Cherokee syllabary

Cherokee stop sign in Tahlequah , Oklahoma

Reverse side of a US 1 dollar coin ( Sacagawea dollar , 2017) with a portrait of Sequoyah and Cherokee characters

Cherokee script syllables

Distribution area of the Cherokee script on the world map

The Cherokee syllabary , the writing system of the Cherokee nation , is a syllabar consisting of 85 characters ( syllabograms ) and is still used today for the written reproduction of the Cherokee language . Since 2014, between Great - sensitive letters.

The font was developed by Sequoyah (also called George Guess ) at the beginning of the 19th century (see there for the basic principles of this font) and could also be set for printing. In 1821 Sequoyah and his daughter Ayoka presented the new writing system of the Cherokee tribal leadership in the Arkansas Territory for the first time. The Cherokee leadership recognized the benefits of the system and supported encouragement and education. The success was enormous. There are estimates that the Cherokee literacy rate was around 90% in the early 19th century. With this high proportion of literate readers, the Cherokee even outstripped their European-born neighbors. Sequoyah's syllabary also attracted attention in Europe.

In 1826, David Brown and George Lowrey were commissioned to translate the Cherokee Nation laws into the Cherokee language using these characters, and to make eight copies, plus a copy of the New Testament. In 1828 the first newspaper in Cherokee was published, the Cherokee Phoenix , after Samuel Worcester had previously cast the necessary lead letters for the syllables. Some scholars are of the opinion that their own writing and its distribution helped to preserve the Cherokee language, which is still understood today by a comparatively large number of tribesmen.

The syllable characters and their Unicode encoding

Code point	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	A.	B.	C.	D.	E.	F.
13A	Ꭰ A	Ꭱ E	Ꭲ I	Ꭳ O	Ꭴ U	Ꭵ V	Ꭶ Ga	Ꭷ Ka	Ꭸ Ge	Ꭹ Gi	Ꭺ Go	Ꭻ Gu	Ꭼ Gv	Ꭽ Ha	Ꭾ Hey	Ꭿ Hi
13B	Ꮀ Ho	Ꮁ Hu	Ꮂ Hv	Ꮃ La	Ꮄ Le	Ꮅ Li	Ꮆ Lo	Ꮇ Lu	Ꮈ Lv	Ꮉ Ma	Ꮊ Me	Ꮋ Wed	Ꮌ Mon	Ꮍ Mu	Ꮎ Well	Ꮏ Hna
13C	Ꮐ Nah	Ꮑ Ne	Ꮒ Ni	Ꮓ No	Ꮔ Nu	Ꮕ Nv	Ꮖ Qua	Ꮗ Que	Ꮘ Qui	Ꮙ Quo	Ꮚ Quu	Ꮛ Quv	Ꮜ Sa	Ꮝ p	Ꮞ Se	Ꮟ Si
13D	Ꮠ So	Ꮡ Su	Ꮢ Sv	Ꮣ There	Ꮤ Ta	Ꮥ De	Ꮦ Te	Ꮧ Tue	Ꮨ Ti	Ꮩ Thu	Ꮪ You	Ꮫ Dv	Ꮬ Dla	Ꮭ Tla	Ꮮ Tle	Ꮯ Tli
13E	Ꮰ Tlo	Ꮱ Tlu	Ꮲ Tlv	Ꮳ Tsa	Ꮴ Tse	Ꮵ Tsi	Ꮶ Tso	Ꮷ Tsu	Ꮸ Tsv	Ꮹ Wa	Ꮺ We	Ꮻ Wi	Ꮼ Where	Ꮽ Wu	Ꮾ Wv	Ꮿ Ya
13F	Ᏸ Ye	Ᏹ Yi	Ᏺ Yo	Ᏻ Yu	Ᏼ Yv

Web links

Commons : Cherokee syllabary - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Cherokee.org: Introduction to the language website
Fonts for Cherokee
cherokee.org: Dikaneisdi (Dictionary) (A list of 7000 words: English Cherokee Phonetic)

proof

↑ Michael Everson, Durbin Feeling: Document L2 / 14-064R: Revised proposal for the addition of Cherokee characters to the UCS. (PDF) Unicode Consortium, February 25, 2014, accessed on October 21, 2015 (English).
↑ In 1821, after he reached Arkansas, he and his daughter Ayoka demonstrated the writing to Cherokee leaders, who encouraged its instruction. from: John Noble Wilford, "Carvings From Cherokee Script's Dawn": researchhistory.org (PDF; 28 kB)
↑ It has been estimated that literacy rates among the Cherokee in the early nineteenth century were as high as 90 percent. in Montgomery-Anderson, A REFERENCE GRAMMAR OF OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE, 2008, p.21 kuscholarworks.ku.edu (PDF; 2.7 MB)
↑ In 1826 the Christian Observer in London wrote the following about Sequoyah ( George Guyst ):

" A form of alphabetical writing invented by a Cherokee named George Guyst, who does not speak English, and was never taught to read English books, is attracting great notice among the people generally. Having become acquainted with the principle, that marks can be made the symbol of sound, this uninstructed man conceived the notion that he could express all the syllables by separate characters. . . Soon a correspondence was maintained between the Cherokees in Wills Valley and their countrymen beyond the Mississippi, five hundred miles apart. This was done by individuals who could not speak English, and who had never learned any alphabet except this one, which Guyst had invented. "

- The Christian Observer (London) Vol. 26 (May 1826) p. 317

digital.library.okstate.edu
^ Commissioned by Brown and Lowrey: digital.library.okstate.edu

[1] Michael Everson, Durbin Feeling: Document L2 / 14-064R: Revised proposal for the addition of Cherokee characters to the UCS. (PDF) Unicode Consortium, February 25, 2014, accessed on October 21, 2015 (English).

[2] In 1821, after he reached Arkansas, he and his daughter Ayoka demonstrated the writing to Cherokee leaders, who encouraged its instruction. from: John Noble Wilford, "Carvings From Cherokee Script's Dawn": researchhistory.org (PDF; 28 kB)

[3] It has been estimated that literacy rates among the Cherokee in the early nineteenth century were as high as 90 percent. in Montgomery-Anderson, A REFERENCE GRAMMAR OF OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE, 2008, p.21 kuscholarworks.ku.edu (PDF; 2.7 MB)

[4] In 1826 the Christian Observer in London wrote the following about Sequoyah ( George Guyst ):

" A form of alphabetical writing invented by a Cherokee named George Guyst, who does not speak English, and was never taught to read English books, is attracting great notice among the people generally. Having become acquainted with the principle, that marks can be made the symbol of sound, this uninstructed man conceived the notion that he could express all the syllables by separate characters. . . Soon a correspondence was maintained between the Cherokees in Wills Valley and their countrymen beyond the Mississippi, five hundred miles apart. This was done by individuals who could not speak English, and who had never learned any alphabet except this one, which Guyst had invented. "

- The Christian Observer (London) Vol. 26 (May 1826) p. 317

digital.library.okstate.edu

[5] Commissioned by Brown and Lowrey: digital.library.okstate.edu