A community effort in the Northern Mariana Islands
Chamorro, an Austronesian language, is the language of the Chamorro people in the Marianas Islands, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam. Over a period of two centuries, the language has borrowed and assimilated words from many languages, especially Spanish, Japanese, and English, but has nonetheless retained its Austronesian linguistic structure.
Today, the CNMI is a multicultural community consisting of people from the larger island groups in Micronesia as well as from Bangladesh, China, Korea, the Philippines, and other countries. The official languages of the CNMI are Chamorro, Carolinian and English. Despite the official status of the Chamorro language, modern technology, globalization, and other factors have led to an increasing reliance on the English language.
Effort to preserve and revitalize the Chamorro language
Chamorro elders have lamented the decline in Chamorro language proficiency and use among younger generations of Chamorros. As part of a larger effort to preserve and revitalize the language, the CNMI’s Chamorro community began in 2008 to revise Topping, Ogo, and Dungca’s (1975) Chamorro-English Dictionary, which contains entries for some 9,700 headwords. With support from the National Science Foundation, assistance from the CNMI government, and the help of many volunteers, a concerted effort has been made to revise, update, and expand the dictionary. Over 100 community members to date have contributed their time, dedication, and knowledge to this project, which is still ongoing. The revised Dictionary database includes entries for well over 10,500 headwords. The entries that have been edited so far are accessible online, along with an Introduction, Acknowledgements, and an English-Chamorro Finder List, at the website of the Inetnun Kutturan Natibun Marianas / Kkoor Aramasal Marianas.
An unintended consequence of the dictionary project was the revision of the Chamorro orthography. The revised orthography, which was adopted in 2010 by the CNMI Legislature, differs in important ways from the official Chamorro orthography in use in Guam.
Revised dictionary
Among the notable aspects of the revised dictionary are more accurate definitions, the use of traditional parts of speech (such as noun and verb), updated scientific names, information about the source of borrowed words, and the inclusion of sentence examples illustrating each headword’s usage. The sentence examples range from the simple to the complex, and are culturally appropriate. A new, more detailed English-Chamorro finder list is also provided.
The revised dictionary is intended to be a work perpetually in progress. The editors hope that the community will be able to sustain the dictionary project in the way the Chamorro language has been sustained up to this time.
Sample Entries
| Chamorro/CHamoru | English |
|---|---|
| atkiya | n. large hairpin, usually used to hold up a braid. From: Sp. horquilla. |
| Mamåhan si Bernie atkiya para si Antonette. | Bernie bought a large hairpin for Antonette. |
| Si nåna guaha atkiyå-ña ni ha fåhan Amerika. | Mother has her large hairpin which she bought in America. |
| Måolik i atkiyan dångkulu para i anåkku’ yan chomchum na gaputulu. | The large hairpin is good for long and bushy hair. |
| – | vt. pin up (hair). |
| Ma’atkiya i gaputulun i neni. | The baby’s hair was pinned up. |
| Bunita si Maria yanggin ma’atkiya gaputulu-ña. | Maria is pretty when her hair is pinned up. |
| Hu atkiya i gaputulu-ña i patgun, sa’ mampus anåkku’ sanme’na. | I pinned up the child’s hair, because the front is very long. |
| båba | adj. bad, spoiled, worthless. |
| Båba mañåkki kosas tåotåo. | It is bad to steal other people’s property. |
| Måolik ha’ u manå’i i baba na hineksa’ i babui. | It is okay to give the spoiled rice to the pigs. |
| Båba pat måolik, po’lu ya siha la’mun. | Good or bad, it’s up to them. |
| gåoli | n. pole, stick (used for picking). |
| Hu po’lu i gaoli gi kusina. | I put the pole in the kitchen. |
| Si Ramon ha tifi’ i lemmai yan lalångha nu i guaili. | Ramon picked the breadfruit and the sour orange with the stick. |
| Ma dekka’ i laguana nu i gaoli kåo måsa pat gada’. | They poked the soursop with the stick to see if it is ripe or still green. |
| Chuli’ i gåoli ya un tifi’ i mangga. | Take the pole and pick the mango. |
| Ti hu taka’ i lemmai, pues hu na’setbi i gaoli. | I could not reach the breadfruit, so I took the pole with the hook on the end and picked the breadfruit. |
| Guaha ottru klåsin gåoli para lemmai. | There is another kind of pole for picking breadfruit. |
| – | vt. pick (with pole or stick), pull (with hook or stick). See: dossuk, dekka’. Variant: guaili. |
| Hu gåoli i tinekcha’ kamachili. | I picked the kamachili fruit. |
| Ti nahung inanakko’-ña i guaili para bai hu gåoli i niyuk. | The pole is not long enough for me to pick the coconuts. |
| Mungnga madossuk i papåya yanggin para un gåoli. | Don’t pierce the papaya when you pick it with the stick. |
| po’lu | vt. 1) put, place, establish. Syn: pega, sa’ang, dipusita. |
| Po’lu fan todu siha i hugeti gi un sahguan. | Please place all the toys in one container. |
| – | 2) put it aside, leave it (up to me). |
| Po’lu nåya asta ki guaha tiempok-ku na bai hu ina esti na kosas. | Leave it for now until I find time to examine this item. |
| Po’lu guåña ya u tungu’ håfa magåhit masusedi gi entalu’ i familia. | Let it be so that she will learn what really happened within the family. |
| – | 3) leave, abandon. |
| Po’lu ya guiya la’mun nu i prublemå-ña. | Leave him to his problem. |
| – | 4) assume, presume, think, believe. |
| Todu i tiempu hu popo’lu na manmåmåolik ha’ hamyu. | I assume at all times that you all are well. |
| Cha’-mu popo’lu na in na’siña chumo’gui esti sin hami lokkui’. | Don’t think that you can do this without us also. |
| – | 5) invest, save. |
| Hu po’lu todu i salappe’-hu gi bangku putno bai hu gåsta. | I saved all my money at the bank so that I would not spend it. |
| Po’luyi na’-ña i nganga’, sa’ på’gu dedesnik. | Save food for the duck, because it just now suddenly appeared. |
| – | 6) let it be. |
| Po’lu ha’. | That’s okay. |
Editor’s note: The authors would like to acknowledge that the revised dictionary project owes much to many individuals, groups, and agencies. For details, visit Inetnun Kutturan Natibun Marianas‘ Dictionary Acknowledgement.
By Sandra Chung and Elizabeth Diaz Rechebei
For further reading
Natibun Marianas. “Inetnun Kutturan Natibun Marianas/Kkoor Aramasal Marianas (IKNM/KAM).” Last modified 25 September 2024.