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Chamorro language
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It is an agglutinative language, grammatically allowing root words to be modified by an unlimited number of affixes. For example, masanganenñaihon "talked awhile (with/to)", passivizing prefix ma-, root verb sangan, directional 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.
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Encyclopedia
It is an agglutinative language, grammatically allowing root words to be modified by an unlimited number of affixes. For example, masanganenñaihon "talked awhile (with/to)", passivizing prefix ma-, root verb sangan, directional 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 (eg: bumobola "playing ball" from bola "ball, play ball" with verbalizing infix -um- and reduplication of first syllable of root).
The numbers of Chamorro speakers have declined in recent years, and the younger generations are less likely to know the language. The influence of English has caused the language to become endangered. On Guam (called "Guåhan" by Chamorro speakers, probably from either the word guaha, meaning "have", or the word guihan, meaning "fish", or perhaps a portmanteau of both), the number of native Chamorro speakers have dwindled in numbers in the last decade or so while in the Northern Mariana Islands, young Chamorros still speak the language fluently. Various representatives from Guam have unsuccessfully lobbied the United States to take action to promote and protect the language.
There are approximately 50,000 to 75,000 Chamorro speakers throughout the Marianas archipelago. It 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 (a largely pidginized) American English, which is commonplace throughout the inhabited Marianas.
Alphabet
Note that the letter Y is pronounced more like 'dz' (an approximation of the regional Spanish pronunciation of "Y"/"LL" as ; nor are N and Ñ always distinguished. Thus the Guamanian place name spelled Yona is pronounced 'dzo-nia', not 'yo-na' as might be expected. Note also that Ch is usually pronounced like 'ts' rather than 'tsh' and that A and Å are not always distinguished in written Chamorro (often being written simply as 'A'). R in Chamorro is pronounced like [] like Spanish and Chamorro also has a trill [r] which is spelled RR.
Chamorro has geminate consonants which are written double (GG, DD, KK, MM, NGNG, PP, RR, 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 , 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), Hagatña "Agana", though B D G are not distinguished from P T K in that position.
Chamorro basic phrases
| Håfa Adai | Hello. | | Memorias | Greetings | | Kao mamaolek ha' hao? | How are you? [lit.: Are you doing well?][informal] | | Håfa tatatmånu hao? | How are you?[formal] | | Håyi na'ån-mu? | What is your name? | | Na'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] | And so you will follow | | Buenas dihas [Spanish introduced] | Good morning. | | Buenas tåtdes [Spanish introduced] | Good afternoon. | | Buenas noches [Spanish introduced] | Good night. |
| Esta ågupa' | Until tomorrow | | Si Yu'os ma'åse' (: | Thank you (lit: God have mercy) | | Buen probecho [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 |
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| 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.
External links
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- , partially available at Google Books.
- A , partially available at Google Books.
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