Borinquen

Publisher description.

The Spanish-speaking island of Puerto Rico (also known as Borinquen) has had a complex linguistic landscape since 1898, due to the United States’ colonial imposition of English as the language of administration and education. Even after 1948, when Puerto Rico was finally permitted to hold its own gubernatorial elections and determine its own language policies, controversy regarding how best to achieve bilingualism continued. Despite many studies of the language dynamic of the island, the voices of the people who actually live there have been muted. This volume opens with a basic introduction to bilingualism, with special reference to Puerto Rico. It then showcases twenty-five engaging personal histories written by Puerto Rican language professionals which reveal how they became bilingual, the obstacles faced, the benefits accrued, and the linguistic and cultural future they envision for themselves and their children. The closing chapter analyzes the commonalities of their richly detailed stories as well as the variability of their bilingual life experiences in order to inform a more nuanced language policy for Puerto Rico. The linguistic autobiographies will resonate with bilinguals of all kinds in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, as well as those in other countries. The main message that emerges from the book is that there are many routes to multilingualism, and one-size-fits-all language policies are doomed to miss their mark.

"Five centuries after Columbus discovered and the Spanish colonized Borinquen, Puerto Rico is today the oldest European settlement under the American flag. And yet, nearly a century after the Stars and Stripes were first raised over Puerto Rico, it remains the least understood part of America. Separated from the mainland by hundreds of miles of ocean and cultural, linguistic and historical divide of proportionate magnitude, Puerto Rico and her people remain enigmas to the vast majority of Americans on the continent. Paradoxically, those elements which contribute to this gap in understanding are the very factors which make Puerto Rico the most fascinating and complex of the many parts of the American whole, a unique cultural blend of the Spanish-Caribbean joie de vivre and the North American drive for organization and forward-thinking. In this new volume author-photographer Roger LaBrucherie (whose first book about the island, Images of Puerto Rico, has been a best-seller since its publication in 1984) has focused on his sentimental attachment for the island's natural beauty and cultural heritage. The result is a stunning and insightful depiction of this complex and beautiful island, a book which will educate those who are just getting to know Puerto Rico, as surely as it will delight those for whom Borinquen is home." -- Publisher's description