Cherokee Language - Sam Noble Museum

The Cherokee language (ᏣᎳᎩ) was traditionally spoken in the present day southern Appalachian region of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. The Eastern and Western dialects of Cherokee compose the southern branch of the Iroquoian language family. Related languages include the Northern Iroquoian languages Nottoway and Tuscarora, the Proto-Lake Iroquoian languages Huron-Wyandot and Laurentian, the Iroquois Proper—or Five Nation Iroquois—languages Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk.

Selected Language Information

Feeling, Durbin. 1975. Cherokee-English Dictionary: Tsalagi-Yonega Didehlogwasdohdi. Tahlequah, Oklahoma: Cherokee Nation.

Holmes, Ruth Bradley, and Betty Sharp Smith. 1976. Beginning Cherokee: Talisgo Galiquogi Dideliquasdodi Tsalagi Digohweli. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Montgomery-Anderson, Brad. 2008. A Reference Grammar of Oklahoma Cherokee. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas dissertation.

Scancarelli, Janine. 2005. Cherokee. In Native Languages of the Southeastern United States. Hardy, Heather K. and Janine Scancarelli. (eds.) 351-384. Lincoln: University Press.

Sample Archival Materials in the Native American Languages Collection

Blevins, Wade (speaker), Ed Jumper (speaker, compiler), Ken Masters (speaker), Benny Smith (speaker). 2010. Baby bear (Yusti Yona). General Field Collection. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Department of Native American Languages. Media: Audio. Catalog Number: GEN-057.

Armer, Christine (author, collector). 1963. Notebook containing Bellefonte Indian Baptist Church Sunday school records in Cherokee for the years 1962-63. Christine Armer Collection. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Department of Native American Languages. Media: manuscript. Access: open. Catalog Number: CAR-006.

Allen, Richard (author), John A. Ketcher (author), Akira Yamamoto (author). 2002. Ga-du-gi: A Vison for Working Together to Revitalize the Cherokee Language. Akira and Kimiko Yamamato Collection. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Department of Native American Languages. Media: manuscript. Catalog Number: AKY-191.

—–. 2007. Basketball Terms in Cherokee. Durbin Feeling Collection. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Department of Native American Languages. Media: manuscript. Access: open. Catalog Number: DFE-014.

West, John (author). (n.d.). Stories of the Cherokees. Caryl McHarney Collection. Department of Native American Languages, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Media: book. Catalog Number: CMC-278.