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ERIC Number: ED105755
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1974-Jul
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Language and Politics in Guam and Micronesia.
Kehoe, Monika
There is presently little world-wide interest in Micronesia. Attitudes toward the U.S. administration vary from the pro-American bid for Commonwealth status by the Marianas to the movement for independence in the Marshalls. The polarization of these attitudes from the northernmost to southernmost reaches of the territory seems to be in direct relation to the extent and intensity of the exposure to an American-English language environment in the various areas. In spite of a 200-year background of Spanish influence on Guam, the dynamic shift in one generation from Chamorro to English as a mother tongue, together with an almost jingoistic U.S. patriotism, exemplifies the significant effect of seven decades of exposure to English, especially through American television. In Micronesia, English has been the official language for only the last three decades, with the result that there is a much stronger persistence of native cultural patterns and a greater reliance on the local vernaculars, with a more critical attitude toward the U.S., especially among college students, than there is in Guam. These pro and con attitudes toward the U.S. and its culture have not been planned. Language engineering has, unfortunately, never been used to unify Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific islands into a social, economic, and political entity. (Author/PCT-PMP)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Guam
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A