A community-based test of a linguistic hypothesis

1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Functional Compensation ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Compensation Hypothesis

ABSTRACTThe Functional Compensation Hypothesis (Hochberg 1986a, b) interprets frequent expression of pronominal subjects as compensation for frequent deletion of agreement marking on finite verbs in Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS). Specifically, this applies to 2sg.túwhere variably deleted word-final -smarks agreement. If the hypothesis is correct, finite verbs with agreement deleted in speech should co-occur more frequently with pronominal subjects than finite verbs with agreement intact. Likewise, social dialects which frequently delete agreement should show higher rates of pronominal expression than social dialects which less frequently delete agreement. These auxiliary hypotheses are tested across a socially stratified sample of 62 speakers from San Juan. Functional compensation does show stylistic and social patterning in the category of Specifictú, not in that of Non-specifictú. However, Non-specifictúis the key to frequency differences between -s-deleting PRS and -s-conserving Madrid; hence the Functional Compensation Hypothesis should be discarded. (Functionalism, compensation, null subject, analogy, Spanish, Puerto Rico)

Ambiguous agreement, functional compensation, and nonspecific tú in the Spanish of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Madrid, Spain

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Functional Compensation ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Constant Rate ◽  
Madrid Spanish

ABSTRACTRichness of subject-verb agreement is implicit in the functional compensation interpretation of variable second person /-s/ in Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS). Because /-s/ is not variable in Madrid Spanish (MS), richer agreement is assumed, and a lower rate of pronominal expression is expected. Central to this interpretation are effects associated with ambiguous marking of person on finite singular verbs. Although an increase of pronominal expression correlates to ambiguous marking for PRS speakers, a similar result has not been reported for MS speakers. Nonetheless, a varbrul analysis yields similar weights for this constraint in both dialects. Moreover, ambiguity effects are best understood as constraints on null subject variation that interact with switch reference. Identity of varbrul weights for constraints on pronominal and null subject variation in PRS and MS also supports the Constant Rate Hypothesis. However, the two dialects do show a diametrically opposed effect associated with nonspecific tú.

Resilience of Communities in Puerto Rico Following Hurricane Maria: Community-Based Preparedness and Communication Strategies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Andrade ◽  
Nicole D. Barrett ◽  
Mark C. Edberg ◽  
Matthew W. Seeger ◽  
Carlos Santos-Burgoa
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Community Leader ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Assets

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to examine factors that may have contributed to community disaster resilience following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Methods: In April 2018, qualitative interviews (n = 22) were conducted with stakeholders in 7 Puerto Rican municipalities (9% of total). Transcripts were deductively and inductively coded and analyzed to identify salient topics and themes, then examined according to strategic themes from the Federal Emergency Management Association’s (FEMA) Whole Community Approach. Results: Municipal preparedness efforts were coordinated, community-based, leveraged community assets, and prioritized vulnerable populations. Strategies included (1) multi-sectoral coordination and strategic personnel allocation; (2) neighborhood leader designation as support contacts; (3) leveraging of community leader expertise and social networks to protect vulnerable residents; (4) Censuses of at-risk groups, health professionals, and first responders; and (5) outreach for risk communication and locally tailored protective measures. In the context of collapsed telecommunications, communities implemented post-disaster strategies to facilitate communication with the Puerto Rican Government, between local first responders, and to keep residents informed, including the use of: (1) police radios; (2) vehicles with loudspeakers; (3) direct interpersonal communication; and (4) solar-powered Internet radio stations. Conclusions: Adaptive capacities and actions of Puerto Rican communities exemplify the importance of local solutions in disasters. Expanded research is recommended to better understand contributors to disaster resilience.

Dame un hamburger plain con ketchup y papitas

English Today ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana Cortés ◽  
Jesús Ramírez ◽  
María Rivera ◽  
Marta Viada ◽  
Joan Fayer
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Fast Food Restaurants ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact

English/Spanish contact in Puerto Rico.ONE OUTCOME of language contact is lexical borrowing. Borrowing in Puerto Rico (for political, economic, and social reasons) is evident in the influence English has had on Spanish, especially in lexical terms. This paper explores the impact of American English on the lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish, specifically on vocabulary relating to food. Data were collected through participant observation in selected fast food restaurants from different regions in P.R. An analysis of the corpus provides the basis for five categories useful in understanding the influence of English on Spanish in this domain. The study indicates that English borrowings have had a tremendous influence on the Puerto Rican lexicon, and predicts that, even though Spanish will continue to be the dominant Puerto Rican language, it will continue to change under the influence of English.

Her Name Was Doña Margot

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
César Colón-Montijo
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Community Leader ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Predominantly Black ◽  
Puerto Rican Woman ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
A Site

Margarita “Doña Margot” Rivera García (1909–2000) was a black working-class Puerto Rican woman whose labor as a composer, healer, midwife, and spiritual medium made her an esteemed community leader among her neighbors from Santurce, a predominantly black enclave in San Juan. Through her bomba and plena compositions, she helped forge modern black Puerto Rican music amid the rapid industrialization of Puerto Rico after the 1950s. However, her story has been overshadowed by the aura of her son, the legendary Afro–Puerto Rican singer Ismael “Maelo” Rivera (1931–87). Although Doña Margot is praised as a maternal figure who gave Maelo the gift of rhythm, her story as a woman and artist has remained widely unheard. This essay examines her parallel presence and erasure in salsa historiography, taking her testimonios about her musical gift as offering a counternarrative that defies masculinist music histories and serves as a site of memory that endures erasure.

Frequency rates and constraints on subject personal pronoun expression: Findings from the Puerto Rican highlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Holmquist
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Personal Pronoun ◽  
Central Spain ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
The Social ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
Castilian Spanish

AbstractThis study examines subject personal pronoun expression in the Spanish of the west-central highlands of Puerto Rico. Although rates of s-deletion are comparably high, rates of overt subject expression are shown to be much lower than rates reported for varieties of coastal Puerto Rican Spanish and U.S. mainland Puerto Rican Spanish. The linguistic constraints on overt versus null pronoun usage in the data are shown to coincide to a very large extent with constraints identified for other Puerto Rican dialects and also Castilian Spanish in central Spain, whereas of the social factors, only the distinction between farmers and nonfarmers is significant. The study suggests that, if rates of personal subject pronoun expression are an indication of dialectal variation, the rates presented here for this syntactic phenomenon represent the continuing effects of a conservative dialect in the interior of the island of Puerto Rico.

The Use of the Glottal Stop as a Variant of /s/ in Puerto Rican Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-417
Author(s):  
Sherez Mohamed ◽  
Antje Muntendam
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Male Age ◽  
Glottal Stop ◽  
Age Range

AbstractThis paper examines the glottal stop in word-final position as a variant of /s/ in Puerto Rican Spanish. Previous research (Tellado González 2007; Valentín-Márquez 2006) generally focused on the glottal stop in word-final position between vowels (e.g., /las alas/ ‘the wings’). In this paper, we investigate the glottal stop not only in this context, but also in word-final position when preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant (e.g., /los takos/ ‘the tacos’), and in word-final position when preceded by a vowel and followed by a pause (e.g., /los takos#/ ‘the tacos’). Specifically, the effects of following segment, stress of the following syllable, gender, age, and English use and proficiency on glottal stop production were investigated. The data came from sociolinguistic interviews with 19 participants (8 female, 11 male; Age range: 18–63 years) from San Juan, Carolina, and Guaynabo. The results showed that the glottal stop occurred not only between vowels, but also when followed by a consonant or a pause. Additionally, the glottal stop appeared significantly more before stressed syllables. There were no significant effects of age or gender. Although the effects of English use and proficiency were not significant, we discuss the potential role that contact with English may play in glottalization rates.

scholarly journals Una revisión histórico-política de la producción literaria puertorriqueña. Entrevista con Fernando Feliú Matilla / A historical and political review of Puertorriquean Literatura. Interview to Fernando Feliú Matilla

2017 ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Endika Basáñez Barrio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Puerto Rican Literature ◽  
Puerto Rican Studies ◽  
Hispanic Literature ◽  
Cultural Movements

Resumen: A lo largo de la siguiente entrevista, el profesor, historiador, crítico e investigador la de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, el catedrático en literatura puertorriqueña don Fernando Feliú Matilla, nos permite establecer una visión histórica de la génesis artística llevada a cabo en la Isla a través de los diferentes contextos socio-políticos que han tenido lugar en la misma desde la aparición de una literatura puertorriqueña propia y distintiva hasta la anexión de Puerto Rico a los Estados Unidos de América como Estado Libre Asociado en 1952 y su impronta en la génesis isleña. Si bien la entrevista tiene como objeto principal la literatura boricua, también se debaten en la misma el falocentrismo cultural presente en la cultura puertorriqueña, las relaciones políticas entre San Juan y Washington D.C., la influencia de los textos diaspóricos en la producción isleña o la situación del panorama artístico actual en Puerto Rico.Palabras clave: Literatura hispanoamericana; Literatura puertorriqueña; Estados Unidos; emigración; política. Abstract: Throughtout the following interview, professor Fernando Feliú Matilla, who holds a chair in Puerto Rican Studies and Literature, offers his personal point of view after years of research about Puerto Rican literature written in the 20th century. The interview is developed from a historical perspective, which means that it starts right from the moment Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony in the Americas, until the present day, being Puerto Rico a Free Associated State of the United States of America (also known as American Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). Besides the literature, professor Feliú Matilla also gives his opinion about the absence of female writers in Puerto Rican literature, the relationships between San Juan and Washington D.C., the cultural movements that Puerto Rican literature written nowadays is influenced by, and many other different topics such as Caribbean literature written in the United States and its connection with Puerto Rican art.Keywords: Hispanic Literature; Puerto Rican Literature; USA; immigration; politics. 

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