A Language Spotlight on Cherokee Language

{Guest post from Language Lizard}

Cherokee, a member of the Iroquoian language family, is spoken by the indigenous, Cherokee Nation of North America. Originating from the southeast region of North America, the most significant Cherokee-speaking population now lives in a tribal territory in Oklahoma. About 2,000 people still speak Cherokee today.  

Cherokee Language Preservation

In 2019, the Cherokee Nation voted to invest in the preservation of their language and culture. With a $16 million commitment, the Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act is the biggest language investment in the history of the Cherokee Nation. Then, just this past spring, the United States’ Congress introduced the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021. This piece of legislation would provide important “health checks” to the preservation and revitalization of native languages in the U.S.

Interesting Facts About Cherokee

Cherokee is composed mostly of verbs. While about 25% of words in English are verbs, almost 75% of Cherokee words are verbs.

The Cherokee Nation offers free resources for educators and language learners interested in learning Cherokee. 

In its written form, the language uses Cherokee syllabary. This means that in place of an alphabet, Cherokee employs 85 distinct characters. Each character represents a discrete syllable. For this and many other reasons, Cherokee has a Class IV difficulty level. 

The Cherokee Phoenix is the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States. Also, because they printed their newspaper in both English and Cherokee, they became the first newspaper to be published in a Native American language.

Bilingual Children’s Books in Cherokee

If you interact with children who speak Cherokee or are learning the language, you may want suggestions on some of the best bilingual children’s books. Language Lizard offers How Totsuwa Became Cherokee, a coming of age story of the Cardinal bird. 

This bilingual children’s book tells the story of how Totsuwa noticed his feathers were turning red. Then, Yona, the old bear, and Kananesgi, the wise spider, help Totsuwa overcome anxiety and fear through courage and action.

The author, Virginia Hamby, is a Cherokee Nation citizen and grew up in a home where only the Cherokee language was spoken. She is proud to speak and maintain her heritage language today.

If you want to learn more about diverse languages, Language Lizard has a Language Spotlight series that showcases interesting facts and resources.

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