The Cherokee Syllabary

Carrie ClaradyUniversity of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language

Writing Systems

Three major categories Logographic Syllabic Alphabetic/segmental

These categories are not firm and systems can change and evolve across these major categories

Writing Systems

Logographic/Ideographic Oldest forms of writing Not a pure system – usually has some

kind of phonetic or sound information bound up in the characters

Can extend through the “rebus” principle – use homophony of parts to construct new representations

Writing Systems

Alphabetic 1 character = 1 sound – sort of Abjads – no vowels Abugidas – inherent vowels Easily adaptable for use in other

languages and also for new coinages and loanwords

Writing Systems

Syllabaries Each syllable has its own unique

symbol Best suited for languages with very

simple syllable structures Almost always CV, and almost always

used for CV languages

Writing Systems

Languages and their writing systems are not the same thing!

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t related to each other, either

Languages in the Americas

Pre-European – thousands of languages and hundreds of language families

Extinction rates – maybe half left in N. America

Continued preservation efforts It is estimated that only twenty N.

American indigenous languages will remain viable by the year 2050.

Cherokee

One of around 300 languages native to North America

Part of the Iroquoian family of languages

Polysynthetic – each word has a lot of parts

‘Cherokee’ – eastern band. More common is ‘Tsalagi’, from the west

The sound system of Cherokee

Small phonemic inventory 12 consonants 6 vowels – long and short variants,

including schwa Tone is distinctive Syllable structure – open syllables,

CV overwhelmingly common, extrasyllabic /s/

The Cherokee syllabary

The story of Sequoyah 1809 – 1819 – active development Script and language traveled west

with the Cherokee

The Cherokee syllabary

Structure – graphic, organization

The Cherokee syllabary

Code talkers – World War II Mostly Cree and Comanche, but some

evidence of Cherokee used in the same way

Vai syllabary - Liberia

The Cherokee syllabary

Modern use in print and online

Mostly used for heritage and folklorepurposes now

Further resources

Cherokee.org Society for the Study of the

Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)

Contact me: cclarady@casl.umd.edu