A U.S. Colony at a Linguistic Crossroads: The Decision to Make Spanish the Official Language of Puerto Rico  

Oleh:

Velez, Jorge A. ; Schweers, C. William

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Problems and Language Planning vol. 17 no. 2 (1993), page 117-139.

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan PKBB Nomor Panggil: 405/LPL/17 Non-tandon: tidak ada Tandon: 1

Lihat Detail Induk

Isi artikel

In April of 1991 the government of Puerto Rico proclaimed Spanish to be its sole official language. This new statute replaced the 1902 law which had declared Spanish and English to be the languages of government in this United States unincorporated territory. While the standard government line has been to justify the new law as a noble and valiant gesture in defense of the island's culture and language from the dual threats of Americanization and linguistic impoverishment, the fact is that this is an extremely controversial law which at present does not have the support of the majority of Puerto Ricans. This paper discusses the emotional debate that preceded passage of the legislation by focusing on the arguments typically put forth by defenders and detractors of the new policy. The analyses suggest that the real reason why the law was passed was to make statehood a less feasible political status option for Puerto Rico. Opposition to the law converged around two arguments: fear that the new policy might be perceived by Americans as a rejection of the United States, or as an expression of Puerto Rico's desire to separate from the United States; and/or suspicion that the law signaled the government's decreasing commitment to provide access to the English language to the population at large. The authors' assessment of the decisional process indicates that a small ?umber of intellectuals who subscribe to a powerful hispanicist ideology, most of whom favor independence for Puerto Rico, were the driving force behind the signing of the law. Despite majority opposition, the new policy is seen as contributing positively to the eventual resolution of Puerto Rico's political status.

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