Your Grandmother's Cherokee

Preserving the Cherokee language, one word at a time.

Message from Wiggins Blackfox --Inoli

Tsula, Fox, from the Cherokee Primer 1845. Blackfox is a different word, Inoli.

Apr 11, 2014

Tsali, meaning Charlie in the Cherokee language, is the most mispronounced word in the language.  Majority (90%) of people that claim to be Cherokee on the Qualla Boundary say Sa-li.  There is no such word pronounced this way.  The T is not silent

A New Way - The Patterns

Roxanne Standingdeer Stamper (1911-2011.) She created the Road to Soco design, pictured here as a pattern on a Pendleton blanket.

Aug 15, 2013

In order to find the patterns in the words, you have to look at the full form of the word.  Many speakers and even dictionaries do not give the full syllables of the word.  You need to see these syllables to see the patterns.

New Way - Old Words

Cherokee Primer, 1846

Aug 10, 2013

As we tried to follow the Cherokee patterns in the Cherokee language, we kept running into two problems.  One was not having the full forms of the words.  (We’ll talk about the second problem a little later in the blog—English.)

The Old Words - written and spoken

Rev. Daniel Butrick and David Brown, A Cherokee Speller, 1819.

Aug 3, 2013

These sources have provided lists of Cherokee words.  We compared words, continually checked our hypotheses about the patterns, and verified our results with fluent speakers among the Eastern Band.

English - the other problem, part 1

Map of Britain by Mathew Paris, 13th century

Jul 28, 2013

Many people try to teach Cherokee by comparing it to English. This is like using parts from your old Edsel to try to fix your Ferrari. (English being the old Edsel that’s already had parts from different cars rigged up to make it run.

Why has no one seen this? (Or have they?)

Portrait of Stephen Peter DuPonceau by Thomas Sully, 1830

Jul 20, 2013

We have asked ourselves this many times, after the patterns of Cherokee became clear. The language seemed so simple, and yet so incredibly beautiful. It was logical and consistent to a degree that scholars today say is impossible.

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