ABSTRACT
Cherokee is a member of the Iroquoian group of the Macro-Siouan family. The language is spoken today – exclusively as a second language – by about 20,000 to 30,000 Cherokees in Oklahoma, with a residue in North Carolina. Ousted in tribal warfare from their original habitat in the Great Lakes area, the Cherokee moved south to Georgia and the Carolinas, where they proceeded to model their way of life and institutions on those of the European settlers. By the early 1800s they had achieved a remarkable degree of administrative, economic and cultural stability.
