Returned migration, language, and identity: Puerto Rican bilinguals in dos worlds/two mundos

• Published in: International journal of the sociology of language 1990, Vol.1990 (84), p.81-100
• Main Author: ZENTELLA, ANA CELIA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bilingualism; National Identity; Puerto Rico; Return Migration
• ISSN: 0165-2516; 1613-3668
• DOI: 10.1515/ijsl.1990.84.81

The fate of Spanish in Puerto Rico has been traditionally linked with the survival of the Puerto Rican nation itself. This is the understandable result of the influence of 400 years of Spanish rule, the history of struggle against the US imposition of English, & the lack of other distinctive identifiers of national culture. Accordingly, the debates over the influence of English, bilingualism, & code-switching bring Puerto Ricans face to face with a crucial identity issue: does language loss necessarily spell cultural loss? More pointedly, are Puerto Ricans who cannot speak Spanish really Puerto Rican? In the last decade, the return of over 35,000 Puerto Rican migrants to the island has fanned the flames of the language-identity debate. The adolescent children of the returnees, most of whom were raised in New York & are English dominant, are caught between two worlds. These youngsters, who were once struggling to hold onto their Puerto Ricanness & Spanish in the US, suddenly find themselves struggling to hold onto their "Nuyoricanness" & English in Puerto Rico. Here, the impact of returned migration on the bilingual, bicultural development of the returnees, & its repercussions for Puerto Rican national identity, are analyzed. Results of personal interviews with high school students (N = 43) were compared with those of a study of Puerto Ricans in New York (eg, Language Policy Task Force, Social Dimensions of Language Use in East Harlem, New York: Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos, City of New York, 1980) The specific focus is the attitudes of both groups concerning the link between Puerto Rican cultural identity & language, bilingualism & biculturalism, & the future of Spanish & English in Puerto Rico. The Nuyorican attitudes represent a radical departure from the traditional emphasis on the primacy of Spanish. Among the variables that account for intragroup differences, gender is the most relevant. The social, political, & educational implications of the group's language attitudes are discussed with reference to the models used for the study of bilingualism in the US. 1 Appendix, 42 References. AA