Actually, I should say こんばんは since it is getting kinda late here in Muncie, Indiana. However, as I was preparing books to return to the library, I could not help but hang onto the library's copy of Beginning Cherokee by Ruth Bradley Holmes and Betty Sharp Smith. Before I discovered the joys of Japanese, I was enamored by this interestingly developed system of writing known as Syllabary. Mind you, these are not the only two syllabaries in existence. However, they are two of only a handful that have been known to exist (for more information, check out the Omniglot website here).
Cherokee, or ᏣᎳᎩ (Tsalagi), is definitely not the same as Japanese by any means. Nonetheless, curiousity won me over, and I decided to compare the two syllabaries. The following chart uses the Cherokee syllabary (for Cherokee only, click here) with matching hiragana.
(Note: The red characters/phonemes are non-existant in Japanese)
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/a/
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/e/
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/i/
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/o/
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/u/
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/ə̃/
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-
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Ꭰ あ
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Ꭱ え
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Ꭲ い
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Ꭳ お
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Ꭴ う
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Ꭵ
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g
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Ꭶ (ga) が
Ꭷ (ka) か
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Ꭸ げ
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Ꭹ ぎ
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Ꭺ ご
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Ꭻ ぐ
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Ꭼ
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h
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Ꭽ は
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Ꭾ へ
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Ꭿ ひ
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Ꮀ ほ
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Ꮁ
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Ꮂ
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l
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Ꮃ ら
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Ꮄ れ
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Ꮅ り
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Ꮆ ろ
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Ꮇ る
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Ꮈ
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m
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Ꮉ ま
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Ꮊ め
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Ꮋ み
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Ꮌ も
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Ꮍ む
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|
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n
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Ꮎ (na) な
Ꮏ (hna)
Ꮐ (nah)
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Ꮑ ね
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Ꮒ に
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Ꮓ の
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Ꮔ ぬ
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Ꮕ
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kw
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Ꮖ
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Ꮗ
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Ꮘ
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Ꮙ
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Ꮚ
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Ꮛ
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s
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Ꮜ (sa) さ
Ꮝ (s)
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Ꮞ せ
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Ꮟ
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Ꮠ そ
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Ꮡ す
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Ꮢ
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d
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Ꮣ (da) だ
Ꮤ (ta) た
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Ꮥ (de) で
Ꮦ (te) て
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Ꮧ (di)
Ꮨ (ti)
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Ꮩ ど
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Ꮪ
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Ꮫ
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tl
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Ꮬ (dla)
Ꮭ (tla)
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Ꮮ
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Ꮯ
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Ꮰ
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Ꮱ
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Ꮲ
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ts
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Ꮳ
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Ꮴ
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Ꮵ
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Ꮶ
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Ꮷ つ
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Ꮸ
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w /ɰ/
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Ꮹ わ
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Ꮺ
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Ꮻ
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Ꮼ を
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Ꮽ
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Ꮾ
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y /j/
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Ꮿ や
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Ᏸ
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Ᏹ
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Ᏺ よ
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Ᏻ ゆ
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Ᏼ
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First off, the Cherokee have an extra vowel, often romanized as v, which is a nasalized central vowel. Personally, it reminds me of the v in Chinese romanization; however the Chinese sound is /ü/, while the Cherokee sound is /ə̃/. Also, Cherokee has the /tl/ sound which can be found in a number of American languages. Although, it is interesting to note that this has not been classified as necessarily the same sound that one may find in languages like Nahuatl--any Americanist out there, please let me know. Another sound that is not given the same status in Japanese as in Cherokee is the /kw/; is くぁpronounced the same as Ꮖ, or is it totally different?
Looking from the Japanese perspective, it is noticable that the lack of some voiceless consonant sounds, means that some hiragana characters are not shown in the chart above, including: き、く、け、こ、and と. Also, there is a noticable lack of glides that play a major role in the Japanese syllabary, such as きょ、ちゃ、みゅ, etc. Although, it may be that glides exist in the Cherokee language--I honestly haven't studied it that much. (But I would love to in the future!)
I'm going to call it a night and leave off at this point. I hope that I have piqued your interest, or, at the very least, taught you something totally new.
Either way...さよなら！
