Loíza Spanish and the Spanish Creole debate: A linguistic and sociohistorical account

This study combines sociohistorical and linguistic insights to cast light on the nature and origin of Loíza Spanish (LS), an Afro-Hispanic vernacular spoken in Loíza, Puerto Rico by the descendants of the Africans brought to this region to work as slaves during the colonial period. The present work assesses the evolution of this variety and its implications for creole studies. In so doing, it challenges the posture that would picture certain contemporary features of LS and other Afro-Hispanic dialects as the traces of a previous creole stage (de Granda 1968 et seq.). Thus, this article contributes to the long-lasting Spanish Creole Debate (Lipski 2005) by providing new information on a so-far little-studied Afro-Puerto Rican vernacular