Cherokee Language:
Sequoyah
Sequoyah and the Syllabary
The Cherokee had never had a written language, But one man saw how important a written language was.
Sequoyah was born in Tennessee around 1775.. His mother was Cherokee and his father was a White trader.
Sequoyah never went to school, and he never learned to read or write in english..
He would watch people use "talking leaves" and make marks on these "talking leaves". He knew the marks were spoken words..
He found a english spelling book and studied it and found there were just twenty-six characters used to make the English word..
Sequoyah drew eighty characters, each stood for one syllable. The characters became the Cherokee Alphabet, or Syllabary..
Sequoyah is the only Native American to devise a written language for his people, and its still used today..
~Speaking the Cherokee Language~
Now i want you to repeat after me..
"SIYO".
now say it again.."SIYO"
You just said "Hello" in the Cherokee language..
Now say "OSIGWUGAH"..
Say it again "OSIGWUGAH"..
You just said "How are you " in the Cherokee language..
"SIYO OSIGWUGAHA"...Hello, How are you....
~Remembering the Language~
We were taken from our homes, from our parents and told we had to go to the white mans school..We had to learn your language, regardless if we wanted to or not...
At the school we were told that we would learn the white mans way to speak and read, one way or another, it didn't matter to them..
If we didn't learn the white mans ways fast enough,or caught speaking the Indian language, they would make you go to the bathroom and wash our mouth out with soap to help you remove the Indian Language...
they might have made us wash our mouths out with soap, but it didn't wash out the Indian Language..
The Indian Language,it's still here in my mouth,"I did not wash it out..
Even when i can no longer speak, it will always be in my heart..
~The Song your listening to is~
~Amazing Grace Sung in Cherokee Language~
This is a small collection of words and how they are pronounced, using the Cherokee Language:
CHEROKEE......... CHA LA GI
hello............ o si yo
good/fine........ o s da, o s di
small............ u s di
thank you........ wa do
no/not........... kla, kla ha
goodbye.......... do na da' go hv i (speaking to 1 person)
do' da da go' hv i (speaking to a group)
man.............. a s ga ya
woman............ i ge, i ge ya
mother........... e tsi
father........... e do da
grandmother...... e li si
grandfather...... e do di
boy.............. tsu tsa
group of boys.... a ni tsu tsa
girl............. a ge yu tsa
coffee........... go we
good morning..... o s da su na le i
good evening..... o s da su he ye e
good night....... o s da su no e
enough........... e li qu
welcome.......... tsi lu gi
how are you...... do hi tsu
I am well........ do hi quu
and you.......... ne he na ha
this............. hi a
he knows......... go ga
wolf............. wa ya
bear............. ho nv
wildcat.......... ka he
bird............. tsi s qua
crow............. go gv
what are they doing.... ga do a na du ne
bread............ ga du
feather.......... u gi da li
beads ........... a de la di ya tso di
string of beads.. a de la di ya tlo di
what is your name.... ga do de tsa do a
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