The Austronesian language of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands — the indigenous tongue of Pacific island communities heavily influenced by three centuries of Spanish contact.
Where it’s spoken
Chamorro is the heritage language of the Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands — primarily Guam (a US territory) and the Northern Mariana Islands (a US commonwealth). Roughly 60,000 speakers remain, with a generational decline as English dominates schools and media. Revival programmes are active at the University of Guam.
What it sounds like
Austronesian core grammar (verb-initial word order, focus-marking voice system) heavily overlaid with Spanish vocabulary, numerals, and loanwords absorbed during the long colonial period.
How it’s written
The Latin alphabet with several Spanish-influenced conventions (ñ, c’h). The Guam version differs slightly in orthography from the Northern Marianas standard — a small political distinction with educational consequences.
Find more languages by letter
Chamorro starts with C and ends with O. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Chamorro":