Cherokee language
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Cherokee (Template:Lang-chr; Tsalagi) is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic, has a emphsis on syllables, and is very complex to learn for English-speakers.
For years, many people wrote transliterated Cherokee on the Internet or used poorly intercompatible fonts to type out the syllabary. However, since the fairly recent addition of the Cherokee syllables to Unicode, the Cherokee language is experiencing a renaissance in its use on the Internet. As of January 2007, however, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma still officially uses a non-unicode font for online documents, including online editions of the Cherokee Phoenix.
The Cherokee language does not contain any "r" based sounds, and as such, the word "Cherokee" when spoken in the language is expressed as Tsa-la-gi (pronounced Jah-la-gee, or Cha-la-gee) by native speakers, since these sounds most closely resemble the English language. A Southern Cherokee group did speak a local dialect with a trill consonant "r" sound, after early contact with Europeans of both French and Spanish ancestry in Georgia and Alabama during the early 18th century (This "r" sound spoken in the dialect of the Elati, or Lower, Cherokee area – Georgia and Alabama – became extinct in the 19th century around the time of the Trail of Tears, examples are Tsaragi or Tse-La-gee). The ancient Ani-kutani (ᎠᏂᎫᏔᏂ) dialect and Oklahoma dialects do not contain any 'r'-based sounds.
Phonology
Cherokee only has one labial consonant, /m/, which is relatively new to the language, unless one counts the Cherokee w a labial instead of a velar.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated stop | t | k | |||
| Unaspirated stop | d | g | ʔ | ||
| Affricate | ʦ | ||||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Approximant | j | ɰ | |||
| Lateral | l |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə̃ | o |
| Open | a |
Diphthongs
Cherokee has only one diphthong native to the language:
- ai /ai/
Another exception to the phonology above is the modern Oklahoma use of the loanword "automobile," with the /ɔ/ sound and /b/ sound of English.
Tone
Cherokee has a robust tonal system in which tones may be combined in various ways, following subtle and complex tonal rules that vary from community to community. While the tonal system is undergoing a gradual simplification in many areas (no doubt as part of Cherokee's often falling victim to second-language status), the tonal system remains extremely important in meaning and is still held strongly by many, especially older speakers. It should be noted that the syllabary does not normally display tone, and that real meaning discrepancies are rare within the native-language Cherokee-speaking community. The same goes for transliterated Cherokee ("osiyo," "dohitsu," etc.), which is rarely written with any tone markers, except in dictionaries. Native speakers can tell the difference between tone-distinguished words by context.
Grammar
Cherokee, like many Native American languages, is polysynthetic, meaning that many morphemes may be linked together to form a single word, which may be of great length. Cherokee verbs, the most important word type, must contain as a minimum a pronominal prefix, a verb root, an aspect suffix, and a modal suffix. Consider the following verb:
Verb form ge:ga g- e: -g -a PRONOMINAL PREFIX VERB ROOT "to go" ASPECT SUFFIX MODAL SUFFIX
For example, the verb form ge:ga, "I am going," has each of these elements. The pronominal prefix is g-, which indicates first person singular. The verb root is -e, "to go." The aspect suffix that this verb employs for the present-tense stem is -g-. The present-tense modal suffix for regular verbs in Cherokee is -a.
Verbs can also have prepronominal prefixes, reflexive prefixes, and derivative suffixes. Given all possible combinations of affixes, each regular verb can have 21,262 inflected forms.
Writing system
Cherokee is written in an 85-character syllabary invented by Sequoyah (also known as George Guess). Some symbols do resemble Latin alphabet letters, but with completely different sound values; Sequoyah had seen English writing, but didn't know how to write it.
Due to the polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee language, new and descriptive words in Cherokee are easily constructed to reflect or express modern concepts. Some good examples are di-ti-yo-hi-hi (Cherokee:ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ) which means "he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose". This is the Cherokee word for attorney. Another example is di-da-ni-yi-s-gi (Cherokee:ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ) which means the final catcher or "he catches them finally and conclusively". This is the Cherokee word for policeman.
Many words, however, have been borrowed from the English language – for example, gasoline, which in Cherokee is ga-so-li-ne (Cherokee:ᎦᏐᎵᏁ). Many other words were borrowed from the languages of tribes who settled in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. One interesting and humorous example is the name of Nowata, Oklahoma. The word "nowata" is a Delaware word for "welcome" (more precisely the Delaware word is "nu-wi-ta" which can mean "welcome" or "friend" in the Delaware language). The white settlers of the area used the name "nowata" for the township, and local Cherokees, being unaware the word had its origins in the Delaware language, called the town a-ma-di-ka-ni-gv-na-gv-na (Cherokee:ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎾᎬᎾ) which means "the water is all gone gone from here" -- i.e. "no water".
Other examples of borrowed words are ka-wi (Cherokee:ᎧᏫ) for coffee and wa-tsi (Cherokee:ᏩᏥ) for watch (which led to u-ta-na wa-tsi (Cherokee:ᎤᏔᎾ ᏩᏥ) or "big watch" for clock).
Computer representation
Cherokee is represented in Unicode, in the character range U+13A0 to U+13F4.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
| 13A0 | Ꭰ | Ꭱ | Ꭲ | Ꭳ | Ꭴ | Ꭵ | Ꭶ | Ꭷ | Ꭸ | Ꭹ | Ꭺ | Ꭻ | Ꭼ | Ꭽ | Ꭾ | Ꭿ | |
| 13B0 | Ꮀ | Ꮁ | Ꮂ | Ꮃ | Ꮄ | Ꮅ | Ꮆ | Ꮇ | Ꮈ | Ꮉ | Ꮊ | Ꮋ | Ꮌ | Ꮍ | Ꮎ | Ꮏ | |
| 13C0 | Ꮐ | Ꮑ | Ꮒ | Ꮓ | Ꮔ | Ꮕ | Ꮖ | Ꮗ | Ꮘ | Ꮙ | Ꮚ | Ꮛ | Ꮜ | Ꮝ | Ꮞ | Ꮟ | |
| 13D0 | Ꮠ | Ꮡ | Ꮢ | Ꮣ | Ꮤ | Ꮥ | Ꮦ | Ꮧ | Ꮨ | Ꮩ | Ꮪ | Ꮫ | Ꮬ | Ꮭ | Ꮮ | Ꮯ | |
| 13E0 | Ꮰ | Ꮱ | Ꮲ | Ꮳ | Ꮴ | Ꮵ | Ꮶ | Ꮷ | Ꮸ | Ꮹ | Ꮺ | Ꮻ | Ꮼ | Ꮽ | Ꮾ | Ꮿ | |
| 13F0 | Ᏸ | Ᏹ | Ᏺ | Ᏻ | Ᏼ |
A single Cherokee font is supplied with Mac OS X, version 10.3 (Panther) and later. Cherokee is also supported by free fonts found at languagegeek.com, and the shareware fonts Code2000 and Everson Mono.
Language Drift
There are two main dialects of Cherokee spoken by modern speakers. The Giduwa dialect (Eastern Band) and the Otali Dialect (also called the Overhill dialect) spoken in Oklahoma. The Otali dialect has drifted significantly from Sequoyah's Syllabary in the past 150 years, and many contracted and borrowed words have been adopted into the language. These noun and verb roots in Cherokee, however, can still be mapped to Sequoyah's Syllabary. In modern times, there are more than 85 syllables in use by modern Cherokee speakers. Modern Cherokee speakers who speak Otali employ 122 distinct syllables in Oklahoma.
Drifted Otali Sequoyah Syllabary Mapping Otali Syllable Sequoyah Syllabary Index Sequoyah Syllabary Char Sequoyah Syllable nah 32 Ꮐ nah hna 31 Ꮏ hna qua 38 Ꮖ qua que 39 Ꮗ que qui 40 Ꮘ qui quo 41 Ꮙ quo quu 42 Ꮚ quu quv 43 Ꮛ quv dla 60 Ꮬ dla tla 61 Ꮭ tla tle 62 Ꮮ tle tli 63 Ꮯ tli tlo 64 Ꮰ tlo tlu 65 Ꮱ tlu tlv 66 Ꮲ tlv tsa 67 Ꮳ tsa tse 68 Ꮴ tse tsi 69 Ꮵ tsi tso 70 Ꮶ tso tsu 71 Ꮷ tsu tsv 72 Ꮸ tsv hah 79 Ꮿ ya gwu 11 Ꭻ gu gwi 40 Ꮘ qui hla 61 Ꮭ tla hwa 73 Ꮹ wa gwa 38 Ꮖ qua hlv 66 Ꮲ tlv guh 11 Ꭻ gu gwe 39 Ꮗ que wah 73 Ꮹ wa hnv 37 Ꮕ nv teh 54 Ꮦ te qwa 06 Ꭶ ga yah 79 Ꮿ ya na 30 Ꮎ na ne 33 Ꮑ ne ni 34 Ꮒ ni no 35 Ꮓ no nu 36 Ꮔ nu nv 37 Ꮕ nv ga 06 Ꭶ ga ka 07 Ꭷ ka ge 08 Ꭸ ge gi 09 Ꭹ gi go 10 Ꭺ go gu 11 Ꭻ gu gv 12 Ꭼ gv ha 13 Ꭽ ha he 14 Ꭾ he hi 15 Ꭿ hi ho 16 Ꮀ ho hu 17 Ꮁ hu hv 18 Ꮂ hv ma 25 Ꮉ ma me 26 Ꮊ me mi 27 Ꮋ mi mo 28 Ꮌ mo mu 29 Ꮍ mu da 51 Ꮣ da ta 52 Ꮤ ta de 53 Ꮥ de te 54 Ꮦ te di 55 Ꮧ di ti 56 Ꮨ ti do 57 Ꮩ do du 58 Ꮪ du dv 59 Ꮫ dv la 19 Ꮃ la le 20 Ꮄ le li 21 Ꮅ li lo 22 Ꮆ lo lu 23 Ꮇ lu lv 24 Ꮈ lv sa 44 Ꮜ sa se 46 Ꮞ se si 47 Ꮟ si so 48 Ꮠ so su 49 Ꮡ su sv 50 Ꮢ sv wa 73 Ꮹ wa we 74 Ꮺ we wi 75 Ꮻ wi wo 76 Ꮼ wo wu 77 Ꮽ wu wv 78 Ꮾ wv ya 79 Ꮿ ya ye 80 Ᏸ ye yi 81 Ᏹ yi yo 82 Ᏺ yo yu 83 Ᏻ yu yv 84 Ᏼ yv to 57 Ꮩ do tu 58 Ꮪ du ko 10 Ꭺ go tv 59 Ꮫ dv qa 73 Ꮹ wa ke 07 Ꭷ ka kv 12 Ꭼ gv ah 00 Ꭰ a qo 10 Ꭺ go oh 03 Ꭳ o ju 71 Ꮷ tsu ji 69 Ꮵ tsi ja 67 Ꮳ tsa je 68 Ꮴ tse jo 70 Ꮶ tso jv 72 Ꮸ tsv a 00 Ꭰ a e 01 Ꭱ e i 02 Ꭲ i o 03 Ꭳ o u 04 Ꭴ u v 05 Ꭵ v s 45 Ꮝ s n 30 Ꮎ na l 02 Ꭲ i t 52 Ꮤ ta d 55 Ꮧ di y 80 Ᏸ ye k 06 Ꭶ ga g 06 Ꭶ ga
References
- Pulte, William, and Durbin Feeling. 2001. Cherokee. In: Garry, Jane, and Carl Rubino (eds.) Facts About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages: Past and Present. New York: H. W. Wilson. (Viewed at the Rosetta Project)
- Scancarelli, Janine. "Cherokee Writing." The World's Writing Systems. 1998: Section 53. (Viewed at the Rosetta Project)
See also
External links
{{Wiktionary:chr}}
- Cherokee (Tsalagi) Lexicon
- Cherokee.org Dikanesdi (Lexicon)
- Echota Tsalagi Language Project
- Cherokee New Testament Online Online translation of the New Testament. Currently the largest Cherokee document on the internet.
- Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy ; assisted by George B. McClellan. hosted by the Portal to Texas History. See Appendix H, which compares the English, Comanche, and Wichita languages.
- Unicode Chart
- Offical Cherokee Font (Not Unicode-compatible)