SLIPPERY SEMANTICS: RACE TALK AND EVERYDAY USES OF RACIAL TERMINOLOGY IN PUERTO RICO

This article argues that Puerto Ricans talk about race in a shifting linguistic pattern defined here as "slippery semantics." Such usage is highly dependent on context and defies the often sharp dichotomization made between binary forms of classification, associated with the US and more ambiguous forms or racial terminology associated with Latin America. The author argues that both forms can co-exist and proposes an incipient typology of contexts that considers when binary or multiple terminologies are deployed and the social implications of such usages.