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A Modern-Day Sequoya: Perfecting a Cherokee Language Syllabary
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20475 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1992 |
3,495 Words |
| Author
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Woodenturtle
Newspaper columnist and lecturer Woodenturtle (Christopher
Nyerges) has written three books, one of which discusses
American Indian uses of plants. He and his wife, Dolores
(Wanbliwin), teach classes on American Indian esoterica based
on their studies with the Iroquois teacher Shining Bear.
They attended Durbin Feeling's first Cherokee Institute in
the summer of 1988. |
Durbin Feeling has been called the New Sequoya, the Second Sequoya, and even Sequoya, Jr. Feeling's project is to revise and refine the written Cherokee syllabary that Sequoya developed in the early 1800s. But Feeling, now in his mid-forties, is modest and likes to point out that Sequoya, a half-German Cherokee, created the written syllabary singlehandedly and had no formal education whatsoever. "It's an honor to be associated with Sequoya in such a way, but I'm only refining what he started," says Feeling.
As part of his master's degree program, Feeling began conducting an annual two-week "Cherokee Institute" in the summer of 1988 at the University of California in Irvine, California, southeast of Los Angeles. Seminar participants were taught basic reading and writing of the Sequoya syllabary, some linguistics, and highlights of Cherokee culture and history. Feeling wants the institute to become a regular summer program at the Irvine campus. He conducts the institute with guest speakers from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and university staff members from Irvine, UCLA, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
A native of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Feeling grew up speaking Cherokees as his native tongue. By age ten, he had taught himself to read Cherokee in the Sequoya syllabary.
During a tour of duty in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, he missed being able to converse in Cherokee. So Feeling began to read and study his Cherokee-language copy of the New Testament. He noticed that the New Testament--translated from the King James version--was written in a style very different from the way people speak today. He became interested in the linguistics of Cherokee and began to practice writing the syllabary.
After the returned to Oklahoma, he earned his B.A. in journalism at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. Following graduation he began to work at the Cherokee Nation headquarters in Tahlequah, teaching his people how to read and write their language.
From 1972 through 1975, Feeling worked on a Cherokee-English dictionary, including explanations of grammar. The dictionary was his sole project during that three-year period. The only such work on the Cherokee language, Feeling's dictionary has now become a standard reference.
Sequoya's System
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