Saturday, May 4, 2019

How to type in Cherokee Script

I have at least four ways of typing in Cherokee script. Perhaps that's why I do it so much. Here they are:

"SZBE" (phonetic, literally "sounds") keyboard (Chrome browser extension):

ꭰ ꭱ ꭲ ꭳ ꭴ ꭵ
ꭶ ꭷ ꭸ ꭹ ꭺ ꭻ ꭼ
ꭽ ꭾ ꭿ ꮀ ꮁ ꮂ
ꮃ ꮄ ꮅ ꮆ ꮇ ꮈ
ꮉ ꮊ ꮋ ꮌ ꮍ
ꮎ ꮏ ꮎh ꮑ ꮒ ꮓ ꮔ ꮕ
ꮖ ꮗ ꮘ ꮙ ꮚ ꮛ
ꮝ ꮜ ꮞ ꮟ ꮠ ꮡ ꮢ
ꮣ ꮤ ꮥ ꮦ ꮧ ꮨ ꮩ ꮪ ꮫ
ꮬ ꮭ ꮮ ꮯ ꮰ ꮱ ꮲ
ꮳ ꮴ ꮵ ꮶ ꮷ ꮸ
ꮹ ꮺ ꮻ ꮼ ꮽ ꮾ
ꮚ ᏸ ᏹ ꮒ ᏻ ᏼ

Analysis: "nah" is not available, but I never use it. "yo" gives "ni." "ya" gives "quu." They must be supplied from elsewhere.


"Tsalagi" keyboard:

Chrome layout:     Windows layout:

ꮹ12ᏽꮩꮶꮬꮛꮦꮢꮔꮥꮆ     `ᏣᎳᎩᎣᏏᏲᏩᏙᏙᏦᏜᏋᏖᏒᏄᎿᏳ

ꭺꮃꭱꮫꮤꮿꭴꭲꭳꮑꮸᏻ     ᎪᎳᎡᏛᏔᏯᎤᎢᎣᏁᏕᎶ

ꭰꮝꮧꭹꭶꭿꮪꮈꮅ`'ꮒ     ᎠᏍᏗᎩᎦᎯᏚᎸᎵᏨ'Ꮹ

<ꭼᏼꮣꭵꮈꮎꮕ,.ꮏ     ᎬᏴᏓᎥᎨᎾᏅ,.Ꮒ


shifted

ꮾꮁꮗꮷꮀꮉꮭꮱꮊ()ꮡꮴ     ᏊᎱᏇᏧᎰᎹᏝᏡᎺ()ᎼᎽ

ꮖꮻꮳꮟꮨᏺꭽᏹꮼꮺꮰꮍ     ᏆᏫᏣᏏᏘᏲᎭᏱᏬᏪᏑᏤ

ꮜꮞꮠꮘꮵꮂꭻꭷꭾꮚ"ꮙ     ᏌᏎᏐᏈᏥᎲᎫᎧᎮᏠ"Ꮾ

>ꮓꮽꮯꮮᏸꮋꮇꮲꮄꮌ     ᏃᏭᏟᏞᏰᎻᎷᏢᎴᏉ

"Tsalagi," the Cherokee National Keyboard, uses all four rows of your keyboard, including those that were numerals or other symbols before. The Chrome layout has an advantage in that you can shift into ordinary Roman alphabet by using the Caps Lock key.

These two layouts are not precisely the same. Chrome has the advantage for supplying missing SZBE symbols. Windows gives a larger, more readable type. Windows can supply "yo" Ᏺ and "ya" Ꮿ, using the same keystrokes. Blending SZBE with Windows: ꮨᏲꭽꮅ (font size does not match).

Your layout results could be slightly different from mine, because my computer, purchased in Uruguay, has a Spanish keyboard.

ꮨᏺꭽꮅ (SZBE blended with Chrome layout of Tsalagi kbd)

***

SZBE keyboard: "ya" and "yo" are missing

ꮨᏺꭽꮅ (supplied "yo" from Tsalagi kbd w/ "shift-y").

ꭰꮿ (supplied "ya" from Tsalagi kbd w/ "y").

And finally, my favorite method is here:

Easy transliteration from translitteration.com


BUT, it is not always available. If it isn't, you will need to use one of the other methods.

Neither the Chrome SZBE extension nor the program from translitteration.com will accept variants from the Western dialect for the sounds, so you need to use Sequoyah's original values for the symbols of his syllabary (i.e., "tsalagi," not "jalagi").






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.