The Official Puerto Rican Language

The Official Puerto Rican Language

"The attempt by conquerors to impose their language on the conquered is a recurrent historical theme" (Morris 162).

In 1493 the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the island of Borinquen where, there was an attempt by the Spanish to impose their language on the native population of Taino Indians. The Tainos believed that the Spaniards were gods and so were willing to learn all that they could from them. The virtual annihilation of the Taino population in the short period after the Spanish arrival caused by the importation of illnesses the Tainos were not immune to as well as their horrid working conditions as slaves. After close to 400 years of rule on the island the Spanish language was adopted to be the official Puerto Rican language.

Today the Spanish language is the number one identifying factor of Puerto Ricannness, meaning that when Puerto Ricans are asked what is Puerto Ricanness, the number one answer is language. As demonstrated by Nancy Morris in her book, Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and Identity.

Since 1898 Puerto Ricans have given the Spanish language enormous importance as part of their culture and history because of American colonization of the island. The United States attempt to Americanize the island by way of enforcing their language and history in public schools on the island has continually been rejected by Puerto Ricans. The Americans made no attempt to learn Spanish in order to understand Puerto Ricans because of their belief that Puerto Ricans were inferior.

"In U.S. eyes the first problem Puerto Ricans faced was their Spanish blood. In the United States this heritage is called the Black Legend and is the basis of prejudice focused, not on the color of skin, but on cruelty of behavior" (Fernandez 13).

Perhaps the competition between the Spain and the United States for global domination during the late 19th Century may have lead to a disliking of the Spanish culture. U.S. attempts to Americanize the island may have also been influenced by the competition between the countries. Competitive nature getting the best of the U.S. and making them so competitive they would try to convert an island to demonstrate the superiority of the English language and the American culture.

In Ferrés’ novel this unwillingness by the Americans to learn the Spanish language and try to improve conditions on the island are clearly depicted by several characters. For instance, The typical governor is described as: