Cherokee language facts for kids

The Cherokee language (called ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi by the Cherokee people) is a special language spoken by the Cherokee people. It is considered an endangered language, which means fewer people are speaking it today.

How Cherokee is Written

The Cherokee language does not use the same alphabet as English. Instead, it has its own unique writing system called a syllabary. In a syllabary, each symbol stands for a whole syllable (like "ba" or "ko"), not just a single letter sound.

This amazing syllabary was invented by a Cherokee man named Sequoyah in the early 1800s. He created 85 symbols, which made it possible for the Cherokee people to read and write their language. This was a huge step for the Cherokee Nation!

The Cherokee Syllabary, showing all the symbols and the sounds they make.

Some important things to know about the syllabary:

• In the chart, the symbol ‘v’ makes a special sound. It is a nasal vowel, which sounds a bit like "ung" in the word "lung."
• The symbol Ꮩ (for the sound do) might look upside-down in some computer fonts. It should look like the Latin letter V.

Cherokee Grammar

The Cherokee language has a very interesting grammar. It uses many prefixes and suffixes. These are small parts added to the beginning (prefixes) or end (suffixes) of words. They change the meaning of the word or show who is doing an action. For example, a single Cherokee word can mean a whole sentence in English!

Images for kids

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  Number of Cherokee speakers in different counties in 2000.

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  A Bible cover written in the Cherokee syllabary.

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  A translation of the Book of Genesis into the Cherokee language from 1856.

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  A street sign for Tsali Boulevard in Cherokee, North Carolina. The Cherokee writing says "Tsali Tsuwasohisdi."

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  A student at an Oklahoma Cherokee language immersion school writing in the Cherokee syllabary.

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  Preschool students learning the Cherokee language at the New Kituwah Academy.

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  Sequoyah, the brilliant inventor of the Cherokee syllabary.

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  A stop sign in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with the Cherokee word ᎠᎴᏫᏍᏗᎭ (alehwisdiha) meaning "stop."

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  A Cherokee traffic sign in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, saying Ꮭ ᎠᏗ ᏱᎩ (tla adi yigi), which means "no parking."

See also

In Spanish: Idioma cheroqui para niños