Speaking with Facial Expressions

So early on in the creation of the blog I made a post about the Puerto Rican accent in Spanish. I've gotten a bit distracted from talking about language and how Puerto Ricans speak... not entirely, of course, but of course everything comes down to politics, so a fair part of the blog has been, for better or worse, dedicated to that. I think it's about time I returned to a language topic though.

Two gestures are essential to communicating with Puerto Ricans in Spanish. They are the bunny and the kiss!

By the bunny I'm referring to the little nose crinkle. It's used when you don't understand something (where you'd use "what?" instead normally). All it is is a quick wrinkle or two (or three, or...) of your nose, real fast and it's over. If someone doesn't notice you're doing, you repeat it again it's getting silly and then, if it's still not getting their attention, you can throw in a kind of indignant and accusatory "¡¿qué?!" ("what is it?!").

I've watched this move be used by Puerto Ricans on non-Puerto Ricans with a lot of frustration, as either the person doesn't see it, doesn't understand it, or starts making fun of it. My good friend, when she first moved to the U.S., kept unconsciously using it on everyone, without any success, until it got to the point where she gave up except on those who got it. Eventually I ended up doing it as well, and now I know how she feels, because every once in a while it'll come out and people just don't know how to react to it. But on the other hand, for those who get it, it saves time and is quite effective.

The second thing is the kiss... no, not really kissing, but rather pointing with lips. The motion is the same as if you were blowing an extremely fast kiss. Again, very usual gesture since it saves times (and potentially rude pointing... although I don't know if this would be much better, honestly).

The kissing I know is used in a variety of other cultures, although I'm under impression that the bunny thing is purely Puerto Rican--if it isn't, someone please let me know. And if anyone has some good stories about the confusion caused by this, share!

The Best Beaches of Puerto Rico?

Being an island, there are, of course, lots of beaches in Puerto Rico. Quality varies, but the geographical location is the greatest determining factor. North and east-side beaches touch the Atlantic. Most of these beaches are decent, but in general are nothing particularly special. The most outstanding include Luquillo, Loíza (so I've heard), and a few around the city of Fajardo. Also in Fajardo are ferries to Culebra and Vieques, both tiny islands known for the beautiful beaches. On the other hand, tourists will be disappointed with the beaches in San Juan--most are small, overcrowded, ugly, and even dangerous. There are some where swimming is prohibited because currents have caused various deaths. My suggestion is to head outside of the city if you want to find a nice one.

The west and south of the island touch the Caribbean Sea and thus are known for the better beaches. Anywhere from Mayagüez to Aguadilla have pleasant beaches, probably the best in the island. Of note is Rincón, not only an ex-pat hangout but a popular surfing spot as well.

I personally don't have much experience with beaches on the island--while this may be a surprise for some, Puerto Ricans don't go to the beach every day, or even at all. Each time I've been it's a special trip and I gather that it's the same for many other families. However, you've probably noticed that I do have a photo of the beach as a header for the blog. If you've ever wondered, it's a picture of the beach Seven Seas in Fajardo, which I visited a year or two ago. I would highly recommend this beach, since the water is slow, shallow, and crystal clear, and the beach in general is beautiful. It does, however, cost 3 dollars to park there (I don't know about entering in general, though... I'm pretty sure you could at least sneak in for free).

Anyways, for those who have spent more time on the beaches, which ones are your favorites? Any secret gems?

Exploring Puerto Rico's African Heritage, Part 1: A General History

Slaves from Africa first came to Puerto Rico to replace the shrinking population of Taínos, the indigenous people of the island. Because of European diseases and cruel treatment, Spaniards turned to slavery in order to maintain their profits. Most of the slaves were imported from West Africa, particularly Nigeria. From the Yoruba people the popular Santería religion, combined with Spanish Catholicism, was born (it's much more common in Cuba than in Puerto Rico, however).

Even though freedom could be bought or earned, unlike in the United States, slavery and all of its abuses continued until 1873, mostly for the sake of maintaining the coffee, caña (sugar cane), and tobacco industries. The American Invasion came only about 30 years later, in 1898. Part of America's reasons for keeping self-governance from Puerto Rico was because of the racial composition of the island, which at that time was already quite mixed.

Culturally Puerto Rico owes much to its African heritage. The language has been greatly enriched by the inclusion of words from Yoruba and other languages (if you or your library has a subscription to JSTOR, I highly recommend this article for more information... I'll be talking about it anyways but that article is excellent). African music is the root of the rhythms heard today in all music from the island, including reggaetón and salsa. It's also made a part of food, literature (like Julia de Burgos!), art, and just a general sense of being. I'll be looking at these, and more, over the next few days.

Today African heritage is widely recognized, although sometimes denied because of racism (also to be discussed this week). And while there is an "Afro-Puerto Rican" identity, it is usually sacrificed for the adoption of the general Puerto Rican identity, due to the status situation with the United States. While people with part or full African ancestry can be found all over the island, the cultural center is the town of Loíza.

To be continued tomorrow!

Politics of Puerto Rico

Why is understanding Puerto Rican politics so important?

Politics are everything in Puerto Rico. First off, even in the last election 70% of the voting-age population cast a vote, which is significantly higher than the statistics for the U.S. Politics are constantly discussed on the streets, on the radio, in the newspaper, everywhere. It can be a little overwhelming if you’re not really interested. The only comparison I can think of is how Americans talk about football during football season. It’s really, really big.

What are the parties of Puerto Rico?

There are three main parties:
- Partido Nuevo Progresista/New Progressive Party (PNP), which is pro-statehood. Their symbol is a palm tree, and their color is blue.
- Partido Popular Democrático/Popular Democratic Party (PPD), which wants to continue (or enhance) the Commonwealth. Their symbol is a jíbaro and their color is red.
- Partido Independista Puertorriqueño/Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), which is pro-independence. Their symbol is a green flag with a white cross and their color is green.

The PPD is currently in power with Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, although the PNP controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives. These two parties command most of the votes and are bitter rivals. The PIP is much smaller but is still very important. Its supporters include a lot of intellectuals, and violence, while not condoned by the party, has been committed in the name of independence.

Puerto Rico’s status issue is a difficult topic to discuss neutrally so I’ll leave it for another time. Keep in mind, however, that it is not the voters or Puerto Rico’s government that decides its status, but rather the U.S. government. The entire island could vote for statehood or independence but only the U.S. can change it, although the island certainly could pressure it. Despite this, everyone has an opinion about it.

Who are some important political figures?

Aníbal Acevedo Vilá is the current Governor of Puerto Rico since the 2004 elections. I don’t really know what to say about him except that he’s not very attractive and I saw him once in person. Three Kings Day a year ago (or two? I can’t remember) we saw him walking into the Governor’s mansion in SJ. Okay, that’s not so exciting, but it’s better than nothing.

Pedro Rosselló is ex-Governor and leader of the PNP. He’s everywhere. A lot of people hate him but he keeps getting involved in politics anyways. Here is his website.

Luis Fortuño is the current Resident Commissioner (Puerto Rico's representative in Congress who can't vote) and another member of the PNP. His webpage is here.

These three politicians make up a large part of political news in the island and should help to make it more... understandable.

Anyways, for your listening pleasure (or really... not...) I have some samples of Rosselló's campaign music, thanks to my friend and her dad. If you want a laugh, download this file. It's hilariously awful. On the other hand, I have something more... respectable here.

Enjoy!

Musical instruments of Puerto Rico

What, you didn't think your holiday would go without a present from me?

I thought, in time to finish up the parranda season, I'd do a quick introduction of musical instruments from Puerto Rico.

Pandereta

The pandereta isn't much different from a tambourine, except the one here (which is mine) actually is a tambourine. Oops. Anyways, it's the same except without the bells on the side.

This picture on the right is of the inside. Click for a larger view.

Palitos

If you speak enough Spanish you probably could have guessed what these are. They're simple sticks! You play them by hitting the two ends together. Pretty easy.

Güiro

The güiro was invented by the Taíno, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico. Basically, it is a gourd that is emptied, then left to dry. Grooves are cut into the top, and holes lie underneath for the fingers usually. It's played with what honestly could be a hair pick, which is scraped quickly over the grooved area in both directions. This makes a loud, rich percussion sound.

I'm a big fan of the güiro. It has a beautiful sound and a unique character.

Maracas

Maracas are another Taíno instrument made from gourds. Most people know what maracas are and how to play them so I don't think they deserve much of an explanation.

I will say, however, that these particular maracas on the side here were made by my friend's father from some gourds he picked up. I painted them.

To wrap this all up, here is a short video I made that demonstrates the sounds of each instrument. It's nothing special, and the sound quality is not... ideal, but it helps.

There is an excellent website for learning about Puerto Rican music in both English and Spanish here. I highly recommend it!

A Super Short History of Puerto Rico, Part 2

For part 1, click here.

So, the Spanish-American War ends after the U.S. blockades Puerto Rico for long enough that the people were very welcoming to the American troops. It doesn't help that they were promised the liberty that the Spaniards didn't give to them. Of course, as you might have noticed, that's not really what they got.

The first effect of the invasion was the complete devastation of the economy. Americans had no interest in Puerto Rico's strong coffee so almost all industry turned to sugar, causing the loss of a lot of jobs. American companies bought up farmland and forced many owners of small-property to lose their land and just added to the pockets of American corporations, who in turn invested their money back into the U.S. The population exploded because of new American medicines saving lives without anyone considering its effects or how to deal with consequences, particularly unemployment. The conversion from pesos to dollars was poorly organized and allowed many merchants on the island to charge up to 40% more for even basic foods. Even worse, food was increasing imported from the U.S., eventually making up about 75% of all food on the island, so even though PR could have grown a lot of its own foods it turned to more expensive American products.

However, it was the Americanization that really wrecked havoc on Puerto Rico. First off, all education was suddenly English-only, even though no one spoke English. Censorship began to silence newspapers. American governors disapproved of any thoughts of independence and encouraged Congress to think of Puerto Ricans as too racially impure to manage a government. Citizenship was imposed in 1916 with the Jones Act...

Let me take a moment here to explain. Citizenship was offered to Puerto Ricans as a choice, which is something that most people bring up when defending statehood. However, it should be noted, despite a tiny minority refusing it, most people were indeed forced to accept American citizenship, because no employer would hire someone without it.

Also... the Navy began to occupy large parts of the island around WWII and refused to leave afterwards since their bases were good training areas. This continued until 2004, when they finally left Vieques.

Puerto Rico at first attempted peaceful compromises with the American government but as Congress ignored them more and more many islanders became violent. There were occasional protests on the island, some of which ended in tragedy for a few nacionalistas. A few attacks also occurred on the mainland, like the 1954 shooting in Congress and an attempt on President Truman's life. In response, the FBI became heavily involved in the independence movement. They profiled and blackmailed many important pro-independence politicians. In a sense the FBI was very successful, as the movement for independence has faded away since the 70s and now lags behind statehood and continuing the Commonwealth.

La Navidad

Well, the decorations that started appearing in my neighborhood reminded me that preparation for the holiday season has probably begun on the island.

Christmas in Puerto Rico is important. Really, really important. A lot of people decorate their houses with lights and sometimes those giant obnoxious snowglobe and whatever blowup... things. Sometimes people go a little overboard. I'm pretty sure there are a few neighborhoods on the island that are brighter at night than during the day. I think by now that if you head into the suburbs you'll be sure to see some lights.

San Juan is also decorated, but I'd say it's a bit more... let's go with "classy". I'd recommend walking around Old San Juan at night, it's beautiful (and there are great parties in SJ, too).

I also found this article today about some Lifetime Christmas movie filmed entirely on the island. I don't really watch Lifetime but I might get around to watching this... and possibly winning a trip to the island might be good incentive as well.

I'll be talking about Christmas a lot, since there are a lot of different traditions linked with it. I know I've promised to go back to a few topics already, but this is really important.

A Super Short History of Puerto Rico, Part 1

All right, this is going to be Puerto Rican history in a nutshell.

Before Christopher Colombus arrived in Puerto Rico in 1493, the island, like much of the Caribbean, was populated by Taíno Indians. The Taínos became slaves for the Spaniards and were practically exterminated... there are a few different opinions to whether the Taíno is "extinct", I wrote a paper on this in Spanish so I'll be sure to upload that eventually. Anyways, in response to a lack of workers the slave trade was born. Other than this, Spain more or less ignored the island. It was attacked by the English, Dutch, and French for years and it was a popular place for pirates, notably Puerto Rico's own Cofresí.

About the time of the 19th century Spain began to get more involved with the island. At first they were heavily restricting freedom as all of their other colonies began to free themselves. To "end" unemployment and help out their sycophantical elite, Spain forced a really strange form of indentured servitude by placing imaginary debts on the peasants and forcing them to work it off. This was abolished in 1875, 2 years after the end of slavery. Meanwhile, illiteracy was at 83%, the highest in the West Indies. There was little electricity, almost no sewer system, a high death rate, and few roads. Not surprisingly, something had to be done.

The first consequence of this was El Grito de Lares, the rebellion of September 23rd, 1868 in the town of Lares. It was unsuccessful. I'll save the details for a later post since it's very important.

The second was the Autonomy Charter in 1897. It wasn't exactly because of Puerto Rico, but rather pressure from the United States worrying that problems on the island and on Cuba would affect the sugar market. The Charter gave Puerto Rico the right to vote for half of their parliament, free trade, creation of tariffs, and representation in Spanish Parliament. Most importantly, only the Puerto Rican legislature could change or remove the Charter. But only eight days into Puerto Rico’s first elected legislature, the U.S. military invaded Puerto Rico.

Well that's part one of this brief history of Puerto Rico. Part two should be up soon.

The island

Sorry if I update kind of sporadically. This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend though, so I'm sure I'll post a bit.

I thought that a quick guide to Puerto Rico's geography would also serve as a good introduction to the island (and really, is kind of important). I hope in some future posts to expand on different parts of each region and what there is to do in each.

This is Puerto Rico:

Sorry for the... low quality map, I was looking for one with all the regions divided up and this was all I could really find for the moment. I also think the "Metro" area is too big (Caguas is in it! Seriously?).

Anyways, a brief introduction to each...

"Metro" is (obviously) San Juan and the surrounding municipalities ("municipios"... it doesn't quite roll off the tongue in English but it's not so bad in Spanish). Big cities besides SJ include (well, at least in this map) Carolina, which is where the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and Isla Verde are located, Río Piedras, where the University of Puerto Rico's main campus is, and apparently Caguas. I'm not really sure how to explain Caguas except that they have a web site talking about how great they are even though Caguas is in the middle of nowhere. I understand that they have a lot of industry going on there. I'm not sure. The only time I was in Caguas it was about 1 in the morning on Three Kings' Day (to be explained later) and we drove completely out of our way to try to see some house that supposedly was decorated with Christmas lights to some kind of record-breaking extreme. Of course, by the time we got there, there was nothing to see. I wish I were making that story up.

"Este" (East) includes cities like Loíza, the center of Black culture for the island, Luquillo, which has a nice beach (haven't been but I've seen it), Fajardo and Puerto Rico's smaller islands, Culebra and Vieques, and Humacao. There's also the famous park el Yunque here (in the Río Grande municipality).

"Sur" (South) is known for Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico after San Juan. It's drier and hotter here in comparison to the rest of the island.

"Centro" (Center) is mostly mountains. It includes Utuado, Lares, where Puerto Rico's failed revolution, el Grito de Lares (the Shout of Lares), took place, and a few other smaller cities like Jayuya and Aibonito. It still hangs onto its Taíno and jíbaro roots.

"Oeste" (West) is a popular spot for tourists, particularly in Rincón, a gringo enclave and a surfing spot. It also has Mayagüez, a fairly large and pretty city, Cabo Rojo, which has a lot of beaches and the "Los Morrillos" lighthouse, and Aguadilla, which has some more nice beaches.

"Norte" (North) has Arecibo with its famous observatory and the world's largest radio telescope.

Keep in mind that this is just a very rough guide to the major cities. Puerto Rico, with a population of 4 million people in a tiny island, has a lot of interesting suburbs and rural areas that should be seen as well.

Speaking like a Boricua

Sorry for the long pause between posts, this will be updated regularly once I really get it started. I've been putting off this post for a while because it's one of the most important ones.

Puerto Rico shares several attributes with Caribbean Spanish in general. These include:

• S /s/ > j /h/ or nothing

This is absolutely vital for understanding Puerto Rican Spanish. Basically, any "s" at the end of a syllable turns into the same sound as "h" in English. Thus, ¿Cómo estás? becomes ¿Cómo ejtáj? (or just ¿Cómo 'táj?), español becomes ejpañol, etc. Also, ¿Qué es eso? (used often in PR; not sure about other places) sounds more like ¿Qué jeso?.
Also keep in mind that occasionally the s can be completely left out, but I think this is more Dominican than Puerto Rican.

• D /d/ is dropped to make dipthongs

This is mostly used with adjectives: cansao (or cansá), aburrío (or aburría), enfogonao (or enfogoná--this means angry, by the way). B can also be dropped in speech, as in "Dia'lo" instead of "Diablo"

• J /x/ > /h/ (English h)

None of those Spanish jotas for Puerto Rico! It sounds identical to the H in English.

• Final R /r/ > /l/

This doesn't ALWAYS happen. Basically, r's at the end of a syllable sound like l's. This mostly occurs in verbs, like estar (ejtal), buscar (bujcal), etc. Notice you can't use this with words like hablar, because it sounds strange.

And the change that is unique to Puerto Rico is...

• RR > /x/ (as in Spanish j)

This isn't used very often anymore, and if you use it you'll sound really jíbaro (to be explained later!). But you'll still hear it occasionally. Therefore, arroz becomes axój (or ajó', if you prefer to think of it like that).

And that's it!

I tried looking for a video to show this off, particularly with English or Spanish subtitles, but it's a little difficult. I'm sure I'll find something soon and when that happens I'll pass it along.

Welcome!

Welcome to Speaking Boricua. Here I hope to introduce Puerto Rican speech to you, as well as culture and other fundamentals necessary to understand Puerto Rico.

You, the reader, are:
- An American learning Spanish who wants to be able to understand (difficult) Puerto Rican Spanish
- An American just interested in other cultures in general
- A Spanish-speaker of another country interested in Puerto Rico
- A Puerto Rican living on the mainland wanting to learn about your/your family's culture
- A Puerto Rican on the island hoping to correct me (which is fine)

I, the author, am a university student who is fascinated by Puerto Rico, particularly the language. I study various languages but my passion will always be Puerto Rican Spanish. I've traveled multiple times to the island, staying for various amounts of time with friends and their families. I also spend a lot of time stateside with my good friend, who is Puerto Rican. I hope I'll be able to share this amazing language and culture with you.

Some things I'll be writing about: use of language (obviously), culture, history, music, politics, food, and more. I plan on using youtube to demonstrate some of this, as well as my own personal photos, experience, and research.

Also, this blog is in English, since it is intended mostly for English-speakers learning about Puerto Rico. However, I'll also include materials in Spanish, hopefully with a synopsis in English.