Cherokee Letter V

A nasalized vowel, conventionally romanized as v. Cherokee Nation teaching material compares it with the vowel in English “but,” nasalized. It is not the sound of English V.

Ꭵ represents a vowel-only syllable. Cherokee is read from left to right, one syllable after another; the characters do not join or change shape at their neighbors. Tone and vowel length are not normally written, so this one character cannot show every detail of pronunciation.

Why does Ꭵ look like a Latin V?

Its V-like shape comes from Cherokee printing history. Sequoyah’s handwritten signs were adapted for printing, and some printed Cherokee syllables used shapes borrowed from Latin type. The resemblance does not give Ꭵ the sound of Latin V.

The related Cherokee character ꭵ is the smaller form of the same syllable, used in lowercase text.

How did the Cherokee syllabary begin?

It was a writing system made for Cherokee, with one sign for each syllable. Sequoyah developed it between 1815 and 1821 so Cherokee speakers could write their language. Its signs represent Cherokee syllables, not English letter sounds.

Cherokee collaborators and printers adapted the handwritten forms for the press. By 1828, the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper was printing the revised system for newspapers, religious works, and lessons. The syllable represented by Ꭵ remained part of Cherokee writing.

The idea also traveled: missionary James Evans knew of Sequoyah’s work before developing Cree syllabics, a separate writing system for Cree.