>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. >> Francisco Macias: Thank you and welcome. A special note of thanks before we begin our program today, to [inaudible] Rodriguez for doing all the preparation and getting us this wonderful speaker today. I am Francisco Macias. I am from the Law Library. And on behalf of the Library of Congress Hispanic Division and the Hispanic Cultural Society, I would like to welcome you to today's presentation titled, The Unlinking of Language and Identity-- Puerto Rican identity-- pardon me. Which is also the name of the book authored by our guest, Dr. Brenda Dominguez-Rosado, from the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon. Her book melds portions of her autobiography and her doctoral studies into a wonderful introspection and examination of sociocultural linguistics and transculturation, specifically the role of language and identity. Dr. Dominguez-Rosado was born in Fairbanks, Alaska to a Puerto Rican mother and a Mexican-American father from Texas. Go Texas [laughter]. For 32 years, she has been an educator and has been recognized for her teaching. At present, she is very active in academic life at the University of Puerto Rico. She has participated amply at various regional and international conferences. Among the countries where she has presented are Aruba, Cuba, Dominica, St. Kitts, Barbados, Costa Rica, Portugal, and Spain. She is also a consultant on linguistics for the Emmy nominated travel show Isla y Vuelta. She holds a bachelor of arts in English with a concentration in teaching English to Spanish speakers, a master of arts in American and British literature, and a Ph.d. in language and literature of the Anglophone Caribbean. All from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. Not only is she a scholar, she has married and accompanied today by her husband [laughter] and is the proud mother and grandmother to two sons and two grandsons. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Brenda Dominguez-Rosado. [ Laughter and Applause ] >> Brenda Dominguez-Rosado: Thank you so much. >> Francisco Macias: I switched on languages [laughter]. Very appropriate. >> Brenda Dominguez-Rosado: Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, welcome. It's a pleasure for me to be here and thank you for coming to my presentation. Although my book is focused-- focuses on the Puerto Rican experience, I invite you to insert your own experiences in life with language and identity. It doesn't really matter what heritage language you might have had experience with in your family history. And ask yourself, is this happening in my own community as well? And please share your comments and your observations or your thoughts at the end of the presentation. It will be a whirlwind 30 minute presentation. I'm going to go fairly quickly, so some of the slides are text heavy. Okay? So, hopefully I won't go too fast. It's a lot to cover. The book is based on my doctoral dissertation and it is a streamline version of it. So, I have made it more user-friendly and it has the essence of my research. Okay? So, anyway, let me turn on the control. All right. So, I'd like to start with a really quick introduction to some of the concepts and terms that I use in my research, in my book. First of all, we must acknowledge that there is a historical link between language and identity. Okay? I think we can all agree on that. Many, many studies done on that. But I would like to clarify that the book addresses more the identity that is our ethnic or national identity. And just to clarify, what I mean by identity is it's the sense of belonging to some group. What we feel we are or where we belong. Okay? We must also agree, or we may agree, or we may know, that language may be a core value in cultures. Okay? Culture is transmitted through language. So, it is essential, okay, and is linked to culture as well. Attitudes about languages. The book has to do a lot with attitudes. So, it, we, you know, attitudes about languages are assessments made about the value of a particular language. They can be either positive or negative attitudes, and that is very important, because that influences the outcome of a language. A language can be born, a language can also die because of attitudes. So, if we have positive attitudes, that means that we respect, we admire, we preserve the language, we use it. If we don't, then that means that we don't use it. That we don't preserve it. That we don't respect it and it might die out. We must also assume that attitudes are not static. Okay? They are changing constantly because of our surrounding circumstances. So, we must assume that they can or should change, and language policy must take that into account. Prevalent language attitudes provide social indicators of changing beliefs. Okay? They're like the thermometer. They're taking the temperature. What's going on? Okay? Are we-- ? Is it because we're in war? Is it because we're in peace? Times of peace, times of war. I mean, what's going on? Why is it changing? Nowadays, the need to confront and eradicate negative attitudes and stereotypes may actually be leading us away from that traditional stance of one language, one identity. Okay? So, times are a changing, although, if we go back in history, that's what everybody said at the time that they were learning, as well. A lot of transformation going on. All right. So, continuing, some of you may be familiar with Puerto Rico, some of you may not. So, I'm going to try to summarize in a nut shell a little about the history of Puerto Rico and why we have these two languages on our island, because we have Puerto Rican Spanish and we have American English. All right? Now, we also have what we call the Hispanicisation and Americanization processes and they have affected attitude towards both attitudes towards those languages. So, Hispanicisation process began when the Spaniards arrived on the island in the fifteenth century. They colonized the island, they were-- they brought their own varieties of Spanish from the Canary Islands, from the Andalusian area of Spain, which is to the south. They had different varieties. They had to reach a common ground in language. They were greeted by the indigenous population that already existed on the island, the Taino. And, basically, decimated the Taino population [laughter]. But, you know, some did run for the hills, okay, and they did survive. Some of them did. We still have DNA of the Taino in Puerto Ricans. So, they didn't really influence the language all that much. But, we do have place names that exist today that come from their language. We also have the Africans, the slaves that were brought to our island in the sixteenth century, and they also had their own languages. They came mostly from the West coast, the Gold Coast. They Uribi, the Igbo, people were the ones who were more-- the ones that arrived the most. And so, their languages also had influence on this emerging new variety of Spanish which is known as Puerto Rican Spanish. And also, the new and emerging people known as the Puerto Rican people. Okay? So, we're a lovely mixture of many beautiful people and languages. And that's Puerto Rican Spanish, 400 years of Puerto Rican Spanish evolving on the island, creating a link to identity for the Puerto Ricans. And then-- that was 400 years-- and then, we had the Spanish-American War, where, as part of the aftermath of that, Spain handed Puerto Rico over to the U.S. and that was in 1898. And so, it's been about 118, 119 years since then. The U.S., once they arrived, immediately said, Spain is out, U.S. is in [laughter]. Okay? So, now, you're going to speak English. And everything is going to be the way we do it. Okay? So, that's how it was. So, the attitudes then, where we have the positive attitude towards Spanish, because this is what we have known for 400 years, then became a negative attitude towards English because it's being imposed. It wasn't a choice. It was today you speak-- yesterday you spoke Spanish, today you're going to speak English. And schools are in English, government is in English, holidays are ours, everything is ours. And what you did before doesn't count anymore. So, this is where we stand nowadays. Attitudes are changing. I just wanted you to know this because this is why I felt, okay, there is a change going on after 100 years. All right? So, this is where we stand. Now, at the bottom, I have a little comment. I've noticed, and many people have noticed, that there is a global tendency towards multilingualism and pluriculturalism, so I mean, is it that we're special? I mean, is this change going on in Puerto Rico only, or is it going on in the world and we're just following a global tendency? All right? So, that's one of the important questions. Okay. So, the selection of my topic for the dissertation/book, because the book is based on the dissertation, I've had my own struggles with identity related to language. And very briefly, my dad was Mexican-American from Texas, as was explained already. My mother from Puerto Rico. My household, we were not raised speaking Spanish, even though my parents were Hispanic. They only spoke Spanish to each other when they didn't want the children to know what they were talking about [laughter]. Okay. So, my first language is English, but I look Hispanic, I think. Right? And my father was in the Army. We were at a base, we were living on a base in Texas. Although, at that point, when this experience happened, we were off base. So, I was at a school where it was a public school, but off base, so everybody from other-- the community. Not people necessarily related to the Army were attending the school. One student-- I was in the seventh grade-- one student approached me and she asked me something in Spanish. And, I just blankly stared at her. I had no idea what she was asking. So, she thought I hadn't heard her, so she repeats the question in Spanish. And, I was just, again, and she says-- and then she said to me in English, don't you understand? And I said, no. And she says, what kind of a Mexican are you? [laughter] And I said, oh my-- . I was just shocked. I didn't know-- . I didn't say anything. I was thinking, I had never thought of myself, you know, as Mexican, as Puerto Rican, as I was just American. I was just an Army brat. I was just in middle school. I really had no idea, but it was like a slap in the face. And I'm thinking, my goodness, what kind of Mexican am I? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I guess I'm not a Mexican. But then we moved to Puerto Rico when I was in the ninth grade and my parents divorced. My mother returned to Puerto Rico. And I was immersed into a Spanish speaking world. Because even though our language is the official languages are English and Spanish, English is not used that much in the official sphere. I mean, it's just the federal court, for example. We do have English taught from kindergarten to the University levels, but people, the majority who study, basically, and study, who study in public school do not become fluent in English, unfortunately. So, it's a struggle. So, anyway, I was immersed into the Spanish speaking world and then it became a question of what kind of Puerto Rican are you? You don't speak Spanish [laughter]. Okay. And I was immediately labeled Nuyorican [laughter]. They'd say, oh, that Nuyorican. Okay. I had never been in New York [laughter], hadn't been born there. No. So, anyways, what do you mean? So, I was labeled. I was discriminated against. I was also called gringa. Okay. That American girl, you know. So, I felt like an outsider. It was a huge incentive to learn Spanish. Let me just tell you that [laughter]. I learned it very quickly. But, I felt like an outsider. So this is part of it. And since I lived this experience myself, I know what it feels like. And I could, because I've been an educator for the past 32 years and I started teaching-- I'm an English professor-- I started noticing these attitudes changing in my own classes when I started teaching high school in 1984, the students were not that eager to learn. You know? It was like the rebellious thing. It was the oppressor's language. You know? So, but things have changed. And I said, you know what? This is a wonderful topic. I feel so personally, that it's a personal thing for me. So, I think that when you're passionate about something, it works out better. Okay. So, I did a pilot study and that showed interesting trends. The pilot study is documented in the book. Okay? Research question. So, is Puerto Rican Spanish still seen as a fundamental requirement for Puerto Rican identity? Number two, if people cannot speak Puerto Rican Spanish, PRS, were not born or do not live on the island, can they call themselves Puerto Rican? Okay. What-- is there a changing attitude towards American English and Puerto Rican society? Number four, what are the attitudes towards the importance of Puerto Rican Spanish and American English as linked to identity among our younger university educated generation versus the attitudes of the older generations who are university educated or not, who are not educated at the university level? Or even less than that? What are the causes of any change in attitude that may be detected? Can people identify themselves as Puerto Rican if they have native fluency in English? How much has U.S. culture influenced Puerto Rican culture? Is there a harmonious integration? And number nine - - there were more questions, by the way, okay-- can Puerto Ricans take their place on the international stage by becoming proudly multilingual yet maintaining their identity as Puerto Ricans? So, all of those questions were answered, and more. Now, I just wanted to, very quickly, go over my theoretical framework. This is dissertationese, okay, from the dissertation, but I just wanted you to know that I did look at things from a historical perspective. I wanted to see if I could detect change from different generations. So, I wanted to start with grandparents, then parents, then the university students, to see if over this 100 year period there was a change and if I could actually document it that way. And that's why I have focus groups. Functional theory, I noticed that well, it affects peoples' wallets. So, if you make money by knowing English, if job opportunities open up for you because you're bilingual, then this is something positive that is affecting the change. Then I also have the cognitive dissonance theory where when you have opposing-- sorry-- opposing attitudes that are not congruent, you want bilingual education for your children, but you don't like the English language, okay, something has to change. Okay? So, if you-- then you have sort of a new positive attitude towards the English. And language and identity ties that do not necessarily bind. There is a tendency now of unlinking language. It's not as like, oh, that's the main requirement globally. Okay. I use a questionnaire. And the questionnaire had a double purpose; it was for results. I asked the questions, people answered. But, also, I wanted to recruit the families so I had very strict requirements that they had to fulfill. They had to be of Puerto Rican ancestry. They had to reside on the island. They had to be literate. And they also had to be willing to cooperate with no incentive whatsoever [laughter]. Okay? Just a snack and some water or something, you know. So, and be able to meet on the same day, same time. So, it was a difficult process. I also had, as I said, the focus groups that were recruited. This is the methodology very quickly. I had to get authorization, obviously. The questionnaire. I had to-- . This-- I had problems encountered. You'll see that at the bottom, the little list. I had to go out into the hallways and find people to participate that were 21 years and older. And I work at an undergrad institution, so the majority are not older than 21. It was difficult. We were at the end of the semester, because by the time I had received permission, it was already final exam time. So, I was like, oh no! I was wondering the hallways [laughter], stopping people and then, show me your I.D. [laughter]. No, I'm not the police [laughter]. So, the thing is that I was finally able to get enough people to answer the questionnaire to be able to recruit my families because they had to be willing to collaborate and cooperate with me. Okay? So, the initial plan was to have 20. Then I was only able to get-- . I said, no, 20 is too many, too many, too much. 10, and then that dream was slashed, and then I finally was able to get 5. And then, finally, at the very end, 2 families had difficulty, so I ended up with 3 families. So, anyway. But, I was able to then have the focus groups. And then the students were one female, two males. Parents were three males. Grandparents were two females and one male. I interviewed them. I gave them a choice of Spanish or English. They all chose Spanish. So, once I finished the interviews, I transcribed, by myself, no machine, no helper, no assistant. These were hours of tapes. And then I had to translate from Spanish to English. And then analyze and choose, you know, what I thought were more appropriate quotes than-- for the book. Okay? So, it was a lot of work, in other words. Anyway, my salient findings. That speaking Puerto Rican Spanish is not an essential requirement for Puerto Rican identity. And I have some quotes that I have included. I'm going-- I'm not going to read all of them. But, just so you know, these were some of the things that they expressed. And all were in agreement. So, this is from the questionnaires and from the focus groups. The link is not necessarily present because an individuals or Puerto Rican society's identity is defined by more than a language. Language is clearly important, but there are other things, like culture, religion, customs, that also help form a personal and social identity. So, I don't consider it to be essential. There's more demographic information about all my participants in the book. Okay? But, I was allowed to identify them by their initials. Number two, to be able to claim Puerto Rican identity does not require you to be born on the island or even reside on the island. And E.R., the grandparent, said, even if you are born American-- . Okay, I don't have time to explain [laughter], yeah. But yes, there is that, if you're not-- . If you're from over here, then you're American, okay, and live in the U.S. If you're parents are Puerto Rican, they're always going to instill in you feelings about being Puerto Rican. In other words, you have to feel it like the singer Marc Anthony, who was born and raised over there, the U.S., but who always talks about his Puerto Rican roots. I don't believe that that impedes anything. I'd like to read the other quote, because it also shows how the younger generation is thinking. I have family members in New York and some of my cousins have never even visited Puerto Rico, but they are proud to call themselves Puerto Rican. And they don't have a complete mastery of Spanish, but they follow many of our Puerto Rican customs and defend them and are even prouder of them than we are. Okay. And, American English is being seen in a more positive light. This is a grandparent. He says, well, in the past, the attitude was one of complete rejection, because we lacked human resources who could teach us and we preferred to speak our vernacular instead of the imported language. It is still being rejected by my generation, but to a lesser extent, because we need to use it in our daily lives because it's practically a universal language, and it's necessary for everything. And then the younger generation. They, the older generations, might have associated learning English while leaving their Puerto Rican-- with leaving their Puerto Rican identity behind, but our generation is more open and we can understand that just because we learn another language, we're not going to stop being Puerto Rican. And we can still feel proud of who we are. So, having a university education is not a major factor in the new attitude towards English on the island. They all agreed and they were of varying levels of education. Number five, the use of technology has been instrumental in the change of attitude-- in attitude towards American English, and that includes social media and film and tv. Okay? So, we are bombarded by all of the media that comes from the U.S. and English. Native fluency in English or being multilingual does not appear to affect Puerto Rican identity. So, the parent said, even if you speak perfect English and you're Puerto Rican, it doesn't mean that you stop being Puerto Rican. That has nothing to do with it. I think we can integrate more languages and still be Puerto Rican. Number seven, a new culture with American and Puerto Rican components may be in the process of formation. This is an interesting phenomenon and I'd love to do a, you know, further study on that topic. And I'm sure that here in the diaspora as well, a new culture is forming. You have-- you use what you have available and you make, you know, you make it your own. Right? Something new. So, at the bottom, we have the grandparents saying, yes, we have been influenced, sometimes dramatically, such as in food. Before, we didn't know what fast food was. People ate rice and beans at their local rustic restaurants. In la fonda, as we say in Puerto Rico. But now, it's hot dog, hamburger, sushi, sirloin, and who knows what the devil else [laughter]. Okay? He was really fun to interview, let me tell you. He was great. Puerto Rico-- oops, sorry-- Puerto Ricans enjoy brotherly or neighborly relationships with other Caribbean nations, but they are perceived differently by them because of their relationship to the U.S. Becoming multilingual in pluricultural will not change this perception. So, I'm going to read the one from the grandparent. We're all neighbors and if some people speak one language and others speak another, it doesn't mean anything. We're still neighbors. Okay? They do see us as different, very different, however, because we depend on another nation, the United States. They, other Latin Americans from neighboring islands, call us the kept people of the Caribbean, lo monte nebo la Caribe [laughter]. It's a pseudonym that we've been assigned and it's definitely affecting attitudes towards us. It's a give and take with the U.S., but we're still dependent. This is something very deep. It's something you can barely touch upon because it bothers us so much. Okay? And so, on that note, the implications. The findings mentioned here are the result of a study with a limited number of participants. I do not wish to imply that the opinions of the participants represent the majority of Puerto Ricans. To do so would be an absurd claim. However, the present study and its findings do open the door into future research into the topics analyzed. The results appear to indicate that language and identity issues are changing on the island. The findings also indicate that at least some Puerto Ricans are aligning themselves, both with their Caribbean and global neighbors, in terms of attitudes towards language and identity. An apparent change in progress has been documented in the responses of the participants from three Puerto Rican generations reflecting a shift from a monolingual, monocultural identity to a bilingual, bicultural one and a willingness to accept multilingualism and pluriculturalism as tools needed to survive in a world that is becoming smaller and more accessible because of technology. Update. Okay. So, my new 2016 study is not related directly to language and identity, but it was about Puerto Rican Spanish and prestige. Okay? I presented this, the results, last year in Spain. But, I snuck in a question about language and identity. So, on this online survey, I had 979 participants, but I only considered the ones that were complete responses; that was 902. Some people were non-Puerto Ricans. Okay? So, those were 50; 50 people. So, the majority were Puerto Ricans. These are the results. If you take a look at the red bars, those are the Puerto Ricans. The tan or the beige bars are-- well, I don't know if you can see them-- but they are the non-Puerto Ricans. And you'll see that for agree and completely agree, we have 291 agree, 273 completely agree. And if we add those up it's 564 out of 881 Puerto Ricans who corroborate my previous findings in 2010 and 2012. There is a new tendency towards unlinking because of a large diaspora that doesn't speak Spanish yet claims a Puerto Rican identity. The non-Puerto Ricans also mainly supported the idea. Okay. Recommendations. A broader study needs to be completed where the apparent change in progress concerning attitudes towards the link between languages and identity in Puerto Rico can be more fully documented. And I am on it, okay [laughter], because I have already created a new survey. It's online. It's waiting for permission at my campus and at the other ten UPR campuses. So, I am expanding out to the other ten campuses to see if they also reflect the same findings to have a larger sample. And, I'm waiting for permission, so I'm still in the process, but it's going to be done. Number two, more studies should be conducted in the Puerto Rican diaspora. Okay. And concerning language and identity, do-- my question is, do they see the link the same way as islanders do or not? Okay? What is their essential requirement for establishing a Puerto Rican identity? My next major project will be to visit the diasporan cities in the U.S. and in Saint Croix where there is a large Puerto Rican diaspora, U.S. Virgin Islands, in order to replicate the original study with the questionnaire and the focus groups. Although, I'm thinking it will probably be the questionnaire. The focus groups is-- was very up hill. Okay. And, conclusion. The quest for determining the link between language and identity on the island of Puerto Rico has lead to thought provoking results. The traditional viewpoint of promoting Puerto Rican Spanish as the bearer of Puerto Rican identity and American English as the bearer of unwelcome intrusion now appears to be evolving into a modern attitude of acceptance of the idea that languages can function independently of identity. Also, the two cultures present on the island seem to be entwining and creating a syncretic new variety unique to Puerto Rico. To all appearances, it seems that a new identity is being forged. One that is not linked to any particular language, but rather includes the heart of a people and their evolving traditions, customs, and beliefs. And you may access the dissertation. It's a really long title, it's not the same. If you put my name on, Brenda Dominguez-Rosado, it will-- the title will come up on ProQuest at your favorite library; probably the Library of Congress [laughter]. Okay? All right. Or, you can purchase my book online. It's on Amazon. I was looking for it and, you know, this weekend. It's disappeared from other stores. I don't know.