|
Font: Cherokee
Info on Script |
Glyph Repertoire |
Font Samples
Belonging to the Iroquian family of indigenous North American languages, Cherokee is spoken by about 20,000 people in the southeastern United States. In their native tongue, the Cherokee people call themselves ‘Tsalagi’, which is also the name for their language and writing. Cherokee script, which is used exclusively for writing the Cherokee language, represents one of the few cases that a script was invented in the twinkling of an eye, historically speaking. In the 1820s, a Cherokee named Sequoyah is said to have devised the new script in a very short time. Although he was illiterate at the time, Sequoyah is believed to have been visually familiar with English letter forms. Cherokee script consists of 85 symbols, 78 of which represent syllables (consonant + vowel), 6 vowels, and one consonant (‘s’). The syllabic letters represent the sounds produced by the pairing of 13 consonants with each of 6 vowels. Cherokee does not distinguish between upper- and lower-case, and is written from left to right. Because its letters represent syllables for the most part, Cherokee writing is classifi ed as a ‘syllabary’. The inner structure of Cherokee script, as well as its rapid spread in Cherokee society, gives ample evidence of Sequoyah’s deep understanding of the phonology of his mother tongue.
After its initial design by Sequoyah, Cherokee script was adapted to the typographic technology of the time by Samuel Worcester. In that process, Worcester made some compromises that resulted in Cherokee letters resembling English letters even more. One must keep in mind, however, that any Cherokee letters bearing any resemblance to English ones represent totally different sounds. For instance, the D-like Cherokee letter represents the vowel [a], while the H-like letter stands for the syllable [mi].
|
|
