By Rudolph Villaverde and Ronald Laguana. The official languages of Guahan are english and the heritage language Chamorro. Both languages are taught in the schools and appear in official documents. The Chamorro (Chamoru) language derives its origins since the time of Settlement 2000 BC (Russell, Scott. Tiempon, I Manmofo'na. 1998). It belongs to the western group of the Austronesian language family which includes the languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Palau. Chamoru stands as a unique subfamily of the Malayo-Polynesian Family Chart (Cunningham, 1992, Ancient Chamorro Society; 11). According to measurements in the degree of correlation, Chamoru is most similar to Indonesian languages (Cunningham, ibid). Clay Carlson (retired professor) at the Univ. of Guam contends that two ancient precontact languages may have combined to form the Chamoru language (Lawrence J. Cunningham, 1992, Ancient Chamorro Society pg 170). This hypothesis may have been supported by the mtDNA study which concludes that a small founding population settled in the Marianas by 4000 ybp and a second migration from ISEA may have arrived around 1000 ybp introducing the latte pillars and rice agriculture (Vilar, Miguel. The Origins and Genetic Distinctiveness of the Chamorros of the Marianas Islands: An mtDNA Perspective. American Journal of Human Biology. 14Oct2012). After post European contact (Magellan), many Spanish and American words have been assimilated into it.
The Chamorro Language is a unique language which combines elements from other languages as well as from ancient Chamorro. Click the "Chamoru Language Lessons" banner below to start your lessons in the Chamorro language!
Additional advanced lessons are added below as WEB pages:
*Ancient Traditional Navigation Words
SAKMAN CHAMORU SUMMIT oct-nov 2009
*Parts of coconut tree poster.color
*Parts of Vessel Sakman "Saina"
*1821 .pdf Chamoru Dictionary by Chamisso. Kotzebue expedition. Dr. Alex Kerr
*1823 .pdf Chamoru word definition by Gaimard Arago. Ignore 1st page.
*Rite of Ancestral Blessings - the CHANT of the Sakman (voyaging proa) Guma Latte
*pdf Matao Magalahi Agualin 1678 - Hagatna Call for Battle Spanish Chamoru Conflict.
*Matao Magalahi Hurao Speech - Spanish Chamoru Conflict 1671.
*Chamoru Poster: Chant for ancient human remains reinternment at Tumon Dai Ichi 2009.
*Guam Hymn 'Fanoghe Chamorro' and 'Inifresi'
*Map of Chamorro Cultural Sacred Fishing shoals.
*Marianas Chamorro Archipelago & volcanos. Image from oceanexplorer.noaa.gov
*The Chamorro Plants of Guam! Plant names and photos.
*Ancient chamorro Map of Guam 179k filesize.
For comparison, *Current map of Guam. Warning! 593k filesize.
*Chamorro Salutation to greet the new year.
*Manmanungo' i Famagu'on ginen i Lina'la'. Children learn what they Live.
*Chamoru Lesson: I Fondon Hinasso. Foundation of Thoughts.
*Chamoru Lesson: Sinangan Siha Put I Ha'åni. Phrases about the Weather.
*Chamoru Lesson: Un Mundo, Un Isla, Un Familia. One World, One Land, One Family.
