PURPOSE
The purpose of this website is twofold: first, to present the Gospel of Mark from Y Santa Biblia—published in 1908 and among the earliest texts written in CHamoru—in an updated form aligned with the Utugrafihan CHamoru (Guåhan), making it a resource for today’s learners; and second, to document aspects of CHamoru orthography development as shared by several mañaina, as well as educators and creatives.
METHOD
I began by reading Y Santa Biblia in its diglot edition. I built a side-by-side worksheet using the 1908 Y Santa Biblia (public domain), as captured by The Chamorro Bible Project, alongside the American Standard Version (ASV, public domain). I identified high-frequency words suitable for find-and-replace, referred to available dictionaries and the Kumisión i Fino’ CHamoru’s guidelines to align spellings with CHamoru orthography (Guåhan), and flagged unfamiliar words for definition. Next, I reviewed the text line by line to correct mistakes and catch items I had missed. I then tackled the unfamiliar words I had flagged, researching them in available dictionaries—sometimes exploring alternate spellings or root forms. When a word could not be located in the usual sources, I compared the 1908 text with the ASV to infer its meaning.
Near the end of my research, it occurred to me that hearing a fluent CHamoru reader would help with proofreading. The Chamorro Bible Project has made audio recordings of the Gospel of Mark available on their website. I listened to the recordings read by Siñora Josephine Chargualaf Varley while following my updated text, noting pronunciations and discrepancies. For example, I initially transliterated capitulo to kapitulu as shown in the DCA Dictionary, but Siñora Varley consistently pronounced it kapítulu, with the stress shown here by the stress mark.
I also created a glossary that includes less common vocabulary found in the text (e.g., miet monte), while omitting high-frequency function words (e.g., yan, i, siha) that most readers of this text will already know. However, I am considering adding even the high-frequency words to the glossary for new learners.
Over the past two years, I have been fortunate to study CHamoru orthography with Siñot Daniel Pangelinan, Difunto Jeremy Cepeda, and Siñora Ann Rivera. I have also consulted the writings of William Safford, Daniel Topping, and Bernadita C. Dungca, along with the Utugrafihan CHamoru (Guåhan) by the Kumisión i Fino’ CHamoru. The more I learn, the more questions I have—so it feels appropriate to include some of the history and stories of CHamoru orthography development.
I conducted interviews with elders and other stakeholders, including members of the Kumisión i Fino’ CHamoru involved in standardizing and refining the orthography; the Director of GDOE’s CHamoru Studies Program; the Director of University of Guam Press; the Chief Program Officer of the Guam Preservation Trust; educators, and two well-known creatives who produce engaging social-media content and share language-learning tips. The elders helped me understand the history of orthography development and shared both successes and ongoing challenges. The educators and creatives shared their experiences with fino’ CHamoru, discussing the challenges of publishing for print, writing for social media, and what has worked for them.
Finally, I shared the side-by-side scriptures with CHamoru language learners at various levels—from new students learning to pronounce village names to fluent mother-tongue speakers—to gather feedback. We discussed the Spanish-influenced orthography of the 1908 Bible and the diacritics found in that edition as well as the necessity of the glota, lonnat, dollan; practical tips for reading and writing in CHamoru; as well as the allophones of CHamoru vowels.
CONCLUSION
While some question the need for standardized orthography—or for updating the 1908 Bible when English language Bibles are widely available—learners noted these benefits:
- Readability & research: Updated orthography is easier to read and search because it aligns with what they already see in the community (dictionaries, recently published books and websites, social media, signage, store and restaurant art, and menus).
- Convenience: The CHamoru – English scriptures and integrated glossary on this site streamline study. Readers can consult additional online and offline references at the same time.
- Historical insight: The 1908 translation offers a snapshot of how fino’ CHamoru was used by our grandparents and great-grandparents.