Sequoyah, the great Cherokee linguist, developed a system for writing the Cherokee language. This writing system is based on a syllabary. In a syllabary, symbols are used to represent complete syllables in a language. This is different from an alphabet used in English, for example, where the symbols stand for short sounds.
The Cherokee syllabary is shown below. The Cherokee letters are the larger symbols. Their names, or sounds, are shown in English.
You'll notice some of the Cherokee letters resemble some symbols
used in the English alphabet. It is important to remember that these Cherokee
letters do not represent the same sounds used in English. For example, the
Cherokee letter 
looks like the
English letter "D", but is pronounced "ah" in Cherokee. A
pronunciaiton guide for the Cherokee letters is shown below.
| Sounds Represented By Vowels | Sounds Represented By Consonants |
|---|---|
| 'a' as in 'father', or short as in 'rival' | 'g' nearly as in English, approaching to 'k' |
| 'e' as in 'hate', or short as in 'met' | 'd' nearly as in English, approaching to 't' |
| 'i' as in 'pique, or short as in 'pit' | 'h, k, l, m, n, q, s, t, w, y' as in English |
| 'o' as in 'note', approaching 'aw' in 'law' | Syllables beginning with 'g', except 'ga', are sometimes sounded 'k' |
| 'u' as 'oo' 'fool', or short as 'u' in 'pull' | 'go', 'du', 'dv', are sometimes sounded 'to', 'tu', 'tv', |
| 'v' as 'u' in 'but', nasalized | syllables written with 'tl', except 'tla', sometimes vary to 'dl' |
Our Cherokee Syllabary Lessons will focus on a single row of the syllabary at a time. Each lesson will display a row for you to study and a quiz for you to test your knowledge.
| First Row | Eighth Row |
| Second Row | Ninth Row |
| Third Row | Tenth Row |
| Fourth Row | Eleventh Row |
| Fifth Row | Twelfth Row |
| Sixth Row | Thirteenth Row |
| Seventh Row |
