if you read & write ᏣᎳᎩ syllabary

This website uses a middle dot · (called an interpunct) to indicate vowel deletion in syllabary writing. The · interpunct will be in between 2 syllabograms (most symbols in a syllabary) when 2 syllabograms are pronounced only as 1 syllable. When this occurs in ᏣᎳᎩ we fully pronounce the 1st of the 2 syllabograms while dropping the vowel sound of the 2nd. Uncommonly the · interpunct will front a word when only the consonant of the 1st syllabogram in a word is pronounced.

Example: ᏥᎪ·ᏩᏘᎭ. We pronounce Ꭺ and also Ꮹ’s consonant sound, but we drop Ꮹ’s vowel sound Ꭰ. Another example: ᏣᏓ·ᎦᏎᏍᏕᏍᏗ, as we pronounce Ꮣ plus Ꭶ’s consonant sound, but we drop Ꭶ’s vowel sound Ꭰ. An example of an · interpunct at the front of the word: ·ᏥᏈᏍᏗ, as we pronounce Ꮵ’s consonant sound but not Ꮵ’s vowel sound.

The · interpunct is being used on this website in the same way the . period is used in the 2001 “ᏣᎳᎩ ᏗᎧᏃᎩᏍᏗ ᎦᎸᏍᎩ ᎢᏯᏂᏛ ᏧᏃᏪᎳᏅᎯ“ (“Cherokee Hymnal”) published by GBS (Global Bible Society). Using an · interpunct is just one written way we can help learners less familiar with reading ᏣᎳᎩ to be able to read when 2 syllabograms are pronounced only as 1 syllable. Some older hymnals use a subscript : colon. Some language programs use a , comma. Sometimes in handwriting people use an _ underline. This website uses the · interpunct to avoid repeating any commonly used punctuation or grammatical markers and for ease of legibility.

Syllabogram is a fancy word for most of the symbols in a syllabary. It’s kind of like how an alphabet has symbols called letters. Every symbol in the ᏣᎳᎩ syllabary is a syllabogram, except for Ꮝ. Ꮝ isn’t a syllabogram since it isn’t pronounced as a complete syllable on its own and it will always be attached to a syllabogram. If you’re very curious to what you could call or classify Ꮝ as, one may call Ꮝ a "segmental grapheme”.