Which group contributed many words to Puerto Rican Spanish?

• A. Taínos
• B. Africans
• C. Spanish colonial officials
• D. English merchants

Answer: (A)

When a language meets another through long-standing contact, it often borrows words to name the new things people encounter. In Puerto Rico, the Taínos were the island’s original inhabitants and lived there long before Spanish became dominant. Their language contributed many everyday terms for local plants, animals, foods, and objects that Spaniards adopted into Puerto Rican Spanish. That is why you’ll find familiar words like hamaca (hammock), barbacoa (barbecue), huracán (hurricane), canoa (canoe), and yuca (cassava) in common use.

Other groups did influence the language as well, but not to the same extent in everyday vocabulary. African, Spanish colonial, and English interactions added some terms, especially in culture, cuisine, and later periods, yet the Taíno contribution remains the most widespread set of words heard in Puerto Rico’s Spanish today.