Haidee V Eugenio

heugenio@guampdn.com

While it’s common knowledge that some English words spoken on Guam are unique, research shows it goes far beyond that.

“The most striking for an outsider is certainly the prosody, the stress and intonation of Guam English, which is rather hard to describe,” said Eva Kuske, a graduate student at the University of Bern in Switzerland who’s part of a team that’s done research on English spoken in Micronesia.

One example is the alternative stress pattern of some English words, she said — ID card is often stressed on the first syllable, as is the word 'understand.'

There also are a number of Chamorro loan words and expressions that are used regularly.

“Che’lu, pari’, zories and mago’dai are only a few of them,” Kuske said.

And some of the English expressions common on Guam aren't as commonly used in the United States:

air-con for air conditioning;

adding the word color when referring to a color, for example, "my shirt is color black"; and

complected when referring to skin color — a white-complected man.

READ MORE: English spoken in Guam, Micronesia being studied

Grammar use

And it’s not only intonation and usage, but also certain grammatical features, especially in older speakers. For instance, the use of the present tense when referring to the past, Kuske said.

And then there are phonetic features. Kuske said she's found the most salient features are the more open pronunciation of the vowel æ, also called the trap vowel, which she found in a majority of the speakers, “even those that have left the island for a considerable amount of time.”

There is also the monophthongization of the /ey/ vowel, or face vowel, she said. Monophthongization, the opposite of vowel breaking, is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift.

“In general American English, this vowel actually consists of two vowels, e and i, as found in the words 'face' or 'day.' On Guam, however, many speakers only pronounce the /e/ of this vowel, so they say something like ‘de’ for ‘day,’” Kuske said.

Kuske is part of the team that conducted a research study, “English in Paradise: Emergent Varieties in Micronesia.”

The team investigated five previously undescribed varieties of English developing in Micronesia, an area of the world with a complex colonial past under Spain, Germany, Japan, Britain, Australia and the United States. English is an official language and a language of school instruction, alongside local languages, in some cases.

READ MORE: Underwood: Chamorro language survival requires speaking

“There is little to no research available on the English spoken in Micronesia,” she said. “Guam probably has the most research available. However, no one has taken on the task of describing the English dialect in its entirety.”

Helpful community

Kuske recorded 38 hours of interviews with more than 62 participants while on Guam last year.

While on Guam, Kuske said the most assistance she had received was from "the extremely generous and helpful community of Chamorros all around the island."

In search of her study participants, she got in contact with senior citizen centers, mayors' offices and people she met on her walks around the island.

"I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback of the islanders. Many had contacted me directly to offer their help and to participate in the study," she said. "They also put me in touch with other people they knew, so within a short period of time, I was able to collect a substantial corpus of Chamorros that had been born and raised on the island."

All in one book

The research team is publishing a book about English spoken on several Micronesian islands — Guam, Nauru, Kiribati, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands and Saipan.

Each book chapter will include a brief description of the island’s social history and an overview description of the English language, as well as some information on the indigenous languages.

“The book is ground-breaking in the field of dialectology, because there has virtually been no previous research on these newly emerging varieties of English in the Pacific," Kuske said. "Additionally, hardly any research is available on English dialects that have emerged as a result of American colonialization. In Switzerland, more and more groups are starting to research dialects of English, particularly dialects of English in remote places and post-colonial Englishes. At the University of Bern, we are currently a group of seven researchers working on the English spoken on various islands."

The team members are in the final writing stage and will soon begin proofreading and editing. The plan is to have the book published by the end of the year, she said.

READ MORE: Petition opposes reduced language requirement at UOG

Kuske said she hasn't yet looked at other ethnicities on Guam, such as the large Filipino community, which have an influence on the English spoken on island.

“This is a topic I will look into on my next visit to Guam,” she said.

Grant for project

Besides the group research, Kuske also found out in mid-February she will receive a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation that will support her Ph.D. research project on Guam English for three-and-a-half years.

“I am the first researcher to ever receive this grant in the subject of English linguistics. The grant also includes a semester abroad, which I plan on spending at the University of Guam, working with the Micronesia Area Research Center, where I will have access to a large database of works on Chamorro culture and language, which is crucial to my research,” she said.

She's contacted a few researchers at the University of Guam and visited the Micronesia Area Research Center. She said she will return as a research associate.

Kuske studied English and philosophy at the University of Bern. In 2016, she completed her master's. in English languages and literatures, with a special focus in linguistics. She's currently completing her teaching degree.