I found this blog commentary which is a response to the question often asked:
'Do Puerto Ricans speak the Ghetto Version of Spanish?'
http://larespuestamedia.com/pr-ghetto-spanish/
The blogger Dorothy Bell Ferrer identifies as Afrolatina- Boricua/Dominicana and clearly is confident about her self identity (an absolutely positive aspect in my opinion).
She provides an in depth response to commonly asked questions about Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico and by Puerto Ricans in the US.
What I like is her response has substance and evidence of linguistic knowledge from a grammatical and cultural perspective. Whether I agree with her point of view or not had no impact on my ability to enjoy what she has written in response to this question.
Spanish spoken in the Caribbean is harshly critiqued by many Spanish speakers from other countries but when I read responses like this from the blogger it is inspirational to know that there are a few that can actually respond to the issue linguistically and culturally rather than a rant because one may feel offended.
At the end of the day the differences and understanding them come down to exposure. The more exposure you have to the varieties of Spanish the less of an issue it becomes. One may not like the way how Puerto Rican Spanish or Spanish from the Caribbean sounds (which is perfectly fine) however, the more a person understands about the history and the linguistic features the less likely an individual will describe such Spanish as the ghetto version.
-MP.
'Do Puerto Ricans speak the Ghetto Version of Spanish?'
http://larespuestamedia.com/pr-ghetto-spanish/
The blogger Dorothy Bell Ferrer identifies as Afrolatina- Boricua/Dominicana and clearly is confident about her self identity (an absolutely positive aspect in my opinion).
She provides an in depth response to commonly asked questions about Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico and by Puerto Ricans in the US.
What I like is her response has substance and evidence of linguistic knowledge from a grammatical and cultural perspective. Whether I agree with her point of view or not had no impact on my ability to enjoy what she has written in response to this question.
Spanish spoken in the Caribbean is harshly critiqued by many Spanish speakers from other countries but when I read responses like this from the blogger it is inspirational to know that there are a few that can actually respond to the issue linguistically and culturally rather than a rant because one may feel offended.
At the end of the day the differences and understanding them come down to exposure. The more exposure you have to the varieties of Spanish the less of an issue it becomes. One may not like the way how Puerto Rican Spanish or Spanish from the Caribbean sounds (which is perfectly fine) however, the more a person understands about the history and the linguistic features the less likely an individual will describe such Spanish as the ghetto version.
-MP.
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