--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
wrote:

> suzmccarth wrote:
> >
> > I think Mr. Daniels' comment about the sacred domain for

Cherokee, by

> > which I assume he meant native religion not Christianity, is

relevant

> > here. In general, as the script undergoes domain shift from home

to

> > school or church there can be a shift in the phonemicity(?) of

the

> > script.
>
> No, it's used in Christian worship. (See WWS.) Does any pre-

Christian

> religion survive in Oklahoma?

"In Cherokee, for example, writing has had the capacity to turn a
medicinal formula into an inheritable commodity. Being able to write
traditionally assisted in the transformation of a Cherokee into a
practitioner of traditional medicine. Being able to read also plays
a part in the transformation of a Cherokee speaker into a particular
kind of Christian."

Signs of Cherokee Culture. 2002. Margaret Bender

http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/bender_signs.html

See Willard Walker's article. Syllabary knowledge was transmitted as
part of becoming a 'medicine man.' I think the notion of 'medicine
man' and shaman knowledge is alive and well if somewhat muted in
contemporary North America. I do understand from what I read that
the Baptist church is the only religious institution that still uses
or has recently used the syllabary.

Suzanne

>
> > The script is altered in most cases, but not in every case, so

it is

> > interesting to examine whether there are patterns across scripts

and

> > whether this shift both in domain and in script characteristics

is

> > influenced mainly by native speaker needs or external influences.
> >
> > I have been a student of script standardization processes for a

long

> > time but now see how Unicode is a significant player in script
> > standardization.
>
> And we see from the attitudes expressed here that they don't give

a damn

> about "native" sensibilities.
> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...