Introduction
I became interested in the Cherokee syllabary, well for one I am Cherokee, and just because I love to hear the language even though I cannot speak it. I also thought that many people here, if not any, have not heard this language before. I want to share it with everyone here.
The Cherokee syllabary was written by a man named Sequoyah. He was born in Eastern Tennessee . While he lived in Georgia as a blacksmith, Sequoyah became interested in the idea of inventing a writing system for his people because he was asked once why he didn't sign his name on his metal work. Sequoyah was never a chief, like some sources say, but he did love his people like one and did not want them to disappear in the white man's world. He used a phonetic system in which he designed a different symbol for each sound. He then created the “Talking Leaves,” a set of 86 letters to form the Cherokee syllabary.
Sequoyah's daughter was the first to learn the language, and he used her to show others how easy it was to learn the language. By 1820 thousands had learned the syllabary, and by 1830, 90% were literate. Next books, religious texts, almanacs and newspapers were published using the syllabary.
Transcription
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| Tyson interview (English) T: Nobody speaks Cherokee, very few people speak Cherokee and for me to be able to do this is to show people how beautiful it is. And umm how much we're all connected to it because it's so earth based; it's an agricultural, it's a language based on growing things, it's a language based on living off the land and umm that might be too far fetched for people especially if they're not even connected to nature and umm but at the same time as I'm coming in here and having this experience, of a renaissance for for a specific culturally dynamic group of people and they're going to have to experience the language too right? So for me it's definitely about the sound umm because it's very melodic and rhythmic and umm it's very very earthy and I think that that's what this experience is about. You know? And my subtext is hippies and Indians are the same people and I'm not gonna s, I'm not gonna sit here and say that you gotta know this isn't it so obvious? All I can do is speak Cherokee and you'll have an experience. And I might, there might be something in that experience that's very grounding for you. Not just like bring you back to center necessarily, but make you feel good, make you feel proud. Umm because it ain't dead. |
| Tyson's friend (Story about Sequoya & Sequoia trees in Cherokee) |
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Inchworm (Cherokee)
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Translation A long time ago, almost in the beginning, the Cherokee people believed the animals were giant monsters. The animals we see now are just weak imitations of these monsters. Our grandparents told us stories about the plants and the animals and giant monsters. This is the story about a giant monster, about a giant inchworm. Some people call these measuring worms. The Cherokee people call it e kwa sho ya. When the old men started their stories, they would start by saying: “n dv shown hi nag a wa shv gi tsi tsu tsa ge shwgi” which means, “this is what the old men told me when I was a boy.” A long time ago there was this Indian willage and it was built down in a valley. Behind this Indian village there was a high mountain, and on top of this high mountain lived a giant monster, a giant inchworm. The Indians couldn't distinguish the inchworm from a tree. He looked just like a tree standing on this high mountain and he subsisted by eating people. He would watch this Indian village. When the hunters would go hunting, they'd get their bows and arrows and start through the woods and when they were out of sight, the giant inchworm, he would lean forward and with his mouth he would grab up someone and he would gobble them up. Then he would stand back. Everyday when those hunters would go hunting, the giant inchworm, he would be watching. As soon as the hunters were out of sight, he would lean forward, and with his mouth, he would grab up a woman and gobble her up. Then he would stand back up. After a while the Indians started missing their women. They didn't know what was happening. So one day they pretended to go on a hunt. They got their bows and arrows and they started through the woods, then they stopped and turned around and looked back. And they saw this giant inchworm. He leaned forward and grabbed up one of their women and he gobbled he up. He stood back up. The Indians held a council to decide on how to kill the giant monster. They decided to it by using fire. So they got in the middle of the village and they built this big fire. Then they went out and gathered some large stones and placed them around the fire and made it look like people sitting there to fool the giant inchworm. The Indians pretended to go on a hunt. The inchworm was watching. He saw the hunters leave. Then he leaned forward and with his mouth, he grabbed up this big pile of rocks, thinking it was a woman and he swallowed those rocks. Before he could stand back up, the weight of the rocks pulled him down. He fell right into the middle of the fire. Before he could get out of the fire, the fire burned all of is legs off in the middle, except for the very end and the very front, and that's why the inchworm walks the way he walks to this day. till we meet again |
Analysis
The Cherokee syllabary is a great example of what we have been discussing from Pinker. The syllabary was formed from one very extraordinary man, whom of which listened only to the sounds of his people. This relates to Pinker because he speaks of the order of which a language is made. It is first the spoken form and then someone comes along, such as Sequoyah, and develops a written form of the language. That is then spread throughout the people, and is finally produced in print in the form of books, newspapers, etc.
The Cherokee language as we have seen is quickly becoming a second language to the native Cherokee peoples. Tyson mentions in another part of his interview that the Cherokee children were forced to attend white schools. In those schools they were forced to give up all their culture, including their language. This is a huge reason why many of the Cherokee people have lost much of the population who are able to speak this language.
However, there is somewhat good news, the Cherokee tribe is trying hard to revive the language. They are starting the teaching of it to children in preschool, which as we have learned from Pinker that that is a perfect age to learn a new language because it is not pass the “critical period.”
As we say in Cherokee, do na da go v yv, ‘till we meet again!
Sources:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/cherokee.htm
http://ngeorgia.com/people/sequoyah.html
Rumford, James. Sequoyah . Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948.
About the Author
hello:) my name is gina lambert. i was born in alaska because my dad was stationed in the army out there. we lived there for about a year, so i don't remember too much. we then moved to chapel hill because my dad went to law school here and i attended kindergarten. in 1993 we moved to my hometown which is cherokee, north carolina where i finished all of my schooling. i have been all over this country, i just haven't actually left it yet. the closest i got was when i was in texas and new mexico.
i took spanish in high school and thought it was pretty easy and i liked to learn it. that was in my junior year, so now when i began spanish here, i realized that i had forgotton a lot! i was never able to learn my native language which is cherokee. i wish carolina had a class that taught cherokee.
i think i am pretty handy when it comes to electronics. i can get my computer wired up to the printer and speakers and stuff and, also i can wire my t.v. and dvd and x-box. i can also actually use the computer and t.v. and stuff! :)
as for this class i just want to learn a little about language .
Further Sources
http://www.cherokee.org/
http://www.nc-cherokee.com/
