Restoring Official Bilingualism

While the PPD methodically debated the pros and cons of official unilingualism their PNP rivals, who won the 1992 elections, restored bilingualism within weeks of taking office. The PNP’s rush became apparent when Gov. Pedro Rosselló announced the promotion of a new status plebiscite. As Congress took up the status question in 1993, PNP delegates flashed the new language law as a clear sign of loyalty to the US. That move failed to sway many federal lawmakers who repeatedly brought up the connection between the Spanish language and Puerto Rican identity, along with the low rates of English-language fluency on the island. At this juncture English-language activists from the US mainland began interjecting themselves in the island’s status debates during the English-only movement, reiterating the tight bonds between American-ness and the de facto US vernacular. Although out of office, Commonwealth supporters won the 1993 status plebiscite.

The Politics of Status

Puerto Ricans, US subjects since 1898, were naturalized en masse in 1917. Congress did so to eliminate the possibility of independence from the US. That citizenship is the cornerstone of island-mainland relations for those advocating a continued relationship with the United States—either in the form of the 1952 Commonwealth constitution or statehood. The epicenter of Puerto Rican partisan life remains the status question. This remarkably stable political party system featured two strong parties of near-equal strength—the pro-Commonwealth PPD and its statehood challenger, the PNP— and a small independence party, the PIP. A core feature of the PNP’s platform has been estadidad jíbara—"creole statehood.” In theory, a future State of Puerto Rico would be allowed to retain its cultural and linguistic autonomy while attaining full membership as the 51st state of the Union.

Spanish and Puertorriqueñidad

In the aftermath of the 1898 Spanish-American War, federal policymakers sought to transform Puerto Ricans from loyal Spaniards to trustworthy Americans. Public schools employing English as the language of instruction were the primary vehicles implementing this change. Behind this policy were deeply ingrained attitudes that took for granted the superiority of Anglo Saxons and, by extension, their English vernacular. Contrary to expectations, the Americanization effort backfired and even fueled Puerto Rican nationalism. The island’s intelligentsia took up the banner of preserving Puerto Rican identity (Puerto Ricanness) and canonized the Spanish language as a core feature of puertorriqueñidad. In tandem with a change in education policy was the adoption of a new language law—one that declared Spanish and English co-official languages of the Puerto Rican government. Repealing that law became a holy grail for the island’s nationalists.

Looking Forward

Congress responded to news of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis by stripping the Commonwealth of its fiscal autonomy in 2017. Its lackluster response to Hurricane Maria the following year is yet another sign that Puerto Rico’s golden era has passed. That belle epoque—World War II through the Cold War— marks the half-century period when Washington cared about Puerto Rico, though only to display it as its showcase for democracy. Its current apathy is indicative of a federal government that continues to racialize islanders and non-white citizens as second-class in violation of the classic Civic Creed. While the statehood movement counted on the creed’s sincerity, its status rivals knew or suspected it was a thin veneer. In many respects, the fight over official languages in Puerto Rico has as much to say about American identity as it does Puerto Rican identity.

Creating a Bilingual Citizenry

As the PNP upped the ante with official bilingualism, statehood opponents countered with nationalist performances: testifying before Congress in Spanish despite their fluency in English. For many federal lawmakers this gesture conjured images of Québécois nationalism. Departing from the Civic Creed, English language advocates lauded the indivisible link between the English language and statehood. Official bilingualism was not enough. Therefore in 1996 the Rosselló administration launched an initiative promoting a new bilingual citizenry via the school system. Eerily reminiscent of Americanization, this aggressive push favoring English was not designed to appease voters but to influence Congress. This was the PNP’s new nested game. Despite their efforts the PNP lost the 1998 status plebiscite. Unhappy with the statehood party, most of the electorate opted to vote for ‘none of the above.’

Congress and Conflicting Notions of American Identity

The PPD’s decision to back unilingualism as a step towards sabotaging congressional support for Puerto Rico’s statehood is based on an assumption that the official narrative boasting American identity’s non-ascriptive nature is inaccurate. Scholars studying American national identity generally fall into one of three schools of thought: the civic, the ethnic, and a civic-ethnic hybrid. Arguably Eric Kaufmann provided the most realistic interpretation of this identity. He suggested that American identity consists of a civic wrapping covering over an ethno-cultural core. Such a duality helps to explain fundamentally different approaches by the PNP and PPD. The former appeals to the public-facing civic side while the PPD, through official unilingualism, sought to animate American identity’s ethnic core. While Puerto Ricans downplay their cultural nationalism, many on the mainland, particularly in Congress, see it as a threat. This is precisely what the PPD was banking on in 1991.

The Official Language Act of 1991

Representative Héctor López Galarza got the ball rolling in 1989 by introducing a bill declaring Spanish the island’s only official language. An ardent cultural nationalist, he drafted his proposal without consulting with the party’s leadership. The PPD leadership took its time deliberating over this matter while it also faced hearings in Washington over a proposed federal status plebiscite. PNP spokespersons insisted on inserting language that would guarantee Puerto Rico cultural autonomy under statehood. Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana strongly recommended against such an amendment, concerned that it would not sit well with many Americans. He openly revealed that the civic creed’s rhetoric of equality might not apply to those who are culturally dissimilar. Subsequently Gov. Hernández Colón signed the unilingual bill, a move that some of his PNP rivals suggested was carried out to hurt the statehood cause in Washington.

Washington’s Passive Torpedoing of Statehood

This chapter focuses on recent developments in the language-status front. While the PPD has opted to leave the official languages issue alone, the PNP continuously pushed bilingual education as a step towards statehood. Furthermore, the PNP sought federal intervention in the form of a federal status bill which was patently designed to torpedo the Commonwealth option. Rejecting this proposal, Congress effectively threw the Commonwealth a lifeline. Unimpaired by congressional inaction, the PNP initiated status plebiscites in 2012 and 2017. Both used techniques designed to tip the scales in statehood’s favor. Congress has ignored both of their results. In a passive aggressive manner, the federal government has consistently favored the Commonwealth and has done so not because it particularly adulates it, but because it is the status that provides the US government with the greatest flexibility to control Puerto Rican affairs.

Reviving the Language Debate

This chapter examines early attempts to overturn the 1902 official bilingual law. The PIP passionately favored such a move, but with few legislative seats any change in language policy would be up to the two larger parties. Concerned that Congress might disapprove of a statehood applicant jettisoning English as an official language, the pro-statehood PNP had no interest in changing this law. That left the matter completely up to the PPD. During the 1970s and 1980s a few PPD lawmakers proposed bills, but in keeping with a classic Downsian vote-maximizing strategy the party’s leadership consistently rejected the idea. With an eye on the next election, the PPD’s behavior was consistent with standard models of rational political behavior.

The Power of English

Spanish was entrenched as the language of public-school instruction with the advent of elected governors in the middle of the previous century. Since then heated exchanges over the language-education nexus subsided significantly. English is still associated with upward socio-economic mobility and facilitated migration to the US mainland. This chapter also explores the linguistic panorama and linguistic enclaves on the island. The largest pockets of English speakers are in the San Juan metropolitan area and areas adjacent to military installations. Data also reveal that since Puerto Rico’s economic downturn in the first decade of this century the percentage of English speakers on the island has dropped significantly. The drop coincides with a mass migration off the island. Consequently, English is no longer associated exclusively with Americans. It is increasingly becoming a critical medium for communication with stateside Puerto Ricans.