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76-567: Now home to most of Tinian's population of about 3,136 (2010), San Jose is close to the site of a much larger ancient village of the Chamorro culture, which may have housed 12,000–15,000 people. The main roads in San Jose are 8th Ave and Broadway. Just north of the City of San Jose is the neighborhood Marpo Heights. Carolinas Heights neighborhood is just east of the city of San Jose. Tachogña Beach (Tachungnya)

152-451: A "finger-length" amount of hair at the crown. This hairstyle has often been portrayed in modern-day depictions of early Chamorros, but the first European descriptions of the physical appearance of the Chamorro people in the 1520s and '30s report that both sexes had long black hair, which they wore down to their waists or even further. Another description, given about 50 years later, reported that

228-601: 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

304-550: 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

380-447: A formal "religion" in the sense of worshiping deities. At least one account by Christoph Carl Fernberger in 1623 holds that human sacrifice was practiced to placate a "great fish". This claim may be related to a Chamorro legend about why the island of Guam is narrow in the middle. According to the legend, a gigantic fish was gradually eating away at the island from both sides. Although the ancient Chamorros supposedly had magical abilities,

456-481: A hemispherical capstone , was used by early Chamorros as foundation for buildings, and has since been appropriated as a national symbol. Chamorro society was based on what sociologist Lawrence J. Cunningham termed the " matrilineal avuncuclan ", one characteristic of which is that the brother(s) of the female parent plays a more primary paternal role than biological male parent of a child. Spanish colonial records show that Chamorro farmers planted seeds according to

532-447: 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

608-528: A high-school or college graduations. The condiment fina'denne' accompanies most meals. Fruits such as lemmai , mangga , niyok , and bilimbines are consumed in various local recipes. In the Marianas, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and American cuisine are also commonly available. Local cookies are known as guyuria . Locally distinct foods include kelaguen , a dish in which meat is denatured in whole or in part by citric acid rather than heat; tinaktak ,

684-514: A meat dish made with coconut milk; and kå'du fanihi ( flying fox / fruit bat soup). Fruit bats and local birds have become scarce in modern times primarily due to the World War II-era introduction of the brown tree snake , which decimated the populations of local birds and threatens the fanihi (fruit bat) population, as well. Illegal hunting of fruit bats also threatens existing populations. Spam and other canned meats were introduced to

760-469: A monstrous form. On March 6, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan and his men, after having crossed the Pacific Ocean , had encountered the first "Indios" since leaving South America. Later Spanish visitors named the inhabitants "Chamurres", derived from a local term for the upper caste; this was then converted to "Chamorros", an old Spanish term for "bald", perhaps in reference to the local habit to shave. Over

836-455: A particular religion. The CHamoru dance is accountable for many cultural practices; chant, dance, and storytelling. Across the United States, many states are introduced to a Guma , and those ' Guma's ' are led by Chamorro dance instructors who have been in historical Guam dance groups. The concept of Guma is housed by Chamorro people that is centered around providing an educational experience for those interested about vibrant culture -

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912-465: A piece of a turtle shell or in some cases matting. Both sexes at times wore hats of woven leaves to protect themselves from the sun. Father Pierre Coomans wrote of the practice among Chamorro women of teeth blackening/dental lacquering (also a widespread custom in ancient Maritime Southeast Asia , Japan , Southeastern China , and parts of Indochina ), which they considered beautiful as a distinction apart from animals. Fernberger wrote in his account of

988-522: A resurgence of interest in reviving the language has occurred, and all public schools on both Guam and the Northern Marianas are now required by law to teach the Chamorro language as part of the elementary-, middle-, and high-school curriculum. A commonly spoken phrase in Chamorro is håfa adai , a greeting which approximates "hello" in English. The Chamorros are commonly believed to have arrived in

1064-519: A rift that would become the main reason Chamorros rejected the referendum on reunification approved by the Northern Marianas in the 1960s. During the occupation, Chamorros were subjected to forced labor, incarceration, torture, and execution. American forces recaptured the island on July 21, 1944; Liberation Day commemorates the victory. After World War II, the Guam Organic Act of 1950 established Guam as an unincorporated organized territory of

1140-454: 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

1216-470: 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

1292-580: 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

1368-567: Is a core value of traditional Chamorro culture. Respect for one's family, community, and the elderly ( man åmko' ) are major components, although this varies from person to person and family to family. The culture is now strongly influenced by American customs and values, largely because the Marianas archipelago ( partitioned into Guam and the CNMI ) is currently possessed by the United States of America, as organized but unincorporated territories; in addition, most people of Chamorro descent now live outside of

1444-435: Is a nonvoting member. They do, however, get to vote for party delegates in presidential primaries. The increasing numbers of Chamorros, especially Chamorro youth, relocating to the U.S. mainland, has complicated both the definition and preservation of Chamorro identity. On Guam, a Chamorro rights movement has developed since the United States gained control of the island. Leaders of the movement seek to return ancestral lands to

1520-430: 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

1596-527: 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

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1672-712: Is just south of the city. Tinian International Airport is 4.2 km north of San Jose. Kammer Beach is in the City of San Jose, next to the harbor. Taga Beach is south of the city, next to Tachogña Beach. During World War II the US Navy Seabees built, as part of the Tinian Naval Base , Tinian Harbor, also called San Jose Harbor, which is still in use today. They also constructed Broadway and 8th Avenue, named after Broadway and 8th Avenue in Manhattan . US Navy and US Army often called San Jose Tinian Town . Most of

1748-613: The Guam page for more details about this topic.) Cockfighting and cockfight-related gambling were introduced by the Spanish and have long been a significant pastime in Chamoru culture, especially among men. It is still popular among the members of older generations and with Filipino immigrants, who raise roosters for cockfighting purposes; however, mixed martial arts fighting competitions have grown in popularity as spectator sports, particularly among

1824-750: The Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands , politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia , a commonwealth of the US. Today, significant Chamorro populations also exist in several U.S. states, including Hawaii , California , Washington , Texas , Tennessee , Oregon , and Nevada , all of which together are designated as Pacific Islander Americans according to

1900-670: The Korean War and Typhoon Karen . In the '70s, another wave of Guamanians arrived in the US. In 1986, the US acquired the Northern Marianas Islands , which favoured migration from islands to the US. As of 2020, Pierce County, Washington , has the largest Chamorro population with 4,931 persons or 0.62% of the total population. 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/ )

1976-585: The Philippines in Southeast Asia. On December 8, 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor , Japanese forces from the Marianas launched an invasion of Guam . Chamorros from the Northern Marianas, who had been under Japanese rule for more than 20 years, were brought to Guam to assist the Japanese administration. This, combined with the harsh treatment of Chamorros during the two-and-a-half-year occupation, created

2052-784: The Spanish–American War , the United States captured Guam on June 21, 1898. Under the Treaty of Paris , signed on December 10, 1898, Spain ceded Guam to the United States effective April 11, 1899. Guam is among the 17 nonself-governing territories listed by the United Nations . Before World War II , five American jurisdictions were in the Pacific Ocean: Guam and Wake Island in Micronesia, American Samoa and Hawaii in Polynesia, and

2128-467: The 17th century also introduced cattle, leading to dishes like tinala' katne . Archeological evidence from islands in the Marianas reveals that rice was cultivated there since prehistory. Red rice made with achoti is a distinct staple food that strongly identifies Chamorro cuisine among the many dishes of fellow Pacific Island cultures. It is commonly served for special events, such as parties ( gupot or "fiestas"), nobenas , and occasions such as

2204-402: 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

2280-626: The Chamori. The Chamori caste was further subdivided into the upper-middle class Achoti / Acha'ot and the highest, the ruling Matua / Matao class. Achoti could gain status as Matua, and Matua could be reduced to Achoti, but Manachang were born and died as such and had no recourse to improve their station. Members of the Manachang and the Chamori were not permitted to intermingle. All three classes performed physical labor, but had specifically different duties. Le Gobien theorized that Chamorro society comprised

2356-434: 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

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2432-583: 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

2508-520: 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

2584-547: The Chamorro people, and attain self-determination . Chamorro culture has over the years acquired noticeable influences from Spanish, Mexican, American, Japanese, and Filipino cultures, as well as the presence of fellow Oceanic (mostly Micronesian) groups. Influence from the German era in the Northern Marianas is most visible in the form of certain given names and family surnames. The prehistoric concept of inafa'maolek ("doing good for each other", often translated as interdependence)

2660-547: The Chamorros that " penis pins " were employed as a chastity measure for young males, a type of genital piercing similar to those employed by inhabitants of precolonial maritime Southeast Asia. The Chamorro creation story revolves around two celestial siblings named Puntan and Fu'una. In time, this creation story underwent a series of modifications due to the complications in passing the story along from generation to generation. In this Chamorro creation story, Puntan and Fu'una create

2736-531: The Indigenous population, as well as among non-Indigenous Oceanic people living in the Marianas, particularly the Carolinian Refaluwasch . Traditional healers called suruhånu (or suruhåna for women) are still greatly respected for their knowledge of herbal treatments and spirits. Most Chamorros are Roman Catholic and few in the Marianas still maintain some customs and beliefs from the time before

2812-475: The Indigenous residents of the archipelago eventually came to be referred to by the Spanish exonym Chamorro . The name CHamoru is an endonym derived from the Indigenous orthography of the Spanish exonym. The digraph ch is treated as a single letter, hence both characters are capitalized at the beginning of a sentence or proper noun, much like ij in Dutch . Some people theorize that Spanish definitions of

2888-706: The Marianas Islands from the Philippines c.  1,500 BC . They are most closely related to other Austronesian-speaking natives from the Philippines, eastern Indonesia (specifically in Maluku and Sulawesi ), Taiwanese aborigines , and peoples of the Caroline Islands to the south (in particular the outer islands of the Federated States of Micronesia state of Yap ). Recent advanced DNA testing conducted on

2964-403: The Marianas in the United States. The American military has a major cultural influence among the Chamorro; enlistment rates are higher in the Marianas than in any other place in the US. On Guam, the enlistment rate is around 14 people per 10,000; by contrast, the US state of Montana , which has the highest per capita enlistment, has a rate near half that, with about eight people per 10,000. (See

3040-623: 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

3116-579: 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

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3192-405: The U.S. Census. According to the 2000 Census, about 64,590 people of Chamorro ancestry live in Guam and another 19,000 live in the Northern Marianas. Precolonial society in the Marianas was based on a caste system, Chamori being the name of the ruling, highest caste. After Spain annexed and colonized the Marianas, the caste system eventually became extinct under Spanish rule, and all of

3268-685: The US in the '50s. Many of them moved to California. In 1952, Guamanian immigrants founded their first organization in US, the Guam Territorial Society (later renamed as the Guam Society of America), in Washington, D.C., where many worked for the Department of Defense and developing military operations. In the 1960s, hundreds of Guamanians migrated to the United States, when the largest numbers emigrated to this country. Most of them were fleeing

3344-470: The United States , provided for the structure of the island's civilian government, and granted the people U.S. citizenship. The governor of Guam was federally appointed until 1968 when the Guam Elective Governor Act provided for the office's popular election. Since Guam is not a U.S. state, U.S. citizens residing in Guam are not allowed to vote for president and their congressional representative

3420-588: The Western United States, where they worked as farmers. The population of Guam got the American citizenship in 1929. So, after the end of World War II , many more Guamanians emigrated to the US. Most of them were in the military or married with military people. In 1950, the population of Guam gained the full American citizenship, which favoured Guamanian migration to the US. So, the first major Guamanian migration emerged and more of 160 Guamanians emigrated to

3496-403: The ancestors of the Chamorro peoples. The Taotaomona is a supernatural ancestral spirit that Chamorros and some neighboring islanders from Rota and Saipan believe in. The Taotaomona possess a strength that far exceeds man and has the ability to cause sickness and death to those who offend them. The appearance of a Taotaomona can vary as they can be a female or male and can take an attractive form or

3572-442: The canoe by, galaidé, of the hand movement or using traditional wooden sticks. During the ancient times, outrigger canoes were used during the war, fishing, and sailing era. Chamorro cuisine is influenced by various cultures. Examples of popular foods of foreign origin include various types of sweet or savory empanada , originally introduced by Spain, and pancit , a noodle dish from the Philippines . The Spanish settlement in

3648-434: The centuries, the Mariana Islands have been occupied by several foreign countries (Spain, Germany , Japan , United States ), and present-day Chamorro society is almost entirely multiethnic, with the inhabitants of Luta/ Rota being the least so. The Chamorros are primarily of Austronesian ancestry, but began to significantly interact with Spanish and Filipinos during the Spanish colonial era (1521–1898 AD). Primarily since

3724-410: The city of San Jose was destroyed in the battle of Tinian and then rebuilt. 14°58′16″N 145°37′33″E  /  14.9711°N 145.6259°E  / 14.9711; 145.6259 This Northern Marianas location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chamorro people The Chamorro people ( / tʃ ɑː ˈ m ɔːr oʊ , tʃ ə -/ ; also CHamoru ) are

3800-530: 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,

3876-540: The conventional spelling Chamorro . The Chamorro language is included in the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian family. Because Guam was colonized by Spain for over 300 years, Chamorro has acquired many loanwords from Spanish . An example is how the traditional Chamorro number system was replaced by Spanish numbers. Chamorro is often spoken in many homes, but this is becoming less common. However,

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3952-448: The data, market crop sales decreased and a number of agricultural production is unrecognized. According to early Chamorro legend, the world was created by a twin brother and sister, Puntan and Fu'uña. As he lay dying, Puntan instructed his sister Fu'uña to make his body into the ingredients of the universe. She used his eyes to create the Sun and Moon, his eyebrows to make rainbows, and most of

4028-485: The first European conquests; some residents of the Marianas will still ask permission from ancestral spirits before entering parts of jungles. Among the 56 states and territories of the United States, the Mariana Islands have the highest rate of religious self-identification, with a combined percentage of only 1.75% of the population (Guam at 2.5% and the CNMI at just 1%) not claiming membership in or affiliation with

4104-483: 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

4180-458: The geographical convergence of peoples of different ethnic origins. This idea may be supportable by the evidence of linguistic characteristics of the Chamorro language and social customs. Prior to Spanish contact, Chamorro boys and men wore no clothing and went about fully nude at all times. Chamorro girls went nude until around the age of eight to ten, at which point they began to wear a small genital covering made either of bark, one or more leaves,

4256-467: The huge creature eluded them. When the men were unsuccessful in hunting it down, the women used their hair to weave a net, which grew larger as they sang. The singing enchanted the fish, and lured it into the giant net. Enraged that Father Diego Luis de San Vitores had baptized his child, a Chamorro man and his friend killed the priest and Filipino catechist Pedro Calungsod in April 1672, dumping their bodies in

4332-463: The islands after World War II, leading to a dietary shift. According to the 2010 census, 148,220 Chamorros are living in the United States, mostly from Guam, but also from the Northern Marianas and Saipan. The early Chamorros who migrated to the US were Guamanians who moved in the first decade of the 20th century. In the following decades, small groups of Guamanians emigrated to Hawaii and

4408-435: The land of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. Chamorro dance costumes were traditionally weaved and crafted. The women wore traditional mestizas dresses and men wore a sadí made from cotton or linen. Both costumes represent the people from Guam, highlighting the Spanish colonial time, and symbolizing the resilience of its people. A significant dance move is traditionally shaped by a canoe . The Chamorro people practiced

4484-640: The late 19th century onward, many Chamorros have intermarried with other Pacific Islanders, mainland Americans, Filipinos, Chinese , and Japanese . During the Spanish era, the Spaniards focused their efforts on converting the natives to Catholicism . Father Frances X. Hezel stated that Chamorros caught or reported engaging in pagan "sorcery" were publicly punished. Through this, they were given Spanish surnames through Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos or Alphabetic Catalog of Surnames . Spanish soldiers settled in Guam and all Chamorro have Spanish ancestry. During

4560-457: The members of more recent generations. Large-scale events are held throughout the year on Guam and Saipan , which feature local competitors and guest participants from abroad. Chamorro life has long centered on one's matriarchal clan . The concept of a "clan" stemming from a common female ancestor is still observed. Large extended families remain central to life in the Marianas. Diabetes and heart disease have become increasingly common among

4636-433: The names of the villages on Guam as they are named after body parts. Barrigada translates to flank, Tiyan translates to stomach, Hagatna translates to blood and Mongmong translates to a heartbeat. Taotaomo'na are spirits of ancient Chamorros. Birak is a broader term that may refer not only to the undead, but also to demons or general elemental types. Taotaomona essentially translates to "people of early times," referring to

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4712-696: The natives at that time were tying up their hair into one or two topknots. Chamorro institutions on Guam advocate for the spelling CHamoru , as reflected in the 2017 Guam Public Law 33-236. In 2018, the Commission on the CHamoru Language and the Teaching of the History and Culture of the Indigenous People of Guam announced CHamoru as the preferred standardized spelling of the language and people, as opposed to

4788-434: The ocean. Chamorro society was divided into two main castes , and continued to be so for well over a century after the Spanish first arrived. According to historical records provided by Europeans, such as Father Charles Le Gobien , apparent racial differences existed between the subservient Manachang caste, and the higher Chamor[r]i , the Manachang being described as shorter, darker-skinned, and physically less hardy than

4864-404: 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

4940-452: 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

5016-517: The phases of the moon. For example, farmers on Guam often plant tuber crops such as sweet potato and yams at full moon during low tide. According to the University of Guam (UOG) , Unibetsedåt Guåhan , the history of Agriculture on Guam had an outstanding number of farms reported in the year of 1940. With a high number of reports in 1975 and a decline in 2007, those involved field crop production, livestock and poultry, fish and agriculture. Based on

5092-420: 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

5168-465: 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

5244-556: The remains of ancient Chamorros showed that the lineage of both the Unai and the Latte periods originated during the Holocene Epoch in eastern Indonesia, most likely Sulawesi, with no direct prehistoric connection to the Philippines. They were expert seafarers and skilled craftspeople familiar with intricate weaving and detailed pottery-making. The latte stone , a megalithic rock pillar topped with

5320-673: The rest of his parts into various features of the Earth. Once her work was complete, she descended on an island called " Guåhan ", and transformed herself into a giant rock. This rock split, and from it emerged all human beings. Some believe that this rock was once located at the site of a church in Agat , while others believe it is the phallic-shaped Laso de Fua located in Fouha Bay in Umatac . Ancient Chamorros engaged in ancestor veneration , but did not practice

5396-448: 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

5472-420: 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

5548-410: The word Chamorro played a role in its being used to refer to the island's Indigenous inhabitants. Not only is "Chamorro" a Spanish surname ; in Spanish it also means "leg of pork", "beardless [wheat]", "bald", "close-cropped", or "shorn/shaven/[hair or wool] cut close to the surface". Around 1670, a Catholic missionary reported that men were sporting a style in which their heads were shaven, save for

5624-422: The world with their body parts and souls. Puntan's various body parts were turned into the land, his chest into the sky, his eyebrows into rainbows, and his eyes into the sun and moon. Fu’una having the ability to give life, brought the sun, soil, and waters to life, and with a final transformation, she turned into stone and gave birth to the Chamorro people. Evidence supporting this creation story can be seen through

5700-500: 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

5776-454: 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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