The Phonemes of North Carolina Cherokee

0. The following is a tentative presentation of the phonemes of North Carolina Cherokee. It is based primarily on the speech of Will French and to a lesser degree on that of Molly Sequoia. Both are from the Great Smokies in western North Carolina. There were some differences between the dialect of the two informants, but none such as to make it impossible to construct one phonemic system that would be adequate for both. Mr. French had spent many years among the Oklahoma Cherokee, but the material used for this analysis contained only his North Carolina dialect forms, in so far as this could be determined directly and indirectly.' In view of the considerable dialectal complexity within North Carolina Cherokee the present report is offered only as a tenative analysis which may be used in the course of more extensive studies of Cherokee phonemics.