The Creation of Cherokee
Although Cherokee was an oral tradition, giving the Cherokee people a written language helped them in many ways. Sequoyah’s formation of the Cherokee language also has several historical discrepancies. There are two noble views of his inspiration:
However, some also say he saw the necessity of needing to write bills of sale for his silver-work, while others say he did not show interest until he heard other Cherokee talk about how efficient the English writing system was.
After that comes the discrepancies on how he made the language and the resulting drafts:
After that comes the discrepancies on how he made the language and the resulting drafts:
Many concur that the first draft was most likely made in a similar style to languages like Japanese, wherein each character represents a word. Sequoyah did not account for how many words actually exist, and in the end, decided to proceed what he found the more manageable syllabary system. After this, he taught the language to his daughter before he began teaching the masses.
Cherokee in the Past
Sequoyah
spread the language to his people so much so that according to a 1835 census, 3,941 Cherokee could read their own language. As the language continued to
develop, some symbols were omitted and other ‘versions’ of the language tried to
emerge; however, these are generally seen as other people attempting to recreate
the original Sequoyah characters with minor discrepancies and have no claim of
originality. Soon after the language took hold in 1828, publication began on a
newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, as well as a Cherokee Bible.
From the
1870s to the 20th century, Cherokee was one of the native languages
that was repressed by the federal government with the use of boarding schools.
Children were not allowed to use their language and were often punished if they
did. This ended with the surrender of the schools in 1906.
Cherokee in the Present
At present, the Cherokee language has been recovering from the repression of the 1800s and is trying to regain ground with its people. In places like Tahlequah, OK, many of the street signs are written in both English and Cherokee, schools based in Native Nations have had classes in the language, and the Cherokee Phoenix is still in publication. The language has been well preserved and is still available for anyone who wants to learn it. According to a study by Yale, the written language of Cherokee is surviving, but losing ground. Many younger speakers of Cherokee are learning the language, but not how to write it. Perhaps the language is naturally reverting back to an oral tradition. Should we work to prevent the loss of the written language? Yes: It is important, in order to preserve the works of the Cherokee people, to continue to study and learn how to both speak and write in Cherokee.