Sargasso

a 92009 2010o II
Entre dos orillas:
Relaciones hist6ricas
linguisticas y
culturales Vieques-
Santa Cruz

SARGASSO
S 2009-10, II

SARGASSO
2009-10, II
ENTIRE DOS ORILLAS: RELACIONES HISTORICAL,
LINGUISTICAS Y CULTURALES VIEQUES-SANTA CRUZ

BETWEEN TWO SHORES: VIEQUES AND ST CROIX,
HISTORICAL, LINGUISTIC, & CULTURAL RELATIONS

SARGASSO 2009-10, I1
Between Two Shores: Vieques and St. Croix, Historical, Linguistic, and Cultural Relations

SARGASSO 2009-10, II Sargasso, a peer-reviewed journal of literature, language, and culture
edited at the University of Puerto Rico, publishes critical essays, interviews, book reviews, and
some poems and short stories. Sargasso particularly welcomes material written by/about the
people of the Caribbean region and its multiple diasporas. Unless otherwise specified, essays
and critical studies should conform to the style of the MLA Handbook. Short stories should be
kept to no more than 2,500 words in length, and poems should be kept to thirty lines. All postal
mail should include a S.A.S.E. See http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pubs/sargasso.htm
for more information. For inquiries or electronic submission, write to: sargasso@uprrp.edu and
sargassojournal@gmail.com.

Postal Address:

SARGASSO
P.O. Box 22831, UPR Station
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-2831

Nadjah Rios Villarini and Mirerza Gonzales V61ez, Issue Editors

Don E. Walicek, Editor
Lowell Fiet, Founding Editor
Maria Cristina Rodriguez, Book Review Editor
Aileen Diaz, Editorial and Administrative Assistant
Jonathan Correa, PREI intern/Editorial Assistant

Editorial Board
Jessica Adams, Independent Scholar
Mary Ann Gosser-Esquilin, Florida Atlantic University
Edgardo P6rez Montijo, University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo
Peter Roberts, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill
Ivette Romero, Marist College
Felipe Smith, Tulane University

Jose de la Torre, President of the University of Puerto Rico
Ana R. Guadeloupe Quifiones, Interim Chancellor, Rio Piedras Campus
Jos6 L. Ramos Escobar, Dean of Humanities

Layout: Marcos Pastrana
Front and back cover art: Camilo Carri6n Zayas

Visit Sargasso: http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pubs/sargasso.htm

Opinions and views expressed in Sargasso are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily
shared by Sargasso's Editorial Board members. All rights return to authors. This journal is indexed
by HAPI, Latindex, MLA, and the Periodical Contents Index. Copies of Sargasso 2009-10, II as
well as previous issues, are on deposit in the Library of Congress. Filed November 2011. ISSN
1060-5533.

Table of Contents

ISSUE EDITORS' NOTE vii
Nadjah Rios and Mirerza Gonzilez

INTRODUCTION IX
Alma Simounet ...

ESSAYS
Robert Rabin ... 3
Apuntes sobre las relaciones hist6ricas entire Santa Cruz y
Vieques

Camilo Carri6n ... 11
Photo Essay: Paradise Lost

Melissa Hernandez ... 19
Migration and Education in St. Croix

Nadjah Rios and Mirerza Gonzalez ... 35
Oral Histories of Bilingual Education Teachers from the
Puerto Rican Diaspora in St. Croix: Exploring Ideological
Tensions Inside and Outside the Classroom

Melvin Gonzalez ... 51
El espafiol de Puerto Rico en su context crucefio: el caso del
morfema -ndo

Alexandra Morales ... 71
Pronombres de sujeto en Santa Cruz (y Puerto Rico):
Procesos semdnticos/pragmiticos o influencia de L2?

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVIEWS
Jo Anne Harris 89
Caribbean Treasure: A Trove ofEighteenth-Century Barbadian
Poetry and Prose, edited by Kevyn Alan Arthur
Steve Beauclair 93
Drums at Dusk by Arna Bontemps
Dale Thomas Mathews 95
America's Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and
Wrongs by William W. Boyer
Denise L6pez Mazzeo 97
The Writing on the Wall (Soul): Puerto Rican Murals and
Social Representation in New York City by Elsa B. Cardalda
Beatriz E. Ramirez Betances 100
Fe en disfraz by Mayra Santos Febres
Maritza Stanchich 103
America (film adaptation of Esmeralda Santiago's America's
Dream) by Sonia Fritz
Katherine Miranda 107
Danish Art: Hugo Larsen's Cultural Portrait of Our Islands by
Nina York
SallyJ. Delgado 109
Perspectives on the Other America: Comparative
Approaches to Caribbean and Latin American Culture,
edited by Michael Niblett and Kerstin Oloff
Rafael Ortiz Sanoguet 112
The Island Quintet: A Sequence by Raymond Ramcharitar
Stephanie Rugoff 115
The Inevitable Battle From the Bay ofPigs to Playa Girdn
by Juan Carlos Rodrfguez

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 118

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

NOTA EDITORIAL

Esta edici6n de Sargasso, "Entre dos orillas: relaciones hist6ricas,
lingiiisticas y culturales de Puerto Rico y Santa Cruz," propone una
nueva cartografia de la diaspora puertorriquefia al insertar movimientos
migratorios de los puertorriquefios hacia un Caribe mis amplio que incluye
las Antillas Menores. Esta migraci6n esti vinculada a la historic econ6mica
political y cultural de las islas municipio de Vieques y Culebra y su relaci6n
particular con las Islas Virgenes.
Los ensayos que se incluyen examinan elements relacionados alas pricticas
culturales de los puertorriquefios en las Islas Virgenes. Las contribuciones
de Roberto Rabin y Camilo Carri6n contextualizan y establecen puntos de
encuentro que ayudan a reconstruir la memorial hist6rica entire islas. Por otro
lado, los ensayos de Melissa Herndndez, y de Gonzilez Vl6ez y Rios Villarini
examinan aspects institucionales que permiten consideraciones political
e ideol6gicas en torno a los process educativos. Por uiltimo, los ensayos
de Melvin Gonzalez y Alexandra Morales exploran la teoria de lenguas en
contact y la adquisici6n de segundas lenguas para acercarse a las experiencias
lingfiisticas de los puertorriquefios en Santa Cruz.
Agradecemos a Sargasso la invitaci6n para compilar esta edici6n. Nuestro
mis sincere agradecimiento al equipo de trabajo del Proyecto de la Diaspora
en particular a Aitza Maldonado Martich por su trabajo riguroso y minucioso
en la correcci6n de los ensayos. Reconocemos la disposici6n de la doctor
Alma Simounet al aceptar la invitaci6n de escribir la introducci6n de este
ejemplar. Finalmente, deseamos que esta edici6n provea oportunidades para
continuar explorando variadas dimensions de las relaciones entire Puerto Rico
y el resto del Caribe.

Mirerza Gonzalez Vl6ez y Nadjah Rios Villarini
Editoras Invitadas

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

Diasporic phenomena of diverse cultural groups are not world events
solely characteristic of the twentieth or twenty-first centuries, as the
literary sources on the subject imply with an impressive amount of published
scholarly work. Throughout history, movements of peoples across land or wa-
ter, willingly or unwillingly, have brought about the expansion of the popu-
lated world with the gradual increase of new settlements of inhabitants, which
have eventually become, geopolitically speaking, new communities, colonies,
countries or nation-states, a process that continues to this day. The repetitive
displacement of people has not only dispersed the inhabitants of different ar-
eas of the world into new ones, but has also propitiated the development of
other phenomena concomitant to this type of event, such as issues of immigra-
tion, the civil rights of these in-coming groups, and the various outcomes of
the sociocultural and linguistic contact inherent to an event of this nature.
Looking at the development of outstanding happenings in today's world,
as reported by the various mass media and, on occasion, closely scrutinized
by scholars, it is evident that the engagement of people in diasporic events
promises to continue, if not increase, as a result of on-going conflicts, global-
ization, imperialist expansion, religious intolerance or fervor, civil unrest, un-
settled territorial disputes, excruciating economic distress, unrelenting poverty,
hunger, and natural disasters, to name a few.
The displacement of populations has thus occurred continuously through-
out time and space. Even the indigenous people of the islands in the Ca-
ribbean, where Columbus first arrived, had also been privy to this type of
displacement before the coming of the colonizing powers. According to data
gathered in important archaeological excavations in both South America and
many of the Antilles, the first inhabitants of the Caribbean archipelago set
foot around five thousand years ago, as a result of the continuous maritime
expeditions carried out by the people of the indigenous cultural groups from
South America, specifically those close to the entrance of the Orinoco River
in today's Venezuela (personal communication with Gus Pantel, professional

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

archaeologist, November 15, 2010). These expeditions brought them first to
the islands now referred to as the Lesser Antilles, such as present dayTrinidad
and St. Lucia, and then gradually to those known as the Greater Antilles,
Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. This dispersion of indigenous
people to the islands was followed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
by continued waves of migration that brought thousands of Europeans who
settled down and established centers of diasporic groups in these lands of the
so-called "New World." Once the local indigenous population of the islands
was practically decimated, the recently arrived Europeans began to substitute
the original inhabitants, not only with their own people but with thousands of
enslaved people brought from the African continent as part of the ignomini-
ous Atlantic slave trade. The latter eventually became the numerically larger
segment of the population of these islands.
After hundreds of years of colonization and the mixing of ethnicities, the
new groups of peoples that emerged in these islands began themselves to be
engaged in migratory movements early on in the twentieth century, either
back to the same European nations that colonized them -such as the case of
islanders from Martinique moving to France, from Aruba to the Netherlands,
or from Antigua to England- or to other islands in the Caribbean or countries
in the Americas such as the United States.
In the case of Puerto Rico, the focus of interest in this issue of Sargasso,
the waves of migration to the United States began early on in the 1900s as
a consequence of the dismal economic situation on the island. Originally a
colony of Spain as a result of Columbus' voyage in 1493, Puerto Rico was
invaded by the US military in 1898. The movement of Puerto Ricans to the
US continued in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. World War I and World War II had af-
fected an already weak economy. The flux to the mainland of mostly working
class islanders was part of a quest for something better, algo mejor. Although
many of these Puerto Ricans returned as a result of the dismal conditions they
found abroad, many others stayed establishing important enclaves ofpuertor-
riquenos in metropolitan centers such as New York, Newark, Hartford, Phila-
delphia, and Chicago.
However, the trajectory of Puerto Rican migratory waves has not been
limited to the aforementioned urban centers in the United States. Histor-
ic documents (Walen & Vizquez-Herndndez, 2005) reveal the presence of
migrants in other places such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia,
Venezuela, and Hawaii. Although Puerto Ricans have been acknowledged as

INTRODUCTION

seekers of algo mejor, not all of their moves have been recorded or closely ex-
amined. A large amount of published scholarly work covers the Puerto Rican
diaspora in the United States from social, demographic, ethnic, literary, and
sociolinguistic perspectives; even the migration of middle-class islanders to
the state of Florida, specifically to the city of Orlando, has been examined
and reported byJorge Duany from the University of Puerto Rico's College of
Social Sciences. The move of a large number of Puerto Ricans to the closer
neighboring island of St. Croix has rarely been the focus of attention, as point-
ed out in this issue of Sargasso.
Clarence Senior's salient work (1947) did focus attention on the migrant
worker from Puerto Rico in St. Croix, an important early contribution from
the Social Science Research Center at the University of Puerto Rico. How-
ever, it was not until later that other work concerning additional issues and
language conflicts came to light. Simounet (1987, 1990, 1993, 1999, 2003,
2004, 2005) has looked at a number of sociolinguistic phenomena within this
large community of Puerto Ricans in St. Croix, focusing on issues related to
language needs, language maintenance, language and education, language and
identity, and language contact. Additional unpublished master's theses and
doctoral dissertations which are the products of a recent fieldwork course in
St. Croix that is offered every year by the doctoral program in the Department
of English at the University of Puerto Rico engage different aspects of lan-
guage, literature, history, and culture on the island. Notwithstanding this surge
in scholarly work, in comparison to the work on the Puerto Rican diaspora
in the United States, the work on the Puerto Ricans in St. Croix is limited
in number and scope. With this in mind, the present issue of this journal is
a welcomed addition, for it opens the way for further research. In fact, at the
time of this writing, another research group of students and professors backed
by the graduate program in linguistics is initiating a series of studies that looks
at the Spanish that is spoken on the island now and various linguistic conse-
quences of close contact with Standard American English, Crucian English,
and the Creoles used by speakers from other Caribbean islands.
It is important to first contextualize briefly the historical connection be-
tween the island of St. Croix and Puerto Rico and, specifically, the island of
Vieques, in order to understand this diaspora. St. Croix is the largest of the
three major islands that constitute the US Virgin Islands. These islands were
bought by the United States government from Denmark in 1917, the same
year that saw the outbreak of the First World War and the granting of US

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

citizenship to the people of Puerto Rico. As a consequence of obtaining citi-
zenship, many Puerto Ricans who were looking for ways to escape the circle
of poverty that embraced the island and improve conditions for their families
were able to move not only to the US mainland, but also to the US Virgin
Islands. The latter destination's new US government was trying to bring in
US citizens to work the land instead of undocumented workers from other
islands. Thus the early 1920s marked the first migration of Puerto Ricans to
Santa Cruz, the name that the Spanish had originally given to St. Croix.
This first move was followed by a large influx of Puerto Ricans from the
island of Vieques; they had been displaced from their properties as a direct
result of the expropriation of their land by the Puerto Rican government in
order to provide the U. S. Navy with the land it needed to build a firing range
and invading strip of beach for their yearly maneuvers. Other significant waves
of migration of Puerto Ricans to St. Croix intimately related to continuous
construction at the largest oil refinery in the Americas that was built there
years ago have followed. Smaller groups of Puerto Rican 6migr6s closely con-
nected to business enterprises in the food, banking, and insurance industries
of Puerto Rico have settled more recently in St. Croix.
It is difficult to establish a clear percentage for the population of Puerto
Ricans in St. Croix, but official government sources indicate that 35% is a reli-
able number that reflects the reality on the island (Simounet, 1987). The large
majority of Puerto Ricans that arrived in St. Croix from Vieques were farm-
ers and fishermen. Today the descendants of the Puerto Ricans who arrived
originally in St. Croix are found in all walks of life senators in the local leg-
islature, teachers, legal secretaries, receptionists, insurance company officers,
bank tellers and managers, store employees, managers, and owners, nurses,
airline employees, among many others. As a result of their incursion into
an island that is mainly English-speaking, the first Puerto Rican migrants,
a Spanish-speaking and culturally distinct people, confronted a number of
problems closely related to their sociocultural and ethno-linguistic identity,
with serious ramifications in the areas of education and work. While this situ-
ation is similar in many ways to that of the people of other Caribbean islands
that have settled in St. Croix (e.g., migrants from St. Lucia, Antigua, Aruba,
Curacao, Barbados, Trinidad, and Dominica), according to some scholars
from the University of the Virgin Islands who are observing the social scene,
such as Lomarsh Roopnarine, the passing of generations seems to be gradually
and slowly diluting this socially conflictive initial reaction to those of"other"

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

INTRODUCTION

cultural backgrounds. Ethnographic work carried out in the island (Simou-
net, 1987) showed that in the ranking of ethnic groups by the local Crucian
people, Puerto Ricans appear as the most highly accepted non-local group.
This issue is closely related to the fact that, demographically speaking, the lo-
cal population of Crucians is in reality a minority in a sea of people from other
countries and Caribbean islands. The issue is so elusive that the debate in the
legislature in the last five years has been focusing on an attempt to define who
is a Virgin Islander. This, of course, brings forth another issue that is closely
related to the nature of identity, an old, continuous problem in the Caribbean,
which according to Peter Roberts (2008) is the result of the unbridled control-
ling forces of colonialism. The acceptance of outsiders as a still debatable and
important issue can be clearly appreciated in the fact that at a recent event to
discuss the second edition of William Boyer's book America's Virgin Islands:
A History of Rights and Wrongs (2010), the issue was brought up once more.
Thus the Puerto Rican diaspora in St. Croix presents a phenomenon whose
interdisciplinary ramifications for the purpose of research are immense.
The current issue of Sargasso presents a variety of perspectives concerning
different issues related to Puerto Ricans in St. Croix. Nadjah Rios Villarini
and Mirerza Gonzilez must be commended for undertaking the task of edit-
ing this bilingual publication, for excellence in the compilation of a limited but
interesting set of articles meticulously written, and even more so, for dissemi-
nating awareness of the importance of the need for more research about this
diasporic community, so near to Puerto Rico, yet so far away, research-wise.
The works included in this issue could possibly be classified in three catego-
ries: apuntes or a brief commentary, a photo essay, and four research-based
articles on migration and education, oral histories, and linguistically-based
formal analyses of Spanish. The contributors whose works are presented here
either live in Puerto Rico at the moment or are pursuing doctoral degrees in
universities in the US.
The issue opens with an article that is a brief commentary about the his-
toric relations between St. Croix and Vieques by Robert Rabin, director of the
Vieques Historical Archives and a faithful defender of Puerto Rican culture.
In his contribution, Rabin provides valuable information about the connec-
tion that Vieques has had with St. Croix and other US Virgin Islands, the
British Virgin Islands, and other Caribbean islands in terms of the influence
the immigrants from these islands on the economy and socio-cultural devel-
opment of Vieques. Truly speaking, the maritime connections among all the

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

Caribbean islands characteristic of the nineteenth century was a continuation
of the inter-island connections established by the Arawak indigenous people
that populated the archipelago thousands of years before. Rabin also addresses
the historical saliency of the migration of viequenses to St. Croix in the early
part of the 1900s as revealed in an important collection of oral histories in the
Vieques archives. The commentary ends with an exhortation to all to continue
conducting research about the relationships between St. Croix and Vieques
and to make sure that adequate use is made of the island archives.
The second contribution to this issue is a photo essay entitled "Entre dos
orillas: relaciones hist6ricas, lingiiisticas y culturales Vieques-Santa Cruz" by
Puerto Rican artist Camilo Carri6n. The artist explains in his introduction
that photography may be viewed as a document, as a personal expression, and
as "a reflection in which simulation and intertextuality are constant." Thus
he has allowed each of his photographs of St. Croix and Vieques to be, not
the expression of an aesthetic object, but the "spoke-person" or instrument of
what he calls "the conceptual meaning" that happens to be cemented in the
aesthetic. Carri6n wishes for the reader to appreciate the content, message,
and artistic quality of the photographs, and to also view the objects in them
and reflect on their hidden message about the context of a world whose reality
speaks of deterioration and loss, not only in terms of the material, but also that
emblematic of what Puerto Rican anthropologist Eduardo Seda Bonilla once
called "Requiem para una cultural "
This photo essay is followed by an article based on a master's thesis by
Melissa Hernindez Durin, a student in history at the University of Puerto
Rico. Hernindez Duran became attracted to the plight of Puerto Rican and
Eastern Caribbean migrants in St. Croix, specifically the lack of access to for-
mal education that the children of these new settlers had on the island. This
particular interest was the result of her enrollment in the fieldwork course in
St. Croix mentioned earlier in this introduction.
What seems to be of special importance in her research is the finding that
what was responsible for limited access to education was not an educational
factor but factors related to the economy, the new political ties to the United
States, political relations with the governments of other Caribbean islands,
and the realities of migration that occasionally become elusive matters in the
process of investigation, that is, matters that often escape researchers because
these matters become entangled with other issues. Through Hernindez Du-
rin's work we come to the realization that it is legal decisions on important

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

INTRODUCTION

issues such as education that come to provide much-needed solutions to social
problems, as was the case of the decision on bilingual education for Puerto Ri-
cans in St. Croix. On the other hand, community efforts proved to be the force
behind important legal decisions that ensured the access to formal education
for the thousands of children of Eastern Caribbean migrants.
The article that follows is based on the oral histories of twelve bilingual
education teachers in St. Croix. It is a perfect sequel to Herndndez Durin's
article on the migrants' lack of access to formal education. While the oral
histories mentioned in Rabin's earlier intervention come from many of the
migrants who originally moved from Vieques to St. Croix early in the twen-
tieth century as reflections upon leaving their island, this collection of oral
histories deals with those educators, descendants of the first migrants, who
were raised in their new cultural abode and who became the teachers of those
whose rights to education were protected by federal laws.
The oral histories are viewed by the essay's authors, Nadjah Rios Vil-
larini and Mirerza Gonzalez, as documenting the "preliminary insights" of
teachers through narratives that frame issues of identity "though the interplay
of ethnic, race, and language discourses." The construction and perpetuation
of language ideologies are made palpable in the narrative discourses of these
teachers. Bourdieu's view (1991) on the symbolic power of language takes
on a new meaning on what many of these teachers express. The reader will
benefit from this important contribution because it is through the close read-
ing of people's use and selection of language in oral interviews that insightful
information is revealed concerning the cultural patterns and burning issues
that generate interaction in the everyday life of a diasporic community.
The next two articles present the results of research on the use of specific
linguistic structures in the spoken Spanish of Puerto Ricans or the descen-
dants of these in St. Croix. The first one, by Melvin Gonzalez Rivera, is a
compendium of his dissertation-length master's thesis in formal linguistics.
Gonzilez Rivera looks into the distribution of the Spanish morpheme -ndo
in periphrastic constructions in what he labels as the Porto-Crucian Spanish
of the Puerto Rican diasporic community in St. Croix. Basically, it refers to
the analysis of the use of what in English is known as the progressive con-
struction (the verb to be + -ing form of the verb), such as is running, in the
spontaneous talk of Spanish speakers in St. Croix. In essence, what Gonzilez
Rivera sheds some light on debated issues concerning the source of the use of
certain structures in dialectic varieties of the Spanish spoken in the Americas.

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

Historically, language contact and imperfect acquisition have been utilized
as the explanations for the use of certain structures in dialects of languages
in close linguistic contact. Gonzaez Rivera believes that it is the analysis of
the internal linguistic system under scrutiny and, in his case in particular, the
study of the grammatical system of Spanish, that should always be examined
before seeking answers for the explanation of certain linguistic phenomena in
extralinguistic sources. He concludes that this is the case of the construction
he examined, that is, that linguistic factors within the internal grammatical
system of Spanish bring about the use of the aforementioned morpheme; it is
the sense of activity in the predicates utilized by the speakers that lead them
to the use of the progressive construction and not the result of contact with
English.
The second of these two articles and the last one in this issue examines the
use of subject pronouns (he, she) in St. Croix and in Puerto Rico and two pos-
sible explanations for this linguistic phenomenon: the influence of the acquisi-
tion of a second-language, English in the case of Porto-Crucians, or the effect
of semantic and pragmatic processes. In this last article, Alexandra Morales
Reyes, presents the study she carried out for her master's thesis in linguistics.
First of all, before any comments are made about this study, it must be
made clear that the author refers to the Porto-Crucians in the diasporic com-
munity of St. Croix as heritage speakers. The literature in second language
acquisition identifies heritage speakers as those that learn a second language
in early childhood and as adults mainly use this second language while they
lose proficiency in their first language. The focus of Morales Reyes' study is
on the inclusion or omission of subject pronouns in the grammatical position
of the subject, specifically third-person subject pronouns, the result of a rule
in Spanish as well as in other Romance languages that allows the omission
of the subject; for example, in Spanish a speaker may say Ella llegd (She ar-
rived) or Llegd (Arrived). On the other hand, English, the second language
of the speakers in question, does not allow the omission of the subject except
in command sentences where the subject "you" is implied: "Sit down. Have
some juice."
The results of her analysis of Porto-Crucian Spanish show that semantic
and progressive aspects together with the influence of English play an impor-
tant role in the inclusion or omission of the third-person subject pronouns. In
addition, she also found that in comparison to Puerto Rican Spanish, Porto-
Crucian Spanish evidences a linguistic behavior that tends towards simplic-

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

INTRODUCTION

ity and generalization while the former reveals a preference towards a more
restrictive use. For this reason, Morales Reyes states: My posture [in respect
to the two factors of influence] is in favor of the view that the changes [in
the Spanish of Porto-Crucians] are the result of the internal processes of the
language [Spanish], but those changes are conditioned in great measure by
L2 [English]." It is important to underscore the author's concern about the
importance of carrying out more studies in a community that has so much to
offer in terms of research and yet has been "barely studied."
In conclusion, the articles presented here are but a small sample of the re-
search that can been undertaken and the possibilities for future studies on this
Puerto Rican diasporic community that still await the scholar interested in the
language, culture, history, sociology, anthropology, literature, and education
of a vibrant speech community. Other migratory groups like those from the
Dominican Republic, the Netherland West Indies, the French Antilles, and
others equally vibrant also constitute the Crucian community. They await the
intervention of scientific endeavor. We hope that this issue will provoke such
an intervention.

Alma Simounet
San Juan, Puerto Rico
December 2010

Entre dos orillos / Between Two Shores

INTRODUCTION

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Simounet, A. (2005). La religion y la retenci6n linguiistica: el caso de una
iglesia pentecostal en Santa Cruz, Islas Virgenes estadounidenses. En
L. Ortiz L6pez & M. Lacorte (Eds.), Contactos y contextos lingiisticos:
el espanol en los Estados Unidos y contact con otras lenguas (pp. 263-269).
Madrid: Iberoamericana/ Vervuert.
Whalen, C.T. & Vazquez-Herndndez, V. (Eds.). (2005). The Puerto Rican
diaspora: Historical perspectives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

ESSAYS

Apuntes sobre las relaciones hist6ricas

entire Santa Cruz y Vieques

Robert Rabin
Museo Fuerte Conde de Mirasol

Introducci6n

Las relaciones hist6ricas entire las Islas Virgenes y el archipi6lago puer-
torriquefio son abarcadoras. Puerto Rico y las islas de Santa Cruz, St.
John y St. Thomas comparten muchos aspects de sus process de desarrollo
y transformaciones socio-culturales como por ejemplo: todas tuvieron una po-
blaci6n indigena de raiz araucana; destrucci6n de las cultures aut6ctonas con
la llegada de los europeos hace cinco siglos; la esclavitud como base del siste-
ma de plantaciones azucareras; resistencia contra la opresi6n y los abusos de
amos y gobernantes coloniales; continue movimiento migratorio intra-islefio
y relaciones coloniales con potencias metropolitanas europeas, y en nuestros
tiempos, con los Estados Unidos.
La relaci6n entire Vieques y Santa Cruz, sin embargo, es la mayor manifes-
taci6n de la conexi6n hist6rica entire Puerto Rico e Islas Virgenes. Desde tem-
prano en el siglo XIX, ha existido un movimiento migratorio entire Vieques y
Santa Cruz que ha creado fuertes enlaces entire ambas islas (Highfield, 2009).
Estos nexos no se limitan a lo econ6mico y politico, sino que se extienden a
las relaciones culturales y sociales. Amplias relaciones familiares se han gene-
rado entire viequenses y cruzanos. Existe entire la poblaci6n de descendencia
puertorriquefia en Santa Cruz que alcanza una poblaci6n estimada de 20,000
personas (Censo, 2000), con un notable sentido de identidad "cruzana". Al
mismo tiempo, son muchos los "crucefios" que hablan espafiol, escuchan salsa
y merengue y comen arroz con habichuelas.
Sin embargo, durante el siglo XIX y a principios del siglo XX, Vieques
provey6 trabajo y un nuevo hogar para un gran nimero de personas de las
Islas Virgenes (Rabin, 2009). Miles de hombres, mujeres y nifios emigraron
a Vieques desde las colonies danesas e inglesas del Caribe a trabajar en los

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

ROBERT RABIN

cafiaverales, ingenios y puertos en aquella 6poca cuando el azicar era el prin-
cipal product agricola en esta region. Aunque muchos de estos inmigrantes
eran naturales de T6rtola, Antigua, Anguilla, Virgen Gorda, St. Kitts y Nevis,
la proximidad entire Vieques e Islas Virgenes convirti6 a estas iiltimas en el
puente que unia a Vieques con el resto de las Antillas Menores.

Notas sobre barcos entire Vieques e Islas Virgenes tomadas delArchivo Na-
cional de Washington

Aunque sea dificil medir cientificamente el impact de la migraci6n de puer-
torriquefios a las Islas Virgenes, el caso de los viequenses en Santa Cruz ofrece
una oportunidad inica de examiner las maneras especificas en que las migra-
ciones entire nuestras islas han alterado, enriquecido y en otra manera, contri-
buido a la realidad cultural, econ6mica y political en que vivimos actualmente.
A principios del siglo XX, obreros de las islas de T6rtola, Antigua, Virgen
Gorda, St. Kitts y Nevis representaban una parte sustancial de la poblaci6n
de Vieques. El censo poblacional de Vieques para 1910, provee informaci6n
sobre cientos de personas naturales de Islas Virgenes residents en Vieques
como fue el caso de Emilia Crahmar, de Santa Cruz, quien entr6 a Vieques en
1866 y trabaj6 como labradora, segin el censo. En 1867, Samuel Williams sa-
li6 de Santa Cruz para Vieques donde trabaj6 en uno de los muchos ingenios
en la isla. Carlos Charles, carpintero de 29 afios, quien para el 1910 lleg6 a
Vieques de Santa Cruz en 1891. Como los antes mencionados otros artesanos
emigrados de Santa Cruz a Vieques fueron George Onfri, herrero, quien vino
en 1878, y Joseph Anduce, hojalatero de 45 afios de edad en 1910, quien se
habia mudado a Vieques en 1868. Abraham Emery y John Fermin l1egaron
a Vieques de St. Thomas en 1879 y 1898 respectivamente, y trabajaron como
labradores segin el censo. Tambi6n de St. Thomas fue Augustita Gatlif, resi-
dente en Vieques desde 1872, donde vivia como dulcera.
La lista de oficios de los 'tortolefios' en Vieques, segin el censo de 1910,
incluye, ademds de los ya mencionados: sirvientes, planchadoras, cocineras,
mariners, pintores de casas, carreteros, albafiiles, maquinistas de locomotora,
fogoneros de ingenios azucareros, sastres, comerciantes de licores y de bienes
races (Rabin, 2009). Durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y los primeros
afios del veinte, el censo nos present las siguientes estadisticas de entrada de
families 'tortolefias' a Vieques: 1850s (3 families); 1860s (14 families); 1870s
(16 families); 1880s (13 families); 1890s (15 families). Estos ndmeros corres-

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

APUNTES SOBRE LAS RELACIONES HIST6RICAS ENTIRE SANTA CRUZ Y VIEQUES

ponden a un pequefio grupo de esta migraci6n, tomada del censo federal de
1910, con personas cuyos padres habian nacido en una de las Islas Virgenes.
No obstante, la direcci6n del flujo de gente entire islas cambi6 marcada-
mente a finales de la segunda d6cada del siglo pasado. Ya para 1927 habian
cerrado operaciones las centrales viequenses la Arkadia, la Esperanza y Santa
Maria. Siendo estas operaciones azucareras las que produjeron la prosperidad
que atraia a muchos "peones extranjeros" de las cercanas colonies britAnicas y
danesas que emigraron a Vieques. La grave crisis en la economic mundial que
comenz6 en 1929 y que continue hasta el inicio de la Segunda Guerra Mun-
dial, tuvo series repercusiones en Vieques. Como consecuencia, esta situaci6n
de pobreza y desesperaci6n empuj6 a miles de viequenses a buscar oportuni-
dades en otros lares.
La agobiante situaci6n se hizo insoportable. Vieques lleg6 a su punto mas
critic a finales de la d6cada de los treinta. Un ejemplo de esto es el articulo
del ya desaparecido peri6dico puertorriquefio El Mundo publicado el martes,
6 de junio de 1939, que lleva por titulo: "La isla de Vieques se esti quedando
desierta". El subtitulo lee: "Las families emigran por centenares rumbo a Santa
Cruz huyendose de la espantosa situaci6n de miseria que alli (en Vieques) pre-
valece". Del mismo modo un delegado de una comisi6n viequense que habia
viajado a San Juan en busca de ayuda del gobierno central, declar6 lo siguiente
a la prensa: "Ahora mismo debe estar el nene 1lorando de hambre. Hay veces
que, por no dejar de ser honrao', me tengo que contener pa'no llevar a mis hijos
alguna de las reses que tiene la central por alli cerca".
Ante la "pavorosa situaci6n de miseria" que afligia a la isla, la emigraci6n
fue una de las pocas alternatives. El articulo de El Mundo sefiala que mas de
3,000 personas ya habian emigrado a Santa Cruz. Los integrantes de la Co-
misi6n preguntaban a los representantes del gobierno: "-...qu6 piensan hacer
de nuestras esposas y de nuestras madres, de nuestros hijos y de nuestras her-
manas? Estamos dispuestos a liar los trapos y marcharnos tambien para Santa
Cruz, dejando desierta a Vieques".
Varios acontecimientos en el primer tercio del siglo XX explican esta ma-
siva migraci6n de viequenses a Santa Cruz. La compra de las Islas Virgenes
danesas por parte de Estados Unidos en 1917 y la aprobaci6n del Acta Jones,
imponi6ndole la ciudadania estadounidense a los puertorriquefios en ese mis-
mo afio, eliminaron las barreras legales al movimiento de gente entire estos
territories norteamericanos. La aplicaci6n a las Islas Virgenes estadounidenses
de las leyes de inmigraci6n norteamericanas en 1927 tambi6n tuvo un fuerte

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

ROBERT RABIN

impact en este process (Rabin, 2009). Anterior a esta fecha, los hacendados
daneses importaban obreros para la industrial de la cafia de las cercanas islas
britinicas. Las nuevas leyes paralizaron esta prictica y obligaron a los azucare-
ros a buscar mano de obra legal con ciudadania estadounidense.
En la cercana isla de Vieques encontraron una situaci6n ideal: condiciones
deprimentes de la industrial azucarera viequense y una poblaci6n de ciudada-
nos de E.E.U.U. En Vieques, agents de las compaflias azucareras de Islas
Virgenes reclutaron grupos de obreros para su eventual movilizaci6n a Santa
Cruz. Muchos de estos trabajadores "temporeros" se quedaron, trajeron a sus
familiares de Vieques y se establecieron en Santa Cruz permanentemente (Ra-
bin 2009; Gonzilez, 2009).
En 1941, comenzaron en Vieques las expropiaciones de la Marina de
Guerra de Estados Unidos que terminaron a finales de esa d6cada restando de
manos viequenses el 72% del territorio de la isla. Desaparecida la iltima cen-
tral, Playa Grande, como consecuencia de la legada de la Marina, la situaci6n
socio-econ6mica empeor6.
En su testimonio oral relatado a los estudiantes de la Central High School,
Marisol Ramos y Maribel Chaparro, Dofia Guillermina Nieves Nieves, nacida
en Vieques el 8 de julio de 1913, se expresa sobre su decision de emigrar a
Santa Cruz (Rabin, 1993):

La situaci6n en el '44 estaba mala. Yo tenia cinco hijos, se habia terminado
la construcci6n en la base naval y no habia trabajo en Vieques. Cuando
quitaron la Central Playa Grande, entonces, ,d6nde habia trabajo y d6nde
habia dinero? ,Qu6 ibamos a comer con cinco muchachos y nosotros dos,
qu6 comeriamos? Por eso la gente emigraron. Fuimos buscando ambiente.
Uno tiene que ir donde haiga [...] donde no haiga, por qu6? Aquf (en San-
ta Cruz) habian muchos puertorriquefios. La familiar de mi esposo ya estaba
aqui [...] despu6s yo vine. Yo fui la primera y detrds de mi se vinieron todos,
mi mama, mi papa y todo el mundo [...] era bueno porque habia trabajo
[...] se trabajaba [...] vinieron muchos puertorriquefios [...] casi todos los
puertorriquefios que hay aqui, los mayores, casi todos eran de Vieques [...]
todavia hay muchos viviendo aquf [...] muchos han muerto. (p. 15)

Sobre el viaje entire Vieques y Santa Cruz, Dofia Guillermina explic6 que:

El viaje fue en barco de vela. Dur6 muchisimo (se rie), muchacho, como
de un dia para otro. Salimos de Morrop6 (Punta Mulas, Vieques) hasta
Frederiksted. El viaje costaba unos cinco pesos en ese tiempo (se rfe). Via-

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

APUNTES SOBRE LAS RELACIONES HISTORICAS ENTIRE SANTA CRUZ Y VIEQUES

j6 con mis dos hijos. Habian tres barcos que llevaban la gente y las trafa;
despu6s una lancha rApida de motor grande, y despu6s el avi6n. El mar se
ponia malo. La gente pasaron muchos problems, pero yo no; pero much
gente si. Mucha gente pasaron sustos grandes; a mi no, siempre tuve buenos
viajes, yo no me mareo. (p. 16)

Y sobre Santa Cruz dijo: "Bueno, es el mejor sitio del mundo. Yo he ido a los
Estados Unidos, a la Isla Grande (Puerto Rico), y en ninguin sitio encuentro
un lugar como ese" (Rabin, 1993, p. 16).
Entre otros puntos interesantes Dofia Guillermina sefial6 que no sabia ingl6s,
y que todavia habla ingl6s con sefias. Hacia veinticinco afios que muri6 su esposo
al que enterraron en Santa Cruz. Al preguntarle de su identidad cultural, dijo con
una risa: "Yo soy puertorriquefia, y mis hijos tambidn. No soy inglesa, yo no s6
ingles, tantos afios que vivo aqui [...]".Termin6 diciendo, "me gusta Vieques [...],
pero [...] me gusta mis Santa Cruz" (Rabin, 1993, p. 16).
Otro testimonio oral relatado a los estudiantes de la Central High School
fue el de Dofia Marta Benitez de Surez, que naci6 el 16 de abril de 1914, en
Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Su mami llev6 a Marta, a sus dos hermanas y un herma-
no a vivir en Vieques, donde estuvieron por quince afios. Emigr6 hacia Santa
Cruz el 14 de mayo de 1935, siguiendo a su hermana mayor, que era como su
mama. Fue en Santa Cruz que conoci6 a su esposo de cincuenta y site afios,
Angel Suarez Figueroa, otro viequense emigrado a Islas Virgenes.
El viaje entire Vieques y Santa Cruz fue una experiencia inolvidable para
Dofia Marta (Rabin, 1993):

Tuvimos un muy mal tiempo. Primero tuvimos una calma que nos cogi6
toda la noche sin casi el barco moverse. Era un barco de vela. Pasamos toda
esa noche del catorce hasta el quince de mayo. Entonces, de pronto nos
cogi6 un temporal. Por poco el barco se part. Pasamos todo el resto del dia
en ese temporal. Llegamos al puerto aqui en Santa Cruz, en Frederiksted,
ya de noche. Se veian los marullos que se levantaban y cubrian los "buil-
dings" que estan alli en frente, la Aduana, que estaba para ese tiempo, frente
a los muelles. No hubieramos salido a tierra esa noche porque no se podia,
pero que venia una familiar de Vieques que venia mudindose para aqui, era
de apellido Lanz6. Venian de mudanza; eran gente que se dedicaban a la
pesca y trafan un bote de ellos y una yolita. El barco tuvo que bajar bien
hacia abajo, no por el muelle (debido a la tormenta) y las personas que es-
taban en tierra esperando al barco, que se suponia que Ulegaba a tal hora y
tard6 ya casi dos dias, ya la gente pensaba que el barco se hundi6 y que la
gente perecieron. Entonces esa gente que venian con esa yolita, la tiraron

Entre dos orillos / Between Two Shores

al agua y alli nos sacaban. Los que estaban en tierra, entire ellos un cufiado
mio, entonces nos ayudaron a desembarcar. Habia un puertorriquefio aqui
de nombre Don Isaac Gonzalez, que vivia frente al mar, era comerciante.
Al regarse la voz desde temprano de que ese barco tenia que llegar y que
no legaba, ya todo el mundo estaba alarmado. Pues, ese senior, que Dios lo
tenga en la Gloria, abri6 su casa para recibir a todo el mundo. Nos dio ropa
seca...esa noche no pudimos pasar por Aduana por el tiempo... (p. 17)

Dofia Marta llevaba cincuenta y siete afios en Santa Cruz. Junto a su esposo
establecieron un supermercado en Queen Street, Frederiksted. Va a Vieques
s6lo de visit.
Don Basilio F6lix Rodriguez habl6 con los estudiantes sobre su vida en
Vieques, la emigraci6n a Santa Cruz, y su amor por su tierra adoptada: "Naci el
5 de enero de 1927. Viviamos en un sitio aislado, de much ganado, en Puerto
Negro [...] habia seis u ocho casas nada mis. Ahora todo eso desapareci6
dentro de la base" (Rabin, 1993, p. 17).
Don Basilio nos dice que (Rabin, 1993):

Corria el afio 1939. La Marina de los E.U. compraba y expropiaba families
a su forma y antojo (...) La Central Playa Grande expropiada, su gente y
propiedades, asi los barrios de Resoluci6n, Mosquito, La Miray, Ventana,
Barrio Palma y asi todo el oeste de Vieques (...) En 1943 mi padre se
encuentra sin trabajo y cinco hijos que mantener, sabri Dios que pensa-
ba. Un dia nos dice que nos mudarfamos a Santa Cruz. Nuestras mentes
no podian similar aquello. iDejar a Vieques! Imposible. Nuestra escuela,
nuestras amistades, nuestros vecinos y demis families. Era algo si como
cosa de loco.
Vinimos en barco de vela. Nuestra partida a Santa Cruz fue un martes
de septiembre (1943) como a la una de la tarde, bajo un sol candente y en un
barco l1amado, "El Artero", capitaneado por su duefio, Don Jorge Carrillo.
Veniamos aparte de muchos otros pasajeros, mi cufiada y mis dos hermanas.
Mi papa y mi hermano menor se quedaban para unirse a nosotros un mes
despu6s. Ya a Santa Cruz habian llegado dos hermanos mayores que yo.
Llegamos a Santa Cruz, al puerto de Christiansted al otro dia, mi6rcoles,
como a las dos de la tarde. De esto hace casi cincuenta afios. Todo, gracias a
Dios, nos ha ido bien en Santa Cruz, donde hemos crecido. Hoy en Santa
Cruz, nuestra familiar F61ix es una de las families hispanas mis numerosas.
Gracias a esa decision de nuestro padre que a principio no aprobamos. Des-
puds de cincuenta afios de haber dejado a Vieques no lo he podido olvidar a
pesar de que no tengo nada de qu6 quejarme de Santa Cruz. (p. 17)

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

Expulsados de Vieques por el fracaso de la industrial azucarera y las expro-
piaciones militares de la d6cada de los cuarentas, los viequenses emigraron en
grandes n6meros a Santa Cruz, donde habia trabajo disponible en las plan-
taciones azucareras, en una naciente industrial turistica y luego en las plants
petroquimicas. En las ultimas d6cadas personas de todas classes de la sociedad
viequense han emigrado a Santa Cruz en busca de un mejor future. Mientras
el numero de puertorriquefios en Islas Virgenes se estim6 en tres mil en 1950,
seis mil para 1960 y nueve mil setecientos en 1965, los estimados actuales son
de veinte mil.
El afio pasado, la cineasta boricua de familiar cruzana-viequense, Johanna
Bermddez, present su nuevo documental: Sugar Pathways, sobre tres mujeres
cuyas vidas se mueven entire Vieques, St. Croix y Nueva York. El filme explore
las aportaciones viequenses y la influencia de la diaspora viequense en Santa
Cruz en la vida cultural, econ6mica y political de las Islas Virgenes (Delgado,
2009). La importancia de las relaciones entire las islas se manifiesta en los
actos de la presentaci6n del documental en Washington, DC. En junio de
2009, Donna M. Christensen, delegada al Congreso para las Islas Virgenes
declar6: "Me enorgullece presentar la obra de unajoven cruzana...cuyo trabajo
ayuda a iluminar nuestra historic y nuestra cultural para nosotros y para todo el
pais" (Delgado, 2009).
Ademds de Christensen, los anfitriones de la premier en la capital federal
incluyeron a la congresista puertorriquefia y president del Caucus Hispano,
Nydia Velazquez, y el Comisionado Residente de Puerto Rico en Washington,
Pedro Pierluisi. Tambi6n particip6 la president del Caucus Negro del Con-
greso, Barbara Lee. Segun la promoci6n para la pelicula, Sugar Pathways: "...
cuenta la historic de la migraci6n puertorriquefia entire Vieques y St. Croix...
una historic de sobrevivencia, integraci6n y aportaciones a la political, econo-
mia y la fibra social de las Islas Virgenes modernas".
No hay duda de que las relaciones entire Vieques y Santa Cruz articulan
un renovado interns sobre las didsporas, un tema esencial para el sector del
Caribe. La digitalizaci6n de mds de 30,000 documents hist6ricos de Vieques
-que incluye importantes cantidades de material sobre las relaciones entire las
islas- por el Museo de la Memoria Hist6rica de Vieques/Archivo Hist6rico
de Vieques tambien impulsard y facilitari la investigaci6n acad6mica y genea-
16gica de la region.

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

References

Delgado,J. A. (2009,12 dejunio). Sugar Pathways. EINuevo Dia. Encontrado
en http://www.elnuevodia.com/blog/580404/
Gonzilez, M. (2009). Aspectos epistem6gicos y metodol6gicos sobre la
ensefianza de competencias comunicativas: saber, hacer y saber-
hacer. En Seminario para maestros: Memorias. Puerto Rico: Fundaci6n
Puertorriquefia de las Humanidades.
Highfield, A. (2009). Conferencia Magistral: Apuntes hist6ricos sobre las mi-
graciones de puertorriquefios a la isla de Santa Cruz, U.S.V.I. Seminario
para maestros: Memorias. Puerto Rico: Fundaci6n Puertorriquefia de las
Humanidades.
Rabin, R. (1993). Relaciones histdricas entire Vieques y Santa Cruz. Santa
Cruz, Islas Virgenes americanas: Concilio de Humanidades de las Islas
Virgenes.
(2009). Los Tortolefios: Obreros de Barlovento en Vieques: 1864-1874.
En Seminario para maestros: Los puertorriquenos en Santa Cruz. (pp.
21-34). Seminario para maestros: Memorias. Puerto Rico: Fundaci6n
Puertorriquefia de las Humanidades.
US Census Bureau. (2000). Census 2000 Summary File 1: GCT-PH1. Population,
Housing Units, Area, andDensity: 2000. Encontrado en http://factfinder.cen-
sus.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-_boxhead_
nbr=GCT-PH1&-dsname=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-format=ST-2

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

ENSAYO FOTOGRAFICO
PHOTO ESSAY

camilo carrionZayas

CAMILO CARRI6NZAYAS

photo essay

camilo
carrionZayas

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

ENSAYO FOTOGRAFICO

La fotografia puede ser vista como document, pero tambi6n como expresi6n
personal y como reflexi6n en la que la simulaci6n y la intertextualidad son
constantes.

Los trabajos que en este ensayo se presentan pertenecen precisamente a esta
iltima vertiente, es decir, al moment en que el registry de la realidad deja de
ser el instrument de la bisqueda de las posibilidades esteticas para
convertirse en el vehiculo de significaci6n conceptual que se cimienta en lo
est6tico.

Este panorama que ofrece la trayectoria de la Diaspora (Vieques Santa Cruz),
es captado por la camara. Despuds de un recorrido e infinidad de tomas
fotograficas, trae como ensayo un material de importancia significativa por su
contenido, su mensaje y calidad artistic. Nos hace reflexionar sobre el
deterioro y sus estructuras residuess o monumentos), al ofrecernos un valioso
testimonio que se convierte en Ilamada de atenci6n sobre lo que acontece en
nuestro territorio, con nuestra herencia y patrimonio.

Santa Cruz Central Betlehem Vieques, Punta Arenas Bunkers

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

CAMILO CARRI6NZAYAS

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

ENSAYO FOTOGRAFICO

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

^ ""^

CAMILO CARRIONZAYAS

carrionZavas

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

ENSAYO FOTOGRAFICO

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

Migration and Education in St. Croix

Melissa Hern6ndez Durdn
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

Introduction

The present study delves into St. Croix's history during the twentieth
century by considering the histories of a significant number of
migrant workers of Puerto Rican and Eastern Caribbean origin in the island.
Scholarship related to this history has addressed the task of writing about
these immigrant groups by looking at the educational environment they faced
in St. Croix at the time of migration, as well as the economical, social, and
political reality of the island and the greater Caribbean region (Simounet
1987, 2003; Rios 2009; Herndndez 2010). This work traces and describes
how the two main immigrant groups in St. Croix, Puerto Ricans and Eastern
Caribbean Islanders, experienced different types of access to education during
particular time periods. It argues that the convergence of the island's main
economic endeavors, the island's ties to the United States, its agreements with
neighboring Caribbean governments, and the implementation of federal laws
and regulations created unequal social conditions and access to education.
This paper examines the nature of migration to St. Croix from the 1920s
to the 1970s. In doing so it answers a number of questions, including the
following: What were some of the factors that determined Puerto Rican and
Eastern Caribbean immigration to St. Croix during the twentieth century?
What was the initial educational setting these immigrant groups experienced
in St. Croix? What were some of the factors that determined their particular
access to education? What were some of the responses of these groups and/or
the government to these immigrants' educational setting?

St. Croix during the Early Twentieth Century
At the beginning of the twentieth century, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St.
John, known today as the United States Virgin Islands, were colonies of the
Danish Crown and had been since 1754.

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

MIGRATION AND EDUCATION IN ST. CROIX

In 1917, while the First World War was being fought in Europe, the Caribbean
and some of the European colonies in the region were suddenly objects of
interest to the European nations involved. Germany's interest in the Danish
territories in the Caribbean was one such case. It was in this setting that the
Danish Crown, facing problems with the administration of its colonies and
financial hardship, sold the three islands to the US for the total amount of US
$25 million (Dookhan, 2006, pp. 248 -262).
At this time the main economic enterprise in St. Croix was the production
of sugar. During the following decades, government agencies and services
were restructured along with the islands' economic efforts (Lewis, 1972, pp.
56, 68-72, 123). Sugar businessmen, along with the government, attempted
to fuel the agricultural economy through endeavors such as the recruitment of
much needed workers for the sugar industry, which opened the doors to the
influx of Puerto Rican workers from the 1920s on (Boyer, 1985/86, p. 97).
Throughout this decade, the US Navy established itself in Vieques. This
meant that 3,000 acres of land and cane fields became the property of the
US government, and the people living and working there were displaced
(Mathews, 2005, p. 320). Meanwhile the need for workers in the sugar estates
resulted in recruiting efforts by companies from the US Virgin Islands, like the
West Indian Sugar Company. They targeted workers from Vieques, Culebra,
and the 'big island' (the main island of Puerto Rico). News of this soon spread,
mostly to Vieques, through boatmen that provided the transport, recruiters,
and family and friends (Senior, 1947, pp. 7-8).
An important labor immigration influx resulted from the economic
interests in sugar and political ties among the US Virgin Islands, the US, and
Puerto Rico. The Immigration Act of 1924, a federal law which established
greater controls on immigration, applied to both US territories. What this
meant for the US Virgin Islands was that it closed the gates for yearly incoming
workers, mainly from the British Virgin Islands, for the sugar harvest. This
made the government and the sugar companies turn to neighboring Puerto
Rican workers, mainly from Vieques, since they were not affected by the
these immigration controls (Lewis, 1972, pp. 207-209; Senior, 1947, pp. 7-8)
because of their US citizenship.
By the time of Senior's research in 1947, the Puerto Rican community
already made up 24% of the Virgin Islands population, some 3,000 out of
12,200 people. According to Gordon K. Lewis by 1972 the number of
Puerto Ricans in St. Croix was greater than 25% (1972, pp. 207-211). The

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new immigrant workers found work in agriculture, farming, and retail; they
sometimes worked different jobs, or juggled more than one simultaneously,
always looking for better-paying opportunities (Senior, 1947, pp. 7-8).
To understand the obstacles faced by the Puerto Ricans, it is necessary
to emphasize the educational circumstances surrounding their arrival during
the 1920s to the 1970s. These students had public education available to
them. However, truancy and language differences became obstacles to their
education. Several decades later, federal law concerning the education of non-
English speaking students was applied in St. Croix, resulting in the creation of
Bilingual programs for several schools (James 1980; Rios, 2009; Herndndez,
2010).
In the case of the Eastern Caribbean Islanders, their arrival was initially
linked to military construction projects during the 1940s. At the time of
the Second World War, the US military established bases in the Caribbean
region for the protection of the region, the Panama Canal, and the European
territories in the region (Fillberg-Stolberg, 2004, pp. 95 100). Eastern
Caribbean Islanders were recruited to build military facilities in St. Thomas.
The apparent need of workers for these projects and agricultural efforts during
the 1940s led to the creation of new immigration controls and agreements to
recruit much needed workers in the US Virgin Islands.
In the following decades, the development of a new industrial economy for
the islands in the 1950s, and one centered in tourism in the 1960s, produced even
greater changes in immigration regulations. The local and federal government,
along with the business sector, worked for and developed special categories
through which workers from the British Virgin Islands, and later the French
and Dutch islands, could enter to work for a pre-determined time, in a certain
occupation, without the usual necessary paperwork and under the condition
of 'non-immigrant worker' (Mills, 1998, pp. 19 -24). The Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1965 opened the doors to the immigration of the workers'
families, particularly those who were citizens or had permanent residency
(Mills, 1998, p. 23).
The influx of Eastern Caribbean Islanders is reflected in a 94.6% increase
in St. Croix's population during the decade of the 60s (Mills, 1998, p. 23).
However, the government and business sectors that brought thousands of
workers did not secure the provision of services to this population (Boyer, 1983,
p. 290). Public education was not available for this rapidly growing group.
The Eastern Caribbean population responded to this situation by organizing

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itself, demanding educational services and developing a community-run
school for hundreds of children who were not allowed into public schools.
The action of the Eastern Caribbean immigrant community and the 1970
Hosier v. Evans court case resulted in the availability of public education for
school-age immigrant children.

Puerto Rican Immigrants and Education

Two stages in which Puerto Rican students gained greater or less access to
educational services in St. Croix can be distinguished. The first covers thirty-
five years, starting with the arrival of the first groups of cane workers in 1927
up until 1962. During this time, these students attended public and private
schools, but their educational needs in terms of language were not addressed.
Recent scholarship evidences early bilingual teacher recruiting efforts during
this period (Gonzilez and Rios, 2008). During the second stage, from 1962
to the early 80s, specialized bilingual programs were developed to work with
Spanish mother-tongue students, taking into account the large Puerto Rican
population (Simounet, 2003; Rios, 2009).
From the time of the Puerto Rican families' arrival, the integration of
the new students into the local educational context has been one of the major
difficulties faced. Public and private schools were the two main alternatives
in this new setting, private usually meaning Catholic school. In this context,
limitations such as the geographical distance between home and school, the
employment of students in agriculture, the inability of schools to keep up with
the growing number of students, and the difficulties in mastering the English
language compromised education for this population.
As these students and their families arrived, the demography of the island
and the classrooms was transformed. Most of these students attended schools
in the countryside (Senior, 1947, p. 25), a reflection of how their life was
linked to agriculture. They made up 31% of the student population in the
countryside schools (Senior, 1947, p. 25). Absences among these students
were not only common, but constant. They were known as 'truants.' Among
the reasons for this, as suggested above, were involvement in agricultural work,
lack of shoes or proper clothes, and long commutes to school.
One of the biggest obstacles for these students was the language barrier,
in this case the problems posed by an English only education. They were not
only faced with a new and different language in this new setting, but with an

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entire educational curriculum in an unknown language. This situation set back
the students in their daily schoolwork and overall education. Additionally, it
delayed the students' ability to adapt to their new context. The need to work
the linguistic breach was the most urgent challenge since it affected learning
in other disciplines and limited academic progress as well as adaptation and
integration in local culture and society. According to Senior, "...the Puerto
Rican children are very slow the first three or four years of school. After they
have mastered the English language they move on with greater rapidity"
(Senior, 1947, p. 25).
The conditions described above led to frequent acting out and misbehavior
on part of the students. One source recalls, "They are mostly truants. When
they do come to school, they create disturbances, and the teachers are so happy
when the students are not there that they hesitate to report them as absent."
(Senior, 1947, p. 26). Due to misconduct and dropping out, students in private
schools faced expulsion, a situation which resulted in an increase in students
for the public schools. Some employees of the public system perceived this as
a problem, but did not consider these students' education their responsibility.
Around the middle of the century, Puerto Rican students constituted a
significant percentage of the island's student population, particularly in the
country schools, where they represented a third or more of the student body.
This was the case in 1945, as we see in Senior's work, they made up 40% of
the population in a Christiansted Catholic school. In the school in Barren
Spot they represented 49% and in Peter's Rest School they were distributed at
a 50:50 ratio (Senior, 1947, pp. 25-26). The already scarce number of teachers
represented an even greater challenge for the system when the student numbers
kept rising. Few teachers held a college or university degree and very few had
specialized in bilingual education.

The Beginnings of Bilingual Education from 1962-1982

At the beginning of the 60s the US Virgin Islands were about to face new
challenges. The preceding decades brought economic depression, war, and
the development of industry programs. The islands were met with substantial
emigration of Virgin Islanders to the US, government industrialization
projects, the development of the tourism industry, and massive immigration
of Easter Caribbean workers.
In this context, the needs of the large Spanish-speaking population began
to be addressed. Some English as a foreign language courses were offered in

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schools. Still, these did not target the school children at the elementary level.
In fact, the system did not provide the Puerto Rican students with the tools
they needed to master English or an elementary education.
In 1962 a summer program for Puerto Rican preschoolers began. As the
Report states, "This was the first special effort taken to assist Puerto Rican
students with the language problem" (Report of the Governor, 1962, p. 35).
The summer program lasted eight weeks and took place under the direction of
Elementary Education. As a result of its success, this breakthrough initiative
was later integrated as part of the regular kindergarten.
In May 1969, the Virgin Islands Daily News reported on a Puerto Rican
community organization demanding that the language needs of their children
be addressed in schools. The organization, Alma Boricua Club, organized
meetings with the Board of Education and demanded "the immediate study of
the possibilities of establishing bilingual education in primary and secondary
schools...to help the Spanish-speaking children to build up their English"
(Alma Boricua, 1969). A previous Governor's Report and this document
illustrate that both the government and the community acknowledged
through their actions the need and the urgency of addressing the needs of
Puerto Rican youth.
A bilingual instruction program was started that same year at the Charles
H. Emmanuel Elementary School in Kingshill, St. Croix. Financially sustained
with local funds, it was to be part of the regular school program (James, 1980,
p. 3). As records explain, "The program's curriculum was mainly designed
to assist Spanish-speaking students to learn English in order to master the
academic requirements" (St. Croix School District Bilingual Program, n.d.).
While this was the main goal, the program had two teaching components: one
in which Spanish-speaking students were taught in both English and Spanish,
and a second in which English-speaking students were taught Spanish as a
second language.
The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and other higher education
institutions worked alongside the Virgin Islands government regarding several
evaluation and assessment efforts. UPR helped in the evaluation and research
of different social aspects of Virgin Islands society, including education. The
Social Sciences Research Center at UPR, with researcher Clarence Senior, and
several research teams, produced several documents about the Puerto Rican
population. Among these is "The Educational Setting in the Virgin Islands
with Particular Reference to the Education of Spanish Speaking Children."

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This 1969 document evaluates the services and efforts of the Department of
Education with relation to the students who spoke Spanish as a first language.
Recommendations were included so that the Department could take on the
responsibility of addressing the educational necessities of these pupils. The
Virgin Islands Legislature received and set to work on responding to its
evaluation and recommendations.
With said recommendations and other evaluations, the US Virgin
Islands Department of Education began planning for the establishment of
bilingual programs, and requesting local and federal funding to develop these.
In 1968, the United States Congress approved the Title VII United States
Elementary and Secondary Education Act as a response to address language
and educational needs of the large non-English speaking population. Also
known as the Bilingual Education Act, it was meant to help local schools
establish bilingual programs for schools with large non-English speaking
populations. Through proposals like the Preliminary Proposal for a Planning
Grant, Proposal for a Federally Funded Bilingual Program, and the Initial Plan
for Implementation of a Bilingual Education Program, the local Department
of Education demonstrated the urgency and need for bilingual programs and
was granted funds for their implementation (Escamilla, 1989; James, 1980).
Title VII of the United States Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, also known as the Bilingual Education Act, was passed in 1968. The
Act expected local governments to be able to finance their own programs by
1978 (James, 1980, pp. 1, 5). In the seventies alone there were nearly ten
million Spanish-speaking students in the nation. The program considered
students up to eighteen years of age and assigned federal funds where needed.
Local proposals such as the Proposal for a Federally Bilingual Program and
the Preliminary Proposal Application for a Planning Grant (as cited in James,
1980) revealed the urgency of the situation. They showed that 35% of the
students in public schools were Spanish speakers and that this population
made up nearly 50% of school dropouts at the high school level. In this way,
Title VII programs in St. Croix commenced.
Under the Bilingual Act, the first program was implemented in St. Croix
with a bilingual and bicultural system at the Alexander Henderson School,
known at that time as the Concordia Elementary School (James, 1980, p.
5). This first program expanded to two more schools in 1975, the Alfredo
Andrews School and the Charles H. Emmanuel Elementary School, as the
result of another proposal. The latter school's original 1969 bilingual program

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MIGRATION AND EDUCATION IN ST. CROIX

had now been integrated to the new bilingual education system. The bilingual
and bicultural program established in St. Croix did not intend to privilege one
language over the other, but aimed for students to master both languages. Its
main objective was for students to master speaking, listening, reading, and
writing in their mother tongue with both languages used as the languages of
instruction (James, 1980, p. 29).
For the implementation of these initiatives it was necessary to prepare and
train personnel, find and develop teaching materials, and secure parent and
community involvement. To train personnel, the Department of Education
coordinated workshops and offered financial help to receive training and
credits at the College of the Virgin Islands. Additionally, several teachers and
administrators were assisted financially to pursue master's degrees on bilingual
education (James, 1980, pp. 71-72). Parental involvement and support of the
program became a crucial issue and it was obtained to some extent. This was
done through extracurricular activities. As a result of their interest, Spanish,
English and literacy classes were offered through schools and community
centers (James, 1980, pp. 46-49).
The Title VII program serviced 193 students during its first year in 1972.
A progressive increase is shown each year. By 1978, 739 students benefitted
from it. From 1972 to 1978, the program serviced 2,633 students including
those who spoke English as a first language (James, 1980, p. 36). Documents
show that the participation of students whose mother tongue was English
decreased over time. This situation presented the danger of marginalization
in schools, and simultaneously within society. Bilingual programs ran the risk
of having their participants catalogued as special needs student groups who
would be segregated from the rest of the student body.
Even though the program was restructured at a state level, 1978 was not
the end of the bilingual education efforts. The Title VII Act in St. Croix
later developed into ESL/bilingual programs bound to the Department of
Education, which would now work with 'Limited English Proficiency' or
'LEP' students. In 1974, approved legislation required the establishment of
"programs in any school where there are ten or more pupils who are unable
to speak, understand, read or write the English language well enough to carry
on the normal class activities of the grade in which he enrolled" (St. Croix
School District Bilingual Program, n.d.). These programs were managed by a
Foreign Language Supervisor until 1983. After this date, the State Office of
Bilingual/ESL Education Program carried out this duty.

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Eastern Caribbean Migrants and Education

Concerns about the living conditions and consequences of the Eastern
Caribbean immigration are evident in The Alien Worker and His Family
(Richards, 1966) conference series. Health, housing, welfare, labor, and
education are among the topics discussed. The report on education offers
a glimpse of the Virgin Islands Department of Education's stance on the
roots of the challenge of educating this population. It notes, "...the children
were allowed to come to the Islands: Thus arose the problem of providing the
necessary educational opportunity" (Richards, 1966, p. 37). The Department
made arrangements to accept only the children whose parents had residency
and complied with certain requirements.
Policy from the period stipulates that non-citizens of school age are
officially allowed to enroll in public elementary and secondary classes, provided
that the enrollees:

(i) Are in good health;
(ii) Present necessary school records or take a placement test;
(iii) Do not cause the number of pupils in any class to exceed prescribed
standards;
(iv) Shall be given preference if their parents have worked legally in
the Virgin Islands for at least two consecutive years and expect
to remain in employment;
(v) Present satisfactory evidence of the inability of the off-island
guardians to supervise them (Boyer, 1983, p. 295; Richards, 1966,
p. 38).

The purpose of this policy was to maintain a manageable number of
enrolled Eastern Caribbean immigrant children. The Department was not
ready to spend their limited resources on the education of population that
was not 'permanent' and emphasized the 'non-immigrant' classification of the
workers. Arthur Richards, the Commissioner of Education in 1968, declared,
"If they are not residents they are visitors and we will not accept them [in our
schools]" (Loftus, 1968). For that same year, some estimates place the number
of immigrant children not receiving an education at 500 (Loftus, 1968).
The alternative available to this population was to provide a private
education, which usually meant a religious school which had to be paid for,

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something not every immigrant could do. This situation limited and would
ultimately segregate the student population. Gordon K. Lewis mentions
how an "unofficial, third, alien-parochial school system, with second-rate
standards" was created (Lewis, 1972, p. 225). Another consequence was the
great number of children, as mentioned in reports, getting in trouble with the
law and becoming "a problem for society."
Facing numerous obstacles, the Eastern Caribbean community did find
ways to secure the care and education of their children. The ability to organize
and to work toward a common goal led to temporary arrangements to address
the aforementioned problems, and, at least in some cases, for their demands
to be heard. For example, nursery or day-care providers were developed in the
houses of people from the community (Lewis, 1972, p. 230). Another response
to the restrictions on their educational opportunities was the development
of alternate schools that were run cooperatively and by the community, as
evidenced in newspapers at the time.
The Caribbean Inter-Island Progressive School, in Estate Barren Spot
where St. Anne's Chapel is one of these efforts. It was already running for the
fall semester of 1968 with volunteer teachers and nearly two hundred students
and the help and support of parents, community, and religious leaders. As
source provides details about the efforts, stating, "Presently eight volunteers,
all aliens, are teaching the 192 children in the five refurbished classrooms"
(Alien Education, 1968). The buildings had been part of an Episcopal school.
Likewise, supplies and other resources (including books and a bus) were
provided by other schools. The Volunteers in Service of America or VISTA
Program and its volunteers played an important role in these efforts. This
program, which still exists today, worked under the program AmeriCorps
National to help communities throughout the nation. In St. Croix, it operated
with the Office of Economic Opportunities and was to a certain extent
responsible for the foundation of the school. Robert Fuller, a VISTA worker
from Boston, spearheaded the foundation of the school at Barrenspot" with
the help of his wife (Alien Education Crisis, 1968).
Toward the end of the 1960s, Eastern Caribbean immigrants also organized
themselves in community groups such as the United Interest Movement in St.
Thomas and the United Alien Association (Boyer, 1983,292). The latter was
actively involved in the development of the Inter-Island Progressive School
and in the struggle for immigrant children's education. At the closing of
the decade, the work of these groups (VISTA, and the different community

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associations), their common goals, causes, and their inter-cooperation could
not be ignored anymore and their role in increasing immigrants' access to
education was evident.
A debate that arose over the Inter-Island Progressive School can be
considered the catalytic agent that put forward the issue of immigrant's
education in the public eye and that forced the government agencies to respond
to ongoing problems these groups faced. The Department of Education,
immigrant associations, community and religious leaders and private/religious
schools clashed on the issue of the community-run school. The government
and the Department of Education threatened to close the school. They
argued that they needed to investigate how the school was run, the teachers'
preparation, the curriculum used, and the legal status of the children's parents
(Education Bd., 1968; Loftus, 1968).
Meetings which were open to the community were held by the government
agencies and aforementioned associations. The United Alien Association
held that by March 1969 public schools were still not open to the Eastern
Caribbean population (Association Meets, 1969). For the beginning of the
following academic term, 920 immigrant children were registered for the
public schools, but neither the government nor the Department of Education
assured the community that they would be received since they depended on
the resources available. The government's position was "Given limitations of
space, staff, and material, we will do all we can" (High V.I. Officials, 1969).
The Commissioner of Education also added, "as many as possible of the alien
children will be admitted to schools this year." The Department of Education
announced that it was preparing for an increase in the student population with
the request of a budget raise, student registration, and the installing of mobile
classrooms (High V.I. Officials, 1969).
The meetings and uncertainty about the future of the institution lasted a
few months. In December 1969, the decision was to keep the school open but
to place it under the supervision of the Department of Education temporarily.
As announced:

The Virgin Islands Board of Education at a meeting late last week approved
the decision of the Department of Education to take over the instructional
program at Barren Spot School, St. Croix, until the students there can be
tested and absorbed into the public school system (Education Bd., 1968).

Two crucial events in the following years would also bring the issue of

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MIGRATION AND EDUCATION IN ST. CROIX

immigrant children's education into the public eye and change the panorama
of education. The year 1970 marks yet another increase in the size of the
Eastern Caribbean immigrant population and new responses to the education
situation. By 1970, people not born in the US Virgin Islands made up 34%
of the population (Mills, 1998, p. 23). These numbers do not include Puerto
Ricans or continentals. Eastern Caribbean migrants kept transforming Virgin
Islands' society. The Alien Reunification Act of April 7, 1970 and the Hosier
v. Evans court decision during the month of June of the same year represent
points of no return for the education situation in the US Virgin Islands.
The Alien Reunification Act provided a new category for the entrance of
family members of workers who held H-2 visas. The latter would be classified
as H-4, and would be able to immigrate for the purpose of family reunification.
Previously they had enjoyed no such privileges.
Several months after the Alien Reunification Act was instituted,
Judge Almeric Christian, in the case Hosier v. Evans, determined that the
Department of Education and the local government was obligated to receive
immigrant children in the public schools. "[He] held that alien school children
were entitled to equal access to the public schools" (Leibowitz, 1989, p. 282).
The combination of these two events resulted not only in the substantial
influx of Eastern Caribbean immigrants, but also in subsequent demands for
education and other government services.
As with the Puerto Rican population, we can pinpoint different periods
when Eastern Caribbean migrants experienced different types of access to
education. Initially, they find their children excluded from public education.
Afterwards, they, as a community and individuals, try to change their
circumstances and better their situation. Finally, as a result of their efforts and
legal measures, public education was made available to them.
For the 1972-73 school term, 80% of the new public school enrollment
was made up of immigrant children. Two years later, these students made
up 32.5% of a total of 7,587 students (Boyer, 1983). The larger number of
students coincided with an immigrant population still increasing in size,
this growth made difficult working and living conditions as well as a lack of
government planning, services, and rights, even more evident to community
members. The public's pressure, its demands that the'alien issue' be dealt with,
and the critical state of the educational system resulted in the government
trying to work with the situation through different agencies. This is evident in
the political platforms of the time, but above all in immigrant raids that took

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place in 1971. Additional pressure on the immigrant population that would
be recognized in years to follow.

Conclusion

While economic endeavors associated with industry and tourism employed
thousands of immigrants, several factors determined who were to be the
workers, from where they would come, the type of status and rights recognized,
and services rendered. In the case of Puerto Ricans, US citizenship assured
them of rights and services such as public education. For immigrant workers
from the Eastern Caribbean, US Virgin Islands agreements with the British
Virgin Islands government opened the doors for workers. This was also the case
with the creation of immigrant-worker categories and changes in immigration
policy that provided workers for certain industries and projects.
In both cases legal decisions were essential to providing education. Federal
law providing bilingual education, mainly for Spanish-speaking populations in
the US and its territories, was extended to St. Croix. In the case of the Eastern
Caribbean immigrants, community efforts were fundamental to their access to
formal public education. These efforts resulted in court decisions that legally
assured and protected this access.
Access to education is only one aspect of the Puerto Rican community
and the Eastern Caribbean immigrants' experiences in the US Virgin
Islands. Their histories, their struggles, and life experiences should be further
investigated and made known. Such efforts contribute to the members of
these communities and to the documentation of the history of the US Virgin
Islands.

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irgin%20isles%20face%20issue%20of%20aliens&pg=6319%2C3487478
Mathews, D. (abr.-sept. 2005). Migratory Waves to the US Virgin Islands.
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unesco.org/shs/migration/glossary

Entre dos orillos/ Between Two Shores

MIGRATION AND EDUCATION IN ST. CROIX

Mills, E L. (1998, November). Historical Foundation of the Immigrant Culture
and Modes of its Incorporation in the US Virgin Islands. Paper presented
at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. Croix, US
Virgin islands.
Rios, N. (2009). Ideologias en torno alprograma de educacidn bilingile en Santa
Cruz. En: Seminario para maestros: Memorias. Puerto Rico: Fundaci6n
Puertorriquefia de las Humanidades.
Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands. (1962). Divisional Report of
Activities: A Division of Curriculum and Instruction.
Richards, A. (1966, November December). TheAlien Worker and his Family.
Paper presented at The Alien Worker and his Family Conference,
College of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
Richardson, B. C. (2004). The Migration Experience. In Brereton, Bridget.
(Ed.), General History of the Caribbean Vol. V (pp. 434-464) Paris:
UNESCO Publishing.
Senior, C. (1947). The Puerto Rican Migrant in St. Croix. Rio Piedras: Social
Science Research Center, University of Puerto Rico.
Simounet, A. (2003). Convivencias Lingfiisticas en el Caribe: las Islas Virgenes
estadounidenses. EspanolActual. 80, 77-83.
Williams, E. (1984). From Columbus to Castro. New York: Vintage Books.
Yun, L. & Laremont, R. R. (2001) Chinese Coolies and African Slaves in
Cuba, 1847-74. In: Journal ofAsian American Studies. 4(2), 99-111.

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

Oral Histories of Bilingual Education Teachers
from the Puerto Rican Diaspora in Saint Croix:
Exploring Ideological Tensions Inside and

Outside the Classroom

Mirerza Gonz6lez and Nadjah Rios Villarini
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

Introduction

This paper presents and analyzes oral histories of Bilingual Education
teachers from the Puerto Rican diaspora in St. Croix and considers
how they articulate multicultural tensions that mediate teachers' work inside
and outside their classrooms.' An in-depth reading of the stories that these
teachers have shared with the researchers provides a starting point from which
to approach particular discourses within the Bilingual Education Program in
St. Croix. This essay proposes that it is possible to classify ideologies that
emerge out of instances of contention in the process of schooling, and that
these are expressed in the teachers' oral histories when they are read as one
coherent story. Its main purpose is to discuss issues of language and identity
in a multicultural setting.
The first instance of contention has to do with the St. Croix Bilingual
Education Program and its language policy as a symbolic marker that sets apart
Hispanic students. The second instance of contention is related to attitudes
toward Spanish language maintenance and English language acquisition
in relation to discourses of race and ethnicity. Both instances collide when
cultural ideologies, bodies of ideas that promote particular interpretations of
human practices and processes, are performed in schools. Meanwhile, these
practices embody discourses on the lack of social and cultural capital, which are

1 This research was developed with the help of the Puerto Rican Diaspora Research Grant
given by the Center of Puerto Rican Studies hosted by Hunter College, part of The City
University of New York.

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH RiOS VILLARINI

also tied to racial representations that promote otherness and prejudice. Inner
and outer social networks that contextualize the Puerto Rican diaspora in St.
Croix generate different arrangements of these discourses, but individuals'
everyday practices become the tools that both communicate and mediate
power. The paper offers insights into how ideologies are performed vis a vis
practices associated with identity formation in St. Croix.
The Puerto Rican diaspora is a well and longstanding area of research. As
a social experience, Boricuas abroad represent the complex and transnational
cultural intersections that result from voluntary and forced migrations. Recent
scholarship in the area emphasizes the study of the Puerto Rican diaspora in
specific communities in cities such as New York (Flores 1993, Divila 1997),
Chicago (Cruz, 2005), Philadelphia (Whalen and Vizquez, 2005), and most
recently Orlando and Kissimmee (Duany, 2001). Nonetheless, scholars barely
remember a Puerto Rican migratory movement that began as early as the
1920s that is found in the United States Virgin Islands, particularly in St.
Croix, an economical, climatic, and cultural refuge. Such a community has
articulated a set of discourses associated with the Porto Crucians, second
and third generations of Puerto Ricans who consider themselves to embody
culturally hybrid identities.

Methodological Considerations

Oral histories provide a unique opportunity to address in-between-the-line
ideological discourses. Approaches to history are discovering in oral accounts
a novel understanding of how human subjects interpret their own social reality.
In the process of the interview, the interviewer and the interviewee share
their understandings to unveil and describe how ordinary people experience,
negotiate and articulate their lives. Grele (1988) states:

We can use the idea of history and its relation to myth and ideology as the
central aim of our interviews to grasp the deeper problematic of the interviewee.
To do this, however, we must first recognize the crucial role played by ideologies
in modern society, and develop a methodology for the analysis of the structure
and function of ideology. (p. 46)

The authors of this essay consider the collection of oral histories as highly
important since they provide accounts of the contentions that language policies
and language ideologies articulate for the Puerto Ricans who see St. Croix as
home. The notion of language or linguistic ideologies assists in analyzing

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

these phenomena, as they name the "sets of beliefs about language articulated
by users as a rationalization or justification of perceived language structures
and use" (Silverstein, 1979). Each one of these stories documents, exposes,
and represents a particular view of Puerto Rican migrants who, instead of
migrating to the North, decided to migrate to the Anglo-Black Caribbean, to
the South. Within this context, the Saint Croix School District recruited and
trained Puerto Rican teachers with language proficiency to deal with bilingual
education. The researchers believe that it is valid to explore the language
ideologies that frame how these educators have experienced the multiple
challenges posited by their interactions inside and outside the school with
members of the Puerto Rican community and other ethnic communities who
claim the island as home.
Previous scholarship about education and Puerto Ricans in St. Croix
focused on various issues, including parents' participation and teachers'
perceptions in relation to the Bilingual Education Program (Padgett, 1983).
A descriptive analysis of the program (James, 1980) and two investigations
sponsored by the Center for Social Research at the University of Puerto
Rico correlate the relationship among unemployment, economic factors, and
poverty with the purpose of creating a community profile (Senior, 1947; Social
Science Research Center, 1970). However, this previous research does not
address how these teachers see themselves inside and outside the classroom in
connection to the ideological tensions that evolve from their attitudes toward
language acquisition (English) and language maintenance (Spanish).
The teachers' oral histories discussed below were collected during the
2007-2008 academic year. The researchers interviewed twelve teachers who
had worked or were working with the Bilingual Education Program. All
participants either lived or had lived in St. Croix. An open-ended questionnaire
was developed after completing the first interview to organize the discussion
of topics emerging during the conversations. Teachers were interviewed after
they agreed to participate in the project and completed consent forms. The
interviews were then transcribed and analyzed using textual and discourse
analysis. This research is part of a more comprehensive project currently
underway. The latter pursues the identification of cultural knowledge and
practices produced by the Puerto Rican diaspora community in St. Croix.

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH Rios VILLARINI

The Historico-Spatial Configurations of Education in the US Virgin Islands

The Danish West Indies previously consisted of the Caribbean islands of St.
Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. These were sold to the United States in
1917 and, since then, the three islands have been known as the United States
Virgin Islands. The system of formal education in the Danish West Indies
dates back to 1739. It was run mainly by missionaries from the Moravian
Church. The Moravians were relatively progressive in terms of creating a
system for the enslaved under the principle of Christianity. Under the premise
that it was important to provide the Christian doctrine in the native language
of the people, the Moravians prepared books and school materials in Dutch
Creole to educate the African slaves in the Virgin Islands (Lawetz, 1980).
Nonetheless, students under the Moravian education system were also trained
in Danish and English since the latter was the language of commerce and
both St. Thomas and St. Croix were central to the economy of the region (Gill
Murphy, 1977).
Although the Danes were in control of the government of the islands
since the eighteenth century, the white population constituted a minority,
a situation that replicated itself elsewhere in the Caribbean. However, the
Danes were so aware of their minority status that, in addition to the religious
principles of equality brought with the Moravian creed, an atmosphere of
social participation and racial integration also evolved. In fact, by 1900, the
islands had political structures -such as community councils- where free
black natives and white Danish citizens participated in political decision-
making processes.
This kind of strategic diplomacy of racial co-existence changed radically
in the Virgin Islands after their transfer to the United States in 1917. A new
government that disowned the community council powers was established
and the US Congress assigned the administration of all government affairs,
including education, to the US Navy.
Luther Harris Evans (1945) states that the education system imposed on
the new US territory was previously used in New Mexico and Arizona, where
it was aimed at the acculturation of Native Americans. The model was most
likely replicated in the Virgin Islands following their previous experience with
Native Americans. However, it cannot be denied that the new government,
under the ideology of democracy, advocated for dedicating a great amount of
effort to creating an educational system accessible to the people.

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

The value of democracy implemented by the new government was initially
in agreement with the Moravian principle of equality prevalent in the education
system in place before the transfer. Nonetheless, this effort was tied to a new
racial philosophy of exclusion and white supremacy that resulted in a social
hierarchy that was opposed to the co-existence followed by the Moravians. In
fact, Naughton (1973) argues that "the sense of pride in themselves which the
slaves possessed under Moravian tutelage, and which was a positive force in
the education process of that period, was peculiarly lacking in the early years
of the transfer" (p. 191). As a consequence, it can be argued that the education
system fostered by the US government not only responded to different
educational values, but also collided with the experiences and expectations
of native islanders. It was in complete opposition to the educational values
fostered under the Danish period. Therefore, the establishment of a new
educational order was more than a democratic exercise; it was a political
project. The previous ideology of equality under the Christian principle of
the Moravian Church was substituted by an ideology of democracy that in
reality constrained social participation by imposing a racial hierarchy where
Blacks were at the bottom and completely excluded.

Competing Discourses: Identity, Race and Language

In the 1920s, the first Puerto Rican massive migratory wave came to the
Islands due to an economic crisis that followed the establishment of two
military bases in Vieques and Culebra (Rabin, 2009). In response to the
growing numbers of Spanish-speaking students participating in the education
system, the Department of Education was forced to offer bilingual education
to the newcomers. As early as 1918, teachers from Puerto Rico were recruited
to satisfy demands made by members from the Puerto Rican community that
lived in St. Croix (Gill Murphy, 1977). In fact, in order to fulfill the needs of
the Hispanic community and to comply with the right to free education, the
Department of Education has recruited and trained bilingual teachers from
Puerto Rico for the last nine decades.
Even though the need for bilingual education was identified early in
the twentieth century, the Bilingual Education Program in St. Croix was
officially created in 1969 as a result of the federal law known as the Civil
Rights Act. Originally the program was particularly oriented toward the
Hispanic population, but at the present it is supposed to serve Limited English

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH RfOS VILLARINI

Proficiency students regardless of their place of origin. Despite the fact that
in St. Croix there is a highly diverse migrant community, one composed of
Arabs, Haitians, West Indians, and Dominicans, bilingual education is a term
used to mark and categorize the English language proficiency needs of the
Spanish-speaking population. Although the Bilingual Program is supposed
to provide equal opportunity and access to education for students in need of
linguistic competencies in English, it works ideologically as a symbolic marker
that stigmatizes a linguistic community that is already marginalized because of
its migratory condition. Historically, Puerto Ricans in St. Croix are associated
with a diaspora motivated by the economic detriment of Vieques. Back in the
1920s, most of the migrants were illiterate workers that worked as farmers in
the production of sugar (Rabin, 2010). After ninety years, there is a prevalent
idea among members from the St. Croix community that Puerto Ricans are
still uneducated, poor, and attached to their home culture.
According to the Bilingual Education Program's policy, its main goal is to
integrate students identified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) to English-
only classes by developing four main language skills: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Students in the program are identified and categorized
as LEP students by using an examination instrument called the Language
Assessment Skills Test. This exam determines the level of proficiency in the
new language (English) and the grade level that matches those language skills.
This examination process is a mechanism to identify and implement a protocol
that marks students as foreigners or "strangers."
The Puerto Rican students who are examined usually demonstrate low
proficiency on the test mainly because they receive English as a subject of
instruction in Puerto Rico. Their proficiency in English cannot be compared
with that of a native speaker, even though English is an official language in
Puerto Rico. To resolve this situation, St. Croix school administrators place
LEP students in lower grades to compensate for their language deficiency in
English.
Using a discursive analysis of the teachers' oral histories, the authors of
this article have observed that this policy operates ideologically. The majority
of the teachers interviewed, and even the school personnel and parents with
whom the researchers spoke, do not make a distinction between level of
English proficiency and cognitive development. This results in a generalized
ideology among teachers and parents asserting that bilingual education equals
special education. For example:

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

Teacher I:
When the Department tests begin, I am the linker, the facilitator. I
serve as a guide to identify the children that need services provided
by the Bilingual Program...But the children are lagging behind and
we help them achieve another level, which takes more time until they
arrive at the stage that corresponds to their age. It is more difficult for
them; more uphill...There are children that are lagging behind in their
reading skills and the language. It takes time while you understand the
other language and incorporate it into your vocabulary, because as you
know, it is difficult, but in some cases you discover that these are special
education students because we have noticed a pattern. This pattern is
repeated within the family once you meet the siblings and cousins, all
throughout the family.

Teacher II:
There are, you know, exceptions to the rule. However, the majority
stay in high school or even until after. I cannot certify this in a
scientific manner, but I can comment about the population I work
with. I have students that are now professionals, but the majority is
raising kids erratically.

Teachers' comments unveil a prevalent ideology within the Bilingual
Education Program which articulates a discourse of language deficiency to
represent students who already have been marked as "Others" (in the community
at large) because of their status as migrants. Within this educational system,
Spanish becomes a symbol of migration and as a consequence, an identifier for
exclusion. As Bonnie Urciouli stated in her book Exposing Prejudice (1998),
"languages, dialects and accents are constructs that classify people, as do race,
nationality, ethnicity and kinship" (p. 3). Following Urciouli, Puerto Ricans
and other Hispanic students are actually racialized by the ideological structure
of the Bilingual Education Program in St. Croix, as both their language
proficiency in Spanish and their deficiency in English are used as rationale
to place and categorize them as students with special needs. Teachers and
administrative personnel assume and reproduce this ideology, perpetuating
inequality and exclusion. In the following quote the teacher talks about the
new procedure implemented to identify and train students under the No
Child Left Behind regulations.

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH RiOS VILLARINI

Teacher III:
The school has an evaluation card now, it has passed it twice, but this
creates an additional pressure for the teachers because when the school
has so many students that are learning English, we are at a disadvantage.
The school has implemented a coaching method for this test, but bilingual
students cannot participate. Last year, I tried to accommodate one of
the girls and they said "she could not join because it is for students that
dominate the English language.

The Ambiguity of Language Use as a Marker of Identity: Bilingual
Education as a Normalizing Structure

The reading of these oral histories has also revealed that in most of the cases,
teachers' attitudes toward Spanish language maintenance and English language
acquisition are anchored in normalizing discourses of ethnicity particular to
their own diasporic experiences in St. Croix. These two elements resonate
dialectically in the teachers' stories. Particularly interesting is the teachers'
recognition of the language ideologies that identify Spanish as a language they
use to articulate their ethnic identity. For example, Teacher IV:

This is our [Puerto Rican] community activity, of the Hispanic community.
Here, we basically speak Spanish. If a [local] friend arrives, I speak in
English...but the people there speak Spanish. However, when talking
about community activities, when you are in the [St. Croix] community...
like for example, tonight we have a [St. Croix] community activity...and
it is all in English. I speak Spanish with you and with them [the Puerto
Rican researchers], but everything there will be spoken in English.

The idea of Spanish as a marker of Puerto Rican identity also arose during an
interview with a retired teacher when she talked about her family and their
dynamics at home. Teacher V:

Yes. Well look, my daughter had a bilingual education. She majored in
Education, in English as a second language. [...] In San German. [...]
She was born in Puerto Rico. I had her there so she would be Puerto
Rican. [...] But she was raised here. She attended private schools here.
And she is completely bilingual. We speak Spanish in my house.

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

The use of Spanish as a marker of Puerto Rican identity also translates to
the school setting. It includes the usage of Puerto Rican children songs in an
elementary school graduation and the pride communicated by the students'
parents. The teacher interprets this "pride" as love for their native land, which
is performed linguistically through their usage of Spanish. Teacher VI:

Well, look what I even did, that for the graduation program, I remember
that the kids danced to "Ambos a dos" and "La cucarachita Martina," among
other things in Spanish that I incorporated. The parents were so happy,
because they had never heard their language in a formal event.

Teachers recognize their usage of both languages inside and outside
their classrooms as a way to achieve communication competence. However,
competence is contextualized by asymmetrical classifications on the usage
of Spanish and English in code-switching practices. Some teachers see this
practice of "switching" as a marker of their Puerto Rican identity. In fact, when
teachers were asked how often they engaged in code-switching practices, they
not only answered that it was a common linguistic behavior, but also indicated
that it was a prevalent among Puerto Ricans in St. Croix. Teacher IV:

This is a difficult question because it depends with who I'm talking to.
If the person speaks Spanish, I will speak Spanish. If the person speaks
both languages, I will speak Spanish; but one has to speak English here
because, you understand...

Teacher VII:
Here, we can say that I acquired a bad habit that when you are talking
a lot in English and you sometimes have to change from one language
to another, it is easier to say it in English and keep going. It even when
happens when I am preaching, that I know I am talking to a bilingual
public and when a word does not hit me, well, bam! I say it in English and
continue in Spanish. And everyone understood me perfectly.

Both teachers recognize the practicality of "switching" as it helps in
adapting to the communicative moment. And even though one of the teachers
addressed "switching" as a negative behavior, she also indicates that it allowed
her to achieve communication competence, and facilitated her interactions

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH RIOS VILLARINI

with other members of her ethnic community. This assertion also expresses
a contradiction in terms of the teacher's attitude about her usage of English
and Spanish indistinctly as a "mala costumbre" (bad habit). While "switching"
reflects Teacher VII's lack of language ability, her concern is not proficiency
in English, but in Spanish. This is very interesting mainly because she now
ties her identity as Puerto Rican to her ability to speak Spanish. As a bilingual
person who is "othered" in St. Croix, she uses her English language competency
to perform correctly during everyday interactions with "locals" and native
English speakers. Hence, this dominance seems problematic because as a
Puerto Rican, she relies on code-switching when communicating with other
Puerto Ricans, and such practice counters her expected fluency in Spanish and
her status as a qualified member of the diasporic community.
Studies in Communication and Linguistics refer to code-switching as a
communication act that fulfills a practical need. Urciouli (1998) argues that in
the case of Nuyoricans, code-switching relates to their development as a speech
community and how they co-negotiate relations of meaning and identity with
the host group. This idea might be applicable here. However, some teachers
expressed that the "correctness" of this "switching" in classrooms is or was
questioned by means of normalizing practices in school. Ideologically, to
accept code-switching as an ethnic marker represents the group's inability
to become "normalized." The teacher's role then is to articulate the use of
"switching" in such a way that students can become "normal" by developing
English proficiency, as suggested by the following teacher. Teacher V:

Well, let me tell you that I began by helping them in Spanish because
the majority of them did not understand what was happening. One day
the principal came in and took the three first grade teachers to her office,
and told us that the headquarters received notice that the teachers were
speaking Spanish during class. The only one that spoke Spanish was me,
because one teacher was American and the other was a local. I told the
principal that I noticed that the kids were lost and they needed to be
spoken in Spanish in order to understand what was happening. And it
appears that this was the stepping stone for understanding the need to do
something, and then they began, about three years after me being there,
to deal with the situation.

This idea is also articulated in comments shared by teachers VIII and VI.
Teacher VIII:

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

...and, what else? There are just so many things. I also have to take
them aside to sometimes teach them certain things in Spanish because I
just cannot speak Spanish all throughout the class, considering that the
majority of it is in English. And if I give a lesson, I take the student aside
and teach the lesson. Therefore, I minimize the workload.

Teacher VI:
It is in second grade that these kids begin making a transition. But
naturally, they were always advanced in Spanish more than in English.
They were pretty advanced because I remember that I had a little lion
for my second grade class. To be able to do this, I had what was called an
English learner. When I took out this little lion, it was time for English
as a second language. Then, the kids could not speak Spanish because the
little lion thought the students were talking about him and he would start
to cry, and then one of the kids came and told me "Mrs. Sanes, Maria is
talking Spanish and the English lion is crying." I always remember that. You
know, you always have to come up with something new.

Again, these ideological constructions are in constant tension. Dialectically
speaking, the development of English proficiency collides ideologically with
the use of Spanish as an ethnic marker. This also expresses anxieties in terms
of "losing" ones identity. Teacher VII:

I think parents think that they will be accepted by denying the language
and part of their Puerto Rican heritage [...] because they only speak
the English language, and do not promote the culture within the family,
and this impacts negatively the appreciation the youth has on the Puerto
Rican culture.

While the teacher acknowledges that parents promote the integration of their
children to the Crucian culture, this comment also expresses anxieties related
to its possible consequences, one of these being the usage of two languages
by a bilingual person during a communicative interaction. On the other
hand, the comment communicates anxiety regarding the idea of identity as a
coherent, well-rounded construct. It also validates that Puerto Ricans in St.
Croix expose themselves to everyday practices, making them to conform to
not one, but multiple cultural identities that do effectively coexist with their
Puerto Rican-ness.

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH Rios VILLARINI

Nonetheless, this is not to say that new identities have emerged from these
interactions. In fact, recent studies support the assertion that an emergent
Porto Crucian ethnicity distinguishes itself from that of Puerto Ricans, and
that is represented by language use. Meanwhile, Highfield (2009, p. 19)
proposes that:

When they arrived almost a century ago, these migrating Viequenses were
stigmatized with racial and ethnic comments. With time, they were called
Puerto Ricans. More recently, other names have been integrated, maybe
demonstrating a new conception of the migrant Viequense regarding the Crucian
perspective. Lately, it seems that there is a sort ofback and forth between the two
denominations of Crucian-Ricans and Porto-Crucians, each on opposite sides.
More and more they are simply called "Crucians."These evolving nomenclatures
indicate a gradual movement of the extremes, Crucians and Puerto Ricans,
toward the center: Crucian Ricans and Porto Crucians. The acknowledgement
that these two groups have changed is highlighted in these conceptions, and
they are in a debt of gratitude with each other for this change.

Conclusion

This essay has outlined the ideological tensions articulated in the oral histories
of the Bilingual Education Program teachers from Puerto Rico in St. Croix
inside and outside of their classrooms. Two ideological elements arise from
this, each of which is common in the stories of the interviewed teachers. The
first relates to their use of a discourse of deficiency when discussing their role
in teaching Puerto Rican students who are/were not English proficient. Their
use of a discourse of deficiency also resonates with the Bilingual Education
administrators. This lack of language proficiency is further articulated
symbolically as a social and cultural marker of racial representations of
exclusion.
The second ideological element relates to the teachers' use of code-
switching. Code-switching becomes problematic for these teachers as it has
become a marker of an ambivalent Puerto Rican identity. In St. Croix, the
community uses Spanish as a way of distinction, but by embracing English they
comply with the island's "normalizing" ideological forces. Almost all teachers
that participated in the interviews express that, in one way or another, their
identity is mediated by their use of code-switching and, as a consequence, it
becomes a marker of their identity as Puerto Ricans.

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

The teachers' oral histories demonstrate the contradictions faced by the
Puerto Rican community in St. Croix in regard to these two issues. In fact,
these two instances of contention collide when the ideologies that lie beneath
are performed inside and outside of schools. More research is needed in order
to grasp how the practices associated with identity formation on the island
impact students' performance and their ideological relationship with the two
languages. In a cultural context where language policy privileges English, but
the identity of a speech community is performed in Spanish, the teachers'
stories provide a valuable space from which to assess the tensions that arise
from the particular linguistic reality that characterizes social life in St. Croix.
A quote from the "Documento El Criollo y El Otro" (unknown date) that was
found in the Archivo Vertical del Fuerte Conde Mirasol aptly summarizes
this discussion: "Many have been through this, if you are like other people of
Puerto Rican origin, but a native Virgin Islander: what a disaster, neither one
nor the other."

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MIRERZA GONZALEZ AND NADJAH RiOS VILLARINI

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In Seminario para maestros: Memorias. Puerto Rico: Fundaci6n
Puertorriquefia de las Humanidades.
James, I.B. (1980). A Descriptive Analysis of the St. Croix Title VII Bilingual
Education Program. (Unpublished master's thesis). College of the
Virgin Islands, St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
Lawetz, Eva. (1980). Black education in the Danish West Indies from 1732-
1853: The pioneering efforts of the Moravian Brethren. St Croix: St
Croix Friends of Denmark Society.
Naughton, E. (1998). The Origins and Development ofthe Higher Education in
the Virgin Islands. Washington: Catholic University Press.
Padgett, C. H. A. (1983). Parent-Client Participation in the BilingualEducation
Program in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. US Department of
Education: Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC).
Rabin, R. (2009). Los tortolefios, obreros de Barlovento en Vieques, 1864-
1874. In Memorias: Seminariopara maestros. San Juan, PR: Fundaci6n
Puertorriquefia de las Humanidades.

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ORAL HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION TEACHERS...

Senior, C. (1947). The Puerto Rican Migrant to St. Croix. San Juan, Puerto
Rico: University of Puerto Rico, Social Science Research Center.
Silverstein, M. (1979). Language Structure and Linguistic Ideology. In R.
Cline, W. Hanks, and C. Hofbauer (Eds.), The Elements:A Parasession
on Linguistic Units and Levels, (pp. 193-247). Chicago: Chicago
Linguistic Society.
Social Science Research Center. (1970). The Educational Setting in the Virgin
Islands with Particular Reference to the Education of Spanish-Speaking
Children. San Juan, PR: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of
Puerto Rico.
Whalen, C. T. & Vdzquez-HernAndez, V. (Eds.) (2005). The Puerto Rican
Diaspora: Historical Perspectives. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press.
Urciouli, B. (1998). Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experience of Language,
Race, and Class. New York: Westview Press.

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

El espafiol de Puerto Rico en su context crucefio: el

caso del morfema -ndo

Melvin Gonzdlez-Rivera
Universidad de Bucknell

Introducci6n

E1 espafiol caribefio tiene ciertos fen6menos gramaticales que lo diferencia
de otros dialectos americanos ypeninsulares. El origen de esta modalidad
lingiiistica ha generado muchisimo debate, y a su vez, han surgido propuestas
muy diversas que apuntan a una genesis product del contact linguiistico entire
los diferentes grupos 6tnicos que poblaron el Caribe hispano (e.g., europeos,
africanos, indigenas). Para los defensores del contact lingiiistico como origen
del espafiol caribefio, el debate ha transcurrido desde una possible aportaci6n
andaluza/canaria en el desarrollo de esta variedad hispinica hasta un possible
estado criollo, y posterior descriollizaci6n, product de las influencias
afrohispdnicas en la region durante el period de formaci6n. Los defensores
de un espafiol criollo pancaribefio basan su postura en la existencia de la
double negaci6n, de criollos afroib6ricos en las Antillas Holandesas (i.e., el
papiamento) y en El Palenque de San Basilio, Colombia (i.e., palenquero),
entire otras evidencias (Lipski, 1998). Otros investigadores, sin embargo,
niegan el supuesto espafol criollo pancaribefio y atribuyen los fen6menos
gramaticales innovadores o no estindares en la zona del Caribe hispano
al resultado del aprendizaje defectuoso del castellano por los primeros
habitantes de las islas caribefias. Ambas posturas resultan hoy dia poco
atractivas o convincentes. Esto porque muchos de los datos analizados
sobre el espafiol caribefo han carecido de una explicaci6n lingiistica
formal y responded mds bien a descripciones e intuiciones de unos pocos
investigadores. Ain asi, el cambio lingiistico motivado por el contact
lingfiistico y la variaci6n dialectal ha constituido el locus de studio de los
fen6menos gramaticales en la zona.

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

La sintaxis es uno de los niveles de la lengua que mejor atestigua los
diferentes fen6menos gramaticales del espafiol caribefio. Encontramos, por
ejemplo, usos redundantes de pronombres de sujeto, incluyendo el expletive
dominicano ello; la no inversi6n del sujeto en preguntas qu-; el infinitivo con
sujeto patente; y la construcci6n de la particular ta + infinitivo en el habla bozal;
entire otros fen6menos.

(1) Usos redundantes de pronombres de sujeto:
a. Yo no lo vi, 6l estaba en Massachusetts, acababa de llegar, pero
muy probable para el domingo pasado, que fue Dia de las Madres
alli, 61 estaba en Nueva York. El estaba donde Eugenia, y yo creo
que l6 se va a quedar alib (Toribio, 2000).
b. Nosotros a veces nos descuidamos, salvo que no sea para un
discurso, como por ejemplo una entrevista. En eso nosotros nos
descuidamos much, los dominicanos especificamente (Toribio,
2000).

(2) Ello expletive:
a. Ello lueve (Cabrera-Puche, 2008).
b. Ello hay pan en la mesa (Cabrera-Puche, 2008).

(3) No inversi6n del sujeto en preguntas qu-:
a. iC6mo tu te llamas?
b. D6nde t- vives?

(4) Infinitivo con sujeto patente:
a. Para td poder legar a mi casa, tienes que tomar la salida cinco del
expreso.
b. Sin yo saber nada, mi esposa compr6 un coche nuevo.

(5) td + infinitivo:
a. de t6 eso que yo ta nombri (Cabrera, 1983; cf. Lipski, 1987).
b. 6 mimo dici ti ta ole (Cabrera, 1983; cf. Lispki, 1987).

Estos fen6menos gramaticales han llamado la atenci6n de algunos
lingiiistas. Por ejemplo, para el espafol puertorriquefio los usos redundantes de
pronombres de sujeto han sido explicados principalmente como resultado del
contact lingiifstico con el ingl6s que, junto con el espafiol, constitute lengua

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

de instrucci6n en Puerto Rico. Gila Gaya (1965) sefiala ademis que el espafiol
puertorriquefio se encuentra en un estado alarmante como consecuencia
del contact con el ingl6s. Otros estudiosos son mas cautelosos, en cambio,
y cuestionan la supuesta influencia del ingl6s en el espafiol puertorriquefio
(L6pez Morales 1992; Morales 1980, 1982, 1986, 1989).
Entre los otros fen6menos que se asocian al contact con el ingl6s en la
isoglosa puertorriquefia, y en zonas de contact entire el espafiol y el ingl6s en
general, se encuentra el ya famoso y hartamente estudiado gerundio, y que
constitute el foco de atenci6n de esta investigaci6n. La propuesta esbozada
principalmente es que los escenarios de contact lingfiistico motivan la creaci6n
y extension de fen6menos nuevos en las lenguas. Sinchez (2002), por ejemplo,
investiga la influencia que ha tenido el ingles en el espafol hablado en Aruba,
Bonaire y Curacao (las islas ABC) donde coexisten, ademis del espafiol y el
ingl6s, el papiamento, lengua criolla de base portuguesa. En este studio se
propone que hubo un process de transferencia del -ndo espafiol al papiamento,
y que luego los usos del gerundio se extendieron a las perifrasis progresivas a
trav6s del contact con el ingl6s y su forma correspondiente -ing.
Los hallazgos de esta autora parecen apoyar la hip6tesis de que los usos
sincr6nicos del gerundio responded a process de interferencia lingfiistica.
En otras palabras, el -ndo espafiol es un morfema que favorece el cambio
lingfiistico a trav6s del contact con otras lenguas, especialmente con el ingl6s.
Esta hip6tesis ha sido probada con relative 6xito en el espafiol de Estados
Unidos (y con 6ste, el espafiol de Puerto Rico por ejemplo), segin se desprende
de los trabajos de Klein Andreu (1980), Sufier (1982), Morales (1986), entire
muchos otros.
Santa Cruz nos provee un scenario id6neo para comprobar o desmentir
la supuesta influencia lingilistica del ingl6s en la distribuci6n y usos del
gerundio espafiol. Esto porque en esa isla vive una comunidad significativa de
puertorriquefios e hijos de puertorriquefios que, segun veremos mis adelante,
mantienen el uso del espafiol. El ingl6s, ademas, es la lengua de uso en esa isla.
El objetivo de esta investigaci6n es pues determinar si en efecto los escenarios
de lenguas en contact promueven la variaci6n lingiistica y, por ende, el
cambio de lengua. La investigaci6n tiene como objetivo tambien aportar al
debate sobre los usos sincr6nicos del gerundio, tanto desde una perspective
te6rica como experimental.
Asi pues, en esta investigaci6n examinamos la distribuci6n del morfema
-ndo, especialmente las formas perifristicas (auxiliar + -ndo), en el espafiol

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

puertocrucefio y comparamos los hallazgos con el espafiol puertorriquefio en
general, desde una perspective intralingiiistica. Nuestra hip6tesis principal
es que el comportamiento gramatical del -ndo estard determinado por su
significado l1xico y aspectual (Morimoto, 2001). Segin esta hip6tesis, el
gerundio debe asociarse con estructuras dindmicas atdlicas e imperfectivas
en tanto que el -ndo denota un process, que se desarrolla en un moment
determinado, pero que carece de principio y fin establecidos. Las tres preguntas
que guian la investigaci6n son las siguientes:

iCon qu6 aspect gramatical se asociarin las perifrasis del gerundio
en el espafiol puertocrucefio?
Cual sera el aspect lxico predominante en las perifrasis de
gerundio?
Cuil es el comportamiento del gerundio en el espafiol puertocrucefio
en comparaci6n con el espafiol puertorriquefio?

El resto de la investigaci6n se divide como sigue: en la pr6xima secci6n
(Secci6n 2) discutimos la distribuci6n del -ndo en el context puertorriquefio,
y examinamos c6mo las propuestas recientes sobre los usos del gerundio no
apoyan la propuesta del contact lingiiistico como factor que incrementa los
usos del -ndo; en la tercera secci6n se discute la comunidad lingiiistica crucefia
(i.e., inmigrantes o hijos de inmigrantes puertorriquefios en Santa Cruz) y el
espafiol en Santa Cruz, es decir, el espafiol puertocrucefio. En la secci6n 4ta
se discute la muestra que integra la investigaci6n y en la 5ta se presentan los
resultados y la discusi6n.

El morfema -ndo en su context puertorriquefio

El morfema -ndo es tal vez una de las formas verbales que mayor debate
ha generado en la diacronia del espafiol, si por su utilizaci6n en el sistema
verbal tambi6n por su utilizaci6n en el discurso (Mufiio Valverde, 1995). En el
espafiol puertorriquefio los usos no normativos o no estAndares del gerundio
han sido explicados mayormente como resultado del contact lingiiistico entire
el espaiol y el ingles que existed en la Isla, como mencionamos anteriormente.
Morales (1986: 60), por ejemplo, recoge algunas estructuras que demuestran la
possible transferencia y/o interferencia del ingles en la distribuci6n del -ndo en

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

la isoglosa puertorriquefia. Estas son las lamadas estructuras anglicadas (i.e.,
el gerundio con valor adjetival y el gerundio con valor nominal):

(6) Gerundio con valor adjetival:
a. Desapareci6 la carter conteniendo dinero.
b. Desapareci6 la carter que contenia el dinero.

(7) Gerundio con valor nominal:
a. Este muchacho lo que hace es comprando las muestras.
b. Este muchacho lo que hace es comprar las muestras.

El espafiol estindar o normativo suele preferir una oraci6n de relative (6b) y
un infinitivo (7b) en lugar del gerundio en las construcciones (6a-7a). Junto a
estas innovaciones del sistema gramatical del espafiol, Vaquero (1998) recoge
otras posibilidades del gerundio en el context puertorriquefio que bien
podrian explicarse como resultado del contact lingiiistico: el gerundio con
valor puntual en el present, future y pasado:

(8) Gerundio con valor puntual en el present:
a. El avi6n esta saliendo ahora mismo para Miami.
b. El avi6n sale ahora mismo para Miami.

(9) Gerundio con valor puntual en el future:
a. El avi6n estard llegando a las 7 pm a Miami.
b. El avi6n llegari a las 7 pm a Miami.

(10) Gerundio con valor puntual en el pasado:
a. La pelicula estuvo presentindose en el cine (durante varias
semanas).
b. La pelicula se present en el cine (durante varias semanas).

Estos datos han motivado el que algunos investigadores atribuyan al con-
tacto lingiiistico la distribuci6n del morfema -ndo en el espafiol puertorri-
quefio. Para estos autores la distribuci6n de algunos usos del gerundio en el
espafiol de Puerto Rico puede explicarse como resultado del contact lingiis-
tico, es decir, factors extralingiiisticos que incident en la lengua y promueven
la variaci6n lingiiistica y, con esta, el cambio de lengua. Sin embargo, esta

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

explicaci6n genera mis problems que soluciones al studio de los usos inno-
vadores del gerundio. Primero, algunas de las estructuras anglicadas (p.e., el
gerundio con valor adjetival) se atestiguan en la diacronia del espafiol. Sobre
los usos del gerundio con valor adjetival, L6pez Morales (2004: 30) sefiala que
no hay restricci6n alguna que impida que se trate de process conocidos con
anterioridad. Segundo, algunos usos innovadores del gerundio en el espafiol
puertorriquefio no tienen necesariamente una correlaci6n con el ingl6s, esto
es, el ingl6s utilizaria otras estructuras gramaticales y no necesariamente el
correspondiente -ing. Tercero, hay usos del gerundio que bien admiten una
explicaci6n puramente lingfiistica, internal al sistema, sin tener que recurrir a
factors externos o extralingfiisticos: en (8a)-(10a) los verbos puntuales salir,
llegar y presentar han perdido su valor de puntualidad, posiblemente por un
process que lamaremos coacci6n aspectual (ver definici6n 1), y denotan un
process, un event que toma lugar o sucede, por eso la posibilidad de combi-
narse con el -ndo. (10a) recoge esta posibilidad al aparecer el gerundio junto
al SP durante varias semanas, lo que nos permit concluir que el predicado de
esa oraci6n denota un aspect iterativo, a pesar de que aparece en 6l un verbo
puntual.

Definici6n 1. Coacci6n aspectual: Operaci6n 16xica que cambia el
tipo aspectual de una pieza 16xica. Sin este cambio, la
combinaci6n resultante seria no convergente (Bosque y
Gutierrez-Rexach, 2009: 330)

Recientemente surgeon propuestas que cuestionan la supuesta influencia
lingiiistica en los usos sincr6nicos del -ndo. Clements (2003), por ejemplo,
demuestra que los usos del gerundio en espafiol como segunda lengua (L2)
de un informant chino siguen unas restricciones seminticas y aspectuales,
a saber: los usos del gerundio correspondent a estructuras dindmicas at6licas
o sin delimitaci6n o meta, y tienen un valor aspectualmente imperfectivo.
Ortiz L6pez (2004) document un comportamiento similar en una muestra
de informants haitianos que hablan el espafiol como L2, y Gonzalez-Rivera
(2009) encuentra la misma restricci6n al gerundio en una muestra del espafiol
antiguo (siglo 13 al siglo 15). Estos hallazgos parecen confirmar la hip6tesis de
Torres-Cacoullos (2000). Para esta autora el studio diacr6nico del gerundio
demuestra que el cambio linguistico del -ndo desde el espafiol antiguo
hasta nuestros dias es bdsicamente de alcance cuantitativo y no cualitativo.

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EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

Asi pues, la distribuci6n del gerundio puede explicarse a trav6s de variables
intralinguisticas, en este caso, consideraciones aspectuales, que lo determinan
(Gonzilez-Rivera, 2005). Torres-Cacoullos (2000) propone, incluso, que los
datos sincr6nicos no apoyan la hip6tesis del contact lingiistico con el ingles
como causa del incremento en la distribuci6n del gerundio:

[W]e found no evidence for an increase in the frequency of estar + -ndo in
bilingual varieties with respect to comparable monolingual Spanish. To the
contrary, frequency increases are a diachronic process, one effect of which
is the growing restriction of the simple Present to non-progressive uses,
especially in oral varieties. These findings cast doubt on the notion that
increased frequencies of estar + -ndo among bilinguals are the result of
convergence with English. (p. 24)

En otras palabras, parece que el morfema -ndo ha adquirido otras
posibilidades sintActico-semdnticas en la sincronia del espaniol que, a su
vez, nos remite a su diacronia: en el paso del latin al espafiol, la noci6n del
gerundio dio lugar a tiempos durativos, es decir, afiadi6 funciones que estaban
ausentes en el latin. Parece entonces que el gerundio espafiol mantiene un paso
acelerado hacia otros contextos gramaticales, como es el caso del gerundio con
valor habitual (genericidad) o de futuridad.
Por iltimo, los usos no normativos del gerundio aparecen en escenarios
donde el espafiol no esti en contact con el ingl6s o esti en contact con
lenguas tipol6gicamente distantes al ingl6s, como es el caso en la region andina,
entire Colombia y Ecuador, el espafiol cochambino de Bolivia, el espafiol
haitianizado en la zona oriental de Cuba, el espafiol haitianizado en la frontera
entire Repfiblica Dominicana y Haiti, y el espafiol achinado en Madrid, entire
otros posibles escenarios.

(11) El gerundio en diferentes dialectos del espafiol:
a. Espafiol en la region andina: (Nifio-Murcia, 1995)
Dame trayendo el pan.
b. Espafiol cochambino, Bolivia: (Pfdnder, 2002)
En ahi habia estado orinando y nosotros recien lUegando.
c. Espafiol haitianizado, Cuba: (Ortiz L6pez, 1999)
Yo pierdo un hermano aqui porque esta cortando cafia.

Entre dos orillos/ Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

d. Espafiol haitianizado, frontera Repdblica Dominica y Haiti: (Ortiz
L6pez, 2004)
No llevando nada, deja todo alli.
e. Espafiol achinado, Madrid: (Clements, 2003)
Ti puede ya fuera chica, trabajando.

Cuando estudiamos los datos diacr6nicos del gerundio encontramos
que el cambio lingiistico del -ndo desde el espafiol antiguo hasta hogafio es
de alcance cuantitativo. Asi, la supuesta influencia del ingl6s en el caso del
gerundio en el espafiol puertorriquefio explicaria en todo caso la frecuencia
de uso de un hecho morfosintictico, pero no la causa u origen de ese hecho.
Santa Cruz nos provee un scenario id6neo para estudiar la distribuci6n del
gerundio. A diferencia de Puerto Rico, el contact entire el ingl6s y el espafiol
es much mayor en Santa Cruz que en Puerto Rico, puesto que el ingl6s es la
lengua de uso en aquella isla, segdn planteamos en la introducci6n. Ain asi,
por ejemplo, el espafiol es la segunda lengua mds hablada en esta isla, segun se
desprende del Censo 2000. Si la propuesta del contact lingiiistico como causa
de los usos innovadores del -ndo fuera cierta, entonces los crucefios deberian
hacer un mayor uso del gerundio que sus pares en la isla de Puerto Rico.

El "puertocrucefio"

En la actualidad existe una vasta bibliografia que document various fen6menos
lingtiisticos del espafiol puertorriquefio. La mayoria de estos studios se han
acercado al habla de los habitantes del archipi6lago de Puerto Rico, mientras
otros han investigado el habla de los puertorriquefios en los Estados Unidos:
New York, Chicago, Ohio y HawAi, entire otros. Los hispanistas olvidaron
por muchos afios que muy cercano al archipidlago puertorriquefio yacia un
conjunto de islas que acogi6 a un grupo significativo de puertorriquefios
durante las d6cadas del 20 al 40 del siglo pasado, que se desplazaron a ellas por
razones socioecon6micas. Una de estas islas fue Santa Cruz, Islas Virgenes,
que result ser un lugar id6neo para muchos puertorriquefios dado a su
cercania con Vieques, isla que queda al este de Puerto Rico. La mayoria de
estos inmigrantes eran trabajadores asalariados de la caiia, hablaban la variante
diatratica de esa clase social y no dominaban el ingles, lengua de uso en Santa
Cruz. El siguiente fragmento de una de las entrevistas realizadas en Santa
Cruz refleja esa realidad social:

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

Encuestado: Mis padres son oriundos de Vieques. Ellos emigraron para esta
isla en el 1934, en busca de mejor situaci6n econ6mica. [...] En aquella 6poca
no habia las grandes facilidades que hay hoy en dia de grandes lanchas. En
aquella 6poca (la gente) tenia que venir en barcos de vela. Habia un senior
puertorriquefio que 61 era de Culebra, que tenia un barco, [...] tenia un barco
bastante grande, transportaba tanto pasajeros como animals de aqui para alli
y de alli para ac. [...] Ese senior transport muchisima familiar de Vieques
para Santa Cruz.

El poco interns hacia la comunidad crucefia result mds asombroso adn, si
tomamos en cuenta que en Santa Cruz vive una cantidad de puertorriquefios
e hijos de puertorriquefios, quienes han mantenido el espafiol a trav6s de los
afios. Con excepci6n de Simounet (1990,1993, 1999 y 2005), no encontramos
muchos studios sobre el espafiol puertocrucefio o, lo que es lo mismo, del
espafiol que hablan los Porto-Crucians (Simounet, comunicaci6n personal).
Simounet (1999) ha demostrado que esta comunidad mantiene el espafiol
como un rasgo de identidad, de apego a un aspect cultural que posiblemente
los defina como individuos y los diferencie de otros grupos migratorios que
conviven en Santa Cruz. Con este panorama es necesario entonces que se
realicen studios lingiisticos sobre el habla de los crucefios, y se compare los
hallazgos con el espafiol que se habla en Puerto Rico, asi como en zonas donde
han emigrado otros puertorriquefios. Ademis de Gonzalez Rivera (2005) y
Morales Reyes (2007), no encontramos muchos trabajos que analicen desde
una perspective lingiiistica y formal el habla de los crucefios (i.e., el espafiol
puertocrucefio).
La situaci6n digl6sica (ingl6s/espafiol) en Santa Cruz, por otro lado,
hace de esta isoglosa un lugar id6neo para llevar a cabo investigaciones que
midan los efectos de las variables sociales o extralingiiisticas y las variables
internal o intralingiiisticas en el cambio linguistico. En otras palabras, a trav6s
del studio del espafiol puertocrucefio podemos indagar sobre las variables
que promueven la variaci6n lingiiistica y, por ende, el cambio de lengua, y
atribuir a cierta variable lingiiistica o extralingiiistica determinado fen6meno
gramatical. Esto nos permit a su vez lograr superar la traditional dicotomia
de factors externos e internos al process de cambio lingiiistico en los usos
no normativos o no estindares del espafiol (Pftnder, 2002). En la secci6n que
sigue discutimos los datos y la muestra del present studio.

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

Metodologia

Los datos para esta investigaci6n fueron recogidos en Santa Cruz durante los
afios 2002 al 2004, mayormente en el subdistrito de Christiansted. Ali pudimos
obtener mediante la observaci6n, las conversaciones y las entrevistas grabadas,
informaci6n muy valiosa de la comunidad lingiistica crucefia. Para motives
de esta investigaci6n un total de diez encuestados integran la muestra. Los
datos recogidos siguieron el modelo de la entrevista sociolingfiistica (Labov,
1994), segln la cual pudimos conseguir datos products de conversaciones
espontdneas y semiespontineas en contextos naturales de uso de la lengua:
oficinas, calls, negocios de servicios, etc. Por dltimo, los encuestados fueron
seleccionados siguiendo el modelo de muestreo intencionado.
Las variables principles de selecci6n son: bilingiiismo, lugar de residencia
y generaci6n de inmigrante. Cada encuestado debia tener una competencia
bilingdie tanto en espafiol como ingl6s, haber residido en Santa Cruz al menos
diez afios previous al studio y pertenecer a la primera, segunda o tercera
generaci6n de inmigrantes puertorriquefios. La tabla 1 en la pr6xima pigina
recoge informaci6n muy general (p.e., edad, g6nero, competencia linguiistica,
etc.) sobre los participants encuestados.
Los encuestados seleccionados fueron sometidos posteriormente a
entrevistas de alrededor de veinte a cuarenta minutes, y se utiliz6 una cinta
magnetof6nica portitil para grabar las mismas. Los participants supieron en
todo moment que eran grabados y el motive de la investigaci6n. A trav6s de
las entrevistas obtuvimos un total de 6,744 formas verbales, de las cuales 295 (6
el 4.4%) aparecieron en ndo. De estas formas, se analizan 220 en este studio,
las que correspondent a las perifrasis verbales en gerundio. Por iltimo, los datos
obtenidos son sometidos al program estadistico de tabulaci6n cruzada SPSS.
Las variables lingiiisticas examinadas son el aspect gramatical y el aspect
l6xico. Estas variables se correlacionan a su vez con el verbo auxiliar de la
perifrasis de gerundio.

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

Tabla 1: Informaci6n general sobre los informants de Santa Cruz
Participante Edad Genero Nacimiento Residencia Generacion Competencia
(inmigraci6n) Lingbistica
01 65 Masculino Santa Cruz Santa Cruz 2da Bilingue
02 45 Femenino Puerto Rico ... lera
03 22 Femenino Santa Cruz ... 3era ...
04 45 Femenino Santa Cruz ... 2da ...
05 47 Femenino Santa Cruz ... 2da
06 46 Femenino Santa Cruz ... 2da
07 45 Masculino Santa Cruz ... lera
08 69 Masculino Puerto Rico ... 2da ...
09 67 Masculino Puerto Rico ... lera ...
10 65 Femenino Puerto Rico ... lera ...

Los datos del puertocrucefio son comparados con el espafiol de Puerto
Rico. Para esto utilizamos una muestra de la Norma Popular en la Zona
Metropolitan de San Juan, asi como de ElHabla Culta de la GeneracidnJoven de
San Juan, Puerto Rico. Los resultados del studio se presentan a continuaci6n.

Resultados y Discusi6n

Aspecto gramatical
Segcn los datos el morfema -ndo perifrastico mantiene una correlaci6n con
el aspect imperfectivo en un 85.5% de los casos, frente a los demos aspects
gramaticales, que reflejan porcentajes much menores (Tabla 2).

Tabla 2: Aspecto gramatical del gerundio perifrastico en Santa Cruz
Imperfecto Aoristo Perfecto Prospectivo Total
188 27 4 1 220
85.5% 12.3% 2 .2 100%

En este sentido las perifrasis de gerundio en el espafiol puertocrucefio
denotan predicados que no hacen menci6n necesariamente ni del inicio ni
del final del event descrito por el predicado verbal. Los ejemplos siguientes
recogen esta propiedad:

(12) Gerundio imperfectivo
a. Han perdido las tradiciones y las siguen perdiendo. (02)
b. Porque esta muchacha iba caminando. (06)
c. Estoy cogiendo classes aqui, en este edificio. (07)

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MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

En los ejemplos en (12) no podemos saber cuindo se original el event de
perder, caminar y coger, ni tampoco sabemos si el event ha acabado; esto es,
puede ser el caso que las tradiciones en Santa Cruz se sigan perdiendo (12a), la
muchacha siga caminando (12b), o la persona siga cogiendo classes en el mismo
edificio (12c). En ese sentido, solamente se ha afirmado una fase internal de la
situaci6n y no la situaci6n en su totalidad.
Por otro lado, cuando examinamos el aspect aoristo, es decir, aquel que
sefiala el final del event descrito por el predicado verbal, hallamos un dato
muy interesante, a saber: un 63% de los casos ocurre con el auxiliar ir y otro
26% con el auxiliar seguir, estar muestra solamente el 11% de los casos.

(13) Gerundio aoristo
a. El sigui6 estudiando como todo el mundo aqui. (05)
b. La agriculture fue decayendo. (08)
c. No se escuchaba nada, estuvieron lamindole por el Intercom. (09)

En Gonzalez-Rivera (2005) se argument que los informants prefieren
los usos del auxiliar ir en construcciones de gerundio con valor aoristo porque
a trav6s de este auxiliar los hablantes parecen aportar el rasgo [+durativo]
mediante un verbo auxiliar de movimiento. En un studio posterior, Gonzalez
Rivera (2009) document el mismo patron en la diacronia del espafiol: durante
los siglos 13 al 15 las perifrasis de gerundio con valor aoristo se asocian con el
auxiliar ir en un 96.4% de los casos. En este sentido el espafiol puertocrucefio
no se aparta de la tendencia del espafiol general, ya en su sincronia como en
su diacronia.
Cuando comparamos estos hallazgos con el habla puertorriquefia, segin
se desprende de El corpus del Habla Popular y de El Habla Culta de losJdvenes,
notamos que el espafiol puertocrucefio es muy similar al espafiol puertorriquefio:
en una muestra de cinco informants en ambos corpus hay una tendencia a
favorecer el aspect imperfectivo en perifrasis de gerundio en un 89.3% de
los casos (Tabla 3). Asi pues, tanto en Santa Cruz como en Puerto Rico los
hablantes favorecen las perifrasis del gerundio con valor imperfectivo.

Tabla 3: Aspecto gramatical del gerundio perifrastico en Puerto Rico
Imperfecto Aoristo Perfecto Prospectivo Total
274 19 7 7 307
89.3% 6.2% 2.25 2.25 100%

SARGASSO 2009-10, II

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

Estos hallazgos nos ayudan a responder la primera pregunta de investigaci6n,
a saber:

,Con qud aspect gramatical se asociarin las perifrasis de gerundio en
el espafiol puertocrucefio?

Los datos nos indican que en el espafiol puertocrucefio las perifrasis de
gerundio tienen un valor aspectual imperfectivo, esto es, sin delimitaci6n o fin.
Ain mds, los datos nos permiten concluir que la distribuci6n del gerundio esti
condicionada por condiciones aspectuales, como el aspect gramatical y, segin
veremos en el apartado pr6ximo, tambidn el aspect l6xico.

Aspecto k2xico

En el espafiol puertocrucefio las construcciones perifrdsticas en gerundio
denotan predicados dinimicos en un 88% de los casos (Tabla 4), y en su
mayoria, estos predicados son at6licos (53.2%), es decir, carecen de un fin.

Tabla 4: Aspecto 16xico del gerundio perifrastico en Santa Cruz
Dinrmico Estativo Total
193 27 220
88% 12% 100%

Estos predicados denotan una proposici6n que ocurre efectivamente
y, mientras ocurre, cambia o progress en el tiempo. Ademds, los predicados
dinimicos tienen duraci6n limitada, reflejan acciones externas y requieren de
un acto de voluntad (Binnick, 1991); y suelen diferenciarse de los predicados
estativos o de estado que expresan un dnico, y s61o uno, estado que no cambia,
es decir, persiste (e.g., ser, estar, quedarse, tener, etc.). Miguel (1999: 3012)
define los predicados de estado de la siguiente manera:

Un estado es un event que no ocurre sino que se da; y se da de forma
homog6nea en cada moment del period de tiempo a lo largo del cual se
extiende. Un estado, por tanto, esta l1xicamente incapacitado para expresar
un cambio o progress durante el period de tiempo en el que se da; puesto
que no avanza, no puede dirigirse hacia un limited ni alcanzarlo. Se limit
a mantenerse durante un period de tiempo (en cada moment de 61), de
forma que es inherentemente no delimitado y durativo: continue.

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

No nos debe sorprender entonces que los datos de Santa Cruz reflejen que
el gerundio perifr.stico se usa mayormente con predicados dinimicos -i.e., los
predicados dinamicos son totalmente compatibles con el -ndo, mientras que
los de estado, en principio, no permiten la morfologia del gerundio. Algunos
ejemplos se presentan a continuaci6n:

(14) Gerundio con predicados dinimicos
a. Y estoyluchando con l6. (03)
b. Se fueron para el NAVY seg6n iban saliendo de la escuela. (09)
c. Yo creo que hemos pagado un precio alto y seguimos pagando un
precio alto. (10)

No obstante, a pesar de que se ha propuesto que el -ndo es incompatible
con la morfologia del gerundio, esta aseveraci6n no es del todo cierta. Asi pues,
hay predicados de estado que atraviesan por un process de coacci6n aspectual
(Definici6n 1) y, por tanto, se desestetavizan, y en lugar de denotar un estado
reflejan una actividad. Tal es el caso de los verbos estativos de percepci6n
sensible como ver, oir, asi como los verbos estativos de conocimiento como
pensar. Estos verbos que podemos Ulamar verbos de percepci6n inerte tienen
un 44.4% de los casos en los datos de Santa Cruz. Algunos ejemplos son:

(15) Gerundio con predicados estativos
a. En el 1987 me salf porque no me gustaba lo que estaba viendo.
(02)
b. Ya estaba sintiendo algo, como que estaba buscando algo que no
encontraba. (04)
c. Y cuando regres6 de allU siempre estoy aiiorando. (10)

Algunos investigadores autores como Cort6s-Torres (2005) denominan
estos verbos como verbos de actividad mental. Asi, los verbos de percepci6n
inerte imponen pocas restricciones al -ndo, es decir, pueden ser coaccionados
aspectualmente para que denoten una propiedad de la que en un principio
carecen. De este modo dejan de denotar un estado y mds bien pasan a denotar
una actividad. Este process no s61o ha sido documentado en Gonzalez Rivera
(2005), sino tambien en hablantes del espafiol de Nuevo M6xico (Torres-
Cacoullos, 2000), en el habla misma de los puertorriquefios (Cort6s-Torres,
2005), y en la diacronia del espafiol (Gonzalez Rivera, 2009). Podemos concluir

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

que la morfologia del gerundio puede ser usada para desestativizar los verbos
de estado (Bertinetto, 2004). Ain asi, la frecuencia de perifrasis de gerundio
con verbos de estados es muy limitada, segfin se desprende de los datos. A
prop6sito, nos recuerda Torres-Cacoullos (2000: 212-213):

The relevance of the state versus dynamic situation distinction for Spanish
has been questioned by King and Sufier (1980a), who present numerous
examples of estar + -ndo with main verbs classified elsewhere as statives.
However, while estar-plus-stative combinations need not be starred as
ungrammatical, there are frequency restrictions on their use. (cf. Giv6n,
1979:22-43)

En cuanto a los datos del espafiol puertorriquefio, los encuestados prefieren
tambi6n los predicados dinimicos en construcciones perifrAsticas con -ndo
(81%) (Tabla 5).

Tabla 5: Aspecto 6lxico del gerundio perifrastico en Puerto Rico
Dinamico Estativo Total
248 59 307
81% 19% 100%

Esto nos permit concluir que el -ndo es un morfema dinimico. Esta
conclusion ha sido documentada tambi6n en la diacronia del espafiol: en los
datos diacr6nicos (siglos 13 al 15) que examine Gonzilez Rivera (2009), un
89.3% de las perifrasis de gerundio correspondent a predicados dinimicos.
Estos hallazgos nos permiten responder la segunda pregunta de investigaci6n,
a saber:

,Cual sera el aspect l6xico predominante en las perifrasis de gerundio?

Seguin los datos, el aspect l6xico predominante en las perifrasis de
gerundio es el dinimico y, mayormente, con predicados at6licos. Estos hallazgos
y los de la secci6n anterior nos permiten responder la tercera pregunta de
investigaci6n:

,Cual es el comportamiento del gerundio en el espafiol puertocrucefio
en comparaci6n con el espafiol puertorriquefio?

Los datos sostienen que entire el espafiol puertorriquefio y el espafiol
puertocrucefio no hay casi diferencia en relaci6n al aspect gramatical y lxico.
Esto apoya la hip6tesis de que el aspect determine o restringe la distribuci6n

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

del gerundio y rechaza la idea de que los usos no innovadores o no estindares
del -ndo en situaciones de contact responded a process de transferencia y/o
convergencia lingtiistica. En otras palabras, las variables intralingiiisticas, y
no las extralingiiisticas, parecen ser las responsables del cambio lingiiistico.
Con esto no decimos que las variables extralingiiisticas no desempefien un
papel important como agent de cambio lingiistico, sino que las variables
lingiiisticas desempefian un rol mIs important en las lenguas naturales. Esta
propuesta es compatible con la teoria sociolingiiistica donde se sostiene que
determinadas condiciones deben ser satisfechas antes que los investigadores
leguen a la conclusion de que las variables externas son responsables del cambio
lingiiistico (Thomason 2003). Thomason (2003, p. 108) propone ademis un
conjunto de condiciones que deben satisfacerse para que una explicaci6n del
cambio lingiistico como consecuencia de factors externos a la lengua pueda
justificarse:
[I]t has to be shown that the language in question has in fact changed, i.e. that
the proposed interference feature is an innovation; a source language for the
interference feature must be identified in a language that both has the relevant
feature (or some other feature from which the relevant feature can reasonably
be supposed to have derived) and can be shown to have been in contact with
the proposed receiving language; it has to be shown that the proposed source
language had the feature before the period of contact; and, to be fully convincing,
the claim should be supported by solid evidence of other interference features
from the same source language.

En resume, los datos de Santa Cruz y de Puerto Rico sostienen la
hip6tesis de que el morfema -ndo es un morfema dinimico y, como tal, aparece
con predicados dinimicos, en su mayoria, de actividad, es decir, atelicos y
durativos. Este hallazgo, mis que ser una conclusion en si misma, debe ser
una hip6tesis que nos permit examiner con mayor detenimiento los usos y las
interpretaciones del morfema -ndo en Santa Cruz, asi como el paradigma del
sistema verbal en general. Estas reflexiones sincr6nicas sobre el morfema -ndo
nos deben servir asimismo como eje de comparaci6n con otras propuestas que
surgeon en escenarios de contact lingiifstico: por ejemplo, el espafiol andino
de Ecuador, el espafiol cochambino de Colombia y el espafiol en los Estados
Unidos; como tambi6n en escenarios de adquisici6n del espafiol como primera
o segunda lengua (L1 o L2): el espafiol achinado que describe Clements (2003)
y el espafiol haitianizado (Ortiz 1999, 2004), entire otros posibles escenarios.

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

EL ESPANOL DE PUERTO RICO EN SU CONTEXT CRUCENO: EL CASO DEL MORFEMA -NDO

Conclusion

En este trabajo hemos echado una mirada a los usos que hacen del morfema
-ndo en construcciones perifristicas los hablantes crucefios, esto es, los puerto-
rriquefios e hijos de puertorriquefios que resident en Santa Cruz, Islas Virgenes
estadounidenses. Los datos examinados nos permiten concluir que el morfema
-ndo perifrdstico tiene un valor aspectual imperfectivo y se construye mayor-
mente con predicados de actividad, es decir, atdlicos y durativos. En cuanto a
los verbos estativos en -ndo hemos sefialado que para que un predicado estativo
aparezca con la morfologia del gerundio es necesario coaccionar tal predicado
para que 6ste denote una eventualidad dindmica. El trabajo ha tenido como
objetivo motivar un analisis lingiistico interno, propio al sistema gramatical
del espafiol, que pueda explicar la distribuci6n de un objeto sintcctico dentro
de una secuencia oracional. En este sentido la investigaci6n se opone a los
trabajos de otros investigadores que intentan explicar los usos sincr6nicos del
-ndo como resultado del contact lingiiistico, esto es, de variables externas al
sistema que promueven la variaci6n y, por ende, el cambio de lenguas. Cree-
mos que, como paso previo, debemos agotar todas las posibilidades internal
que los sistemas gramaticales puedan darnos para luego, si es necesario, exami-
nar causes extralingitisticas. Como mencionamos anteriormente, Santa Cruz
es un lugar id6neo para llevar a cabo investigaciones lingiifsticas de este tipo
por la situaci6n digl6sica ingl6s/espafiol que present.
Asimismo, Santa Cruz nos provee un context apropiado para investigar
el espafiol, no solamente porque en esta isla vive una comunidad significativa
de puertorriquefios e hijos de puertorriquefios (i.e., el puertocrucefio), sino
porque en los iltimos afios ha emigrado un grupo considerable de domini-
canos a esa isla, segin se desprende del siguiente fragmento de una de las
entrevistas: Encuestado: Del sesenta en adelante fue que empezaron a 11egar
los dominicanos aquf.
Estudiar esta comunidad dominicana nos permitird saber si ese grupo 6tnico
mantiene y usa el espafiol en Santa Cruz, y si preserve propiedades gramatica-
les del espafiol dominicano (e.g., el expletive ello). Ademis, nos puede ayudar a
comparar este dialecto con el puertocrucefio y proponer si en Santa Cruz se
habla un dialecto del espafiol o, en cambio, various dialectos que preservan de
una forma u otra el sistema gramatical del dialecto de origen. El espafiol del
Caribe no estari complete hasta que podamos describir y explicar los fen6menos
lingfiisticos por los que esta atravesando el espafiol en Santa Cruz.

Entre dos orillos/ Between Two Shores

MELVIN GONZALEZ-RIVERA

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SARGASSO 2009-10, II

Pronombres de sujeto en Santa Cruz (y Puerto Rico):

IProcesos semanticos/pragm6ticos o influencia de L2?

Alexandra Morales Reyes
Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign

Introducci6n

Un hablante bilingiie es aquel que tiene conocimiento de dos lenguas, por
ejemplo espafiol e ingl6s. La situaci6n en la cual los hablantes se convier-
ten bilingiies puede variar. Generalmente, se han identificado dos situaciones en
las que se pueden adquirir ambas lenguas. La situaci6n en la cual un nifio aprende
dos lenguas desde la primera infancia se conoce como bilingiiismo simultdneo. Por
el contrario, la situaci6n en la cual el hablante ha adquirido su primera lengua (L1)
en el hogar y comienza a adquirir la segunda alrededor de la pubertad se le conoce
como bilingiiismo secuencial. Ambos tipos de bilingiies mostrarin distintos grades
de competencia en cada una de las lenguas.
El grado de competencia que tendri el hablante en las respectivas len-
guas se deberd en gran parte a la situaci6n en la cual el hablante las adquiri6.
Por ejemplo, a diferencia de los bilingiies secuenciales, comfinmente, los nifios
que aprenden la segunda lengua (L2) a una edad temprana, ya de adults
propenderdn a hacer de esta su lengua dominant, y a la misma vez perderin
competencia en la lengua de su familiar (L1). Este es el caso de los nifios de
inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos. Los nifios de padres hispanohablantes
comfnmente vuelven al ingl6s su lengua dominant, aunque en el hogar hayan
sido expuestos al espafiol. En la literature se les conoce a estos hablantes con el
t6rmino ingl6s heritage speakers. Un heritage speaker de espafiol se define como
aquel hablante que crece hablando o escuchando espafiol, pero quien luego
hace del ingl6s su lengua dominant y como consecuencia su primera lengua se
desgasta. Es decir, pierde conocimiento de la lengua que aprendi6 en el hogar.
Este desgaste tiende a ocurrir en aquellas areas mis susceptibles o vulnerable
de la gramdtica del hablante, como lo son la semintica y la pragmitica. Ade-

Entre dos orillos / Between Two Shores

ALEXANDRA MORALES REYES

mis, estos hablantes tienden a generalizar reglas que en la norma monolinglie
son mas restrictivas (Sorace, 2005). Los bilingiies secuenciales, por otra parte,
son hablantes bilingiies en los cuales la competencia de su L1 se mantiene
relativamente stable.
Como mencionamos anteriormente este fen6meno lingiistico ocurre co-
mdnmente entire las comunidades de inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos. Pero,
podemos asimismo encontrar situaciones similares en otros escenarios. La Isla
de Santa Cruz, donde el ingl6s es la lengua mayoritaria, es ejemplo de ello.
Aunque desconocido por muchos, en la Isla existe una comunidad de puerto-
rriquefios, que al igual que la comunidad en los Estados Unidos, inmigr6 en
busca de mejoras econ6micas. Sobre esta comunidad los studios ling(ifsticos
son minimos.
Habiendo dicho lo anterior, es del interns de esta investigaci6n estudiar la
competencia lingiiistica de los puertorriquefios o descendientes de puertorri-
quefios que viven en la Isla de Santa Cruz. Con este fin analizamos la distri-
buci6n de los pronombres de tercera persona del espafiol y su correlaci6n con
el referente, asi como su uso en tres distintos grupos ling(iisticos: monolingiies,
bilingiies y heritage speakers.
El articulo esti organizado de la siguiente manera: Primero, se describe
el fen6meno lingfiistico de interns. Luego, se present la metodologia seguida
en el studio y se described los resultados. Finalmente, en las iltimas dos sec-
ciones se incluyen la discusi6n y las conclusions asi como algunas sugerencias
para studios futures.

El uso de los pronombres en los hablantes de Santa Cruz

El espafiol, al igual que otras lenguas romances (e.g., italiano), permit omitir
los pronombres personales de sujeto (PPSs), sin embargo este principio no
es categ6rico. La presencia/ausencia de los PPSs esta condicionada, segin la
investigaci6n hasta el present (en monolingiies: Bentivoglio, 1987; Came-
ron, 1992; Enriquez, 1984; Hochberg, 1986; Hurtado, 2005; Morales, 1996;
en bilingfies: Morales, 1986, 2000; Silva Corvaldn, 1991, 1996, 2001; Avila,
1995; Flores-Ferrdn, 2005, Otheguey, 2005) por variables lingifisticas (e.g.,
contrast, t6pico, focus, etc.) y extralingiifsticas (e.g., dominio lingiistico).
Otras lenguas como el ingl6s, el frances y los criollos, en cambio, no permiten
omitir los PPSs. En estas lenguas el pardmetro del pronombre present es fijo
o categ6rico. Ahora bien, parece ser que en aquellas lenguas que permiten la

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

PRONOMBRES DE SUJETO EN SANTA CRUZ (Y PUERTO RICO)

omisi6n de los PPSs hay otras complejidades internal propias de los PPSs
que no han sido investigadas. Este es el caso de los PPSs de tercera persona.
De estos, se ha dicho que son mis vulnerable a la elisi6n que los de primera
persona (e.g., yo).
El uso de los PPSs de tercera persona (61/ella, ellos/as) manifiesta un com-
portamiento variable en los hablantes que va desde la presencia como en (la-
b) hasta la omisi6n, representado por el simbolo 0, como en (Ic-d):

(1) a. Ella tiene en su pronunciaci6n el dejo de nosotros de espafiol pero ella
tiene el cruzan ese ella lo habla.
b. Yo diria que ellos nada mis cogen cuando legan a un noveno grado,
octavo, noveno pues ellos se creen que tienen...
c. Trabajaba en correo y 0 tenia mis joven que yo seis afios.
d. A veces 0 se cohiben, no s6, 0 tendrin miedo 0 piensan que no 0
deben hablar ingl1s.

Los PPSs de tercera persona se distinguen de las demis personas (e.g.,
pa y 2da persona) en que 6stos tienen la capacidad de retomar los rasgos de un
element nominal o referente present en el context discursivo (Fernindez
Soriano, 1989). Este referente puede ser [+ definido] (3a) o [-definido] (3b).

(3) a. Mi esposo1 entiende y cuando veo que no entiende. se lo digo en ingl6s,
61 entiende bastante, que no lo hablei es otra cosa pero 61 entiende bas-
tante.
b. Yo he visto toda esta gentei en Estados Unidos las protests que estini
haciendo.

La pregunta que surge de lo anteriormente expuesto es: si esta compleji-
dad sintictica/semintica (presencia/ausencia; referente [+/- definido]) de los
PPSs de tercera persona en espafiol es o no vulnerable en hablantes inmersos
en la segunda lengua, como por ejemplo los bilingiies y heritage speakers en la
isla de Santa Cruz.
Tomando en cuenta lo previamente expuesto, predigo que los heritage
speakers, y en menor grado los bilingiies, aplicardn las reglas sintdctico-semin-
ticas relacionadas con los pronombres de tercera persona de manera distinta
a los monolingiies. Las diferencias se reflejarnn en la elecci6n presencia/au-

1 Indica que los verbos o pronombres hacen referencia a un mismo sujeto.

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

ALEXANDRA MORALES REYES

sencia de los PPSs segiin sea el rasgo del referente. El rasgo [+/-definido] del
referente se volveri menos restrictive y, como consecuencia, la regla que rige
la relaci6n entire el pronombre y el referente se generalizard en los heritage
speakers. En el caso de los monolingiies, esta regla sintictico-semintica seri
mis restrictive.

Metodologia del studio

En este studio participaron catorce sujetos: nueve bilingiies de los cuales, cua-
tro fueron clasificados como biling(ies y cinco como heritage speakers. Ademis
se incluy6 una muestra control de cinco sujetos monolingiies residents en
Puerto Rico (Cuadro 1):

Cuadro 1: Distribuci6n de la muestra
Grupo linguistico G6nero Total
Heritage speakers (2)M (3)F 5
Bilingie (1)M (3)F 4
Monolingle (4)M (1)F 5
Total (7)M (7)F 14

La muestra foco se dividi6 en dos grupos, segin su competencia lingiiis-
tica: heritage speakers y bilingiies residents en la Isla de Santa Cruz y descen-
dientes de puertorriquefios. Para la selecci6n de los heritage speakers, se siguie-
ron las siguientes caracteristica sociolingiiisticas: L1 (espafiol) generaci6n (de
la segunda o tercera generaci6n); contact lingiiistico (reducido contact o
exposici6n al espafiol en comparaci6n con los monolingiies); aprendizaje del
ingl6s a temprana edad, ya sea en el hogar mediante sus padres, o median-
te ensefianza formal en la escuela. Los bilingiies, en cambio, pertenecen a la
primera generaci6n o segunda con contact intense con el espafiol, mediante
studios formales en Puerto Rico o a trav6s de viajes frecuentes a Puerto Rico.
Los monolinguies, el grupo control, lo constituyen residents en Puerto Rico.
Este grupo forma parte de la muestra del Proyecto para el Estudio Sociolin-
gaiistico del Espafiol de Espafia y Amdrica (PRESEEA)2, correspondiente a la
Zona Metropolitana de San Juan de Puerto Rico.

2 La finalidad del Proyecto PRESEEA es levantar un corpus que sea ltil para la realiza-
ci6n de investigaciones sociolingiisticas comparativas del espafiol de Iberoam6rica y de la
Peninsula Ib6rica agradezco al professor Luis A. Ortiz por facilitarnos los datos.

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

PRONOMBRES DE SUJETO EN SANTA CRUZ (Y PUERTO Rico)

La muestra de este studio no pretend ser estadisticamente representa-
tiva. Limit la misma a cinco o cuatro sujetos por grupo linguifstico, o casillas,
para un total de catorce (14) sujetos. Los sujetos fueron seleccionados a base
de las caracteristicas sociol6gicas que se buscaban y de la disponibilidad de
6stos para ser entrevistados. Por lo tanto, no apliqu6 ningun m6todo riguroso
en selecci6n de la muestra.

Instrumento y tipo de analisis

Estos sujetos fueron grabados in situ durante dos visits a la Isla en verano
de 2006 y en abril de 2007. Las entrevistas siguieron el modelo de Labov
mediante el cual se procur6 el habla espontinea, aunque se hizo uso de unas
preguntas guias, en torno a temas especificos: la comunidad puertorriquefia en
la Isla, el uso del espafiol en la Isla, la cultural, entire otros. Las entrevistas se
transliteraron, luego se identificaron todas las formas personales del verbo y los
pronombres de tercera persona ed/ella, ellos/as. Estas formas fueron codificadas
y sometidas al analisis de tabulaci6n cruzada que permitiera responder a las
preguntas del studio. Este andlisis produjo los siguientes datos.

Resultados

El corpus analizado para este trabajo cont6 con un total de 733 verbos de ter-
cera persona: 302 (41%) del singular y 431 (57%) del plural. De las 733 formas
verbales, 176 correspondieron a los pronombres e/ella o ellos/as presents y los
restantes 557 aparecieron con la forma pronominal omitida (Cuadro 2). Es
evidence que ambos pronombres prefieren la omisi6n, sin embargo el pronom-
bre de tercera persona singular tiende a omitirse con menos frecuencia (63%)
que el pronombre de tercera persona plural, cuya omisi6n es mds contundente
(85%).

Cuadro 2: Presencia vs. omisi6n del PPS de tercera persona
Pronombre Presencia Omisi6n
N % N %
l6/ella 112 37% 190 63%
ellos/as 64 15% 367 85%
176 24% 557 76%

Entre dos orillas / Between Two Shores

ALEXANDRA MORALES REYES

Al examiner la distribuci6n de los PPSs de tercera persona, en los grupos
lingfiisticos (Cuadro 3), se descubri6 que tanto los heritage speakers como los
bilingfies utilizaron el pronombre ellos/as con mayor frecuencia que el pro-
nombre l/ella, 40% frente a 60% y 30% frente a 70% respectivamente. Los
monolingiies utilizaron ambos pronombres dl/ella y ellos/as casi con la misma
frecuencia (52% frente a 48%).

Cuadro 3: Distribuci6n de los pronombres de tercera persona, segin el grupo linguistico
Grupo ling0istico Pronombres
6l/ella ellos/as
N % N %
Heritage speakers 86 40% 129 60%
Bilingie 75 30% 173 70%
Monolingue 141 52% 129 48%
302 41% 431 57%

Variable lingiiistica

Cada uno de estos pronombres, present u omitido, tiene un referente. Este
referente puede ser [+/- definido], como vimos en (3a-b), ademds de poseer
otros rasgos no considerados para este trabajo. De igual forma en la investiga-
ci6n no se tom6 en cuenta la distancia entire el referente y el pronombre (e.g.,
nimero de oraciones entire el PPS y el referente) o su posici6n (e.g., anaf6rico
vs. cataf6rico).

400
350
I 300 I +definido M-definido
S250
200
150
z 100
50
0 ]
61/ella ellos/as

Tipo de pronombre
Figura 1: Frecuencia de los pronombres de tercera persona, segin el referente

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

PRONOMBRES DE SUJETO EN SANTA CRUZ (Y PUERTO RiCO)

La Figura 1 muestra que los pronombres e/ella tienen en su mayoria (80%)
un referente [+definido], mientras que los pronombres ellos/as s61o aparecen
con un 20% de casos [+definidos]. Es decir, estamos ante un comportamiento
opuesto: la pluralidad del pronombre ellos/as implica, casi siempre, una inter-
pretaci6n [-definida], frente a la forma singular il/ella, cuya interpretaci6n se
inclina hacia el rasgo [+definido].
De estos hallazgos surge la siguiente pregunta: qu6 relaci6n existe, si al-
guna, entire la presencia u omisi6n del pronombre y el tipo de referente? Para
responder a esta pregunta examine los valores semdnticos [+/- definido] del
referente y la presencia de los pronombres elella y ellos/as. Las Figuras 2 y 3
nos dan la respuesta.

120
1 Oo present ausente
a,
0 60
E 40
20

+definido -definido
Tipo de referente

Figura 2: Frecuencia de los pronombres de tercera persona singular (l1/ella), segon el refe-
rente

Del total de casos donde la forma singular tiene un referente [+definido],
el pronombre el/ella esti present (4a) en el 48% de los casos y omitido (4b)
en el 51%. No asi con el referente [-definido] donde s61o el 10% esta present
(5a) y el 90% omitido (5b).

(4) a. Mi hijai que va a cumplir treinta y siete ellai, mis porque precisamen-
te ahora ellai esta trabajando como consejera bilingiie en Carolina del
Norte y ellai esti orgullosisima.
b Mi amigai tiene diecisiete afios aquf pero y 0O trabaj6 tambi6n aqui en
un colegio.

Entre dos orillos / Between Two Shores

ALEXANDRA MORALES REYES

(5) a. Me pusieron a trabajar con una muchachai que se suponia que ellai me
ensefiara el trabajo.
b un muchacho hoy en dia 0i se le va de la casa y 0i no vuelve porque Oi
tiene pa' donde coger.

Im
N Ia present ausente

In
II
O Il

*-
2 IN

II

Tipo de referente

Figura 3: Presencia u omisi6n de los pronombres de tercera persona plural (ellos/as), segin
el referente

Por su parte, cuando la forma plural tiene un referente [+definido], el pronom-
bre ellos/as esti present (6a) en el 36% de los casos y en el 64% (6b) omitido.
En cambio con un referente [-definido] el pronombre esti present (7b) en el
12% de los casos y omitido (7b) en el 88%.

(6) a. Mispadresi cuando llegaron aqui es mis estamos en el hogar donde ellosi
venian en lancha.
b. [referente: papd y mamdr] 0i me dejaban pasar unas pocas cosas pero
nada cuando habia que darme 0i me lo daban.

(7) a. [referente: muchospuertorriquenosi] Yo dirfa que ellosi nada mis cogen
cuando llegan a un noveno grado, octavo, noveno pues ellosi se creen
que tienen...
b [referente: elpor ciento de muchachas que salen encintai] por lo menos 0i
estudian, 0i tratan de graduarse de escuela superior que por lo menos
ya 0i estan preparadas.

SARGASSO 2009-10, 11

PRONOMBRES DE SUJETO EN SANTA CRUZ (Y PUERTO RICO)

En fin, los datos revelan que el pronombre ellos/as tiene una marcada ten-
dencia a la omisi6n (85% vs. 15%) frente al pronombre e/ella, (Figura 3), cuya
diferencia no es tan significativa (63% vs. 37%). Los pronombres presents
tanto los de tercera persona singular como los de plural, por su parte, tienen
preferencia por los referentes [+definidos]. Mientras que los pronombres omi-
tidos muestran tendencia a levar un referente [-definido].
Una vez establecido el comportamiento de los pronombres en relaci6n
con la variable lingiiistica y tipo de referente [+/- definido], analic6 los datos
a la luz de la variable extralingiifstica dominio lingiistico. Para ello, inclui al
anilisis tres grupos lingiisticos: heritage speakers, bilinglie y monolingtie, cuyos
datos aparecen en las Figuras del 4 al 7.

40
35 -- i+definido w-defini 0
35 [T+definido I-definite
g 30
8 25 -
-~ 20
a 15
E
z 10
5
0--
Heritage Bilinglie Monolingae
speakers
Tipo de referente

Figura 4: Presencia de los pronombres de tercera persona singular (61/ella) en los tres grupos
linguisticos, segln el referente

La Figura 4 muestra claramente que los tres grupos evidencian un com-
portamiento similar en cuanto a la presencia del PPS e/ella con referente [+de-
finido]. En otras palabras, los hablantes prefieren usar el pronombre explicit
con un referente [+definido] (heritage speakers 100%, bilinglie 88% y mono-
lingiie 88%). En cambio, la presencia del PPS e/ella con referente [-definido]
es casi inexistente en los tres grupos lingiiisticos. Entre 6stos se destacan los
heritage speakers con ausencia total.
No obstante, los tres grupos presentan comportamientos lingiiisticos dis-
tintos cuando se trata de la omisi6n del PPS, segun sea el tipo de referente
(Figura 5). La Figura 5, ilustra que los monolingiies se distancian de los heri-
tage speakers y de los bilingiies en cuanto a la omisi6n del PPS con un referente
[-definido] (64% frente a 36%), situaci6n que se invierte en el caso de los
heritage speakers (4% frente a 96%). Los bilingiies manifiestan un comporta-

Entre dos orillas/ Between Two Shores

ALEXANDRA MORALES REYES

miento intermedio frente a los dos grupos opuestos (40% frente a 60%). Es
decir, los monolingiies con un referente [-definido] prefieren omitir el PPS
mientras que los heritage speakers y bilingiies tienden a omitir el PPS con re-
ferente [+definido].

70-
60 +definido *-definido
0
CO
3 40
-0
2 30
0)
2= 20
z
10-

Heritage Bilingiie Monolinguie
speakers
Tipo de referente

Figura 5: Ausencia de los pronombres de tercera persona singular (l1/ella) en los distintos
grupos lingOisticos, segin el antecedente

En cuanto al comportamiento de los PPSs de tercera persona plural (Fi-
guras 6-7), los tres grupos lingiifsticos presentan diferencias marcadas en cuan-
to a la presencia pronominal (Figura 6). El comportamiento de los heritage
speakers se separa de los otros dos grupos (bilingfie y monolingile) al preferir de
forma mis marcada el PPS present con un referente [+definido] (63% frente
a 37%). Los bilingiies (18% frente a 82%) y monolingiies (12% frente a 88%)
prefieren utilizar el PPS explicit con referente [-definido]. En resume, los
heritage speakers muestran mayor uso del pronombre ellos/as con un referente
[+definido], mientras que los bilingiies y los monolingiies prefieren el uso ex-
plicito del PPS con un referente [-definido].

SARGASSO 2009-10,11

	Front Cover
	Half Title
	Title Page
	Table of Contents
	Issue editor's note
	Introduction
	References
	Essays
	Book reviews
	List of contributors
	Back Cover

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