•  
  •  
 

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

Abstract

The present study investigates the connection between linguistic perceptions, speaker identification, and speaker attitude and examines the attitudes of speakers of Puerto Rican Spanish towards Dominican Spanish in sociolinguistic interviews. Although both varieties are linguistically very similar (Lipski 1994), the participants report being attuned to a range of linguistic differences between their variety and Dominican Spanish, while confirming widespread stigmatization of Dominicans and Dominican Spanish on the island. Their evaluations of Dominican Spanish are positive, indicating some degree of solidarity towards speakers of other Caribbean variety speakers. It is hypothesized that reported stigmatization of Dominicans and Dominican Spanish (Duany 2005) is not a reflection of linguistic prejudice but rather an expression of socioeconomic, educational, and cultural differences.

Share

COinS