The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-06-08
AN AMERICAN LANGUAGE,
INTERESTING WAY IN WHICH AN
INDIAN SYMBoLIzED SOUND.

r
II Bureau of Ethnology, said to a
Washington Star reporter Gas
a work Of ingenuity the alpha
bet of the English language is not in it
with the Cherokee sylabary. The syl-
labary l speak Of was invented by half
breed Indian named Se-quo-yah. He
was entirely uneducated, not even know
ing how to read any language. But he
had become acquainted with the princi-
pie of the lphabet-namely, that marks
can be made the symbols of sounds Ae-
cordingly this untutored genius con-
ceived the notlon that he could express
all the syllables in the Cherokee tongue
by distinct characters.
'He first went to work to collect in
his memory all the syllable sounds in the
Cherokee language which he was able to
recall. He found the number to be
eighty-six, and for each of these he de-
vised peculiar mark. At the begin
ming he drew the marks in the sand and
and after he had them made to his salts
faction he transferred them to paper.
For some of them he took the letters Of
our own alphabet, using various modi-
tications of the Roman letters, together
with some characters of his own inven-
ton, for the rest.
"Each of these eighty.slx characters
stood for certain syllable sound and the
entire eighty-six comprised all the sylla-
bles used in the Cherokee language. With
these symbols he set about writing let
ters, and by means Of them a correspond
ence was soon actually maintained be-
tween Indians of bis race in Wills valley
and their relatives beyond the Mississippi,
five hundred miles away. This was done
by individuals who could not speak Eng
lish and who had never learned any ap-
phabet except this syllable one, which
Se-quo-yah had invented, taught to others
and introduced into practice.
"The remarkable point about this
syllabary was the rapidity with which it
could be learned and utilized for writing
and reading. After the English alpha
bet has been learned considerable
period Of schooling is required before
the most intelligent person can read or
write the language composed with it.
But, with the aid of this set of Cherokee
symbols, the average Indian, without any
previous instruction in the written signs
of any language, can learn to read and
write in Cherokee fairly we'll within two
weeks and fuently within four weeks.
A more than ordinarily intelligent person
can learn to read and write with the
symbols in weeks time.
''As soon as Se.que-yah had published
his invention interest in it rapidly spread,
until at length young Cherokees would
travel for great distances to obtain in
struction in this easy method of writing
and reading. Within a few days they
were able to begin writing letters, and
upon returning to their native villages
they taught others. At present the sylla-
barry is in general use among the Chero-
KEGS, and there is no part of the Nation
where it is not understood. In no other
language clu the art of reading be ac-
quired with nearly the same faculty.
The first book printed in the characters
was probably a collection of Cherokee
hymns, published in 1929; but previously
to that, in 1923, the first number of the
Cherokee Ph@nix, weekly newspaper,
were issued at New Echota partly in
English and partly in the syllabary.
"This Cherokee alphabet is altogether
syllable except for one letter, which
answers to the English s, and is placed
between the syllables to give Kissing
sound. There is not a consonant. in the
whole sixty-nine characters. In the
Cherokee language there is not sound
f, j, p nor V. The tongue is cultural,
and person speaking Cherokee can talk
all day and not have occasion to close
his lips. Se-quo-yah's English name was
George Guess. He was born in Georgia
in 1770 of Cherokee mother. / am
creditably informed that the father of
the American Cadmus, as he has been
called, was Colonel Nathaniel Gist, who
was with Washington at Braddock's de-
feat and who was taken prisoner by the
Cherokees, among whom he remained
five or six years.
"Se.quo-yah is said to have had as a
boy no liking for the rude sports of
other Indian youths, preferring to stroll
alone in the woods, where he employed
himself in building little houses with
sticks. His first attempts in the direc-
tion of his invention were addressed to
devising word signs, but he soon found
that this plan would require too many
characters. The syllebary was adopted
by the Cherokee Council in 1928, silver
medal being awarded to the inventor as
a token of admiration for his genius and
of gratitude for the service he had
rendered to his people. The medal was
made in Washington.
"Four years later the American Board
of Foreign Missions betrayed the cost of |
casting iont of type of the characters,
aud from this time on publications in
the syllabary began to multiply. At |
present the literature of the Cherokee |
language, composed with these signs,
consists of scores of books and pamph- |
lets, including periodicals, almanacs,
school books, tracts, laws, the Cherokee
Constitution, the whole of the New
Testament and most of the Old. Thus |
there came into use new system of re-
cording language, the invention of an
man, ignorant alike of books
and of the various arts by which knowl-
edge is Disseminated practical system
devised by native American for the
of native American Ian
guage."
It's estimated that 5000, 900 pounds
ofmaple sugar, manufactured in Vermont,