As a student of the Cherokee language, and not having any first language or second language speakers near by presents a challenge when working on learning the basic pitch tones of the language and the cadence of words.

Fortunately the Cherokee-English Dictionary has fully annotated pronunciation entries available.

The following examples demonstrate why creating these audio files is so important:

(These files were updated 2020-06-10 to reflect most recent changes.)

Water vs Salt:

• ᎠᎹ ạ²ma: Water.

• ᎠᎹ a³ma: Salt.

Wood VS She said recently VS Young animal

• ᎠᏓ ạ²da: Wood.

• ᎠᏓ ạ²da²: She said recently.

• ᎠᏓ ạ_⁴da_: Young animal.

While the pronuncation keys do help mentally visualize the pitch contours and cadences of words, they aren't the same as hearing it. While the audio is not perfect, it may be the only resource available to many students which presents both the cadence and the pitch contours for the Cherokee language to some degree. (At least for this specific dialect as recorded in the Cherokee-English Dictionary.)

As always, please leave comments below.

(This article was first published 5-12-2020)