C+Language

CHEROKEE Home | Origin | Religion and Mythology | Art | Language | Politics | Family


 * Language **

Cherokee **-** more properly spelled Tsalagi - is an Iroquoian language with an innovative written syllabary invented by a Cherokee scholar. About 22,000 people speak Tsalagi today, primarily in Oklahoma and North Carolina. It is one of the healthiest native languages of North America, and the one in which the most literature is being published, yet is still imperiled because of government policies that enforced the removal of children from Tsalagi-speaking homes as late as the 50's reduced bilingual Cherokee from 75% to 5%. The first boarding school used to forcibly acculturate Natives was opened in 1879 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Captain R.H. Pratt. "Kill the Indian and save the man", said Pratt. Native children were then taken from their homes, given "white" names, wardrobes, and haircuts, and forbidden any language except English. These schools maintained these English-only policy until 1933 with devastating effects on Cherokee fluency. Now, however, grants from the Cherokee Preservation are creating programs to foster Cherokee language and culture in the Carolina area.