About:

Prior Linguistics Professor at the University of Guam, which I loved ♥, but recently left to move closer to family.

I'm currently Co-Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation Documenting Endangered Languages Grant: BCS-1911401, Developing CHamoru Language Infrastructure: Goggue yan CHachalåni Mo'na i Fino'-ta. We are both documenting the CHamoru language, and training the next generation of indigenous documenters.

Current CV


Project Pages

chachalani.com Project page for the grant. Includes recordings and online viewers. (Full-stack dev.)

diksionariu.com Online CHamoru-English Dictionary. See below for an <iframe> version. (Full-stack dev.)

Embeddable version of diksionariu.com

Dictionary was digitized from the Department of CHamoru Affairs dictionary with their blessing. Over 15,000 edits made, including cross-linking, origins, and updates to definitions. Frequently updated. github

Try searching for 'guini' in CHamoru or 'shark' in English

Decrease in CHamoru Speakers on Guam

What percent of CHamorus on Guam speak CHamoru?

This is a regression model drawn from Guam Census data. Horizontal lines are groups by birth year. The number of self-reported speakers by birth year is pretty stable, so earliest records are extrapolated backwards to account for missing data.

As you can see, the language has been experiencing a precipitous drop in the post-War years. Total langauge loss may occur at the soonest, in about 25 years. This is why it is especially important to concert revitalization efforts now if Guam is to see its cultural language continue.

(Data presented to the Guam Legislature to speak in favor of immersion schooling programs.)

CHamoru Grammar Loss

This was work with my grad student, Fu'una Sanz, looking in changes in CHamoru grammar over time.

Older speakers note that younger speakers' grammar is increasingly poor. Here, we looked at use of plural morphology by speakers in different generations. Fu'una was able to find related speakers to show how loss is occurring regardless of the parent who taught you.

Here's an excerpt. The prefix man- is used to indicate verbal agreement with plural subjects --

Elicitations show that even middle-aged speakers are not using it reliably anymore, and the youngest speakers are not using it at all:

When the subject is a large plural (a large number of things), man- is nearly requisite in old speakers. Even this is lost in younger speakers and some middle-aged speakers.

(Data presented at the Linguistic Society of America meeting, 2021 (pdf)

CHamoru Phonemic Loss

This was work with my grad student, Måsi Santos, looking at changes in CHamoru sound structures over time.

Younger CHamoru speakers don't sound like older speakers. In older speakers, consonant length matters. For example, åte means 'to pour something over something', while åtte (with a longer 't') means 'to trick someone'.

Here, we looked at older and younger speakers for their use of contrastive length (gemination).

Here's an excerpt. These are measurements of long vs. short minimal pairs (like åtte/åte) in a few different contexts. You can see the older speakers have a reliable difference between productions across contexts, while younger speakers have lost this distinction.

(Data presented at the Linguistic Society of America meeting, 2022 (pdf)