Like many other languages, the Cherokee tongue is named after its people, the Cherokee. It is classified under the Iroquoian language family, and it is the only Southern one from the group that is still used.
Like other languages, the Cherokee language is named after its people, the Cherokee. It is part of the Iroquoian language family, and it is the only Southern Native American language from the group that is still used.
The Cherokee language is associated with the South because its speakers reside in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, although it is believed that the Cherokee originally hailed from the Great Lakes.
Most people know of the Cherokee by way of the Trail of Tears. Basically, it was the American enforcement of relocation for all Native American tribes in the 1800s. Countless Cherokees died during this tragic process.
The Cherokee language is a speech rich in syllabary, but you may be surprised to learn that it does not have values for the English letters "p" and "b".
The consonant "m" is also a recent. Some symbols of the language look like Latin letters (but don't sound anything like them), and whereas the English alphabet only has six vowels, the Cherokee language boasts twelve, both short and long. The Cherokee alphabet has a total of eighty-five character strings.
Tsa-la-gi ("Cherokee" to natives) is a complicated dialect in that each verb can take on thousands of inferred forms. Many words are translated as phrases to the English ear; i.e., the word attorney is branded as "one who argues repeatedly on purpose for a purpose" in Cherokee.
The Cherokee are not exempt form adopting a few English terms of their own, however, similarly to how the English language has taken foreign lingo like R.S.V.P. (répondez s'il vous plaît) under its wing. They also have slang.
Cherokee in today's world is comprised of two major dialects: the Giduwa and the Otali. The main difference is that the Northwestern Cherokee use tl sound while the Southeastern employ ts. Whichever the dialect, the language is spoken by approximately 20,000 or so individuals throughout the Cherokee Nation.
The term "Cherokee" itself has been spelled at least fifty different ways in the past (the current spelling dates back to about the eighteenth century).
Its literal translation is "people with another language". Aniyunwiya, meaning "the principal people", is what the Cherokees called themselves in the beginning. Most Cherokees are not raised bilingually today, but as they get older, most opt to learn English.
There are many self study courses online if you are interested in learning Cherokee yourself. It won't be the easiest process, however, as Cherokee is quite different from English.
Pointers for Learning a Foreign Language
In today's world, knowing another language or two has become very, very important - even essential in some cases. Foreign communication surrounds most people daily, and people desire to obtain other languages to increase their brain power, grow as people, or for more whimsical reasons.
Learning a Foreign Language
There are a number of reasons to learn a new language. But whether it is to stimulate your intellect, work towards personal growth, travel the world, or whatever else, most people would agree that studying a distant or exotic foreign language takes a considerable amount of time and effort.
Western Delaware: A Native American People and Language
Western Delaware is an updated take of a Southern Unami dialect, taught by the Delaware Tribe of Indians. It is labeled Western because the language was used in the Western region of Oklahoma.
