Chamorro/Grammar

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Parts of speech

Note: With a few exceptions, any major word can function as a noun or verb or modifier (without affixation) according to meaning or function. Therefore, Donald M. Topping (author of Chamorro Reference Grammar) proposes a different classification system for Chamorro words. I will discuss these categorizations later, but for the purposes of describing the classes of Chamorro, I will treat each as a separate group.

Nouns

  1. lamasa 'table'
  2. mannok 'chicken'

Nouns can be proper or common nouns.

Verbs

  1. gupu 'fly'
  2. taitai 'read'

Verbs can be split into three subcategories: transitive, intransitive, and irregular. These will be discussed later.

Modifiers

  1. ekklao 'crooked'
  2. baba 'bad'

Pronouns

  1. hu 'I'
  2. ma 'they'
  3. este 'this, close to speaker'
  4. ayu 'that, away from speaker and listener'
  5. guini 'here'
  6. guenao 'there, close to listener'

There are additional subcategories of pronouns that will be discussed later: hu-type, yoʼ type, possessive, and emphatic. These will be discussed later.

Prepositions

gi '<variable translation depending on context>'

  • can precede places, abstract nouns, concrete nouns, location words, and time-related words

giya '<variable translation depending on context>'

  • can precede names of places and emphatic pronouns

There are also loan prepositions from Spanish, such as 'para' and 'sin'. These function almost identically to Chamorro prepositions.

Articles

  1. si '<used with names of people, does not translate directly to English>'
  2. iya '<used with names of places, does not translate directly to English>'

Conjunctions

  1. yan 'and'
  2. lao 'but'
  3. anai 'when'
  4. saʼ 'because'

Grammar points

Classifiers

Chamorro does not have a fully complete classifier system, but the fact that it still exists in possessive constructions suggests that it may have been more elaborate in the past. There are four modern classifiers:

  • naʼ 'edible things'
  • gaʼ 'non-human animals'
  • iyo 'inanimate objects'
  • gimen 'drinkable things'

Example sentences:

  1. Malingu i gaʼ-ña gaʼlagu. 'His dog was lost.'
  2. Guaha iyo-ña kareta si Pedro. 'Pedro has a car.'

Something to note is that all classifiers are immediately followed by a possessive pronoun.

Word classes

As mentioned above, Donald Topping suggests dividing words into classes based on grammatical properties rather than function or meaning. The subclasses that he discusses will be presented below, including his example sentences:

Class I

Words that can take the passive voice prefix 'ma-' and can form the predicate of a goal focus construction.

  1. Mahatsa i lamasa. 'The table was lifted.'
  2. Hinatsa i lamasa ni lahi. 'The man lifted the table.'
  3. Maliʼeʼ i palaoʼan. 'The woman was seen.'
  4. Liniʼeʼ i palaoʼan ni lahi. 'The man saw the woman.'

Sentences (1-4) show that 'hatsa (to lift)' and 'liʼeʼ (to see)' belong in Class I.

Class II

Words that can form the predicate of a sentence with the pronoun yoʼ as the subject pronoun (this may require affixation).

  1. Malagu yoʼ. 'I ran.'
  2. Tumohge yoʼ. 'I stood up.'
  3. Mamokkat yoʼ. 'I walked.'

Sentences (1-3) show that 'malaguʼ (run)' and 'toghe (stand up)' and 'pokkat (walk)' belong in Class II.

Class III

Words that donʼt fit into the other categories as they have limited affixation. This set primarily consists of minor word classes (those that form a closed set). These can be further broken down into subcategories, but there are too many to discuss here. Again, this is all promoted by Topping and is not a classification inherent to the Chamorro language.

Indefinite Object Marker

A prefix 'man-' is added to transitive verbs when the object is indefinite.

  1. liʼeʼ<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ manliʼeʼ
  2. okchaʼ<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ manmanokchaʼ
  3. gonneʼ<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ mangonneʼ
  4. tugeʼ<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ manggeʼ
  5. tufok<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ mamfok
  6. kannoʼ<vblex><tr><obj_ind> ↔ chocho

Plural Subject Marker

A special prefix 'man-' is added to intransitive verbs (or verbs with non-specific objects) with a plural subject. This prefix can combine with other affixation rules if the situation allows for it.

  1. toghe<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manohge (Manohge i lalahi. 'The men stood up.')
  2. dánkolo<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ mandankolo (Mandankolo i famaguʼon. 'The children became big.')
  3. metgot<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manmetgot (Manmetgot i lalahi. 'The men became strong.')
  4. gupu<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manggupu
  5. maʼudai<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manmaʼudai
  6. kuentos<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manguentos
  7. saga<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ mañaga
  8. makmata<vblex><iv><sub_pl> ↔ manmakmata

Verb Transitivity

Chamorro verbs fall into three categories, each of which has different grammatical properties.

Intransitive

When forming predicate of a non-future statement, intransitive verbs use either infix -um- or prefix ma- and are followed by subject noun or pronoun.

  • gupu 'fly'
  • kuentos 'talk'

However, there are intransitive verbs that do not require the affixation:

  • matai 'die'
  • makmata 'wake up'

Transitive

Transitive verbs take a direct object, and with a definite object, one of the hu-type subject pronouns must precede the verb.

  • hatsa 'lift'
  • taitai 'read'

There are also exceptions to these grammatical rules, but I will not get into them here.

Irregular

Some verbs do not conform to either of the two above grammatical patterns, so they are classified as irregular verbs.

  • alok 'say'
  • mohon 'desire'

The irregular verbs do not necessarily have the same grammatical patterns as other members of this category--in fact, this is clearly not the case. The verb 'gaige (there is)' can take only the pluralizing prefix man- and reduplication for progressive actions, but none of the other affixes. However, 'guaha (exist)' has a non-specific subject and does not function with any of the usual affixation patterns.

Possession

The possessive pronouns (some of which were presented in the Pronouns section above) attach to the end of the stem word, changing the stress of the word and indicating the owner of the stem word.

  1. lápes<n><px1sg> ↔ lapés-hu
  2. lamása<n><px3sg> ↔ lamasá-ña
  3. gúmaʼ<n><px1pl> ↔ gimaʼ-mámi

A full list of Chamorro possessive pronouns appears below:

  • -hu<prn><px1sg> ↔ -hu
  • -mu<prn><px2sg> ↔ -mu
  • -ñu<prn><px3sg> ↔ -ñu
  • -ta<prn><px1pl><inc> ↔ -ta
  • -mami<prn><px1pl><ex> ↔ -mami
  • -miyu<prn><px2pl> ↔ -miyu
  • -ñiha<prn><px3pl> ↔ -ñiha

Exceptions to this grammatical rule (appending the pronoun to the end of the stem) occur when classifiers are involved. In this case, the pronoun is added to the classifier rather than the noun itself, as in the following examples:

  1. naʼ<cl><px1sg> ↔ naʼ-hu ('my <edible thing>')
  2. naʼ<cl><px2sg> ↔ naʼ-mu ('your <edible thing>')
  3. naʼ<cl><px3pl> ↔ naʼ-ñiha ('their <edible thing>')
  4. gaʼ<cl><px1sg> ↔ gaʼ-hu ('my <non-human animal>')
  5. gaʼ<cl><px1pl><ex> ↔ gaʼ-mami ('our (exclusive) <non-human animal>')

Note: classifiers are only used in possessive constructions in modern Chamorro

Pluralization

Intransitive verbs and adjectives take the plural marking prefix man- with a plural subject (three or more). Otherwise, the singular or dual form of the verb or adjective is used.

  1. Humanao yoʼ para Saipan ('I went to Saipan')
  2. Humanao siha para Saipan ('They (2) went to Saipan')
  3. Manhanao siha para Saipan ('They went to Saipan')

Nouns are generally pluralized by either the prefix 'man-' or by adding the word 'siha' immediately after the noun. However, adding 'siha' also goes along with adding the prefix 'man-', so it is occasionally omitted as a redundancy.

  1. estudiante<n><pl> ↔ manestudiante
  2. maʼestro<n><pl> ↔ manmaʼestro
  3. maʼgas<n><pl> ↔ manmaʼgas
  4. emfetmera<n><pl> ↔ manemfetmera

However, there are irregularities to the pluralization of nouns. It is a small set, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

  1. lahi<n><pl> ↔ lalahi
  2. palaoʼan<n><pl> ↔ famalaoʼan
  3. patgon<n><pl> ↔ famaguʼon

Continuative aspect

Chamorro distinguishes between actions that are completed and actions that are ongoing. This is like the -ing verb forms in English. This is usually marked by reduplication of some sort.

  1. sága<vblex><cont> ↔ sásaga
  2. hugándo<vblex><cont> ↔ hugágando
  3. táitai<vblex><cont> ↔ tátaitai
  4. éggaʼ<vblex><cont> ↔ éʼeggaʼ
  5. saddok<n><cont> ↔ sasaddok

If predicate has verb, usually it is verb that is reduplicated. But there are exceptions. The rules aren't very clear. Similarly, the suffix '-ñaihon' means 'for a while', and an extra 'n' is added at the beginning if the stem verb ends in a vowel.

  1. sága<vblex><whi> ↔ saganñaihon
  2. falago<vblex><whi> ↔ falagonñaihon
  3. aso<vblex><whi> ↔ asonñaihon

Negation

The most common way to show negation in Chamorro is to place the negative word 'ti' in front of the negated clause/word (page 265).

  1. ti<vaux> ↔ ti
  2. tayaʼ<vaux> ↔ tayaʼ
  3. munga<vaux> ↔ munga
  4. tatnai<vaux> ↔ tatnai

Focus system

Page 243, also not sure here how to deal with adding separate words

Tense

Again, 'para' appears to be the future tense word (page 261).

  1. para<vaux> ↔ para
  2. siempre<vaux> ↔ siempre
  3. bai<vaux> ↔ bai

Reflexive

Also has separate word (page 270)

References

Retrieved from "http://wikis.swarthmore.edu/ling073/index.php?title=Chamorro/Grammar&oldid=2990"