The Cherokee language had to be simple and easy and logical, if people spoke it as an oral language for thousands of years. They had to have an agreement about the meanings of the words and the parts of words.
In order to find the patterns in the words, you have to look at the full form of the word. Many speakers and even dictionaries do not give the full syllables of the word. You need to see these syllables to see the patterns.
As we tried to follow the Cherokee patterns in the Cherokee language, we kept running into two problems. One was not having the full forms of the words. (We’ll talk about the second problem a little later in the blog—English.)
These sources have provided lists of Cherokee words. We compared words, continually checked our hypotheses about the patterns, and verified our results with fluent speakers among the Eastern Band.
Many people try to teach Cherokee by comparing it to English. This is like using parts from your old Edsel to try to fix your Ferrari. (English being the old Edsel that’s already had parts from different cars rigged up to make it run.
We have asked ourselves this many times, after the patterns of Cherokee became clear. The language seemed so simple, and yet so incredibly beautiful. It was logical and consistent to a degree that scholars today say is impossible.
My dad used to say, water seeks its own level. If you’re lost in the mountains, follow a stream downhill, and it will come to a bigger stream, and will lead you out, because the water finds the best way down the hill. Trails are the same way.
