Abstract
S EVERAL LINGUISTS WORKING on black English have noted the use of the complementizer say; a typical example of this (Rickford 1977, p. 212): They told me say they couldn't get it. In the Gullah dialect this complementizer occurs more frequently and with a wider variety of verbs, e.g., I hear say-, He think say-, We know say(Dillard 1972, p. 121). Dillard has noted the occurrence of this complementizer only among the older speakers of black English, but Rickford (1977) reports it being used by speakers 20-40 years old. The same complementizer has been noted in several English-based creoles which have their roots in Africa. Thus, Edwards (1974, p. 19) reports the following examples from the creole language of San Andr6s Island, Colombia, which he describes as partially descended from Jamaican Creole:
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