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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >I just recently found out I have Cherokee ancstors. How 
> would you describe the Cherokee influence on southern 
> speech? I have not heard about this influence before.
> 

I have a collection of recordings of native Oklahoma Cherokee speakers and of 
course Morganton, NC, is close by where most of the Eastern Cherokee are 
located.  After having lived in Oklahoma for 180 years (after the removal) 
the 
people's speech, whether speaking Cherokee or English, has the pure 
Appalachian 
twang to it.

The people who first populated the wild craigs and ridges of this part of the 
world (I say 'first' because the place is so hardscrabble that even the 
Indians didn't live here, they just visited) were not in the majority English 
speakers.  They spoke various forms of German, French, Gaelic, and there were 
even 
enclaves of speakers of Portuguese and Italian.  Each of those left its mark 
on the lingua franca that developed.  For example, in Scottish Gaelic there 
is 
no actual present tense of the verb.  The present tense is expressed thus:  
instead of saying "I am drinking" one says "I am at drinking"  (Tha mi ag ól. 
 
Pronounced roughly 'ha me a goal').  This pattern carried over into 
Appalachian 
version of English as "I am a thinking, I'm a going.")    From the Romance 
languages Southern English and Appalachian English in particular absorbed the 
copious use of the reflexive which is common in those languages "I'm a 
thinking 
I'll get myself down to the store and have myself an RC."

But back to the Cherokee.  When the folk looked around for an example of 
common English speech, the best English speakers were the Cherokee.  Cherokee 
has 
six vowel sounds and no diphthongs.  The vowels are the continetal values of 
a,e, i, o, and u, plus a completely nasal vowel written in translitertions as 
'v' (since that letter has no other use in Cherokee).   English, however, has 
no pure vowel sounds.  ALL vowels in English are either diphthongs or glides 
or 
both.  For example, the word 'they' is pronounced in English as "thay-ee"  
and "note" is pronounced "noh-oot".  This feature of English makes it a 
somewhat 
difficult language to learn to pronounce if you weren't born to it.

So the Tsalagi speaker came into contact with the English speakers and heard 
them saying two vowels with every syllable.  But the Tsalagi speaker didn't 
use diphthongs so they took the one vowel sound and said it twice imitating 
the 
glide.

When we say "I" we are saying vowel that does not occur by itself in common 
English but is sort of like "ah" then followed by "ee".  Try saying "I" but 
cut 
it off short before you add the "ee" on the end.  The Cherokee heard the 
rhythm of the glide, but said the "ah" part twice as "ah-ah" (no hiatus 
between 
them, say it as a glide).  Thus Appalachian English acquired the 
characteristic 
of holding and gliding the same vowel twice rather than making a diphthong 
out 
of it.

That's why you hear "boh-oh" and "oh-ohl" instead of "boy" and "oil".  

The Cherokee word (one of them) for "yes"  is "hv-hv" and this carried over 
into common speach here and is used to this day often writen "uh-huh".

Around here you will most often hear the expression "ever where" and "ever 
what" and "ever when" instead of "where ever", "whatever" and "whenever".  
This 
traces back to a Low German influence.

Could go on all day but mustn't.  Got to get a going, uh-huh!



James