Cherokee Syllable Dla

On a Cherokee phonetic keyboard, type dla.

On Cherokee PC layouts, phonetic input converts the Latin-letter transliteration dla to a syllabary sign; the Cherokee Nation layout maps one key or stroke to each sign. A font displays the character the layout enters.

A transliteration writes a script with letters from another alphabet. Here, dla is the conventional Latin-letter form for one Cherokee syllable, not a three-letter English word.

What does Ꮬ mean in Cherokee?

It represents one Cherokee syllable, conventionally transcribed dla.

The Cherokee syllabary represents spoken Cherokee with one sign per syllable. Sequoyah developed it in the early nineteenth century for writing, communication, and literacy. An archaeological interpretation treats marks at Red Bird River Shelter, a rock shelter, as possible experimental evidence of the new script, not proof of an inherited ancient writing system. Examples place Ꮬ inside ᎠᏜᏩᏛ (Latin-letter transliteration adlawadv, “pocket”) and ᎠᏜ (adla), which appears in a word example about rubber or gum.

Cherokee writing moved from handwritten manuscripts into the later print period and eventually digital text.