Editing Puerto Ricans (section)

==Language==
Spanish and English are the official languages of the entire Commonwealth. A 1902 English-only language law was abolished on April 5, 1991. Then on January 28, 1993, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico approved Law Number 1 again making Spanish and English the official languages of Puerto Rico.<ref name="Rivera 2015">{{cite journal | last=Rivera | first=Melvin Gonzalez | title=Spanish and English in Puerto Rico | website=Academia.edu | date=3 August 2015 | url=https://www.academia.edu/12318666 | access-date=18 November 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118001859/https://www.academia.edu/12318666/Spanish_and_English_in_Puerto_Rico | archive-date=November 18, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://muniz-arguelles.com/resources/The+status+of+languages+in+Puerto+Rico.pdf ''The Status of Languages in Puerto Rico.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010203050/http://muniz-arguelles.com/resources/The+status+of+languages+in+Puerto+Rico.pdf |date=October 10, 2017 }} Muniz-Arguelles, Luis. University of Puerto Rico. 1986. Page 466. Retrieved December 4, 2012.</ref> All official business of the [[U.S. District Court]] for the District of Puerto Rico is conducted in English. The [[official language]]s<ref>"Official Language," ''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', Ed. Tom McArthur, Oxford University Press, 1998.</ref> of the executive branch of government of Puerto Rico<ref>Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior, 92 D.P.R. 596 (1965). Translation taken from the English text, 92 P.R.R. 580 (1965), p. 588-589. See also LOPEZ-BARALT NEGRON, "Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior: Espanol: Idioma del proceso judicial," 36 Revista Juridica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. 396 (1967), and VIENTOS-GASTON, "Informe del Procurador General sobre el idioma," 36 Rev. Col. Ab. (P.R.) 843 (1975).</ref> are Spanish and English, with Spanish being the primary language. English is the primary language of less than 10% of the population.

Puerto Rican Spanish is the dominant language of business, education and daily life on the island.<ref name="factfinder.census.gov">{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |title=U.S. Census Annual Population Estimates 2007 |publisher=Factfinder.census.gov |access-date=April 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516023605/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |archive-date=May 16, 2013 }}</ref> The US Census Bureau's 2015 update provides the following:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |title=Puerto Rico 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website=US Census |publisher=Department of Commerce |access-date=February 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/http://www.census.gov/ |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |url-status=live }}</ref> 94.1% of adults speak Spanish, 5.8% speak only English and little to no Spanish, 78.3% do not speak English "very well", 15.8% are fully bilingual in both English and Spanish, 0.1% speak other languages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=puerto%20rico&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1601&hidePreview=false|title = Explore Census Data}}</ref>

Public school instruction in Puerto Rico is conducted almost entirely in Spanish. There have been pilot programs in about a dozen of the over 1,400 public schools aimed at conducting instruction in English only. Objections from teaching staff are common, perhaps because many of them are not fully fluent in English.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/puerto-rico-governor-fortuno-bilingual_n_1501225.html ''Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño Proposes Plan For Island's Public Schools To Teach In English Instead Of Spanish.''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831055841/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/puerto-rico-governor-fortuno-bilingual_n_1501225.html |date=August 31, 2012 }} Danica Coto. Huffington Latino Voices. 05/08/12 (May 8, 2012). Retrieved December 4, 2012.</ref> English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject from elementary levels to high school.

Puerto Rico is home to a sizeable [[deaf community]]; the actual numbers are unknown due to unavailable source data.<ref name="PRSL"/> A 1986 estimate places the Puerto Rican deaf population between 8,000 and 40,000.<ref>{{e18|psl|Puerto Rican Sign Language}}</ref> Due to ongoing colonization from the US mainland, the larger [[American Sign Language]] (ASL) is supplanting the local [[Puerto Rican Sign Language]] (PRSL, also known as LSPR: ''Lenguaje de Señas Puertorriqueño'').<ref name="PRSL">{{cite thesis |last=Quiñones |first=Frances Michelle |date=May 2021 |title=Puerto Rican Sign Language: A Creole Language or an Endangered Dialect? |type=Master of Arts |publisher=Northeastern Illinois University |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2529375168 |access-date=24 January 2022|id={{ProQuest|2529375168}} }}</ref> Although assumed to be a dialect or variant of ASL, the degree of [[mutual intelligibility]] between Puerto Rican Sign Language is currently unknown, as is whether it is even a [[Francosign languages|Francosign language]] like ASL. Indeed, there is a hesitancy amongst Puerto Rican Deaf to even mention LSPR after heavy-handed [[oralism|oralist education]] of English, Spanish, and [[Signed English]].<ref name="PRSL"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Torres |first1=Andrés |title=Puerto Rican and Deaf: A View from the Borderland |journal=Centro Journal |date=2009 |volume=XXI |issue=2 |pages=85–107 |url=https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37720842005 |access-date=25 January 2022 |issn=1538-6279}}</ref> Today, there is much [[language contact|contact]] between ASL, PRSL, and [[Signed Spanish]].<ref name="PRSL"/>

The [[Puerto Rican Spanish|Spanish of Puerto Rico]] has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere. While the Spanish spoken in all Iberian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Spanish Maritime Provinces was brought to the island over the centuries, the most profound regional influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico has been from that spoken in the present-day Canary Islands. The Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes occasional [[Taíno]] words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily West [[African languages]] were adopted in the contexts of foods, music or dances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/caribbeanpuertorico.html |title=Language Education Policy in Puerto Rico |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2013 |website=Language Education Policy Studies |publisher=International Association for Language Education Policy Studies |access-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222112048/http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/caribbeanpuertorico.html |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>