For the Love of Language

When San Vitores first came to the Marianas the Chamoru people were largely accepting of the new religion for a few reasons. The Spanish offered gifts to those who converted to the new religion, including sometimes precious lulok or metal. They were the newest hottest thing on the island. Exciting simply because it was different, like when Applebee's or McDonald's first came to Guam. Some converted seeing the chance for greater power by being closer to those that they perceived might shake up island hierarchies. Some may have followed the new religion, because it truly spoke to them. 

But one of the things that helped San Vitores win over the people in many ways was his ability to speak to them in Chamoru. Chamorus had interacted with Europeans for more than a century at that point via hand gestures and sailors from the Philippines and Southeast Asia who were able to communicate using Austronesian terms with the Chamorus they encountered. Spaniards, Filipinos and African slaves who were shipwrecked in the Marianas or who escaped there, often learned to speak Chamoru, but scarcely were there reliable translators or interpreters when these points of contact were made. 

This changed with San Vitores, who hired a Filipino who had lived in the Marianas for decades to accompany his mission to Guam. He learned to speak Chamoru from him and in the beginning this ability to speak to people in their own language was incredibly helpful in disarm Chamorus from being too cautious or suspicious. When San Vitores and the priests claimed that they were different than Magellan, than Legaspi and any number of others who had taken much, including the lives and homes of Chamorus, the very language that he was using proved his words to be true. 

Although the Spanish period of colonization in Guam definitely creates hierarchies in which Spanish things and the Catholic religion are placed high above everything and Chamorus must reach for them and see themselves in relation to them. The Chamoru language is definitely seen as being inferior and primitive in this context, but the Spanish don't suppress the Chamoru language, instead they set up a social-cultural system where those who look more Spanish, speak Spanish and emulate the colonizer are considered to be better or higher than others. 

The US is different in this regard when it takes Guam as a colony its own in 1898 and then sets up a haphazard government and framework of benevolent assimilation to colonize the island and people. The US Navy, not accustomed to administering civilian populations, establishes much of their rule in simplistic ways that run in line with the prevailing racism of the time. As a result the premise upon which the US Navy sets up its educational system is simply that English is the gateway to civilized life and to progress. 

That if they enforced English and deterred Chamorus from speaking their own language, the natural and mystical properties that make English the superior language would do most of the educating and improving automatically. Articles and reports from this period make this clear just in case you think I'm being hyperbolic about it. This is why the US from the moment they arrive begins the demonization and the prohibiting of Chamoru. 

This effort at eradication is haphazard, like everything else about the US Navy period. Each Naval governor had their own interests, sense of purpose, and some did almost nothing or cared little while they were here. Some seemed to sincerely try to help the Chamoru people and improve their situation. Others saw them in more racist ways, seeking to purge things from their culture or force them through laws and fines to become more civilized and Americanized. 

So from the start the emphasis on education is English, and Chamoru isn't to be used, but this is uneven. Many teachers in the first half of the US Navy era are US Navy sailors or officers, hardly educators. They naturally enforce English. But for Chamorus who join as teachers things are mixed at this time. Some enforce the ban, others still use Chamoru, but in the name of teaching English since none of the kids hear English anywhere else except in school. Spanish is sometimes used in the classrooms and sometimes used by the US Navy. The Guam Newsletter which is the first newspaper ever on the island is published at first in English and Spanish. And every once in a while, it features a section in Chamoru. One passage talking about payment of native government employees is pasted below. 

At this time as well, public announcements for the people were sometimes done in a trilingual fashion or bilingual at least. If the crowd listening was largely Chamoru, it may be done in three languages to ensure comprehension. If it was smaller and more affluent local listeners it might be done in Spanish and English. Finally if it was something purely for Naval bureaucratic vanity or compliance, then English would suffice. 

The rhetoric on language eradication became one of many crutches the Navy leaned up to cover over their incompetence in terms of colonizing the island. But it definitely had impacts, just not immediate and obvious ones. By 1941, Chamorus all still spoke Chamoru, but as many as 3/4 had gained functional fluency in English. Chamorus had confronted the monolingual assault of the US military and responded with bilingual practicality. Learning your language doesn't actually mean I need to forget my own. The Navy may have presented it as a mine or yours equation, but Chamorus saw through that, at least for a generation. 

World War II experiences mixed with a weak sense of nationalism by Chamorus, and desires to Americanize and not consider long-term consequences of their choices in the home and their choices in policy and political rhetoric led to the language declining anyways. Although I wonder constantly if things have been different. If the US Navy had decided to focus their efforts and rhetoric in different ways. If Chamorus had maintained the strong bilingualism that had emerged from the prewar colonial period and not adopted a lazy acceptance of monolingualism and English superiority?

As someone who is pushing and working everyday for the language to be revitalized, to gain a healthy place in the lives of Chamorus, not just in the Marianas, but around the world, these are counterfactuals that occupy me regularly. 

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APAS EMPLEAO POT SEMANA

The Guam NewsLetter

September 1914

Desde y Lunes 14 de Septiembre de 1914, u fan mapas pot semana y empleao y Goberno Naval gui ya Guam.

Manananaga na este na systema y apas por semana siña ufunas-ñaihon y costumbres man ayao salape, cosa que ayo na finijo y "Hasta y Pagamento" u Mafnas-ñaihon con el tiempo.

Ensegidas que siña man ma-apase pot semana y jornalero gi Goberno Federal u fan ma-apase loque; ya ma  desesea na usinage mana fañaonao gui pagamento pot semana hasta ayo sija y manmasuesueldo.