Cherokee Syllabary

by Kenneth B. Tankersley, Ph.D.

7 Jan 2005

Sequoyah created a syllabary, not a dictionary. A syllabary includes sounds that have cultural significance. A dictionary is composed of a set of arbitrary abstract symbols.

Cherokee symbol, pronunciation, & English pronunciation

 Following pages used by permission of

Kenneth B. Tankersley, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati; Natural History Unit, BBC:

Chief Red Bird and other Cherokee history

In Search of Ice Age Americans by Kenneth B. Tankersley

See Cherokee of N.W. Arkansas