# Cherokees Gave Us An Alphabet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231 "2002-10-21T14:26:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/1 "2002-10-21T14:26:09Z")
From elementary school, I vaguely recall learning about something about the Cherokee Indians giving us the concept of an alphabet or a written language? Also, in a 1960’s song, Paul Revere and the Raiders sing that we (Caucasian Americans) taught their “English” to our young… Does anyone know what the connection might be? Perhaps, the Cherokee had the first alphabet and written language - a step beyond traditional cave paintings, for example? Maybe some SDoper might know more about this… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/2 "2002-10-21T14:27:30Z")
One note of clarification: I meant to say I WAG it may be the first alphabet or written language among Native Americans? ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/3 "2002-10-21T14:29:47Z")
I think you’re remembering that a little backwards. The Cherokee did not have an alphabet; Sequoyah is famous for inventing the Cherokee alphabet after having been exposed to other written languages (written English, I assume, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/4 "2002-10-21T14:36:14Z")
Well, no. Sequoya, a Cherokee, developed an alphabet of 80 letters in the 1810’s. Before that, Cherokee was only an oral language. Cherokee is the only language in the Americas to have a syllabary, but other languages used hieroglyphics. Our alphabet is a modified Latin one. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/5 "2002-10-21T14:48:55Z")
A-ha! Thank you for the clarification on this matter! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/6 "2002-10-21T14:56:33Z")
The Cherokee language actually uses a syllabary, not an alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/7 "2002-10-21T15:03:38Z")
I should explain that I did not mean to usurp you, Captain, but merely to draw out an important point you made and stress it. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/8 "2002-10-21T15:09:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Paul Revere and the Raiders sing that we (Caucasian Americans) taught their “English” to our young… I always thought that song was from the persective of the Cherokee people, Cherokee tribe. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/9 "2002-10-21T15:10:32Z")
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say Cherokee’s the only AmeriIndian language with a syllabary. Isn’t the language used in Nunavut also written with one? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/10 "2002-10-21T15:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*I should explain that I did not mean to usurp you, Captain, but merely to draw out an important point you made and stress it. Sorry. \*\* Not at all. I was imprecise, and I’m glad you caught it. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Monty_ > **I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say Cherokee’s the only AmeriIndian language with a syllabary. Isn’t the language used in Nunavut also written with one?** And Monty also catches me out. You’re right. Inuktitut also uses a syllabary. I should have said that Cherokee was the only AmeriIndian language with a syllabary at the time. A syllabary was produced for Inuktitut and Cree by Edmund Peck, a missionary to the Inuit, in the 1890’s, based on the work of John Horden, a missionary to the Cree in the the 1850’s. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/11 "2002-10-21T15:58:32Z")
A side question: Inuktitut writing is relatively common in Canada (at least parts of it), Is the Cherokee syllabary still in use? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/12 "2002-10-21T17:22:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jovan \* > \*\*A side question: Inuktitut writing is relatively common in Canada (at least parts of it), Is the Cherokee syllabary still in use? \*\* When I used to go visit my grandmother in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in the 70’s a large number of the shop signs were still in Cherokee. I haven’t been back in years but I can’t believe it’s died out completely. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/13 "2002-10-22T01:38:30Z")
Sequoyah, aka George Guess/Gist, created the Cherokee syllabary single-handedly; quite a feat! And, apparently, he didn’t have an easy time getting it accepted among his countrymen, at first. He was accused of sorcery and stood trial before a Cherokee tribal court, before demonstrating that written communication between his daughter and himself did indeed work. A nice biography and account can be found on [the Cherokee Nation website](http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/HistoryPage.asp?ID=56), out of Tallequah, Oklahoma. The same site offers a lot of [info](http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/Language.asp) on the Cherokee language, including downloadable fonts and audible pronunciation guides. The Cherokee Nation is actively trying to keep the language alive. Happy to have my great great grandmother’s adaptable Cherokee blood flowing through my American mutt veins! ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/14 "2002-10-22T01:43:32Z")
Sequoyah, aka George Guess/Gist, created the Cherokee syllabary single-handedly; quite a feat! And, apparently, he didn’t have an easy time getting it accepted among his countrymen, at first. He was accused of sorcery and stood trial before a Cherokee tribal court, before demonstrating that written communication between his daughter and himself did indeed work. A nice biography and account can be found on [the Cherokee Nation website](http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/HistoryPage.asp?ID=56), out of Tallequah, Oklahoma. The same site offers a lot of [info](http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/Language.asp) on the Cherokee language, including downloadable fonts and audible pronunciation guides. The Cherokee Nation is actively trying to keep the language alive. Happy to have my great great grandmother’s adaptable Cherokee blood flowing through my American mutt veins! ---
**Author:** ![Mandarax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Mandarax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mandarax)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/15 "2002-10-22T03:00:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinx \* > \*\*Also, in a 1960’s song, Paul Revere and the Raiders sing that we (Caucasian Americans) taught their “English” to our young… > \*\* [Here](http://www.superseventies.com/sl_indianreservation.html) are the lyrics: > [@](#): > > They took the whole Cherokee Nation > Put us on this reservation > Took away our ways of life > The tomahawk and the bow and knife. > Took away our native tongue > And taught their English to our young It clearly means that “they” (the whites) took away “our” (the indians’) native tongue (presumably Cherokee) and taught “their” (the whites’) English to “our” (the indians’) young. ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherokees-gave-us-an-alphabet/133231/16 "2002-10-22T03:16:23Z")
Tahlequah here. Yes, some of the street signs and a couple of the downtown stores have the signs using the syllabary. Tahlequah is the Cherokee capital, and the tribe is making an uphill effort to get its kids speaking and reading the language. Don’t know how successful they are. There are still people around who speak Cherokee, but you don’t hear it too often unless you seek it out.