia citizens from Afghanistan as di Taliban take over


20 posted on 08/17/2021 7:45:56 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
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