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Rationale for making CHamoru a vibrant, spoken modern language
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<ul class="gmail-list-inline"><li><span class="gmail-tnt-byline">Laura M. Torres Souder</span></li><li>
Oct 21, 2018
<span class="gmail-text-muted">Updated </span>9 hrs ago
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<p>Let’s continue to explore why we need
a CHamoru orthography. Previously, I wrote about a galvanizing event
that brought the work of the Commission on CHamoru Language and the
Teaching of the History and Culture of the Indigenous People of Guam,
also known as I Kumisión I Fino’ CHamoru, into focus at an orientation
session on Sept. 28 to launch the newly revised 2018 CHamoru
Orthography. Members of the Kumision provided an overview of the history
of the orthography and reviewed the first six rules. Two subsequent
events are scheduled in November and December respectively to review the
remaining 11 of 17 rules.</p><p>The CHamoru Orthography is first and
foremost a spelling system designed to standardize the way we write and
read CHamoru. Linked with the body of Pacific languages which are
referred to as having Austronesian origins, the speech patterns,
pronunciation (articulation, elocution and intonation) and linguistic
structure associated with the CHamoru language form the basis of the
Utugrafihan CHamoru, Guåhan.</p><p>So,
standardizing CHamoru in order that it be taught with consistency, not
just as a spoken language but as a modern, vibrant written language
requires that we establish and follow rules of spelling and grammar.
These rules are embedded in the spoken language itself. They are not
arbitrary as some may think. They often challenge our habitual practice.
They have given rise to controversy. As we discover more about the
complexity and linguistic secrets of our language, these rules are
refined and revised.</p><p>The alarming reality is that so many of the
world’s precolonial traditional oral languages have become extinct at
the rate of one every two weeks. The truth is that when languages do not
have the capacity to change, they cease to exist. On the other hand,
the CHamoru language, along with other languages of Micronesia, continue
to survive and modernize. Nonetheless, this does not mean that
continuity is assured. Developing a spelling and writing code is key to
continuity in the 21st century and beyond. Hence, the focus of the
Kumisión is to actively promote spoken CHamoru. To ensure that CHamoru
survives, we must grow the number of young speakers. Language nesting or
immersion programs offered by Hurao, the Guam Department of Education’s
CHamoru language and culture program in our public schools, CHamoru
classes at the University of Guam and Guam Community College all need a
standardized spelling and grammar in order to teach current and future
generations to speak, read and write our language alongside English.</p><div id="gmail-tncms-region-article_instory_middle" class="gmail-tncms-region gmail-hidden-print"><div id="gmail-tncms-block-645105" class="gmail-tncms-block"><div align="center">
<br>
</div></div></div><p>Since CHamoru is spoken throughout the Marianas and
there are noticeable differences in pronunciation and preferences for
sound representation, how do we accommodate those regional differences?
Robert Underwood, in his historical overview of the development of the
CHamoru Orthography presented at the orientation session, pointed out
that there are two CHamoru dialects – the Rota or Gani dialect spoken in
Luta and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Hagåtña dialect which is
largely spoken in Guam, Saipan and Tinian. Some traces of the Rota
dialect are also detectable in southern villages on Guam.</p><p>The
first attempt to standardize written CHamoru resulted in the 1971
Marianas Orthography, which was based on an extensive study by Donald
Topping of the University of Hawaii and Bernadita Dungca of UOG. This
first orthography introduced the “glota” or glottal stop, hyphens and a
simplified spelling system. Underwood explained that CHamoru, when it
was first written, used Spanish language conventions such as Cruz,
frijoles, jafa. With the adoption of the 1971 Orthography, CHamoru began
to look more like English, as in hafa, maolek. He noted that there was a
brief effort to change the orthography in 1978 to align with Tagalog
conventions especially in diphthongs (two vowels having one sound) as in
taytay (taitai) atdaw (atdao). This was later rescinded and the
original orthography was re-adopted in 1983.</p><p>The 2018 CHamoru
Orthography is a more user-friendly, updated revision of the original
1971 Marianas Orthography and re-adopted in 1983. In 2009, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands established its own version
which departed from the original 1971 shared orthography. Guam’s
Kumision is committed to collaborating with the Northern Marianas once
again to standardize the orthography throughout the Marianas while
recognizing regional differences and preferences. To that end, we
initiated a meeting with CNMI’s Gov. Ralph Torres and the newly
appointed members of the revived Chamorro and Carolinian Language Policy
Commission in June. Stay tuned for future updates.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>