History of the Cheyenne Alphabet
The modern linguistic alphabet which has been used in bilingual
education programs and Cheyenne language materials since the early
1970's is essentially the same alphabet designed by Rev. Rodolphe
Petter for the Cheyenne language 100 years ago. The modern alphabet
uses Rev. Petter's same letters, except for his letter "z". Rev. Petter
had a symbol for the glottal stop but he often did not use it. In the
modern alphabet, however, we attempt to write the glottal stop
consistently, especially since its presence or absence can indicate two
different Cheyenne words. Rev. Petter was a speaker of German and so it
was logical that he used the German letter "z" for the sound "ts" as in
English "cats" or the word the Cheyennes call themselves, Tsitsistas
("the Cheyennes"). The Cheyenne staff of the bilingual education
program which adopted this modern alphabet in the early 1970's felt it
would be better to use the English letters "ts" rather than the German
letter "z" for this sound.
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For technical discussions of Cheyenne alphabet symbols,
especially as they relate to various computer platforms, click on
following links:
Cheyenne font
Re: Cheyenne font
Cheyenne Symbol Set (Alphabet)
Cheyenne and international standards
Re: Cheyenne and international standards
Return to the Cheyenne spelling page.
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