1964, P.L. 7- 162 and 7-174 Legislation that created first Kumisión i Fino’ CHamoru

In the two decades following World War II, life in Guam for the CHamoru people was radically transformed. Arable land gave way to military installations built on land taken by eminent domain. A large service sector was needed for the military personnel that flooded the island after the Japanese Imperial Forces were defeated in 1944. Guam experienced a reconstruction and economic boom for which there was no comparison in its history. Super Typhoon Karen ravaged Guam in November of 1962. Another period of reconstruction and burst of economic activity followed. In his 1964 Annual Report to the U.S. Department of Interior, Governor Manuel F. L. Leon Guerrero wrote that “planning for the reconstruction brought a period of self-analysis for the territorial government.” It was in this historical context that the first Kumisión was established.

The Americanization of Guam was in full swing. English-only policies were enforced in schools and public places. While CHamoru was still the language of the home, it was becoming clear to island leaders that safety valves had to be put in place to mitigate the homogenizing effects of modernization and American citizenship. Aware of the increasing threat to language continuity, the 7th Guam Legislature, composed of emergent post-Organic Act political leaders, saw fit to enact two pieces of legislation that would establish and fund the first CHamoru Language Commission.

Image courtesy of the Guam Legislature website (www.guamlegislature.gov)

The Commission was charged with studying the antecedents of the CHamoru language, prescribing good usages, creating a dictionary and standardizing the language. The Marianas Orthography developed by a committee of distinguished representatives from throughout the Marianas created a spelling system which is still in use in Guam. It was formally adopted in 1983. This monumental achievement in standardizing the spelling of the CHamoru language was an outgrowth of the pioneering efforts of Dr. Donald Topping at the University of Hawaii who, with the assistance of Bernadita Camacho Dungca and Pedro Ogo, published a CHamoru dictionary and reference grammar which became the standard for teaching CHamoru. The updated Utugrafihan CHamoru, Guåhan is based on the Marianas Orthography. The CHamoru Language Commission was actively engaged until 1999 when it was decommissioned with the creation of the Department of CHamoru Affairs.