Cherokee Syllabary and Sounds

The Cherokee Alphabet and Pronunciation Guide

a			e		i		o	u	v
ga	ka		ge		gi		go	gu	gv
ha			he		hi		ho	hu	hv
la			le		li		lo	lu	lv
ma			me		mi		mo	mu
na	hna		ne		ni		no	nu	nv
qua			que		qui		quo	quu	quv
sa	s		se		si		so	su	sv
da	ta		de	te	di	ti	do	du	dv
dla	tla		tle		tli		tlo	tlu	tlv
tsa			tse		tsi		tso	tsu	tsv
wa			we		wi		wo	wu	wv
ya			ye		yi		yo	yu	yv

Sounds Represented by Vowels

a, as a in father, or short as a in rival	o, as o in note, approaching aw in law
e, as a in hate, or short as e in met	u, as oo in fool, or short as u in pull
i, as i in pique, or short as i in pit	v, as u in but, nasalized

• h, k, l, m, n, q, s, t, w, and y as in English.
• g nearly as in English, but approaching k. Syllables beginning with g except (ga) can have the consonance of k.
• (do), (du), and (dv) are sometimes sounded to, tu, and tv.
• Syllables starting with tl [except (tla)] sometimes vary to dl.