Cherokee

Also known as Cherokee language, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi, Tsalagi

Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people

AI overview

Cherokee is a language spoken by the Cherokee people, an Indigenous nation with historical roots in the southeastern United States. It remains culturally significant as part of Cherokee heritage and identity, though it is endangered as fewer people speak it fluently today.

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Wikidata facts

Image: Cherokee sample.svg

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Wikimedia language code: chr
native label: ᏣᎳᎩ
number of speakers, writers, or signers: 12300
exact match: publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/CHR
Commons category: Cherokee language
P10369: Barbados

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Number of speakers Cherokee is classified as Critically Endangered by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Cherokee, or Tsalagi (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, romanized: Tsalagi Gawonihisdi, IPA: [dʒalaˈɡî ɡawónihisˈdî]), is an endangered-to-moribund Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. Ethnologue states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speakers out of 376,000 Cherokees in 2018, while a tally by the three Cherokee tribes in 2019 recorded about 2,100 speakers. The number of speakers is in decline. The Tahlequah Daily Press reported in 2019 that most speakers are elderly, about eight fluent speakers die each month, and that only five people under the age of 50 are fluent. The dialect of Cherokee in Oklahoma is "definitely endangered", and the one in North Carolina is "severely endangered" according to UNESCO. The Lower dialect, formerly spoken on the South Carolina–Georgia border, has been extinct since about 1900. The dire situation regarding the future of the two remaining dialects prompted the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a state of emergency in June 2019, with a call to enhance revitalization efforts.