Article Title：From bozal to boricua: Implications of Afro-Puerto Rican language in literature
Abstract：
The nature of Afro-Hispanic language as depicted in Caribbean literature is the subject of considerable controversy. In addition to the fact that nearly all texts were literary imitations written by white authors, the documents themselves exhibit considerable heterogeneity and inconsistency. Central to the debate is whether Afro-Hispanic languages used by African-born slaves and their immediate descendents ever coalesced into a stable creole-i.e. a restructured Spanish learned natively by subsequent generations-and whether such Afro-Hispanic language ever re-entered mainstream Caribbean Spanish, leaving a permanent imprint. This study examines Afro-Puerto Rican literary texts, some well known, most quite obscure, and concludes that in most instances there are few signs of incipient creolization, only the speech of second-language learners of Spanish. Moreover, in some instances other Afro-Caribbean creole languages brought to Puerto Rico, for example Papiamento from Curacao, may have contributed creole-like traits to the Afro-Puerto Rican literary texts.
Keywords: Afro-Hispanic language; creole languages; Afro-Puerto Rican literature; contact languages; bozal language; restructured Spanish; Spanish-based Creoles
DOI: 10.2307/3657876
Source：HISPANIA-A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
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