How do you speak Taíno? Indigenous Activism and Linguistic Practices in Puerto Rico

Abstract

This paper analyzes emergent speech practices among Taíno activists in Puerto Rico. While historical narratives of the Caribbean and conventional knowledge have largely presumed that the Taíno, an indigenous population of the Caribbean, have been extinct, several persons in Puerto Rico are actively identifying with and mobilizing around this ethnic category. One of the Taíno‐identified challenges in such mobilization is that the Taíno language is no longer spoken and there is very little documentation from which to reconstruct it. Within this context, I consider the myriad ways in which Taíno activists understand what constitutes speaking Taíno and how this becomes emblematic of Taínoness. Such practices range from a reliance on speaking in what is understood by many Taíno as a Taíno style of Spanish to some Taíno organizations’ attempts at reconstruction through their studies of still spoken Arawakan languages.