Cherokee Morning Prayer

“ᎣᏏᏳ ᎤᏁᏝᏅᎯ”
[oh-see-YOH oo-neh-lah-nuh-hee]
“Good morning, Creator”

This is the beginning of the traditional prayer Cherokee people offer each morning. ᎣᏏᏳ (Osiyo) is not just a greeting—it carries deep meaning, acknowledging and respecting the spirit of the other. Today, only 2,100 people can offer this greeting fluently. And every month, eight more depart into eternal silence.

In June 2019, the Cherokee Nation declared a state of emergency for their language. “We are losing our language. This is not just words disappearing—it’s losing who we are,” declared Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. His words were desperation itself.

Today, Cherokee is classified as “definitely endangered” by UNESCO. Only five fluent speakers under age 50. In this era where one language disappears every 14 days, Cherokee stands desperately at the precipice.

Sequoyah’s Miracle – Giving Wings to a Nation Without Writing

1809, Alabama. An illiterate silversmith named Sequoyah (ᏎᏉᏯ) was fascinated by the white people’s “talking leaves.” Having served as a Cherokee warrior, he watched white soldiers writing and reading letters and realized: “If we too could put our thoughts on paper…”

Twelve years of solitary work. Neighbors suspected him of practicing witchcraft. His wife, in frustration, burned his papers. Yet in 1821, Sequoyah finally completed the Cherokee syllabary—85 syllabic characters. His first student was his six-year-old daughter, Ahyokah.

The miracle came next. Within just five years, 90% of the Cherokee population could read and write. By the 1830s, Cherokee literacy rates far exceeded those of surrounding white settlers. It was unprecedented in history—an individual starting from illiteracy, creating a complete writing system, and seeing it immediately spread throughout an entire nation.

 [Image: Sequoyah holding the Cherokee syllabary chart with its 85 unique characters, traditional Cherokee village and Smoky Mountains in the background]

War Against Silence – Eight Souls Depart Each Month

In 2025, Cherokee teeters on a tightrope between dramatic revival and extinction. At the Cherokee Immersion School (Tsalagi Tsunadeloquasdi) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, children learn math and science in Cherokee. The New Kituwah Academy in North Carolina provides complete Cherokee immersion from birth.

In 2024, the Cherokee Nation made the Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act permanent law. $20 million annually, plus $35 million for a new middle school. This isn’t just a budget—it’s an investment in survival.

But time is cruel. “Eight fluent speakers die each month,” says Howard Paden of the Cherokee Language Department. “We can have the biggest buildings, the biggest casinos, but without the very essence of who we are—our language—they mean nothing.”

Cherokee’s Unique Worldview

• ᎦᏚᎩᎯ (Gadugi) [gah-DOO-gee]
“The power of working together” – tradition of community coming together to work for one family

• ᏚᏳᎪᏛᎢ (Duyuktv’i) [doo-yook-tvee]
“The right path” – Cherokee philosophy of living in harmony and balance

• ᎤᏬᏪᎳᏅᎯ (Uwoduhi) [oo-woh-doo-hee]
“Beauty and harmony” – not mere aesthetics but cosmic balance

Cherokee is a polysynthetic language. A single word can express what requires an entire sentence in English. For example, “ᏥᏄᏍᏛᎾ” (tsunasdvna) contains the complete English sentence “they met each other again.” This isn’t just efficiency—it reflects the Cherokee worldview of seeing the world as whole and interconnected.

Digital Sequoyah – Creating the 21st Century Miracle

WIA is opening a new chapter in Cherokee preservation. The ChrEn Project—14,000 Cherokee-English sentence pairs, AI-based translation systems, Cherokee syllabary running on smartphone apps. This is the digital version of what Sequoyah dreamed 200 years ago.

Particularly noteworthy is the voice recording project. Permanently preserving the voices of the remaining 2,100 speakers. Cherokee is a tonal language—one tone, one vowel length can completely change meaning. AI learns these subtle differences, passing them to future generations.

 [Image: Cherokee syllabary characters floating as holograms, children worldwide learning Cherokee on smartphone screens]

From the Trail of Tears to the Trail of Hope

1838, the Trail of Tears. 15,000 Cherokee died during forced removal. The U.S. government stole their land, banned their language, tried to eradicate their culture. Children were punished for speaking Cherokee in boarding schools.

But Cherokee survived. Sequoyah’s syllabary protected them. Books passed in secret, newspapers hidden, syllabic characters carved on cave walls. In 2008, Cherokee script dated to 1808 was discovered in a Kentucky cave. A language forced into silence but never silent.

Today’s Cherokee revival is restoration of justice. “This isn’t just for us,” says Chief Hoskin. “This is America repaying its debt to Native peoples.”

ᏗᏓᏂᏯᏍᎩ (Didaniyasgi) – Those Who See the Future

Children at the Cherokee Immersion School now learn their ancestors’ language conversing with AI tutors. They meet traditional storytellers in virtual reality, draw Cherokee characters in mid-air with augmented reality. What took Sequoyah 12 years to create, children master in 12 weeks.

“When a language lives, there’s a culture. There’s a big difference between people who have a culture and people with just history,” says a Cherokee elder. WIA commits to preserving that difference, making language not history but present.

“ᏙᎾᏓᎪᎲᎢ”
[doh-nah-dah-goh-hv-ee]
“Until we meet again”

The Cherokee farewell.
Never “goodbye.”
Always “until we meet again.”

Eight depart each month,
But new children learn ᎣᏏᏳ each day.
Sequoyah’s miracle continues
Into a new digital chapter.

With WIA, Cherokee is eternal.

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