Origin

The Cherokee syllabary, which was reputedly invented by George Guess, a.k.a. Chief Sequoyah, of the Cherokee, was introduced in 1819. Sequoyah's descendants claim that he was the last surviving member of his tribe's scribe clan and the Cherokee syllabary was invented by persons unknown at a much earlier date.
By 1820 thousands of Cherokees had learnt the syllabary, and by 1830, 90% were literate in their own language. Books, religious texts, almanacs and newspapers were all published using the syllabary, which was widely used for over 100 years.
Today the syllabary is still used, efforts are being made to revive both the Cherokee language and the Cherokee syllabary, and Cherokee courses are offered at a number of schools, colleges and universities.
Notable features
Type of writing system: syllabary
Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
Used to write: Cherokee (Tsalagi Gawonihisdi), a Southern Iroquoian language spoken by around 22,500 people in North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Pronunciation