Bill seeks to standardize the official use of 'CHamoru'

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Sen. Shelly V. Calvo has introduced a bill that would adopt the spelling “CHamoru” in Guam laws, government publications and public educational materials.

Calvo said Bill 218-38 reflects the spelling recognized by CHamoru language scholars and cultural advocates as the accurate representation of Guam’s Indigenous people, language and heritage. 

Shelly Calvo

The "CHamoru" spelling has been officially adopted by the CHamoru Heritage Commission through a statute signed in January 2016.

Bill 218-38 would direct all government agencies and public education institutions to transition to “CHamoru” in official usage, with a phased implementation period to update existing materials. It also authorizes revisions to the Guam Code Annotated to ensure consistency, except where historical or legal context requires retaining the legacy spelling.

According to the bill, funding for implementation may be drawn from existing agency operational budgets, cultural preservation grants or appropriated through subsequent legislation. Agencies are encouraged to incorporate these costs into budget requests.

Calvo noted that while many cultural institutions and schools already use “CHamoru,” government statutes and documents still use "the older, colonial-era spelling 'Chamorro.'”

“This is about alignment,” Calvo said. “Our laws and public documents should reflect who we are—and who we choose to be.”

“Language carries identity,” she added “by standardizing ‘CHamoru,’ we honor Guam, our people, our history, and the future of our culture and island. This bill ensures that our public institutions and community as a whole, are parallel in action in terms of preserving and promoting our island's unique identity.”

The legislation would also establish an interagency working group, co-chaired by the Department of Chamorro Affairs and the Department of Administration, to support agencies through the transition and provide guidance on proper orthography.

According to Guampedia, Chamorro is a Spanish term, meaning "shorn," "bald," or "close-cropped," which the explorers applied to the Marianas natives, possibly because some CHamoru men wore their hair in a topknot or shaved heads.

Over time, the Spanish term became the accepted name for the entire indigenous people of Guam and the Marianas.

In 1983, the CHamoru Language Commission established “CHamoru” as the orthographically correct spelling, but educators and cultural advocates are polarized over the spelling.

According to the Kumisión’s website, the CHamoru alphabet does not include the letters “c” and “z.” The CHamoru alphabet also does not include the Spanish rolling “double rr” sound.

To pronounce the “tze” which is a very common sound in the spoken CHamoru language, the 1983 Orthography established a rule to combine the letters “ch” to constitute one CHamoru letter representing that sound.

This means “CH” is two letters representing one sound. It is capitalized because it is the first letter of a proper noun. The letter “u” is also used at the end of CHamoru instead of the letter “o” in the word Chamorro to reflect a pattern of speech in spoken CHamoru.

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