Cherokee is a member of the Iroquoian language family. Twelve of Iroquoian languages were spoken in the Northeast, but only seven still exist. Cherokee is the only Southern Iroquoian language.

According to Terry Corbett, (e-mail 2/16/04), there are two main Cherokee dialects. One of these is Northwestern which includes Otali, spoken in Tennessee on the Little Tennessee River, in the Valley Towns, and in the area where the Snowbirds live. The other includes the Eradi and Giduwa sub dialects. The first of these was spoken in the Southeast, in an area that includes what is now North western South Carolina and Northeastern Georgia and on the North Carolina. Giduwa is spoken in North Carolina along the branches of the Little Tennessee River. Because of population movements, both voluntary and forced, Alabama was refuge to people from all part of the Cherokee nation.

Terry Corbet explains that the one difference between these is that the Northwestern dialects use tl where the Southeastern dialects uses ts. A difference between Eradi and Giduwa is that Eradi doesn't have the m sound.

Both Shy Eagle and Mr. Corbett point to a difference between formal and informal Cherokee. In informal speech, final vowels are dropped except at the very end of a word. Some speakers also substitute v or i for a final a.