Commission to address deterioration of indigenous languages

To get concrete data on the use of indigenous—Chamorro and Carolinian—languages within the CNMI, the Chamorro and Carolinian Language Policy Commission will launch a community survey possibly by the end of this month to determine the types of programs needed to maintain and preserve these languages.

According to Commission executive director Candido Taman, the survey is part of a project funded by the Administration for Native Americans Grant, a competitive grant offered only to the NMI, Guam, American Samoa, and the natives of Hawaii and Alaska, all of whom are categorized as Native American Pacific Islanders. The grant is also extended to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“The CNMI was granted $226,000 to do a language survey,” he said. “In this language survey, the objective is to determine the status of our indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian languages usage in the families.”

A similar survey was conducted earlier in the year within public schools. Results of the survey will be disclosed at a later date, upon approval of Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Juan L. Babauta and the Language Commission board.

Taman said results of both surveys would present the Commission and its board an idea of what steps need to be taken to address the situation.

“We’re very fortunate to get this grant from the ANA because anyone can speculate on the deterioration of our languages and cultures, but we need concrete evidence because we need to rely on funding sources in order to assist us in our long-term planning and long-term implementation,” he said. “So all these things that we are doing will help us design these effective programs to…preserve the language and the culture.”

Taman asked the public’s help and cooperation during the survey.

“The most important thing is to make our people aware of what we’re doing because we cannot accomplish this by ourselves,” he said. “We need to have the general support of the public…so that we can partner with them [and] accomplish our mission.”

Taman said the results will enable the Commission and its board to design long-term plans that will help the CNMI compete for more grants from the ANA in the future.

“This is a multi-million dollars federal funding source, but it’s competitive and it’s extended to not only the Commonwealth,” he said.

Taman disclosed that he, along with Babauta, Historic Preservation Office and NMI Arts Council executive directors Epiphanio Cabrera and Robert Hunter recently took part in the 3rd Annual Native Hawaiian Conference in Hawaii. An invitation to the conference was extended to the NMI sometime last July.

At the conference, held from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, Taman served as a panelist and presented the NMI’s project through the grant, as well as the experience, accomplishments, and challenges in addressing language preservation issues.

Other ANA grant recipients also took part in the conference.
Babauta, Hunter, and Cabrera also presented several artifacts as well as the history of the CNMI.

“It was very fruitful conference because a lot of people from across the Pacific don’t really know where CNMI is. It was very nice for us to make our small islands known to the rest of the other entities,” Taman said.

School contests

Taman said the survey is just the first phase of the project. Other phases include essay, jingles, and commercial advertisement contests within schools, primarily with students in the bilingual programs.

The Commission will begin conducting the contests next week, commemorating September as Cultural Heritage Month. Results of the contests will be announced by the end of the month.

“I have written a letter to Commissioner of Education soliciting their support on this so that we can [go] to the various schools and conduct the activities. That part of our ANA grant is going to be very exciting,” he said.

Winners will receive prizes, which will be specified at a later date.

Taman said the grant will fund the development of a pamphlet that will “entail what this project is all about.”

Copies of the pamphlet will be distributed to the Joeten-Kiyu Library, as well as the Legislature.