ilani

[ninnymary]

I am wondering the same thing ! I typed it in the "Rambling " section , but it somehow migrated to here. Can the administrators move it to the Rambling section , PLEASE ?

Right Bob, I'm sure you typed it in the "Rambling" section.

Mary

 

[bobm]

Thank you moderators in moving this post. Here is the correct pronounciation for ilani ... ei'lanei / ay- LAN - ay it means " sing " in the Cowlitz tribal language. But, why the odd spelling ?

 

[digitS']

Sequoyah, the man who created a written Cherokee language, may not have been literate in English.

Every ethnic group should have had a Sequoyah to establish a written form of their language. Of course, languages change over time and people borrow words. In time, the written characters would not conform to the spoken sounds but everything has to start from somewhere .

Forcing the sounds of one language into the alphabet of another is problematic from the get-go. It's the way things have happened most everywhere.

Not an explanation, just a possibility ...

Steve