If ten white men sat down to write the word an
Indian uttered, the probabilities are that one half of them would
write them differently from the other half. It is this which has
led to such endless confusion in Indian dictionaries. For
instance, we write the word for the tribe Cherokee, and the letter
R, or its sound, is scarcely used in their language. Today a
Cherokee always pronounces it Chalaque, the pronunciation being
between that and Shalakke. On these peculiarities it is not the
purpose of this article to enter, but hasten to George Gist,
brooding over a written language for his people.
His first essay was natural enough. He tried to invent symbols to
represent words. These he sometimes cut out of bark with his
knife, but generally wrote, or rather drew. With these symbols he
would carry on a conversation with a person in another apartment.
As may be supposed, his symbols multiplied fearfully and
wonderfully. The Indian languages are rich in their creative
power. By using pieces of well-known words that contain the
prominent idea, double or compound words are freely made. This has
been called by writers treating this subject, the polysynthetic.
It is, in fact, a jumbling of sentences into words, by
abbreviation, the omitted parts of words being implied or
understood. There is one important fact which I will merely note
here that is generally overlooked.
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