Cherokee | |
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![]() Tsa-la-gi ("Cherokee") written in the Cherokee syllabary | |
Script type | |
Time period | 1820s[1] – present[2] |
Direction | left-to-right ![]() |
Languages | Cherokee language |
ISO 15924 | |
ISO 15924 | Cher (445), Cherokee |
Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Cherokee |
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Part of a series on the |
Cherokee language |
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ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ Tsalagi Gawonihisdi |
History |
Grammar |
Writing System |
Phonology |
The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the late 1810s and early 1820s to write the Cherokee language. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy as he was illiterate until its creation.[3] He first experimented with logograms, but his system later developed into the syllabary. In his system, each symbol represents a syllable rather than a single phoneme; the 85 (originally 86)[4] characters provide a suitable method for writing Cherokee. Although some symbols resemble Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Glagolitic letters, they are not used to represent the same sounds.