Lourdes Torres

Bilingual discourse markers in Puerto Rican Spanish

This study examines bilingual discourse markers in a language contact situation. The focus is on how English-dominant, bilingual, and Spanish-dominant New York Puerto Ricans integrate English-language discourse markers into their Spanish-language oral narratives. The corpus comprises 60 Spanish-language oral narratives of personal experience extracted from transcripts of conversations with New York Puerto Ricans. After a review of the study of discourse markers in language contact situations, the use of English-language discourse markers is compared to the use of Spanish-language markers in the texts. The discussion considers the question of whether English-language discourse markers are more profitably identified as instances of code-switching or of borrowing. Finally, the essay explores how bilingual speakers integrate English discourse markers in their narratives with a pattern of usage and frequency that varies according to language proficiency.

A comparative study of bilingual discourse markers in Chicago Mexican, Puerto Rican, and MexiRican Spanish

This study examines the use of Spanish and English discourse markers among first, second, and third generation Spanish-speakers in Chicago, Illinois, comparing Mexican, Puerto Rican, and MexiRican speakers. We find that so is a core borrowing for all groups, although there were some differences in the frequency of usage of the discourse markers across the different Spanish dialect varieties. We also find that of all the variables analyzed, weaker Spanish proficiency is most strongly correlated with more frequent usage of so at the expense of entonces. We predict that these two discourse markers will coexist for some time, but that the frequency of so may increase and the frequency of entonces may decrease for all functions with subsequent generations.

The influence of acculturation on substance use behaviors among Latina sexual minority women: the mediating role of discrimination.

Background: A large body of work has demonstrated that sexual minority women have elevated rates of substance use morbidity, as compared with heterosexual women, and that this might be especially true for women of color. Objectives: This study examines the influence of acculturation and discrimination on substance use among Latina sexual minority women. Methods: Data were collected from 2007 to 2008 as part of a larger community-based survey in the greater Chicago area. Scales measured discrimination, acculturation, and substance use. Structural equation modeling validated scales and examined their relationships, which were further described via mediation analysis. Results: Increased acculturation leads to substance use and this relationship is partially mediated by discrimination (Sobel test = 2.10; p < .05). Conclusions/Importance: Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. Funding was provided by several womens and public health organizations.

Don Quixote in Spanglish: traducttore, traditore?

n his Spanglish-titled article “Translating Cervantes: Una vez más” Burton Raffel claims that all English language translations of Don Quixote (except his own) mangle the meaning of essential parts of the novel and that none matches the magnificent Spanish original. Although many would argue that no translation (including Raffel’s) does justice to the original, translators from numerous languages continue to undertake the Herculean challenge presented by Cervantes’s text. Other than the Bible, few books have been translated into more languages than El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de La Mancha. The first translation was published in English by Thomas Shelton in 1612. This translation was followed by the French translation in 1614 and the Italian in 1622, and many translations in numerous languages, including Esperanto, followed. More recently, in 2003, Edith Grossman, a renowned translator of Spanish literature, produced another much-lauded English language translation. No doubt Cervantes would have been most pleased to see his work spread across the globe. His narrator alludes to the importance and complexity of the translation process himself when he suggests in chapter 9 of part one that the “true” history of Don Quixote was originally rendered by an unreliable author in Arabic and had been translated into Castilian by a bilingual morisco adolescent. He implies that all retellings and translations are but partial mediations that diverge from the original story. Perhaps, then, Cervantes would have been amused by the presentday scholarly obsession with “authentic” texts and “accurate” translations. New translations of classic texts are appropriate because language is constantly evolving. Consequently, earlier translations become dated for contemporary audiences. Cervantes was a master of reproducing a variety of dialects; he captured colloquial, informal, and formal language across historical periods, social classes, and

Building a Translengua in Latina Lesbian Organizing

ABSTRACT This article discusses the challenges and rewards, as well as the affective labor, involved in forging a Latina lesbian “translengua,” in other words a common language in the context of Latina lesbian organizing. I explore how members of Latina Lesbians en Nuestro Ambiente (LLENA) and Amigas Latinas, Chicago-based Latina lesbian organizations, attempted to foster consensus for collective action in the face of language differences and preferences. Through analysis of archives and interviews with activists, I untangle how LLENA and Amigas Latinas negotiated deeply personal and sensitive issues around language use as they worked to build an inclusive movement. I also identify strategies used to enact a translengua that could bridge linguistic differences within the Latina lesbian community.

Puerto Ricans in the United States and language shift to English

In this essay, I examine language use among Puerto Ricans in the U.S., and evaluate evidence that suggests that they are shifting to English more quickly than other Latino groups. This accelerated adoption of English might seem to be a positive trend to proponents of English-only or to those who fetishize assimilation as the route to success in the U.S.; however, the fact that it is very often accompanied by a loss of Spanish is troubling to those who value multiculturalism and bilingualism. The idea that Puerto Ricans are the group that takes the lead in the loss of bilingualism among Latinos is a source of debate for observers of the sociolinguistic reality of Latinos in the U.S. With a particular focus on the Puerto Rican community in Chicago, I first discuss language loss among Latino populations in the U.S. Then, I offer a brief overview of Puerto Rican immigration history, and of Latino presence in Chicago. Lastly, I address the allegedly exceptionally rapid shift of Puerto Ricans to English, and discuss possible reasons for this phenomenon. I conclude that even though there are sites where this assertion seems to be true, we need more evidence that captures actual language use patterns across a range of contexts before we can arrive at a definitive characterization of Puerto Rican speech practices.