Quellenverzeichnis der persönlichen Kommunikation – C

Hi Sebastian,

Thank you for contacting us. Here are the answers to your questions:Does Puerto Rican Spanish differ from „normal“ standard Spanish?

This questions prompt me to ask another one: What is standard Spanish? I believe (and this is my opinion) that it is difficult to point out what is standard Spanish.  Would it be the Spanish from Spain, or perhaps from Mexico? I don’t think so. All these countries have variations of Spanish. Spanish is uniform and diverse at the same time. Uniform because a native speaker from Puerto Rico will be able to communicate and understand a native speaker from Spain (or any other Spanish speaking country). But also, it is diverse because each country has variations in the meaning of many words, pronunciation and accent. 

With that in mind, I can conclude that all countries have variations of Spanish, and Puerto Rico is not the exception. There are words that have different meanings and we have particular pronunciation traits that distinguish our accent. Some pronunciation traits are shared among other Caribbean countries -Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Caribbean coast of Colombia- It’s worth pointing out that the Spanish in Puerto Rico has a huge influence from English („anglisismos“) due to the relationship we have with the United States. For example the word for a car’s windshield wipers is „wipers“ instead of the more common „limpiaparabrisas“.

Which letters form the Puerto Rican Spanish alphabet? Are there any letters with diacritics? May you add any internet source (URL) for the Puerto Rican Spanish alphabet?

The Spanish from Puerto Rico uses the same Spanish alphabet and diacritics. 

Is/are there any institution/s that work/s on the preservation and conservation of Puerto Rican Spanish? If applicable when was it/were they founded and where is it/are they located?

Yes, it is the Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua (http://www.academiapr.org/) -it is like the local Real Academia Española- and every Spanish speaking country has one. All the local „academias“ are grouped in one association called „Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española“ (http://www.asale.org/).

Thank you,
Diana

speakinglatino.com

Dear Sebastian,

Thank you for your enquiry. I am copying this reply to Ann Biddle who is acting Administrator on the island and will be able to correct me /add more detail as appropriate.

Belonger status
This term is not used on Tristan. Tristanians are UK citizens. In such a small population centre, questions of immigration and residency are decided on a case-by-case basis.

Driving / vehicle licensing
These are both handled by the small police service on the island.  See below for a picture of the (former) public island bus bearing the number plate TDC 1.

Chief Islander
The Chief Islander is elected by poular vote to provide an individual figurehead for the island community. S/he is a key member of the Island Council and will often represent the views of the Council both to the community and to external parties (including the UK Government).

Yours,

Chris

Chris Carnegy | UK Representative
Government of Tristan da Cunha

Sebastian,

Here are answers to your questions:

– latest (2014/2013) number of residents on Midway Atoll: 39
– distribution of resident population according to countries of birth: 12 – USA, 27- Thailand
– distribution of resident population according to nationalities: all reside on Sand Island
– distribution of resident population according to ethnic background: all reside on Sand Island
– distribution of resident population according to languages spoken at home: 12 – English, 27 – Thai
– distribution of resident population according to institutions (USFWS, DOI, USGS, Chugach etc.) they are working for: 4 – US Department of Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service and 34 Defense Base Services, Inc (contractor)
– (nick) name of settlement on Midway Atoll: Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial
– name and location (island) of highest elevation on Midway Atoll: Sand Island
– name and date of taking office (YYYY-MM-DD) of local field manager (or the like): 19Feb2014, Daniel Clark (Wildlife Refuge Manager): senior official present in residence

_____________________________________________

Daniel W. Clark
Refuge Manager

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Battle of Midway National Memorial
1082 Makepono Street
Honolulu, HI 96819

PH 808-954-4818; FAX 808-772-5311

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/midway_atoll/

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is included in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

I reside on Midway Atoll however my mailing address is the Honolulu address below in my signature.

Regards,
Dan

_____________________________________________

Daniel W. Clark
Refuge Manager

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Battle of Midway National Memorial
1082 Makepono Street
Honolulu, HI 96819

PH 808-954-4818; FAX 808-772-5311

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/midway_atoll/

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is included in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Bonjour,

Les îles deviennent en 1961 un territoire d’outre-mer (TOM) après référendum. Le roi d‘Uvea, Tomasi Kulimoetoke II (1916-2007), est signataire de cet accord. Après la révision constitutionnelle du 28 mars 2003, le territoire des îles Wallis et Futuna devient une collectivité d’outre-mer à statut particulier sans que le régime de 1961 ne change. En effet, depuis cette révision constitutionnelle, aucune loi organique n’a été adoptée faute de consensus à l’Assemblée territoriale.

Vous trouverez le drapeau utilisé lors des tournois sportifs en pièce jointe.

L’hymne est „La Marseillaise“ = l’hymne de la France.

Bien cordialement.
Christophe COMBETTE

Chef de service des Service territorial jeunesse et sports (STJS)
Services de l’État et du Territoire
Préfet Administrateur supérieur, Chef du territoire des îles de Wallis et Futuna

Dear Sebastian,

Jersey does not have an official national anthem although there was a competition a few years ago at which ‚Island Home‘ was the winning entry. This anthem has not, as yet, been accepted by our Goverment, the States of Jersey as the island’s national anthem.

At Commonwealth Games events, we therefore use the song ‚Ma Normandie‘ as our victory anthem. This is played at our welcome ceremony in the Games Village prior to the start of the Games and at all medal ceremonies. It is best for you to google ‚Ma Normandie‘ to get further information on the ‚anthem‘.

Hope that this is helpful.

Regards
Alan Cross

President
Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey

Dear Mr. Becker,

Thanks for your inquiry. Turks Island English is the variety of English spoken on the island of Grand Turk where I collected my data in 1998. The Turks and Caicos Islands Creole English pertains to the language spoken throughout the islands. There are some historical reasons why the dialect spoken on Grand Turk is different from the dialects spoken on the Caicos Islands, namely because the inhabitants of the former came from Bermuda whereas the inhabitants of the Caicos Islands were loyalists from the British Crown (and their slaves) who came from the continental United States following the American Revolutionary War. It seems that many of these differences have disappeared as contacts between the islands have increased over the past 50 years so it is fair to say that the speech of Turks and Caicos Islands from different parts of the country is now very similar.

The local terminology that I found of interest on Grand Turk were directional expressions like norret and surret meaning “northwards” and “southwards.”  The small open boats used to carry salt to the large ships were called lighters.  I heard people refer to a child born out of wedlock as an outside child and a two-story dwelling as an upstairs house.  People on Grand Turk say reach to mean to “arrive.”  I also heard people use the word fix to mean “to cast a spell on,” or “put a curse on” someone (c.f. Allsopp 1996).  A man from North Caicos told me that expressions like grabelicious, gutlin, and gutless meaning “greedy,” and huff or grits referring to “corn flour” are unique to the Caicos Islands.  In the past, the Caicos Islanders were said to wear wompers or sandals made from old car tires. 

I don’t know of anyone whom you could contact regarding other particular expressions, but you may consult the Allsopp text (Allsopp, Richard . 1996. Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage.  Oxford University Press) for other references. 

Good luck with your research!

Best regards,
Cecelia Cutler

Linguistin des Lehman College der City University of New York