Just as native speakers of English in Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, and the United States will have differences in their pronunciations, slang expressions, and even in grammar, speakers of Spanish in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, and Argentina will have differences in how they speak Spanish.
None of these differences is an error, any more than the American spelling of “favor” is an error compared with the British or Australian “favour.” They are the traces of history.
Puerto Rican Spanish shows the influence of the United States more strongly than many other varieties of Spanish. Consumer packaged goods made on the mainland and sold in stores like Walmart Puerto Rico are often labeled in English — and the English names are often used for the products in casual speech in Puerto Rican Spanish. Common English phrases are more likely, according to researcher Anne Beatty-Martinez from the University of Puerto Rico, to be translated word-for-word into Spanish, even though this creates grammatical anomalies. It is more common to hear constructions like “yo corro” in Puerto Rico than in other Spanish speaking communities.
Still, the French, who are famously protective of their language, still say “un sandwich” or “un building.” American movies, TV, and music have a pervasive presence around the world which shows up in languages as distinct from English as Japanese. The mere existence of English language influence — even at a statistically higher rate than is seen in other areas — doesn’t imply that Puerto Rican Spanish is a less correct version of Spanish, let alone a less “normal” or an “insecure” one. Indeed, it has been suggested that Puerto Rican Spanish includes traces of other linguistic influences as well — sometimes sourcing apparent English influences to other languages entirely.
The concern over Puerto Rican Spanish may be, as the concern over Puerto Rican English certainly is, tinged with political awareness. John Lipski of the University of Michigan has suggested that not only the willingness to accept English language influences but also the willingness to admit to accepting them can depend on political factors.
“[L]anguage usage in Puerto Rico,” he says, “is closely tied to political questions of independence, statehood, and the indeterminate position of estadolibrismo.”
In 1991, under the PIP, Spanish became the only official language — till the change of political party in the government a year later. In 2012, mainland politicians and political groups insisted that English should be the only official language. According to Kevin Sean Carroll, “politicians have used the language debate as a political football for their own political gain.”
Polls, Carroll says, continue to show that Puerto Ricans like having two official languages. The people of Puerto Rico continue to speak Spanish most of the time and English when it’s an appropriate choice. In this they are just like the Spanish speakers of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Florida… and the rest of the 50 states.
Loss of Spanish in the Puerto Rican Diaspora
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