DOCSLIB.ORG

PROSODIC PHONOLOGY in OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE By

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
PROSODIC PHONOLOGY in OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE By PROSODIC PHONOLOGY IN OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE by SAMANTHA CORNELIUS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON August 2018 PROSODIC PHONOLOGY IN OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE The members of the Committee approve the doctoral dissertation of SAMANTHA CORNELIUS Joseph Sabbagh Supervising Professor Colleen Fitzgerald Cynthia Kilpatrick Karin Michelson Dean of the Graduate School Copyright ⃝c by SAMANTHA CORNELIUS 2018 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee. Dr. Joseph Sabbagh has pushed me to not settle for the superficial answer as I have developed this project over the years. He always makes me think of the data in ways I haven't considered and for that I am very grateful. I would also like to thank Dr. Colleen Fitzgerald, who has always supported me and believed in me. She introduced me to fieldwork, the Cherokee language, and working with indigenous communities. Her mentorship from afar has been invaluable both for this project, and my development as a scholar. I am grateful to Dr. Cynthia Kilpatrick who helped me develop the analysis presented in this dissertation and provide motivation through the last few months of writing. Thank you so much for letting me pop in your office and bounce ideas off you! I am also grateful to Dr. Karin Michelson. One of my goals in writing this dissertation was to discuss Cherokee as it relates to Northern Iroquoian languages. Achieving this goal would have been impossible without consultation her. Her depth of knowledge of Oneida and other Northern Iroquoian languages helped me make links between Cherokee and its related languages that haven't been discussed before. I am deeply indebted to Cherokee Nation and the Cherokee Language Program man- ager Roy Boney. Thank you Roy for helping me coordinate visits and allowing me to take over part of the translation office, as well as supporting my research. I cannot begin to ex- press my gratitude to the Cherokee speakers who took the time to share their language and experiences with me: David Crawler, John Ross, Dennis Sixkiller, Anna Sixkiller, Ed Fields, Lawrence Panther, and Durbin Feeling. The dissertation could not have been completed without the knowledge and expertise of native speakers, and I am extremely grateful to have worked with such kindhearted and welcoming speakers. I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students at University of Texas at Arling- ton, who have heard seen so many versions of this and still given me substantial comments iv and suggestions. I also must thank Dr. Gordon Birrell, a person with whom I can talk about anything. I will always appreciate the time we spent together talking about language, literature, and so much more. I don't think I'd be a linguist without his encouragement and our shared enthusiasm for language. The research for this dissertation could not have been completed without financial support, and so I must also thank the organizations that have funded my work: American Philosophical Society Philips Fund for Native American Research, Jerold A. Edmondson Research Endowment in Linguistics, UTA University Sustainability Committee Grant for Documenting Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and 2014 Institute on Collaborative Lan- guage Research(InField/CoLang) grant #BCS-1263939. Finally, I must thank my husband, Mark. He never thought that I couldn't do this, and he's been with my every step of the way. Without Mark's patience, unwavering support, and profound belief in me, this dissertation could not have been completed. August 24, 2018 v ABSTRACT PROSODIC PHONOLOGY IN OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE SAMANTHA CORNELIUS, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2018 Supervising Professor: Joseph Sabbagh In this dissertation, I provide an analysis for word level prosody in Cherokee, a South- ern Iroquoian language spoken in Northeastern Oklahoma and Western North Carolina. Focusing on Cherokee as it is spoken in Oklahoma, I analyze right edges of Cherokee words, showing that the boundary tone is predictable, though its distribution is conditioned by lexical tonal phonology and other word-final phenomena. In order to account for the distribution of the boundary tone, I must first provide an analysis of lexical tone in Cherokee. There have been previous comprehensive tone analyses (Lindsey 1985; Wright 1996; Uchihara 2013), which argue for a tonal inventory with two underlying tones (high and lowfall), a superhigh accent, and a default low which does not interact with the tonal phonology. I summarize these previous analyses and discuss what generalizations they can and cannot account for. I also argue that some low pitches in Chero- kee are the surface realization of an underlying low tone. By including an underlying low tone in the tonal inventory of Cherokee, problematic surface pitch sequences from previous research can be explained. Before analyzing the boundary tone, I show all possible syllable shapes and discuss Word-Final Vowel Deletion, an optional fast speech process which often results in non- vi canonical word-final codas. I argue that there is a prosodic word which maps to a mor- phosyntactic word, as well as a larger prosodic word which includes enclitics. I also describe clitic linearization and attachment, and discuss how Cherokee clitics show a number of ty- pologically unusual properties. Finally, I describe all possible alignments of the boundary tone. While mentions of the boundary tone in previous literature claim that the boundary tone only appears on word- final vowels, I show a much wider range of possible surface positions for the boundary tone: 1) the boundary tone appears on a word-final vowel, 2) the boundary tone appears on a non word-final vowel, and 3) the boundary tone does not appear at all. I use a Stratal OT framework to account for the alignment of the boundary tone, as well as interactions between the surface position of the boundary tone and lexical tonal phonology, clitic attachment, and Word-Final Vowel Deletion. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv ABSTRACT . vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . xii LIST OF TABLES . xiv Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Introduction . 1 1.2 The Cherokee Language . 1 1.2.1 Phonology . 2 1.2.2 Morphology . 6 1.2.3 Word Order and Syntax . 10 1.3 Choosing a Writing System . 12 1.3.1 Cherokee Syllabary . 12 1.3.2 Aspiration . 15 1.3.3 Long and short vowels . 17 1.3.4 Writing Tone . 18 1.4 Data sources . 20 1.5 Organization . 21 2. CHEROKEE PITCH AND TONE ANALYSES . 23 2.1 Introduction . 23 2.2 Accent v. Tone . 23 2.3 Cherokee Pitch Melodies . 27 viii 2.3.1 Superhigh . 35 2.3.2 Boundary Tone . 37 2.4 Tone Systems . 37 2.5 Analysis 1: Six Tones . 39 2.6 Analysis 2: High Tone Analyses . 39 2.6.1 Analysis 2a: Lindsey 1985 . 40 2.6.2 Analysis 2b: Wright 1996 . 42 2.6.3 Analysis 2c: Uchihara 2013 . 45 2.7 Summary of Previous Analyses . 48 3. THE LOW TONE IN CHEROKEE . 51 3.1 Introduction . 51 3.2 The Typology of Low Syllables . 51 3.3 The Case for Specified Low Tone . 53 3.3.1 Low Tone and Phonetic Contours . 54 3.3.2 Specified Low and Phonetic Contours . 61 3.3.3 Specified Low Tone and Short Vowels . 69 3.4 Unspecified Low . 71 3.5 Summary . 72 4. CHEROKEE SYLLABLES AND WORD-FINAL VOWEL DELETION . 74 4.1 Introduction . 74 4.1.1 How to Know Where Syllables Begin and End . 75 4.2 The Canonical Syllable . 77 4.2.1 Onsets . 77 4.2.2 Nucleus . 87 4.2.3 Codas . 88 4.3 Word Margins and Word-final Vowel Deletion . 90 ix 4.3.1 Vowel Deletion resulting in consonant-final forms . 92 4.3.2 Vowel Deletion resulting in vowel-final forms . 95 4.3.3 What Doesn't Delete . 99 4.3.4 Why WFVD must be a Deletion Process . 101 4.4 WFVD as a Prosodic Process . 103 4.4.1 What's going on with laryngeals? . 107 4.5 WFVD with Clitics . 110 4.5.1 The Status of the Yes/No Clitic =sgo .................. 112 4.6 Summary . 114 5. CLITICS . 116 5.1 Introduction . 116 5.2 Cherokee clitics . 117 5.2.1 Distribution of Cherokee Clitics . 119 5.3 Defining `clitic' . 120 5.3.1 Simple and Special Clitics . 121 5.4 Clitics in Northern Iroquoian languages . 123 5.4.1 Northern Iroquoian Simple Clitics . 123 5.4.2 Northern Iroquoian Special Clitics . 125 5.5 Linearization . 127 5.5.1 Second Position Clitics: 2W and 2D . 128 5.5.2 Clitic Syntax and the Expanded CP . 131 5.5.3 Syntactic approaches to linearization . 134 5.5.4 A strong phonological approach to linearization . 135 5.5.5 Prosodic Inversion . 140 5.6 Summary . 147 6. BOUNDARY TONE . 148 x 6.1 Introduction . 148 6.2 The Boundary Tone . 150 6.2.1 H% v. HL% . 152 6.3 The Boundary Tone and WFVD . 154 6.4 The Boundary Tone and Clitics . 156 6.4.1 Boundary Tone Alignment and Clitics with Underlying Tone . 159 6.4.2 WFVD and Clitics =sgo/=hn´o´o ..................... 166 6.5 Summary . ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Runes Free Download
    RUNES FREE DOWNLOAD Martin Findell | 112 pages | 24 Mar 2014 | BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS | 9780714180298 | English | London, United Kingdom Runic alphabet Main article: Younger Futhark. He Runes rune magic to Freya and learned Seidr from her. The runes were in use among the Germanic peoples from the 1st or 2nd century AD. BCE Proto-Sinaitic 19 c. They Runes found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use from the 9th century onward. From the "golden age of philology " in the 19th century, runology formed a specialized branch of Runes linguistics. There are no horizontal strokes: when carving a message on a flat staff or stick, it would be along the grain, thus both less legible and more likely to split the Runes. BCE Phoenician 12 c. Little is known about the origins of Runes Runic alphabet, which is traditionally known as futhark after the Runes six letters. That is now proved, what you asked of the runes, of the potent famous ones, which the great gods made, and the mighty sage stained, that it is best for him if he stays silent. It was the main alphabet in Norway, Sweden Runes Denmark throughout the Viking Age, but was largely though not completely replaced by the Latin alphabet by about as a result of the Runes of Runes of Scandinavia to Christianity. It was probably used Runes the 5th century Runes. Incessantly plagued by maleficence, doomed to insidious death is he who breaks this monument. These inscriptions are generally Runes Elder Futharkbut the set of Runes shapes and bindrunes employed is far from standardized.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing Systems Reading and Spelling
    Writing systems Reading and spelling Writing systems LING 200: Introduction to the Study of Language Hadas Kotek February 2016 Hadas Kotek Writing systems Writing systems Reading and spelling Outline 1 Writing systems 2 Reading and spelling Spelling How we read Slides credit: David Pesetsky, Richard Sproat, Janice Fon Hadas Kotek Writing systems Writing systems Reading and spelling Writing systems What is writing? Writing is not language, but merely a way of recording language by visible marks. –Leonard Bloomfield, Language (1933) Hadas Kotek Writing systems Writing systems Reading and spelling Writing systems Writing and speech Until the 1800s, writing, not spoken language, was what linguists studied. Speech was often ignored. However, writing is secondary to spoken language in at least 3 ways: Children naturally acquire language without being taught, independently of intelligence or education levels. µ Many people struggle to learn to read. All human groups ever encountered possess spoken language. All are equal; no language is more “sophisticated” or “expressive” than others. µ Many languages have no written form. Humans have probably been speaking for as long as there have been anatomically modern Homo Sapiens in the world. µ Writing is a much younger phenomenon. Hadas Kotek Writing systems Writing systems Reading and spelling Writing systems (Possibly) Independent Inventions of Writing Sumeria: ca. 3,200 BC Egypt: ca. 3,200 BC Indus Valley: ca. 2,500 BC China: ca. 1,500 BC Central America: ca. 250 BC (Olmecs, Mayans, Zapotecs) Hadas Kotek Writing systems Writing systems Reading and spelling Writing systems Writing and pictures Let’s define the distinction between pictures and true writing.
    [Show full text]
  • Applications and Innovations in Typeface Design for North American Indigenous Languages Julia Schillo, Mark Turin
    Applications and innovations in typeface design for North American Indigenous languages Julia Schillo, Mark Turin To cite this version: Julia Schillo, Mark Turin. Applications and innovations in typeface design for North American Indige- nous languages. Book 2.0, Intellect Ltd, 2020, 10 (1), pp.71-98. 10.1386/btwo_00021_1. halshs- 03083476 HAL Id: halshs-03083476 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03083476 Submitted on 22 Jan 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. BTWO 10 (1) pp. 71–98 Intellect Limited 2020 Book 2.0 Volume 10 Number 1 btwo © 2020 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/btwo_00021_1 Received 15 September 2019; Accepted 7 February 2020 Book 2.0 Intellect https://doi.org/10.1386/btwo_00021_1 10 JULIA SCHILLO AND MARK TURIN University of British Columbia 1 71 Applications and 98 innovations in typeface © 2020 Intellect Ltd design for North American 2020 Indigenous languages ARTICLES ABSTRACT KEYWORDS In this contribution, we draw attention to prevailing issues that many speakers orthography of Indigenous North American languages face when typing their languages, and typeface design identify examples of typefaces that have been developed and harnessed by histor- Indigenous ically marginalized language communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Young Portrait Explorers: Sequoyah
    Young Portrait Explorers: Sequoyah Learning Objective: Learn about Sequoyah (c. 1770 – 1843), creator of the Cherokee syllabary (symbols used like an alphabet), and practice your writing skills. Portrait Discussion: Look at the portrait of Sequoyah. Spend 30 seconds letting your eyes wander from the top of the painting to the bottom. Objects: Notice the objects in this portrait. Can you spot the following: a feather pen, an inkwell (small jar used to hold ink for writing), a pipe, a medal, and something with writing on it? What clues might these objects provide about Sequoyah’s life? Can you read it the writing Sequoyah presents? Some of the symbols might look familiar, but not all. This is the Cherokee syllabary – the symbols Sequoyah created to form a written version of the Cherokee language. Each symbol represents a sound or syllable. Just like the letters in an alphabet, the symbols can be combined to form words. The Cherokee Nation (a North American Indian people or community) has a rich tradition of storytelling but did not use a written language until the 1800s, when Sequoyah introduced his syllabary. Soon after, Cherokee history, traditions, and laws were put down in writing. Pose: Do you think Sequoyah is sitting or standing? Can you try posing like he does? Pay attention to what he is doing with his hands – they help us to understand his story. With one hand, he holds the syllabary. With the other hand, he points at it. We might expect Sequoyah to be reading, but notice how his eyes look out from the painting.
    [Show full text]
  • 20 Americas 20
    The Unicode® Standard Version 12.0 – Core Specification To learn about the latest version of the Unicode Standard, see http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trade- mark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals. Unicode and the Unicode Logo are registered trademarks of Unicode, Inc., in the United States and other countries. The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this specification, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein. The Unicode Character Database and other files are provided as-is by Unicode, Inc. No claims are made as to fitness for any particular purpose. No warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. The recipient agrees to determine applicability of information provided. © 2019 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction. For information regarding permissions, inquire at http://www.unicode.org/reporting.html. For information about the Unicode terms of use, please see http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html. The Unicode Standard / the Unicode Consortium; edited by the Unicode Consortium. — Version 12.0. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-936213-22-1 (http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode12.0.0/) 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Writing Revolution
    9781405154062_1_pre.qxd 8/8/08 4:42 PM Page iii The Writing Revolution Cuneiform to the Internet Amalia E. Gnanadesikan A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication 9781405154062_1_pre.qxd 8/8/08 4:42 PM Page iv This edition first published 2009 © 2009 Amalia E. Gnanadesikan Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Amalia E. Gnanadesikan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Related Indigenous Writing Systems: Canada's Syllabic and China's A-Hmao Scripts
    TWO RELATED INDIGENOUS WRITING SYSTEMS: CANADA'S SYLLABIC AND CHINA'S A-HMAO SCRIPTS R. Alison Lewis University of Lincoln Lincoln LN6 7TS United Kingdom Louis-Jacques Dorais Departement d'anthropologie Universite Laval Quebec, Quebec Canada, G1 K 7P4 Abstract I Resume Around 1840, a team of Ojibwa and Cree speakers working with Rev. James Evans, a British Wesleyan missionary, developed a syllabic writ­ ing system which disseminated rapidly among the Cree and other north­ ern Canadian Aboriginal nations. Some 65 years later, in 1904, another Methodist, Rev. Samuel Pollard, who also worked in close collaboration with local people, supervised the elaboration of a script for transcribing the language of the A-hmao, an Aboriginal minority in south-western China. This article tells the story ofthese two writing systems, discusses the evidence of a connection between them, and describes their similar educational role in terms of social empowerment. Vers 1840, une equipe formee de locuteurs de I'ojibway et du cri travaillant en collaboration avec Ie Reverend James Evans, un missionnaire wesleyen d'origine britannique, developpa un systeme d'ecriture syllabique qui se repandit rapidement chez les Cris et d'autres nations autochtones du Nord canadien. Quelque 65 ans plus tard, en 1904, un autre methodiste, Ie Reverend Samuel Pollard, qui travaillait lui aussi en etroite collaboration avec les populations locales,supervisa l'elaboration d'une ecriture pour transcrire la langue des A-hmao, une minorite autochtone du sud-ouest de la Chine. Cet article raconte l'histoire de ces deux systemes d'ecriture, discute d'une relation probable entre eux, et decrit leur role educatif en termes d'outils de pouvoir social.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Writing and Preliterate Societies
    The development of writing and preliterate societies Author: Cynthia Tung Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107209 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2015 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. The development of writing and preliterate societies Cynthia Tung Advisor: MJ Connolly Program in Linguistics Slavic and Eastern Languages Department Boston College April 2015 Abstract This paper explores the question of script choice for a preliterate society deciding to write their language down for the first time through an exposition on types of writing systems and a brief history of a few writing systems throughout the world. Societies sometimes invented new scripts, sometimes adapted existing ones, and other times used a combination of both these techniques. Based on the covered scripts ranging from Mesopotamia to Asia to Europe to the Americas, I identify factors that influence the script decision including neighboring scripts, access to technology, and the circumstances of their introduction to writing. Much of the world uses the Roman alphabet and I present the argument that almost all preliterate societies beginning to write will choose to use a version of the Roman alphabet. However, the alphabet does not fit all languages equally well, and the paper closes out withan investigation into some of these inadequacies and how languages might resolve these issues. Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 What is writing? 6 2.1 Definition . 6 2.2 Types of writing . 6 2.2.1 Pictograms, logograms, and ideograms .
    [Show full text]
  • Calling Badger and the Symbols of the Spirit Language: the Cree Origins of the Syllabic System Winona Steveizsoiz
    Calling Badger and the Symbols of the Spirit Language: The Cree Origins of the Syllabic System Winona Steveizsoiz Shiyawak, Cree people, were the first, and for a long time the N only Indigenous peoples in present-day Western Canada with a written language. Composed of syllabic characters, the written form of nthiyawewin, the Cree language, can be found throughout Cree territory fioin Northern Quebec to Northeast British Columbia, and south to Montana. Cree syllabics anived among the people in the early 1800s and were used extensively until quite recently. Over time, as the English language replaced the daily usage of Cree, the Cree syllabary fell into disuse. Today only a handhl of Cree speakers still know and use it, though in the last decade or so, interest in reviving and utilizing Cree syllabics has grown tremendously. The origins of the Cree syllabary has long been credited to the ingenuity of the Rev. James Evans of the Wesleyan Methodist church. According to missionary records and other non-Indian documented accounts, Evans arrived among the muskego-wininiwak, Swampy Cree People, ofNorway House in August of 1840 and by mid-November printed three hundred copies of the hymn "Jesus my all to Heaven has Gone" in Cree syllabics.' A remarkable feat for anyone who had only been among Cree people a few short months and who continued relying on interpreters for the duration of his time in Cree country. According to his biographer and other historical records, Evans' accomplishment, "upon which his enduring fame rests" was made possible by his fluency in the Ojibway language which allowed him to "master Cree easy" and also by the 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Spelling Spells
    Spelling spells. MATUZAWA - Simamoto Eri Even after the fall of the Sumerian 3rd Dynasty of Ur 1. Letters in the world (about 2000 B. C.) and that of the Sumerian language, it had been used all over the Orient and in the Amarna 1. 1. Compared with the number of languages, there is Age (the 15-13th c. B. C.). It became a common writing a limited number of writing systems. Furthermore, system there. Thus various kinds of languages were while it is sometimes impossible to differenciate a written in the cuneiform system: Akkadian (Semite), language from a dialect, it is much easier to differen- Anatrian, Persian (IE languages). In Akkadian the use ciate writing systems. A writing sytem is handed of the cuneiforms was perhaps very similar to the down very systematically and very consciously, so it is present Japanese logographic-syllabary system. The stabler than a phonological system of a language, cuneiform system was used alphabetically in the which is the mother of the writing system. Thus the Ugarit (Semite) and the Persian languages. study of development and relationship of writing The beautiful Egyptian Hieroglyphic system systems is very advanced. The following list shows an developed soon after the cuneiform system appeared. outline of the relationship of writing systems. (Jean Though the cuneiform system had developed very 1987, pp.136-137. Gelb 1963, pp.x-xi.) slowly through various stages from a pictographic The oldest writing system is the Sumerian cunei- one, the Egyptian system appeared as a complete form system. This system developed from a pictogra- system; it had few developing stages.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cherokee Alphabet Has 86 Syllables
    NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION FOR ALL RESOURCES Partnership of IllumiNative and the National Indian Education Association Grade Level Subject Lesson Title Social Studies Sequoyah’s Talking Leaves: The 3-5 & Reading Cherokee Alphabet Activity Description: Sequoyah (1765-1843) was a Cherokee man known for inventing the Cherokee syllabary that brought a written language to his people. He was always fascinated by how white people could read“talking leaves” to communicate. He became the only Native American to create a whole alphabet for his own language. The Cherokee alphabet has 86 syllables. Sequoyah used the alphabet to record the history of his tribe and the Cherokee still use it today. This activity will introduce young people to Sequoyah and the Cherokee language. MATERIALS NEEDED • WiFi (recommended) • Pencil and paper • Printed or digital version of Who Was Sequoyah? by Scholastic Teaching Resources • Printed or digital version of Cherokee Language: Word Code Activity • (optional) “Sequoyah” Youtube Video • (optional) The Sound of the Cherokee language (Numbers, Greetings,Conversations and Genesis) YouTube video STEPS Sequoyah (1765-1843) was a Cherokee man who created a system of writing for his people. Even though he could not read or write in any language, he was always interested in the way that the white people could make words by looking at a paper, something he called “talking leaves.” He became the only Native American to create a whole alphabet for his own language. The Cherokee alphabet has 86 syllables. Sequoyah used the alphabet to record the history of his tribe. The Cherokee used the alphabet to communicate in writing and still use it today.
    [Show full text]
  • LEARNING to WRITE in the CHEROKEE SYLLABARY Janine
    LEARNING TO WRITE IN THE CHEROKEE SYLLABARY Janine Scancarelli College of William and Mary 1 lntro<luction. The Cherokees are famous for their writing system, the syllabary invented by Sequoyah in about 1820. The syllabary was used extensively by Cherokees through the nineteenth century, but in recent yea.rs literacy in Cherokee has declined. This paper describes how Virginia Carey, a native sJ>eUer of Cherokee who lives in southern Califor- nia, taught herself to write in the syllabary during 1993 and 1994. Most of Mrs. Carey's progress in writing took place as she worked on an account of the Northridge earthquake that occurred in January, 1994. The fact that Mrs. Carey set out to write about such a thing in Cherokee is remarkable. It is a commonplace in Cherokee studies that the syllabary is rarely used for writing nowadays. And it is surprising that Mrs. Carey wrote about a current event, since the syllabary today is associated primarily with ceremonial contexts. Some influential Cherokees are trying to revive literacy in the syllabary by urging a return to older practices, in which writing in Cherokee was associated with a wide range of contexts and not just with religion. Mrs. Carey's experience lends some weight to that approach, and suggests that one way to revive literacy in Cherokee is to encourage people to write about things that are important to them. I present some background information on the syllabary and its cultural significance in section 2, and I discuss Mrs. Carey's experiences in using the syllabary in section 3.
    [Show full text]