Cherokee syllabary
The Cherokee syllabary, which was reputedly invented by George Guess,
a.k.a. Chief Sequoyah, of the Cherokee, was introduced in 1819. Sequoyah’s
descendants claim that he was the last surviving member of his tribe’s
scribe clan and the Cherokee syllabary was invented by persons unknown
at a much earlier date.
By 1820 thousands of Cherokees had learnt the syllabary, and by 1830,
90% were literate in their own language. Books, religious texts, almanacs
and newspapers were all published using the syllabary, which was widely
used for over 100 years.
Today the syllabary is still used, efforts are being made to revive
both the Cherokee language and the Cherokee syllabary, and Cherokee courses
are offered at a number of schools, colleges and universities.
Notable features
- Type of writing system: syllabary
- Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
- Used to write: Cherokee (Tsalagi Gawonihisdi), a Southern Iroquoian language
spoken by around 22,500 people in North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Cherokee syllabary
Cherokee pronunciation
Notes
- The consonants g and d are voiceless
in certain positions and in some dialects. - In the Otali (Oklahoma) dialect, a is often realised as /ɒ/;
ts can be pronounced /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /sʰ/, /ʤ/ or /ʧ/;
and w is pronounced /ɰ/. - The Otali dialect has six tones, while the Quallah (Eastern) dialect usually (at
most) only bears a pitch accent.
Notes provided by Eric “ᏗᎦᏘᏍᏗ” Englert
You can hear the sounds of Cherokee at:
http://www.cherokee.org/Extras/Downloads/syllabary.html
Sample text in Cherokee
Transliteration
Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda’lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv’i.
Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi
anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Tower of Babel in Cherokee |
Useful phrases in Cherokee
Cherokee language learning materials
Links
Information about the Cherokee language
http://www.native-languages.org/cherokee.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_language
Online Cherokee lessons
http://www.youtube.com/user/tsasuyeda
http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=culture&culture=language
http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/language
http://tsasuyed.blogspot.com
http://www.angelfire.com/nj/nativecrafts/language.html
http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/Cherokee/CherokeeRecordings/language/Taylor-CherokeeLanguage.html
http://www.nativenashville.com/language/tutor_tsalagi.htm
Online Cherokee dictionaries
http://www.wehali.com/tsalagi/
http://www.manataka.org/page122.html
http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/raven/cherokee.dir/cherlexi.html
http://cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/Wordlist.aspx
Phrases in Cherokee
http://public.csusm.edu/public/raven/cherokee.dir/cherlexi.html
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/cherlyn/onefeather/id7.html
http://www.ctc.volant.org/cherokee/Mirror/cherokeewords.html
http://www.manataka.org/page122.html
Free Cherokee fonts
http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/CherokeeFont/Downloads.aspx
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Cherokee.html
Cherokee transliteration system
http://www.translitteration.com/transliteration/en/cherokee/sequoyah/
Information about Chief Sequoyah and the Cherokee Syllabary, written by his descendants:
http://www.enformy.com/dma-ls05.htm
Sequoyah Birthplace Museum
http://www.sequoyahmuseum.org
Echota Tsalagi Language Revitalization Project
http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/dl/echota/
Cherokee Observer – online Cherokee newspaper
http://www.cherokeeobserver.org
Cherokee Publications – Native American books, tapes, etc.
http://www.nativecollections.com/LanguageCourses.html
Place names of Cherokee origin
http://chenocetah.wordpress.com