The way Cherokee pronouns are currently presented in an English centric point of view can lead to many incorrect

assumptions about their true meanings and result in much frustration for students, facilitators, and instructors alike. We should not write down English pronouns and then try and fit the Cherokee pronouns into that rigid English set, but rather, we should write out the Cherokee pronouns, as they group themselves naturally, then explain these groupings, using the combinations of English pronouns and other terms as necessary. I have attempted to do this in the following table. After various different arrangements, I was able to discern two important facts about Cherokee pronouns that English based groupings hide: 1. Most Cherokee pronouns have at least one reciprocal. This can be most clearly seen with the first grouping of Gv- and Sgi- in the table. 2. Cherokee does not generally divide out into isolation the concepts of I, You, and so on the same way English does. This demonstrates a very fundamental and not easily translatable concept of constant interrelationship that is embedded in the Cherokee language. This likely has cultural and spiritual ramifications. Unlike English, where the pronouns I and You are discrete and disconnected persons unless joined together by some third event or object, the Cherokee terms of Gv- and Sgi- signify a constant degree of connectedness between the persons of I and You that cannot be split apart. This constant relationship is then related to some third event or object when the prefix is used in phrases, such as Gvgotiha and Sgigotiha. In both cases the prefix communicates the existence of a relationship between two parties before being followed by the actual causal relationship. This implies more importance is given to the existence of the relationship and not to what the actual relationship happens to be. In English, the opposite can be said to hold true. For the English phrases I see you and You see

me the relationship between the I and You is only shown through what is causing that relationship to occur at the moment. This discrete structuring of English places a greater importance on the cause of the relationship over the fact that a relationship even exists. It would probably help an English speaking Cherokee language student to know of these fundamental differences that exists between the two languages and to clearly understand that the relationships that are indicated by the pronoun prefixes cannot be split apart the same way they are in English. About the following table: I have attempted to group the pronouns into sets where reciprocals are group together.

I then tried to order these sets based on

the first indicated part of a causal relationship.

The final ordering was based on the second part of the indicated causal relationship. Where possible, the inflected forms for agotiha where used. Where a prefix was not appropriate for agotiha, uduliha was substituted instead. If a prefix is marked with Yes in the Ambiguous column, tone or context must be used in addition to the inflected verb form to indicate the parties that make up the relationship. Where possible, default meanings for ambiguous statements are marked with a . These selections were made based on the Cherokee Animacy Hierarchy as described in A Reference Grammar of Oklahoma Cherokee on page 196. Where a prefix has multiple meanings that are equally weighted based on the first part of the relationship, the second part of the relationship was used as additional weighting.

The hierarchy:
1. I/We or You/You all 2. He/She/They (human) 3. He/She/They (nonhuman) 4. It/They

Table 1: Subject+Object Pairings. Qty 2 2 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 5 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 Jiy-, JiG-, JiAgi-, AgwJigotiha. Jigotiha. Agwaduliha. I + another (animate) I + another (inanimate) I + another (inanimate) [b] Another + me I + them (animate) I + them (inanimate) [b] They + me I + them (inanimate) You all + them (inanimate) You (one) You (one) You (one) Another + + another (animate) + another (inanimate) + another (inanimate) [b] you (one). I see him. I see it. I want it. He wants me. I see them. I want them. They see me. I see them. You all see them. You see him. You see it. You want it. He wants you. You see them. You see them. You see them. They see you.
Prefix Example Pairing English Ambiguous

Gvy-, GvSgi-, SgwSdvy-, Sdv-

Gvgotiha. Sgigotiha. Sdvgotiha.

I + you (one) You (one) + me I + you two Another and I + you (one) Another and I + you two You two + me You (one) + another and me You two + another and me I + you all They and I + you (one) You all + me You (one) + them and me You two + them and me You all + another and me

I see you. You see me. I see you two. He and I see you. He and I see you two. You two see me. You see him and me. You two see him and me. I see you all. They and I see you. You all see me. You see them and me. You two see them and me. You all see him and me.

No No

, , , ,

Yes

Sgini-, Sgin-

Sginigotiha.

Yes

Ijvy-, IjvIsgiy-, Isgi-

Ijvgotiha. Isgigotiha.

Yes Yes

, , ,

No No Yes

Gajiy-, GajiDagi-, DagwGvgi-, GvgwDeji- Dej-

Gajigotiha. Dagwaduliha. Gvgigotiha. Dejigotiha.

No No No Yes

Hiy-, HiHi-, HJa-, J-

Higotiha. Higotiha. Jaduliha.

No No Yes

Gahiy-, GahiDehi-, DehDeja-, DejGeji-, Gej-

Gahigotiha. Dehigotiha. Dejaduliha. Gejigotiha.

You (one) + them (animate) You (one) + them (inanimate) You (one) + them (inanimate) [b] They + you (one)

No No Sometimes Yes

Qty 5 5 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 3

Prefix

Example

Pairing

English

Ambiguous

You all + them (animate) They + you all Esdi-, EsdSdi-, SdEsdigotiha. Sdigotiha. You two + another (animate) You two + another (inanimate) He + you two You two + them (inanimate) You two + them (animate) They + you two You all + another (animate) You all + another (inanimate) Another + you all Another and I + you all We + another (animate) We + another (inanimate) We + another (inanimate) [b] Another + us We + them (animate) We + them (inanimate) They + us. You and I You and I You and I Another + + another (animate) + another (inanimate) + another (inanimate) [b] you and me

You all see them. They see you all You two see him. You two see it. He sees you two. You two see them. You two see them. They see you two. You all see him. You all want it. He wants you all. He and I want you all. We see him. We see it. We want it. He wants us. We see them. We see them. They see us. You and I want him. You and I want it. You and I want it. He wants you and me. You and I see them. You and I see them. You and I want them. They see you and me. He and I see him. He and I see it. He and I want it.

, , , , ,
No Yes

Desdi-, DesdGesdi- Gesd-

Desdigotiha. Gesdigotiha.

No Yes

Eji-, EjIji-, Ij-

Ejigotiha. Ijaduliha.

No Yes

Edi-, EdIdi-, IdIgi-, Ig-

Edigotiha. Idigotiha. Igaduliha.

No No Yes

Gedi-, GedDedi-, DedGegi-, GegEni-, EnIni-, InGini-, Gin-

Gedigotiha. Dedigotiha. Gegigotiha. Enaduliha. Inaduliha. Ginaduliha.

No No No No No Yes

Geni-, GenDeni-, DenDegini-, DeginGegini-, GeginOsdi-, OsdOgini-, Ogin-

Genigotiha. Denigotiha. Deginaduliha. Geginigotiha. Osdigotiha. Oginaduliha.

You and I + them (animate) You and I + them (inanimate) You and I + them (inanimate) [b] They + you (one) and me. Another and I + another (animate) Another and I + another (inanimate) Another and I + another (inanimate) [b]

No No No No No

Yes

Qty 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 4

Prefix

Example

Pairing

English

Ambiguous

Another + another and me Gosdi-, GosdDosdi-, DosdDogini-, DoginGogini-, GoginOji-, OjOgi- OgGosdigotiha. Dosdigotiha. Doginaduliha. Goginigotiha. Ojigotiha. Ogaduliha. Another and I + them (animate) Another and I + them (inanimate) Another and I + them (inanimate) [b] They + another and me. They and I + another (animate) They and I + another (inanimate) They and I + another (inanimate) [b] Another + them and me. They They They They and I + them (animate) and I + them (inanimate) and I + them (inanimate) [b] + them and me.

He wants him and me. He and I He and I He and I They see They and They and They and He wants They They They They see them. see them. want them. him and me. I see him. I see it. I want it. them and me. No No No No No No Yes

Goji-, GojDoji-, DojDogi-, DogGogi-, GogA-, Ga-, GU-, UwAni-, AnUni-, UnDega-, Deg-, DaDega-, DegiDu-, DuwDani-, DanDuni-, Dun-

Gojigotiha. Dojigotiha. Dogaduliha. Gogigotiha. Agotiha. Uduliha. Anigotiha. Uniduliha. Degaduliha.

and I see them. and I see them. and I want them. see them and me.

No No No No No No No No Yes

Another + another (animate) Another + another (inanimate) Another + another (inanimate) [b] They + another (animate) They + another (inanimate) They + another (inanimate) [b] Another + them (animate) Another + them (inanimate) We + them (inanimate) [b] Another + them (inanimate) [b] They + them (animate) They + them (inanimate) They + them (inanimate) [b]

He sees him. He sees it. He wants it. They see him. They see it. They want it. He wants them. He wants them. We want them. He wants them. They see them. They see them. They want them.

Duduliha. Danigotiha. Duniduliha.

No No No

The A Reference Grammar of Oklahoma Cherokee can be accessed as a downloadable PDF from: http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/4212/1/umi-ku-2613_1.pdf. This material is free to copy and use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Under the following conditions: Attribution You must maintain the list of authors and contributers intact. You may not imply that any contributer or author endorses you or your use of the work. Share Alike If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/. -Michael Joyner