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42-650: Asan derives its name from the Chamorro word hassan meaning scarce or rare. One meaning of the word ma’ina refers to an infant who, between the time of birth and baptism , is taken by the mother to Mass before sunrise. This old ritual was considered analogous to and in imitation of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple . On July 21, 1944, the Americans landed in Asan to recapture

84-654: A dialect continuum , neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but differences mount with distance, so that more widely separated varieties may not be mutually intelligible. Intelligibility can be partial, as is the case with Azerbaijani and Turkish , or significant, as is the case with Bulgarian and Macedonian . However, sign languages , such as American and British Sign Language , usually do not exhibit mutual intelligibility with each other. Asymmetric intelligibility refers to two languages that are considered partially mutually intelligible, but for various reasons, one group of speakers has more difficulty understanding

126-652: A Guamanian Chamorro might consider the form used by NMI Chamorros to be archaic. Representatives from Guam have unsuccessfully lobbied the United States to take action to promote and protect the language. 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. Other efforts have been made in recent times, most notably Chamorro immersion schools. One example

168-422: A beach head. During the following week, Americans pursued retreating Japanese forces northward and eventually won the battle. From April to November 1975 the former Camp Asan was used as a refugee camp for South Vietnamese refugees during Operation New Life . On August 6, 1997, Korean Air Flight 801 crashed east of Nimitz Hill Annex in Asan. A memorial was later constructed. The U.S. Census Bureau counts

210-550: A closed syllable ( *peResi → fokse "squeeze out", but afok "lime" → afuki "put lime on"). The phonemic split between / ɑ / and / æ / is still unexplained. Diphthongs *ay and *aw are still retained in Chamorro, while *uy has become i . If a word started with a vowel or *h (but not *q ), then prothesis with gw or g (before o or u ) occurred: *aku → gwahu "I (emphatic)", *enem → gunum "six". Additionally, *-iaC , *-ua(C) , and *-auC have become -iyaC , -ugwa(C) , and -agoC respectively. Chamorro

252-447: A high level of mutual intelligibility with Spanish. It is reported that even in the early 1920s, Spanish was reported to be a living language in Guam for commercial transactions, but the use of Spanish and Chamorro was rapidly declining as a result of English pressure. Spanish influences in Chamorro exist due to three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Many words in the Chamorro lexicon are of Latin etymological origin via Spanish, but

294-590: A single prestige variety in Modern Standard Arabic . In contrast, there is often significant intelligibility between different North Germanic languages . However, because there are various standard forms of the North Germanic languages, they are classified as separate languages. A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but

336-454: Is Huråo Guåhan Academy at Chamorro Village in downtown Hagåtña. This program is led by Ann Marie Arceo and her husband, Ray. According to the academy's official YouTube page, "Huråo Academy is one if not the first Chamoru Immersion Schools that focus on the teaching of Chamoru language and Self-identity on Guam. Huråo was founded as a non-profit in June 2005." The academy has been praised by many for

378-470: Is a VSO or verb–subject–object language. However, the word order can be very flexible and change to SVO ( subject-verb-object ), like English, if necessary to convey different types of relative clauses depending on context and to stress parts of what someone is trying to say or convey. Again, that is subject to debate as those on Guam believe the Chamorro word order is flexible, but those in the NMI do not. Chamorro

420-580: Is a chart of Chamorro consonants; all are unaspirated. Words containing *-VC_CV- in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian were often syncopated to *-VCCV- . This is most regular for words containing middle *ə ( schwa ), e.g. *qaləjaw → atdaw "sun", but sometimes also with other vowels, e.g. * qanitu → anti "soul, spirit, ghost". Then after this syncope, older *ə merged with u . Later, *i and *u were lowered to e and o in closed syllables ( *demdem → homhom "dark"), or finally but preceded by

462-430: Is also an agglutinative language , whose grammar allows root words to be modified by a number of affixes . For example, masanganenñaihon 'talked a while (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 guiʼ 'He/she

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504-527: Is an Austronesian language spoken by about 58,000 people, numbering about 25,800 on Guam and about 32,200 in the Northern Mariana Islands and elsewhere. It is the historic native language of the Chamorro people , who are indigenous to the Mariana Islands , although it is less commonly spoken today than in the past. Chamorro has three distinct dialects : Guamanian, Rotanese, and that in

546-505: Is sometimes used to distinguish languages from dialects , although sociolinguistic factors are often also used. Intelligibility between varieties can be asymmetric; that is, speakers of one variety may be able to better understand another than vice versa. An example of this is the case between Afrikaans and Dutch . It is generally easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch. (See Afrikaans § Mutual intelligibility with Dutch ). In

588-440: The kareta. car Ha faʼgåsi si Juan i kareta. 3sSA wash PND Juan the car 'Juan washed the car.' Håyi who? fumaʼgåsi Mutual intelligibility In linguistics , mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelligibility

630-615: The varieties of Chinese , and parts of the Romance , Germanic and Slavic families in Europe. Terms used in older literature include dialect area ( Leonard Bloomfield ) and L-complex ( Charles F. Hockett ). Northern Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia form a dialect continuum where the two furthermost dialects have almost no mutual intelligibility. As such, spoken Danish and Swedish normally have low mutual intelligibility, but Swedes in

672-563: The Öresund region (including Malmö and Helsingborg ), across the strait from the Danish capital Copenhagen , understand Danish somewhat better, largely due to the proximity of the region to Danish-speaking areas. While Norway was under Danish rule , the Bokmål written standard of Norwegian developed from Dano-Norwegian , a koiné language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during

714-402: The 17th century and ended in the early 20th century, meant a profound change from the old Chamorro (paleo-Chamorro) to modern Chamorro (neo-Chamorro) in its grammar , phonology , and vocabulary . The Chamorro language is 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

756-585: The Chamorro language even during the Spanish colonial era, but this was all to change with the advent of American imperialism and enforcement of the English language. In Guam, the language suffered additional suppression when the U.S. government banned the Chamorro language in schools and workplaces in 1922, destroying all Chamorro dictionaries. Similar policies were undertaken by the Japanese government when they controlled

798-583: The Chamorro language, and island culture into an entertaining program. On TV, Nihi! Kids is a first-of-its-kind show, because it is targeted "for Guam's nenis that aims to perpetuate Chamoru language and culture while encouraging environmental stewardship, healthy choices and character development." In 2019, local news station KUAM News began a series of videos on their YouTube channel, featuring University of Guam's Dr. Michael Bevacqua . Chamorro has 24 phonemes : 18 are consonants and six are vowels . Chamorro has at least 6 vowels, which include: Below

840-520: The Chamorro lexicon comes from Spanish, whose contribution goes far beyond loanwords. Rodríguez-Ponga (1995) considers Chamorro to be either Spanish-Austronesian or a Spanish-Austronesian mixed language, or at least a language that has emerged from a process of contact and creolization on the island of Guam since modern Chamorro is influenced in vocabulary and has in its grammar many elements of Spanish origin: verbs , articles, prepositions , numerals , conjunctions , etc. The process, which began in

882-801: The Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), younger Chamorros speak the language fluently but prefer English when speaking to their children. Chamorro is common in Chamorro households in the Northern Marianas, but fluency has greatly decreased among Guamanian Chamorros during the years of American rule in favor of the American English commonplace throughout the Marianas. Today, NMI Chamorros and Guamanian Chamorros disagree strongly on each other's linguistic fluency. An NMI Chamorro would say Guamanian Chamorros speak "broken" Chamorro (i.e., incorrect), whereas

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924-579: 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.... The Japanese influence on Chamorro

966-422: The context of the communication. Classifications may also shift for reasons external to the languages themselves. As an example, in the case of a linear dialect continuum , the central varieties may become extinct , leaving only the varieties at both ends. Consequently, these end varieties may be reclassified as two languages, even though no significant linguistic change has occurred within the two extremes during

1008-580: The continuity of the Chamoru language. Other creative ways to incorporate and promote the Chamorro language have been found in the use of applications for smartphones, internet videos and television. From Chamorro dictionaries, to the most recent "Speak Chamorro" app, efforts are growing and expanding in ways to preserve and protect the Chamorro language and identity. On YouTube, a popular Chamorro soap opera Siha has received mostly positive feedback from native Chamorro speakers on its ability to weave dramatics,

1050-508: The differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varieties may not be. This is a typical occurrence with widely spread languages and language families around the world, when these languages did not spread recently. Some prominent examples include the Indo-Aryan languages across large parts of India , varieties of Arabic across north Africa and southwest Asia, the Turkic languages ,

1092-401: The extinction of the central varieties. Furthermore, political and social conventions often override considerations of mutual intelligibility. For example, the varieties of Chinese are often considered a single language, even though there is usually no mutual intelligibility between geographically separated varieties. This is similarly the case among the varieties of Arabic , which also share

1134-483: The first syllable of root). Chamorro is a predicate -initial head-marking language. It has a rich agreement system in the nominal and in the verbal domains. Chamorro is also known for its wh-agreement in the verb. The agreement morphemes agree with features (roughly the grammatical case feature) of the question phrase and replace the regular subject–verb agreement in transitive realis clauses: Ha 3sSA faʼgåsi wash si PND Juan Juan i

1176-608: The following census-designated places in Asan-Maina: Asan , Maina , and Nimitz Hill Annex . Guam Public School System serves the island. Southern High School in Santa Rita serves the village. In regards to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), Asan is in the school transportation zone for McCool Elementary and McCool Middle School, while Guam High School is the island's sole DoDEA high school. Every year

1218-451: The island from occupying Japanese forces during the Battle of Guam . The 3rd Marine Division landed in Asan at 08:28, and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade landed near Agat to the south. Japanese artillery sank 20 Landing Vehicle Trackeds , but by 09:00 tanks were ashore at both beaches. United States Marines fought Japanese forces fortified in the hills above the shore after establishing

1260-728: The island's largest Easter egg hunt is at the War in the Pacific National Park with over 10,000 eggs. The village also hosts the yearly International Kite Flying Competitions with people from South Korea, Japan, China, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands competing for the championship. 13°28′17″N 144°42′50″E  /  13.47139°N 144.71389°E  / 13.47139; 144.71389 Chamorro language Chamorro ( English: / tʃ ə ˈ m ɔːr oʊ / chə- MOR -oh ; endonym : Finuʼ Chamorro [Northern Mariana Islands] or Finoʼ CHamoru [Guam] /t​͡saˈmoɾu/ )

1302-793: The later years of the union. Additionally, Norwegian assimilated a considerable amount of Danish vocabulary as well as traditional Danish expressions. As a consequence, spoken mutual intelligibility is not reciprocal. Because of the difficulty of imposing boundaries on a continuum, various counts of the Romance languages are given. For example, in The Linguasphere register of the world's languages and speech communities , David Dalby lists 23 languages based on mutual intelligibility: The non-standard vernacular dialects of Serbo-Croatian ( Kajkavian , Chakavian and Torlakian ) diverge more significantly from all four normative varieties of Serbo-Croatian. Their mutual intelligibility varies greatly between

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1344-593: The non-hard-of-hearing people of the United Kingdom and the United States share the same spoken language. The grammar of sign languages does not usually resemble that of the spoken languages used in the same geographical area. To illustrate, in terms of syntax , ASL shares more in common with spoken Japanese than with English . Almost all linguists use mutual intelligibility as the primary linguistic criterion for determining whether two speech varieties represent

1386-404: 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 replaced Chamorro as the language of daily life. There is a difference in the rate of Chamorro language fluency between Guam and the rest of the Marianas. On Guam the number of native Chamorro speakers has dwindled since the mid-1990s. In

1428-511: The other Northern Mariana Islands (NMI). Unlike most of its neighbors, Chamorro is not classified as a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan , it possibly constitutes an independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family . At the time the Spanish rule over Guam ended, it was thought that Chamorro was a semi- creole language , with a substantial amount of the vocabulary of Spanish origin and beginning to have

1470-749: The other language than the other way around. For example, if one language is related to another but has simplified its grammar , the speakers of the original language may understand the simplified language, but not vice versa. To illustrate, Dutch speakers tend to find it easier to understand Afrikaans as a result of Afrikaans's simplified grammar. Sign languages are not universal and usually not mutually intelligible, although there are also similarities among different sign languages. Sign languages are independent of spoken languages and follow their own linguistic development. For example, British Sign Language and American Sign Language (ASL) are quite different linguistically and mutually unintelligible, even though

1512-420: The pronunciation of these loanwords has been nativized to the phonology of Chamorro, and their use conforms to indigenous grammatical structures. Some authors consider Chamorro a mixed language under a historical point of view, even though it remains independent and unique. In his Chamorro Reference Grammar , Donald M. Topping states: "The most notable influence on Chamorro language and culture came from

1554-465: The region during World War II. After the war, when Guam was recaptured by the United States, American administrators of the island continued to impose "no Chamorro" restrictions in local schools, teaching only English and disciplining students for speaking their indigenous tongue. While these oppressive language policies were progressively lifted, Chamorro usage had substantially decreased. Subsequent generations were often raised in households where only

1596-476: The same or different languages. A primary challenge to this position is that speakers of closely related languages can often communicate with each other effectively if they choose to do so. In the case of transparently cognate languages recognized as distinct such as Spanish and Italian, mutual intelligibility is in principle and in practice not binary (simply yes or no), but occurs in varying degrees, subject to numerous variables specific to individual speakers in

1638-499: The steep, post-World War II decline of Chamorro language fluency. There is a long history of colonization of the Marianas, beginning with the Spanish colonization in 1668 and, eventually, the American acquisition of Guam in 1898 (whose hegemony continues to this day). This imposed power structures privileging the language of the region's colonizers. According to estimates, a large majority, as stated above (75%), maintained active knowledge of

1680-482: The time the United States captured the island during the Spanish–American War (there are no similar language fluency estimates for other areas of the Mariana Islands during this time). A century later, the 2000 U.S. Census showed that fewer than 20% of Chamorros living in Guam speak their heritage language fluently, and the vast majority of those were over the age of 55. A number of forces have contributed to

1722-500: 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...." In contrast, in the essays found in Del español al chamorro. Lenguas en contacto en el Pacífico (2009), Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga refers to modern Chamorro as a "mixed language" of "Hispanic-Austronesian" origins and estimates that approximately 50% of

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1764-454: Was told (something) for a while'. Chamorro has many Spanish loanwords and other words have Spanish etymological roots (such as tenda 'shop/store' from Spanish tienda ), which may lead some to mistakenly conclude that the language is a Spanish creole , but Chamorro very much uses its loanwords in an Austronesian way ( bumobola 'playing ball ' from bola 'ball, play ball' with verbalizing infix -um- and reduplication of

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