This year I am focused on listening to Chamorro while reading along with the transcript to better train my ear and absorb more fluent or native-level speech patterns. One set of patterns that I am now more comfortable with is how speech attribution (phrases like he said, “__” or she asked, “___”) occurs in Chamorro. In this series of blog posts, I’m going to talk about the 4 patterns I’ve noticed around speech attribution, and this first post will focus on the use of the work ilek.

Contents
What is speech attribution? Intro to Ilek Basic structure with Ilek Adding the person spoken to

What is Speech Attribution?

When I talk about speech attribution, I am referring to the small phrases or sentences that indicate who is speaking in a conversation. These phrases or sentences can occur before, after, or in the middle of a conversation. Examples in English include:

• He said, “___”
• She asked, “___”
• The woman told the child, “___”
• I was told by my mother, “___”
• Pang said to Ålu, “___”
• The teacher said to the student, “___”

Introduction to Ilek

One of the more common phrases for Chamorro speech attribution uses the word ilek which means “say, said.” When reading stories, I often see the word ilek combined with a possessive pronoun to indicate the person speaking, but I have also seen it occur without a possessive pronoun. The examples that follow will focus on the use of ilek with possessive pronouns, since this is what I’ve been encountering most often.

Basic Structure With Ilek-

ilek- + possessive pronoun

The most basic speech attribution is to attach a possessive pronoun to ilek. In conversation I most often hear the phrase “ilek-hu” when someone is recounting a conversation or something they said.

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña	he / she / it said
ilek-mu	you said
ilek-hu	I said

ilek-ña + si + person’s name

The basic structure of ilek-ña from above can be followed with si + person’s name to indicate the name of the speaker:

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña si Pang	Pang said
ilek-ña si Juan	Juan said
ilek-ña si Elsie	Elsie said

ilek-ña + i + noun

You can also follow the basic structure of ilek-ña with i + noun to indicate the speaker:

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña i palao’an	the woman said
ilek-ña i patgon	the child said
ilek-ña i fafa’nå’gue	the teacher said

Adding the Person Spoken To

In this structure with ilek- you can also use the articles nu, ni, or as to indicate the person being spoken to. In the examples below, to more easily distinguish the speaker from the person spoken to, the speaker will be in italics and the person spoken to will be in bold.

Emphatic Pronouns

This first example uses emphatic pronouns to indicate the person being spoken to. Just add nu + emphatic pronoun at the end of any of the 3 basic structures above:

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña nu guahu	he said to me
ilek-mu nu guiya	you said to her
ilek-hu nu hågu	I said to you
ilek-ña si Pang nu hamyo	Pang said to all of you
ilek-ña si Juan nu siha	Juan said to them
ilek-ña si Elsie nu hita	Elsie said to us
ilek-ña i palao’an nu hågu	the woman said to you
ilek-ña i patgon nu guahu	the child said to me
ilek-ña i fafa’nå’gue nu hami	the teacher said to us

People’s Names

This second example indicates the person being spoken to by their name. Add as + the person’s name to the end of the basic structures:

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña as Pang	he said to Pang
ilek-mu as Ålu	you said to Alu
ilek-hu as Juan	I said to Juan
ilek-ña si Pang as Ålu	Pang said to Alu
ilek-ña si Juan as Elsie	Juan said to Elsie
ilek-ña si Elsie as Ramon	Elsie said to Ramon
ilek-ña i palao’an as Juan	the woman said to Juan
ilek-ña i patgon as Pang	the child said to Pang
ilek-ña i fafa’nå’gue as Elsie	the teacher said to Elsie

Nouns

Finally, we can also indicate the person spoken to with a noun with either nu i + noun or ni + noun. I have heard and read both, but it’s good to know that ni is the contracted form of nu + i.

Chamorro	English
ilek-ña nu i patgon	he said to the child
ilek-mu nu i palao’an	you said to the woman
ilek-hu nu i fafa’nå’gue	I said to the teacher
ilek-ña si Pang nu i tituge’	Pang said to the writer
ilek-ña si Juan nu i suruhåna	Juan said to the traditional healer
ilek-ña si Elsie ni pale’	Elsie said to the priest
ilek-ña i palao’an ni a’ayuda	the woman said to the assistant
ilek-ña i patgon ni fafa’gåsi	the child said to the cleaner
ilek-ña i fafa’nå’gue ni a’arekla	the teacher said to the repairman

And that concludes our lesson! To continue to part 2 of this blog series, click the link below:

https://atomic-temporary-145232137.wpcomstaging.com/2024/07/29/speech-attribution-in-chamorro-part-2-using-the-in-infix/