the cherokee syllabary carrie clarady university of maryland center for advanced study of language
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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
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