According to a report released last week from the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP), there are 318 fluent Cherokee speakers left in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. “New Kituwah staff recently did an informal, yet a thorough investigation, of fluent speakers,” Gil Jackson wrote in the March 2012 KPEP Newsletter. “While we had estimated we had 260 fluent speakers, we were pleasantly surprised with the results. Fluent speaker was defined as someone who spoke the language fluently as their first language.”
Following is a breakdown of fluent speakers by community:
– Yellowhill 13
– Painttown 23
– Birdtown 17
– Big Cove 72
– Snowbird 87
– Wolfetown 106
– KPEP
