Chamorro language

Chamorro
Fino' Chamoru
Native to	The Marianas
Ethnicity	Chamorro people
Native speakers	93,000  (1990–2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Sunda–Sulawesi MP ? Chamorro
Official status
Official language in	Guam Northern Mariana Islands
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ch
ISO 639-2	cha
ISO 639-3	cha

Chamorro (Chamorro: Fino' Chamoru or simply Chamoru) is a Malayo-Polynesian language (Austronesian), with much Spanish influence, spoken by about 47,000 people (about 35,000 people on Guam and about 12,000 in the Northern Mariana Islands).

Speakers

"Hafa Adai" sign at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam

The Chamorro language is currently threatened, with a precipitous drop in language fluency over the past century. It is estimated that 75% of the population of Guam was literate in the Chamorro language around the time the United States captured the island during the Spanish–American War (similar language fluency estimates for other areas of the Mariana Islands during this time period do not exist). A century later, the 2000 U.S. Census showed that fewer than 20% of Chamorros living in Guam speak their native language fluently, and a vast majority of those are over the age of 55.

A number of forces have contributed to the steep, post-WWII decline of Chamorro language fluency. A colonial legacy, beginning with the Spanish colonization of Guam in 1668, imposed power structures privileging the language of the region's colonizers. In Guam, the language suffered additional suppression when the U.S. Government banned Chamorro language completely in schools in 1922, and collected and burned all Chamorro dictionaries (Skutnabb-Kangas 2000: 206; Mühlhäusler 1996: 109; Benton 1981: 122). Similar policies were undertaken by the Japanese Government when they controlled the region during WWII. And post WWII, when Guam was ceded back to the United States, the American administrators of the island continued to impose “no Chamorro” language restrictions in local schools, teaching only English and disciplining students for speaking their indigenous tongue.

Even though these oppressive language policies were progressively lifted, the damage had already been done. Subsequent generations were often raised in households where only the oldest family members were fluent. Lack of exposure made it increasingly difficult to pick up Chamorro as a second language. Within a few generations, English quickly replaced Chamorro as the language of daily life.^{[citation needed]}

There does exist a difference in the rate of Chamorro language fluency between Guam and the other Mariana Islands. On Guam (called Guåhan by Chamorro speakers, from the word guaha, meaning "have", but its English meaning is, "We Have", from the idea that they had everything they needed,) the number of native Chamorro speakers has dwindled in the last decade or so, while in the Northern Mariana Islands, young Chamorros still speak the language fluently. Chamorro is still common among Chamorro households in the Northern Marianas, but fluency has greatly decreased among Guamanian Chamorros during the years of American rule in favor of American English, which is commonplace throughout the inhabited Marianas.^{[citation needed]}

Language revitalization

Various representatives from Guam have unsuccessfully lobbied the United States to take action to promote and protect the language.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, "Guam will be instituting Public Law 31-45, which increases the teaching of the Chamorro language and culture in Guam schools," extending instruction to include grades 7-10.

Classification

Unlike most of its neighbors, Chamorro is not a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan, it constitutes a possibly independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. Its indigenous origins are thus somewhat obscure. A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database suggested an 85% confidence level that it is closest to the Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.

Chamorro also has much Spanish influence, due to three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Many Chamorro nouns, adjectives, prepositions, numerals, and verbs are of Spanish origin. Under a historical point of view, it may be considered a mixed language, even if it remains independent and unique. In linguist Donald M. Topping's textbook Chamorro Reference Grammar, he states:

The most notable influence on Chamorro language and culture came from the Spanish. ... There was wholesale borrowing of Spanish words and phrases into Chamorro, and there was even some borrowing from the Spanish sound system. But this borrowing was linguistically superficial. The bones of the Chamorro language remained intact. ... In virtually all cases of borrowing, Spanish words were forced to conform to the Chamorro sound system. ... While Spanish may have left a lasting mark on Chamorro vocabulary, as it did on many Philippine and South American languages, it had virtually no effect on Chamorro grammar. ... Japanese influence on Chamorro was much greater than that of German, but much less than Spanish. Once again, the linguistic influence was restricted exclusively to vocabulary items, many of which refer to manufactured objects...

Orthography

Letter	pronunciation
’	[ʔ] (glottal stop)
A	[æ]
Å	[ɑ]
B	[b]
Ch	[ts]
D	[d]
E	[e]
F	[f]
G	[ɡ]
Gu	[ɡʷ]
H	[h]
I	[i]
K	[k]
L	[l]
M	[m]
N	[n]
Ñ	[ ɲ]
Ng	[ŋ]
O	[o]
P	[p]
R	[ɾ] ~ [ɻ ]
S	[s]
T	[t]
U	[u]
Y	[dz]

The letter ⟨y⟩ is pronounced more like dz (an approximation of the regional Spanish pronunciation of y as [dʒ]); nor are ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ñ⟩ or ⟨a⟩ and ⟨å⟩ always distinguished in print. Thus the Guamanian place name spelled Yona is pronounced [dzoɲa], not *[jona] as might be expected. ⟨Ch⟩ is usually pronounced like ts rather than like Engilsh ch. Chamorro ⟨r⟩ is a flap [ɾ], like Spanish r between vowels, and a retroflex approximant [ɻ ], like English r, at the beginning of words.

Chamorro has geminate consonants which are written double (GG, DD, KK, MM, NGNG, PP, SS, TT), native diphthongs AI and AO, plus OI, OE, IA, IU, IE in loanwords; penultimate stress, except where marked otherwise with an acute accent, as in asút "blue" or dángkulo "big". Unstressed vowels are limited to /ə i u/, though they are often spelled A E O. Syllables may be consonant-vowel-consonant, as in che’lu "sibling", diskatga "unload", mamahlao "shy", or oppop "lie face down", gatus (old word for 100), Hagåtña (Capital of Guam); B, D, and G are not distinguished from P, T, and K in that position.

Chamorro grammar

Chamorro is an agglutinative language, grammatically allowing root words to be modified by a number of affixes. For example, masanganenñaihon "talked awhile (with/to)", passive marking prefix ma-, root verb sangan, referential suffix i "to" (forced morphophonemically to change to e) with excrescent consonant n, and suffix ñaihon "a short amount of time". Thus Masanganenñaihon gue' "He/she was told (something) for a while".

Chamorro has many Spanish loanwords and other words have Spanish etymological roots (e.g. tenda "shop/store" from Spanish tienda), which may lead some to mistakenly conclude that the language is a Spanish Creole: Chamorro very much uses its loan words in a Micronesian way (e.g.: bumobola "playing ball" from bola "ball, play ball" with verbalizing infix -um- and reduplication of first syllable of root).

Chamorro is predicate-initial, head-marking language. It has a rich agreement system both in the nominal and in the verbal domains. The following table gives the possessor-noun agreement suffixes:

Person/Number	Suffix
1 sg	-hu / -ku
2 sg	-mu
3 sg	-ña
1 incl du/pl	-ta
1 excl du/pl	-(n)mami
2 du/pl	-(n)miyu
3 du/pl	-(n)ñiha

Chamorro is also known for its wh-agreement in the verb: these agreement morphemes agree with features (roughly, the Grammatical case feature) of the question phrase, and replace the regular subject–verb agreement:

(1)	Ha-fa'gasi	si	Juan	i	kareta.
	3sSA-wash	PND	Juan	the	car

'Juan washed the car.'

(2)	Hayi	fuma'gasi	i	kareta?
	who?	WH[nom]. wash	the	car

'Who washed the car?'

Chamorro basic phrases

Håfa Adai!	"Hello!"
Memorias [Spanish introduced]	Greetings
Kao mamaolek ha' hao?	How are you? [lit.: Are you doing well?][informal]
Håfa tatatmånu hao?	How are you?[formal]
Håyi nå'ån-mu?	What is your name?
Nå'ån-hu si Chris	My name is Chris.
Ñålang yu'	I'm hungry.
Må'o yu'	I'm thirsty.

Ådios [Spanish introduced]	Good bye.
Put Fabot [Spanish introduced]	please
Fanatåtte[Indigenous]	leave later [informal]
Buenas dias [Spanish introduced]	Good morning.
Buenas tåtdes [Spanish introduced]	Good afternoon.
Buenas noches [Spanish introduced]	Good night.

Esta ågupa'	Until tomorrow
Si Yu'us ma'åse'	Thank you (lit: God have mercy)
Buen probechu [Spanish introduced]	"You're welcome"

Numbers

Current common Chamorro uses only number words of Spanish origin: unu, dos, tres, etc. Old Chamorro used different number words based on categories: "Basic numbers" (for date, time, etc.), "living things", "inanimate things", and "long objects".

English	Modern Chamorro	Old Chamorro: Basic Numbers	Old Chamorro: Living Things	Old Chamorro: Inanimate Things	Old Chamorro: Long Objects
one	unu/una (time)	hacha	maisa	hachiyai	takhachun
two	dos	hugua	hugua	hugiyai	takhuguan
three	tres	tulu	tato	to'giyai	taktulun
four	kuåttro'	fatfat	fatfat	fatfatai	takfatun
five	singko'	lima	lalima	limiyai	takliman
six	sais	gunum	guagunum	gonmiyai	ta'gunum
seven	sietti	fiti	fafiti	fitgiyai	takfitun
eight	ocho'	gualu	guagualu	guatgiyai	ta'gualun
nine	nuebi	sigua	sasigua	sigiyai	taksiguan
ten	dies	manot	maonot	manutai	takmaonton
hundred	siento	gatus	gatus	gatus	gatus/manapo

• The number 10 and its multiples up to 90 are: dies(10), benti(20), trenta(30), kuårenta(40), sinkuenta(50), sisenta(60), sitenta(70), ochenta(80), nubenta(90)
• Similar to Spanish terms: diez(10), veinte(20), treinta(30), cuarenta(40), cincuenta(50), sesenta(60), setenta(70), ochenta(80), noventa(90).

Months

Before the Spanish-based 12-month calendar became predominant, the Chamoru 13-month lunar calendar was commonly used. The first month in the left column below corresponds with January. On the right are the Spanish-based months.

1	Tumaiguini
2	Maimu'
3	Umatalaf
4	Lumuhu
5	Makmamao
6	Fananaf/Mananaf
7	Semu
8	Tenhos
9	Lumamlam
10	Fangualu/Fa'gualu
11	Sumongsong
12	Umayanggan
13	Umagahaf

January	Ineru
February	Fibreru
March	Måtso
April	Abrit
May	Måyu
June	Huño
July	Hulio
August	Agosto
September	Septembre
October	Oktubri
November	Nubembre
December	Disembre

Chamorro Studies

Chamorro language is studied at the University of Guam and in several academic institutions of Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Researches in several countries are also studying different aspects of Chamorro. In 2009, the Chamorro Linguistics International Network (CHIN) was established in Bremen, Germany. CHiN was founded on occasion of the Chamorro Day (27 September 2009) which was part of the programme of the Festival of Languages. The foundation ceremony was attended by people from Germany, Guam, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States of America.

See also

• Proposed name change for Guam

Chamorro language spread in the United States

General references

• Aguon, K. B. (1995). Chamorro: a complete course of study. Agana, Guam: K.B. Aguon.
• Chung, Sandra. 1998. The design of agreement: Evidence from Chamorro. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
• Rodríguez-Ponga, Rafael (2003). El elemento español en la lengua chamorra. Madrid: Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad Complutense (Complutense University of Madrid). http://eprints.ucm.es/3664/
• Topping, Donald M. (1973). Chamorro reference grammar. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
• Topping, Donald M., Pedro M. Ogo, and Bernadita C. Dungca (1975). Chamorro-English dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
• Topping, Donald M. (1980). Spoken Chamorro: with grammatical notes and glossary, rev. ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
• Hunt, Mike (2008). "Speaking Chamoru Moru Moru". San Roque, Saipan.

External links

• Chamorro language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Chamorro-English Online Dictionary
• http://ns.gov.gu/language.html
• http://www.offisland.com/thelanguage.html
• http://www.chamorro.com/fino/fino.html
• Chamorro-English dictionary, partially available at Google Books.
• A Chamorro Reference Grammar, partially available at Google Books.
• http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Chamorro-english/
• Chamorro Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
• http://www.sous-le-soleil-de-guam.com
• http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/chin/ Chamorro Linguistics International Network (CHIN).