Collaborative Research: Chamorro (SIL code: CHA)

查莫罗语是南岛语族的一种语言，在未合并的美国领土关岛和北马里亚纳群岛美国联邦有45000人使用。虽然它今天仍然是一种活的语言，但显然已经濒临灭绝。它也正处于历史上的关键时刻，改进文件和提高社区对语言濒危的认识可能会对其生存产生真正的影响。在国家科学基金会的支持下，一名语言学家和一名查莫罗教育者将与社区成员合作，从根本上升级查莫罗语言的文献。语言学家Sandra Chung博士将为查莫罗语使用者、语言学家和语言学习者编写一份全面的查莫罗语参考语法。Elizabeth Rechebei博士是一名教育家，她将监督一个由社区成员组成的工作组，负责修订、更正和扩充1975年查莫罗语英语词典。查莫罗语流利者的口述历史将被录相记录，提供丰富文化信息的查莫罗语相互联系的记录。所产生的材料将提供查莫罗语的详细记录，供社区和语言学家使用。这些教材将作为下一代查莫罗双语教材的基础，并有助于提高查莫罗人熟练掌握自己的语言的比例。在最好的情况下，他们将对语言的生存产生积极的影响。

Chamorro is an Austronesian language spoken by 45,000 people in the unincorporated U.S. territory of Guam and the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Though a living language today, it is clearly endangered. It is also at a critical moment in its history, when improved documentation and heightened community awareness of language endangerment could make a real difference to its survival. With support from the National Science Foundation, one linguist and one Chamorro educator will work with community members to radically upgrade the documentation of the Chamorro language. Dr. Sandra Chung, a linguist, will write a comprehensive reference grammar of Chamorro intended for Chamorro speakers, linguists, and language learners. Dr. Elizabeth Rechebei, an educator, will oversee a working group of community members who will revise, correct, and expand the 1975 Chamorro-English Dictionary. The oral histories of fluent Chamorro speakers will be videotaped, providing a record of connected Chamorro discourse that is rich in cultural information. The resulting materials will provide a detailed record of the Chamorro language that can be used by the community and by linguists. They will serve as the foundation for the next generation of Chamorro bilingual education materials, and help increase the proportion of Chamorros who are fluent and literate in their own language. In the best case, they will have a positive impact on the language's survival.