cherokeelanguage

Here's a translation of English to Cherokee. I'm aware that that not all of the words are there so if there are any you see that are missing please e-mail me them.

Punctuation & Pronunciation

' means syllable is accented.

? between syllable.

: means vowel is held longer.

* pronounce carefully because it can change the meaning of the word.

Vowels

a, as a in father, or short as in rival

e, as a in hate, or short as e in met

i, as in pique, or short as in pit

o as o in note, approaching aw as in law

u, as in fool, short as u in pull v, as u in but, nasalized

Cherokee Syllabary Pronunciation Key

The cherokee alphabet is written in the syllabary form. A syllabary is an alphabet in which each letter in a word stands for a whole syllable (such as "ga") instead of a single letter (such as "g"). With the exception of the letter "s," Cherokee is a complete syllabary comprising some 85 phonetic sounds.

Almost all Cherokee syllables end in a vowel. When using the syllabary, Cherokee words can almost always be spelled as they are pronounced. Spelling sometimes varies when using English letters to interpret the syllables.

The Cherokee language uses the following English consonants: d g h k l m n q s t w.

The following English consonants do not exist in the Cherokee language: b f p r* t v x z

*The Eastern or lower dialect which is now extinct used a rolling "r", which took the place of the "l" of the other dialects.

A beginning speaker should try to keep the lips still, mouth slightly open, pressing the tongue against the lower teeth. Syllables beginning with "g" except (ga) are pronounced almost as in English but approaching to (t); do, du, dv, are all sounded as to, tu, tv in some words.

Syllables written in (ti) except (tla) sometimes vary to "di". The syllables "do, du, dv" are sometimes sounded "to, tu, tv."

The syllables qua, que, qui, quo, quu, quv are pronounced with a "kw" sound before each vowel. The syllables dla, tla, tle, tli, tlo, tlu, tlv are pronounced by touching to the roof of the mouth and bringing it down as the syllables are spoken.

The syllables written with "tl" exept "tla" sometimes are pronounced "dl". The syllables tsa, tse, tsi, tso, tsv are pronounced a little differently depending upon the dialect.

In Western Cherokee the syllables are used pronounced as the "j" in jaw. Remember to try to keep the tongue at the bottom of the mouth, by touching the bottom teeth and the "j" sound becomes softer.

At times, Cherokee syllables have unvoiced or silent vowels. At times the silent vowel may be indicated with an apostrophe as in the number seven, "ga l' quo gi" -or indicated by brackets (li) qui gi. "When this happens the consonant in that syllable is pronounced with the preceding syllable, "gal quo gi."