For more than 400 years, Puerto Rico has been subject to colonialism and imperialism. After being colonized by Spain it became a United States possession in 1898 which it remains today, albeit in...Show moreFor more than 400 years, Puerto Rico has been subject to colonialism and imperialism. After being colonized by Spain it became a United States possession in 1898 which it remains today, albeit in the form of a Commonwealth. United States policies shaped Puerto Rico’s political and economic landscape with severe consequences for life on the island. This particularly became clear in August 2017 when first Hurricane Irma, but especially Hurricane Maria devastated the island. The current study investigates the role that imperialist policies have played in the federal relief aid after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. A content analysis of news items, official documents, and Donald Trump’s Twitter messages indicate that imperialist policies – expressed through preferential treatment between states and Puerto Rico, economic constraints and bureaucratic hurdles, and the behavior and language use of the president – indeed inhibited an effective recovery mission on the island. It underscores that imperialism still guides the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.Show less
This paper analyses the role and influence of the Puerto Rican resident commissioner in the US House of Representatives. Puerto Rico is a US territory; therefore, their representatives face...Show moreThis paper analyses the role and influence of the Puerto Rican resident commissioner in the US House of Representatives. Puerto Rico is a US territory; therefore, their representatives face limitations such as restricted voting rights. This lack of authority has caused many scholars to dismiss the resident commissioner as simply powerless. This research recognizes the constitutional limitations of the resident commissioner and inequality established by the Constitution between the US mainland and Puerto Rico. However, I will argue that the two resident commissioners analyzed in this research, Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá (2001-2004) and Luis Fortuño (2005-2009), have employed rhetorical tactics to exercise power within this unequal framework. One important rhetorical strategy relies on emphasizing the American nature of Puerto Rico, by referencing US citizenship and military contributions of Puerto Ricans. However, there is still little prospect for structural change to the island. One cause identified by this research is intra-Puerto Rican hostility and political dividedness on the island, that cause the resident commissioners to be unable to fully represent the whole Puerto Rican constituency.Show less
Despite the fact that English became the second official language of Puerto Rico in 1902 (Muñiz Argüelles, 1989), the English language is still not widely spoken in Puerto Rico. In fact, according...Show moreDespite the fact that English became the second official language of Puerto Rico in 1902 (Muñiz Argüelles, 1989), the English language is still not widely spoken in Puerto Rico. In fact, according to the most recent data, 78.1% of the population claims to speak English less than very well (U.S. Census, 2016). Prior research has demonstrated that there is a connection between education, wealth and English in Puerto Rico. English has the reputation of being the language of the Puerto Rican elite (i.a. Pérez Casas, 2016; Torruellas, 1990). This is due to the high costs of private primary and secondary education and not easily accessible English language resources such as a network of English speaking friends, high speed internet and cable television (i.a. Pousada, 2000; Urciuoli, 2013). This current study builds on Bischoff (2017), who argues that the English language requirements at public universities are a barrier to economically disadvantaged students. As a result, one’s economical and educational background can serve as either a privilege or a misfortune in one’s professional aspirations as well (i.a. Barreto, 2000; Schweers and Hudders, 2000). The aim of this study was to gain insight into public university students’ perceptions of the connection between education, wealth and English in Puerto Rico. Data to address this was collected through the distribution of an online questionnaire and carrying out in-depth interviews with students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) and the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras (UPRRP). In total, 119 questionnaire responses followed by in-depth interviews with 12 UPRM students were used for analysis. The results showed that, contrary to prior research (i.a. Bischoff, 2017; Pérez Casas, 2016; Pousada, 2000), public university students deny or do not recognize a connection between wealth, education and English in Puerto Rico. Instead, they view English language acquisition as a matter of putting in effort in learning and practicing instead of wealth. Furthermore, English language skills are perceived as necessary tools for professional successes and feeling like a global citizen. Puerto Ricans who lack English skills are perceived as unmotivated, missing out on life and not wanting to feel connected to the US Mainland. Nonetheless, it appeared that the majority of public university students have attended private primary and/or secondary schools, have access to English resources and grow up in a social environment filled with English speakers. In other words, public universities serve increasingly wealthy Puerto Ricans who seem unaware of their privileges, whereas economically disadvantaged Puerto Ricans are blamed for their lack of English skills and presumably experience a misfortune while aiming to reach their academic and professional goals. Studying the perceptions of private university students in Puerto Rico in further research would create the opportunity to compare the perceptions of the current studied Puerto Rican elite students versus those of the presumably economically disadvantaged private university students.Show less
The issue on school dropouts has a great effect on societies and when a country faces the problem, it is mostly the largest problem in its educational system. This counts as well for Puerto Rico,...Show moreThe issue on school dropouts has a great effect on societies and when a country faces the problem, it is mostly the largest problem in its educational system. This counts as well for Puerto Rico, the island faces a problem with school dropouts and it is clear that intervention programs are desired to give support on solving this problem and therewith to increase Quality Of Life (QOL) of youth. In Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Youth ChalleNGe Academy (PRYCA), is one of these intervention programs and therewith, this field research answers the following research question: “How does PRYCA contribute to the quality of life of its students?”Show less
This thesis investigates mixed nominal constructions, both complex (with an adjective) and simplex. Such constructions create potential conflict sites in Spanish-English code-switching. Spanish and...Show moreThis thesis investigates mixed nominal constructions, both complex (with an adjective) and simplex. Such constructions create potential conflict sites in Spanish-English code-switching. Spanish and English differ for (1) adjective-noun order: Spanish typically has post-nominal adjectives, whereas English has pre-nominal adjectives, and (2) grammatical gender: Spanish has a binary gender system, while English does not. A multi-task method was conducted in the Spanish-English bilingual community in Puerto Rico. The tasks comprised of an elicitation task (cf. director-matcher task, Gullberg, Indefrey, and Muysken 2008) and an auditory grammaticality judgment task. The predictions from the Matrix Language Framework (MLF, Myers-Scotton 2002) and a minimalist analysis from Cantone and MacSwan (2009) are tested against the collected data. The results from both tasks tend to indicate that the Matrix Language approach provides better predictions than the minimalist approach in every respect except for adjective-noun order constructions in the judgment task. This slight preference, however, is not significant. Toy task results for gender assignment in Spanish determiners indicate that there is a preference for the assignment of default gender, i.e. masculine in Spanish, rather than gender that is analogue to the translation equivalent of the noun. This preference is confirmed by judgment task results that include simple nominal constructions, but not by judgment task results for complex nominal constructions. I assume that adjectival presence in complex nominal constructions may have to do with this. Implications of my results for the theories and the methodologies are discussed.Show less
