Cherokee language

Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people
(Redirected from Cherokee syllabary)

The Cherokee language (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi) is an endangered language spoken by the Cherokee people.[1]

Writing system

change

The Cherokee language doesn't use the Latin alphabet (ABCs) like English does. Instead, it uses its own alphabet, which has some letters that look like the ABCs. Each letter represents a different syllable sound. This special alphabet was invented by a Cherokee man named Sequoyah.

Below is a chart of all the letters of the Cherokee alphabet and the sound each one makes.

 

Notes:

  1. In the chart, ‘v’ represents a nasal vowel, which is pronounced like "ung" in "lung".
  2. The character Ꮩ do is shown upside-down in some fonts. It should look like the Latin letter V.[a]

Grammar

change

The Cherokee language uses many prefixes and suffixes.

  1. There was a difference between the old-form DO (Λ-like) and a new-form DO (V-like).[2]

References

change
  1. McKie, Scott (June 27, 2019). "Tri-Council declares State of Emergency for Cherokee language". Cherokee One Feather. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  2. "Cherokee". download. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

Other websites

change