Languages
The official languages[161]
of the executive branch of government of Puerto Rico[162]
are Spanish and English, with Spanish being the primary language. Spanish is,
and has been, the only official language of the entire Commonwealth judiciary
system, even despite a 1902 English-only language law.[163]
All official business of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico is conducted in English.
Although English is one of the two official languages in Puerto Rico, it is
spoken by a small minority—less than 10%-- of the population. Spanish is the
dominant language of business, education and daily life on the island, spoken
by over 95% of the population.[146]
Public school instruction in Puerto Rico is conducted entirely in Spanish.
There are, however, pilot programs in about a dozen of the over 1,400 public
schools aimed at conducting instruction in English only.[164]
English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject from
elementary levels to high school.
Spanish
The Spanish of Puerto Rico has
evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that
differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere. While the Spanish spoken in
all Iberian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Spanish Maritime Provinces was brought
to the island over the centuries, the most profound regional impact on the
Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico has been from that spoken in present-day Canary Islands.
As a result of the natural inclusion
of indigenous vocabulary in all New World former European colonies (English,
French, Spanish, Dutch, etc.), the Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes
occasional Taíno words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural
phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, African-attributed words
exist in the contexts of foods, music or dances, developed in coastal towns
with concentrations of descendants of former Sub-Saharan slaves.
English
According to a study by the University of Puerto
Rico, nine of every ten Puerto Ricans residing in Puerto Rico do not speak
English at an advanced level.[165] More recently, according to the 2005–2009
Population and Housing Narrative Profile for Puerto Rico, among people at
least five years old living in Puerto Rico in 2005–2009, 95 percent spoke a
language other than English at home. Of those speaking a language other than
English at home, 100 percent spoke Spanish and less than 0.5 percent spoke some
other language; 85 percent reported that they did not speak English "very
well."[166]
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