120-562: Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño (Ponce Credit and Savings Bank) was the first bank in Ponce, Puerto Rico , and one of the first two native Puerto Rican banks to be established in Puerto Rico. The bank was the first one to introduce a bank credit card to the Puerto Rican market. With over 50 branches throughout the island, the bank was one of the largest banking companies in Puerto Rico during most of
240-698: A cot–caught merger , which is rapidly spreading throughout the whole country. However, the South, Inland North, and a Northeastern coastal corridor passing through Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore typically preserve an older cot–caught distinction. For that Northeastern corridor, the realization of the THOUGHT vowel is particularly marked , as depicted in humorous spellings, like in tawk and cawfee ( talk and coffee ), which intend to represent it being tense and diphthongal : [oə] . A split of TRAP into two separate phonemes , using different
360-441: A Cédula Real (Royal Permit) converting the chapel into a parish, and in so doing officially recognizing the small settlement as a hamlet. It is believed that Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson, was instrumental in obtaining the royal permit to formalize the founding of the hamlet . Captains Enrique Salazar and Miguel del Toro were also instrumental. The city is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza,
480-520: A pronunciations for example in gap [æ] versus gas [eə] , further defines New York City as well as Philadelphia–Baltimore accents. Most Americans preserve all historical /r/ sounds, using what is known as a rhotic accent . The only traditional r -dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in eastern New England , New York City , and some of the former plantation South primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some African-American Vernacular English across
600-424: A tropical savanna climate ( Koppen Aw/As ). Ponce has summer highs averaging 92 °F (33 °C) and winter highs, 87 °F (31 °C). It has lows averaging 67 °F (19 °C) in the winter and 74 °F (23 °C) in the summer. It has a record high of 100 °F (38 °C), which occurred on 21 August 2003, and a record low of 51 °F (11 °C) which occurred on 28 February 2004, tying
720-679: A bloody event when the Insular Police, a force somewhat resembling the National Guard of the typical U.S. state and which answered to U.S.-appointed governor Blanton Winship , opened fire on unarmed and defenseless members of the Cadets of the Republic and bystanders. When the shooting stopped, nineteen civilians had been killed or mortally wounded. Over two hundred others were badly wounded. Many were shot in their backs while running away, including
840-616: A complex phenomenon of "both convergence and divergence": some accents are homogenizing and leveling , while others are diversifying and deviating further away from one another. Having been settled longer than the American West Coast, the East Coast has had more time to develop unique accents, and it currently comprises three or four linguistically significant regions, each of which possesses English varieties both different from each other as well as quite internally diverse: New England ,
960-447: A consonant, such as in pearl , car and fort . Non-rhotic American accents, those that do not pronounce ⟨r⟩ except before a vowel, such as some accents of Eastern New England , New York City , and African-Americans , and a specific few (often older ones) spoken by Southerners , are often quickly noticed by General American listeners and perceived as sounding especially ethnic, regional, or antiquated. Rhoticity
1080-510: A custodian and rose to become the bank's general manager. Among the directors and officers of this prominent bank were some of the most recognized names in the city of Ponce and Puerto Rico at large, including former Ponce mayor (1898), Ulpiano Colóm . The bank's first president and one of its founders was Francisco Parra Duperón . Ermelindo Salazar was both a director and a Banco Crédito president. Its founders were Lucas Amadeo, Francisco Parra Duperón, and Antonio Frías. The bank's 1960s motto
1200-450: A great number of exquisite residences that reflected the high standing of its bourgeoisie. On July 27, American troops, aboard the Cincinnati , Dixie , Wasp , and Gloucester , disembarked at Playa de Ponce. General Nelson Miles arrived the next day with reinforcements from Guánica and took possession of the city. There were some minor skirmishes in the city, but no major battle
1320-536: A hub of political activity on the island, and is the founding site of several major political parties. It has also been the birthplace of several important political figures of the island, including Luis A. Ferré and Rafael Hernández Colón , both former governors of Puerto Rico , as well as the childhood town of governor Roberto Sanchez Vilella . Statistics taken from the 2010 census show that 82.0% of Ponceños are white and 9.0% are African-American , with Taínos , Asians , people of mixed race and others making up
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#17330858638011440-425: A major downturn. Sugar cane had until 1976 been grown and refined at Ponce's Central Mercedita , but in that year agricultural production of sugar cane was halted in the lands of the municipality of Ponce and adjacent towns. Also, the headquarters of Banco de Ponce and Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño were moved to San Juan. Unemployment of Ponce jumped to 25% as a result of these changes. On October 7, 1985, Ponce
1560-586: A merger with the THOUGHT ( caught ) set. Having taken place prior to the unrounding of the cot vowel, it results in lengthening and perhaps raising, merging the more recently separated vowel into the THOUGHT vowel in the following environments: before many instances of /f/ , /θ/ , and particularly /s/ (as in Austria, cloth, cost, loss, off, often, etc.), a few instances before /ŋ/ (as in strong, long, wrong ), and variably by region or speaker in gone , on , and certain other words. Unlike American accents,
1680-632: A mixture of Art Nouveau and neoclassic styles to give the city a unique look. This can be seen in the various structures located in the center of the city like the Teatro La Perla . To showcase its rich architectural heritage, the city has opened the Museum of Puerto Rican Architecture at the Wiechers-Villaronga residence. Many of the city's features (from house façades to chamfered street corners) are modeled on Barcelona 's architecture, given
1800-527: A mob. They harshly criticized Winship's actions as governor and said he had numerous abuses of civil rights. The event has since been known as the Ponce massacre . It was the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history. As a result of this report and other charges against Winship, he was dismissed from his position in 1937 and replaced as governor. The history of this event can be viewed at the Ponce Massacre Museum on Marina Street. An open-air park in
1920-572: A new community built on stable ground. In 2005, the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction of the United States reported that the Mameyes landslide held the record for having inflicted "the greatest loss of life by a single landslide" up to that year. The municipality of Ponce became the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy on October 27, 1992, under
2040-487: A new law ( The Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ) enacted by the Puerto Rican legislature. Ponce's mayor for 15 years, Rafael Cordero Santiago ("Churumba"), credited for leading the municipal government to that accomplishment, died in office on the morning of January 17, 2004, after suffering three consecutive strokes. Vice-mayor Delis Castillo Rivera de Santiago finished his term. Cordero
2160-636: A nice day , for sure); many are now distinctly old-fashioned (swell, groovy). Some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey , boost, bulldoze and jazz , originated as American slang. American English has always shown a marked tendency to use words in different parts of speech and nouns are often used as verbs . Examples of nouns that are now also verbs are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, hashtag, head, divorce, loan, estimate, X-ray, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, bad-mouth, vacation , major, and many others. Compounds coined in
2280-540: A population of 278,477 and 333,426 respectively. The municipality of Ponce , officially the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce , is located in the southern coastal plain region of the island, south of Adjuntas , Utuado , and Jayuya ; east of Peñuelas ; west of Juana Díaz ; and bordered on the south by the Caribbean Sea . The municipality has 31 barrios , including 19 outside the city's urban area and 12 in
2400-475: A process of extensive dialect mixture and leveling in which English varieties across the colonies became more homogeneous compared with the varieties in Britain. English thus predominated in the colonies even by the end of the 17th century's first immigration of non-English speakers from Western Europe and Africa. Additionally, firsthand descriptions of a fairly uniform American English (particularly in contrast to
2520-657: A series of other vowel shifts in the same region, known by linguists as the " Inland North ". The Inland North shares with the Eastern New England dialect (including Boston accents ) a backer tongue positioning of the GOOSE /u/ vowel (to [u] ) and the MOUTH /aʊ/ vowel (to [ɑʊ~äʊ] ) in comparison to the rest of the country. Ranging from northern New England across the Great Lakes to Minnesota, another Northern regional marker
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#17330858638012640-472: A seven-year-old girl named Georgina Maldonado who was "killed through the back while running to a nearby church." The US commissioned an independent investigation headed by Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union , together with prominent citizens of Puerto Rico. The members concluded in their report that the event was a massacre, with the police acting as
2760-419: A surface area of 116.0 square miles (300 km ). The main physiographic features of the municipality of Ponce are: (1) the mountainous interior containing the headwaters of the main river systems, (2) an upper plain, (3) a range of predominantly east-west trending limestone hills, (4) a coastal plain, and (5) a coastal flat. The northern two-thirds of the municipality consists of the mountainous interior, with
2880-458: A survey, completed in 2003, polling English speakers across the United States about their specific everyday word choices, hoping to identify regionalisms. The study found that most Americans prefer the term sub for a long sandwich, soda (but pop in the Great Lakes region and generic coke in the South) for a sweet and bubbly soft drink , you or you guys for the plural of you (but y'all in
3000-453: A variation of American English in these islands. In 2021, about 245 million Americans, aged 5 or above, spoke English at home: a majority of the United States total population of roughly 330 million people. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level, but English is commonly used at the federal level and in states without an official language. 32 of the 50 states, in some cases as part of what has been called
3120-507: Is Puerto Rico's fourth highest peak. Nineteen barrios comprise the rural areas of the municipality, and the topology of their lands varies from flatlands to hills to steep mountain slopes. The hilly barrios of the municipality (moving clockwise around the outskirts of the city) are these seven: Quebrada Limón , Marueño , Magueyes , Tibes , Portugués Rural , Machuelo Arriba , and Cerrillos . The barrios of Canas , Coto Laurel , Capitanejo , Sabanetas , Vayas , and Bucaná also surround
3240-537: Is a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico . The most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692 and is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza , the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León . Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South), La Ciudad Señorial (The Manorial City ), and La Ciudad de las Quenepas ( Genip City). The city serves as
3360-642: Is also associated with the United States, perhaps mostly in the Midwest and the South. American accents that have not undergone the cot–caught merger (the lexical sets LOT and THOUGHT ) have instead retained a LOT – CLOTH split : a 17th-century distinction in which certain words (labeled as the CLOTH lexical set ) separated away from the LOT set. The split, which has now reversed in most British English, simultaneously shifts this relatively recent CLOTH set into
3480-637: Is also home to a creole language known commonly as Hawaiian Pidgin , and some Hawaii residents speak English with a Pidgin-influenced accent. American English also gave rise to some dialects outside the country, for example, Philippine English , beginning during the American occupation of the Philippines and subsequently the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands ; Thomasites first established
3600-726: Is called the historic district. There is a seismic detector that the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, has placed in Barrio Cerrillos. Elevations include Cerro de Punta at 4,390 feet (1,340 m), the highest in Puerto Rico, located in Barrio Anón in the territory of the municipality of Ponce. Mount Jayuya, at 4,314 feet (1,315 m) is located on the boundary between Barrio Anón and Barrio Saliente in Jayuya. Cerro Maravilla , at nearly 3,970 feet (1,210 m) above sea level,
3720-526: Is common in most American accents despite being now rare in England because, during the 17th-century British colonization, nearly all dialects of English were rhotic, and most North American English simply remained that way. The preservation of rhoticity in North America was also supported by continuing waves of rhotic-accented Scotch-Irish immigrants, most intensely during the 18th century (and moderately during
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño - Misplaced Pages Continue
3840-596: Is located to the east of Barrio Anón. There are many other mountains at lower elevations in the municipality, such as the Montes Llanos ridge and Mount Diablo, at 2,231 feet (680 m) and Mount Marueño, at 2,100 feet (640 m), and Pinto Peak, among others. Part of the Toro Negro Forest is located in Barrio Anón. Coastal promontories include Cuchara, Peñoncillo, Carnero, and Cabullón points. Fifty-six percent of
3960-420: Is often identified by Americans as a "country" accent, and is defined by the /aɪ/ vowel losing its gliding quality : [aː] , the initiation event for a complicated Southern vowel shift, including a " Southern drawl " that makes short front vowels into distinct-sounding gliding vowels . The fronting of the vowels of GOOSE , GOAT , MOUTH , and STRUT tends to also define Southern accents as well as
4080-463: Is the variable fronting of /ɑ/ before /r/ , for example, appearing four times in the stereotypical Boston shibboleth Park the car in Harvard Yard . Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents. Boston , Pittsburgh , Upper Midwestern , and Western U.S. accents have fully completed a merger of the LOT vowel with the THOUGHT vowel ( /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ , respectively):
4200-430: Is within these original six core city barrios. These eleven barrios composed what is known as the urban zone of the municipality. The remaining eight barrios ( Magueyes , Tibes , Montes Llanos , Maragüez , Portugués , Machuelo Arriba , Cerrillos , Sabanetas ) are located in the interior of the municipality. These last eight are outside the city limits and are neither coastal nor bordering barrios. A summary of all
4320-476: The English-only movement , have adopted legislation granting official or co-official status to English. Typically only "English" is specified, not a particular variety like American English. (From 1923 to 1969, the state of Illinois recognized its official language as "American", meaning American English.) Puerto Rico is the largest example of a United States territory in which another language – Spanish –
4440-700: The La Guancha and El Tuque beaches. There is also a beach at Caja de Muertos Island . Lake Cerrillos is located within the limits of the municipality, as will be the future lake resulting from the Portugués Dam . The Cerrillos State Forest is also located in the municipality of Ponce. Coastal geographic features in Ponce include Bahía de Ponce , Caleta de Cabullones (Cabullones Cove), and five cays: Jueyes , Ratones , Cardona , Gatas , and Isla del Frio . Caja de Muertos Island and Morrillito islet are located at
4560-608: The Mid-Atlantic states (including a New York accent as well as a unique Philadelphia–Baltimore accent ), and the South . As of the 20th century, the middle and eastern Great Lakes area , Chicago being the largest city with these speakers, also ushered in certain unique features, including the fronting of the LOT /ɑ/ vowel in the mouth toward [a] and tensing of the TRAP /æ/ vowel wholesale to [eə] . These sound changes have triggered
4680-517: The Museo de la Historia de Ponce , which opened in the city in 1992. It depicts the history of the city from its early settlement days until the end of the 20th century. On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico. In Ponce, $ 1,000 million in damages were the initial estimates. An estimated 3,500 homes were completely or partially destroyed. The hurricane triggered numerous landslides in Ponce. The Municipality of Ponce sits on
4800-544: The Native American languages . Examples of such names are opossum , raccoon , squash , moose (from Algonquian ), wigwam , and moccasin . American English speakers have integrated traditionally non-English terms and expressions into the mainstream cultural lexicon; for instance, en masse , from French ; cookie , from Dutch ; kindergarten from German , and rodeo from Spanish . Landscape features are often loanwords from French or Spanish, and
4920-565: The Ponce Cement , Puerto Rico Iron Works , Vassallo Industries , and Destilería Serrallés . El Dia was also founded in Ponce in 1911. On March 21, 1937, a peaceful march was organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and protest the incarceration of their leader, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos , in a federal prison on charges of sedition . The march turned into
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-616: The Spanish–American War , Ponce was the largest city in the island with a population of 22,000. Ponce had the best road in Puerto Rico, running from Ponce to San Juan , which had been built by the Spaniards for military purposes. The taking of Ponce by American troops "was a critical turning point in the Puerto Rican campaign. For the first time the Americans held a major port to funnel large numbers of men and quantities of war material into
5160-714: The francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program , manoeuvre for maneuver , cheque for check , etc.). AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize . BrE prefers -ise , but also uses -ize on occasion (see: Oxford spelling ). There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of run-on sentences , called " comma splices " in American English, and American English prefers that periods and commas be placed inside closing quotation marks even in cases in which British rules would place them outside. American English also favors
5280-759: The 18th century; apartment , shanty in the 19th century; project, condominium , townhouse , mobile home in the 20th century; and parts thereof ( driveway , breezeway, backyard ) . Industry and material innovations from the 19th century onwards provide distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms through railroading (see further at rail terminology ) and transportation terminology, ranging from types of roads ( dirt roads , freeways ) to infrastructure ( parking lot , overpass , rest area ), to automotive terminology often now standard in English internationally. Already existing English words—such as store , shop , lumber —underwent shifts in meaning; others remained in
5400-534: The 20th century. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas . The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the early 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, dialects from many different regions of England and the British Isles existed in every American colony, allowing
5520-429: The 50 U.S. states ; and the de facto common language used in government, education, and commerce throughout the nation. Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide. Varieties of American English include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around
5640-585: The 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico . In 1969, it was also Banco Crédito that introduced the first bank credit card—BankAmericard (now Visa ) -- in Puerto Rico. Despite its achievements, 83 years after its founding, on 1 April 1978, Banco Crédito collapsed and its branches and accounts were sold to Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and to Banco Santander with the assistance of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . Banco Santader acquired 14 of Crédito's branch offices. The bank's main office
5760-622: The British form is a back-formation , such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar ). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems. While written American English is largely standardized across the country and spoken American English dialects are highly mutually intelligible, there are still several recognizable regional and ethnic accents and lexical distinctions. The regional sounds of present-day American English are reportedly engaged in
5880-512: The Caribbean coast. The historic district is characterized for its Art Deco , Neoclásico Isabelino and Ponce Creole architectures . The region of what is now Ponce belonged to the Taíno Guaynia region, which stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Agüeybaná , a cacique who led the region, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León when he came to
6000-632: The Caribbean sea at Ponce Playa ward. The Matilde River, also known as the Pastillo River, runs for 12 mi (19 km); its tributaries are the Cañas River and the Limón and del Agua brooks. Lakes in Ponce include Bronce and Ponceña as well as lakes bearing numbers: Uno, Dos, Tres, and Cinco; and the Salinas Lagoon, which is considered a restricted lagoon. Other water bodies are the springs at Quintana and
6120-413: The East Coast (perhaps in imitation of 19th-century London speech), even the East Coast has gradually begun to restore rhoticity, due to it becoming nationally prestigious in the 20th century. The pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ is a postalveolar approximant [ ɹ̠ ] or retroflex approximant [ ɻ ] , but a unique "bunched tongue" variant of the approximant r sound
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#17330858638016240-565: The Inland North. Rather than one particular accent, General American is best defined as an umbrella covering an American accent that does not incorporate features associated with some particular region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic group. Typical General American features include rhoticity , the father–bother merger , Mary–marry–merry merger , pre-nasal "short a " tensing , and other particular vowel sounds . General American features are embraced most by Americans who are highly educated or in
6360-560: The South), sneakers for athletic shoes (but often tennis shoes outside the Northeast), and shopping cart for a cart used for carrying supermarket goods. American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language , known as Webster's Dictionary ,
6480-678: The Southern Coastal Plain region of the Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. It is bordered by the municipalities of Adjuntas, Utuado, Jayuya, Peñuelas, and Juana Díaz. Ponce is a large municipality, with only Arecibo larger in land area in Puerto Rico. In terms of physical features, the municipality occupies a roughly rectangular area in south-central portion of the Island of approximately 10 miles (16 km) wide (east-to-west) by 13 miles (21 km) long (north-to-south). It has
6600-528: The U.S. Several verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, weatherize , etc.; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, curate, donate, emote, upholster and enthuse). Among syntactic constructions that arose are outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, etc. Americanisms formed by alteration of some existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, buddy, sundae , skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in
6720-748: The U.S. Census Bureau provides detailed demographics statistics for each of Ponce's barrios. The 2000 Census showed that Montes Llanos is the least populated barrio in the municipality. Thanks to its larger area, barrio Canas was by far the most populated ward of the municipality. At 68 persons per square mile, San Patricio was the least populated, while Cuarto was the most densely populated at 18,819 persons per square mile. Ponce has nine barrios that border neighboring municipalities. These are Canas , Quebrada Limón , Marueño , Guaraguao , San Patricio , Anón , Real , Coto Laurel , and Capitanejo . Canas and Capitanejo are also coastal barrios, and together with three others ( Playa , Bucaná , and Vayas ) make up
6840-563: The U.S. are for instance foothill , landslide (in all senses), backdrop , teenager , brainstorm , bandwagon , hitchhike , smalltime, and a huge number of others. Other compound words have been founded based on industrialization and the wave of the automobile: five-passenger car, four-door sedan, two-door sedan, and station-wagon (called an estate car in British English). Some are euphemistic ( human resources , affirmative action , correctional facility ). Many compound nouns have
6960-662: The U.S. are, for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky . A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that have been in everyday use in the United States have since disappeared in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots . Terms such as fall ("autumn"), faucet ("tap"), diaper ("nappy"; itself unused in
7080-530: The U.S. while changing in Britain. Science, urbanization, and democracy have been important factors in bringing about changes in the written and spoken language of the United States. From the world of business and finance came new terms ( merger , downsize , bottom line ), from sports and gambling terminology came, specific jargon aside, common everyday American idioms, including many idioms related to baseball . The names of some American inventions remained largely confined to North America ( elevator [except in
7200-427: The U.S.), candy ("sweets"), skillet , eyeglasses , and obligate are often regarded as Americanisms. Fall for example came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year." Gotten ( past participle of get ) is often considered to be largely an Americanism. Other words and meanings were brought back to Britain from
7320-592: The U.S., especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler ), baggage , hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example, monkey wrench and wastebasket , originated in 19th century Britain. The adjectives mad meaning "angry", smart meaning "intelligent", and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American (and Irish) English than British English. Linguist Bert Vaux created
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#17330858638017440-531: The United States and the United Kingdom suggest that, while spoken American English deviated away from period British English in many ways, it is conservative in a few other ways, preserving certain features 21st-century British English has since lost. Full rhoticity (or "R-fulness") is typical of American accents, pronouncing the phoneme /r/ (corresponding to the letter ⟨r⟩ ) in all environments, including in syllable-final position or before
7560-596: The West and Midwest, and New York Latino English , spoken in the New York metropolitan area . Additionally, ethnic varieties such as Yeshiva English and " Yinglish " are spoken by some American Orthodox Jews , Cajun Vernacular English by some Cajuns in southern Louisiana , and Pennsylvania Dutch English by some Pennsylvania Dutch people. American Indian Englishes have been documented among diverse Indian tribes. The island state of Hawaii , though primarily English-speaking,
7680-547: The accents spoken in the " Midland ": a vast band of the country that constitutes an intermediate dialect region between the traditional North and South. Western U.S. accents mostly fall under the General American spectrum. Below, ten major American English accents are defined by their particular combinations of certain vowel sounds: In 2010, William Labov noted that Great Lakes, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Coast accents have undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since
7800-505: The aeronautical sense ], gasoline ) as did certain automotive terms ( truck , trunk ). New foreign loanwords came with 19th and early 20th century European immigration to the U.S.; notably, from Yiddish ( chutzpah , schmooze, bupkis, glitch ) and German ( hamburger , wiener ). A large number of English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin; some have lost their American flavor (from OK and cool to nerd and 24/7 ), while others have not ( have
7920-487: The barrios of the municipality, their population, population density, and land and water areas as given by the U.S. Census Bureau is as follows: American English American English , sometimes called United States English or U.S. English , is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States ; an official language in 32 of
8040-422: The boundary between Ponce and Juana Díaz. There is a mangrove covering an area of approximately 100 acres (40 ha) at Cabullón promontory and Isla del Frio. The Salinas Lagoon, part of Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas , has a mangrove that expands about 37 acres (15 ha). The lagoon itself consists of 698 cuerdas (678 acres; 274 ha). The Rita cave is located in Barrio Cerrillos. Ponce features
8160-477: The capital, neglecting the south and thus starting a period of socio- economic stagnation for Ponce. This was worsened by several factors: At least one author has also blamed the stagnation on "the strife between the U.S. and the local Nationalist Party ." The 20th century financial stagnation prompted residents to initiate measures to attract economic activity back into the city. Also, a solid manufacturing industry surged that still remains. Examples of this are
8280-416: The city of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan metropolitan area. Its nicknames include: La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South) and La Ciudad Señorial (The Noble or Lordly City). The city is also known as La Ciudad de las Quenepas ( Genip City), from the abundant amount of this fruit that grows within its borders. The complete history of Ponce can be appreciated at
8400-698: The city's strong Catalan heritage. In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Ponce Historic Zone as one of America's most endangered historic places. With 31 barrios , Ponce is Puerto Rico's municipality with the largest number of barrios. Ponce's barrios consist of 12 located in the urban area of the city plus 19 outside the urban zone. Of these nineteen, seven were considered suburban in 1999. The suburban barrios were: Canas , Magueyes , Portugués , Machuelo Arriba , Sabanetas , Coto Laurel , and Cerrillos . A 2000 report by
8520-630: The city, the Pedro Albizu Campos Park , is dedicated to the memory of the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. As a result of this event, Ponce has been identified as "the birthplace of Puerto Rican national identity." Ponce history in general is expressed at the Ponce History Museum , on the block bordered by Isabel, Mayor, Cristina, and Salud streets in the historic downtown area. Ponce has continued to be
8640-406: The country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its r pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's r -dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from
8760-614: The diverse regional dialects of British English) became common after the mid-18th century, while at the same time speakers' identification with this new variety increased. Since the 18th century, American English has developed into some new varieties, including regional dialects that retain minor influences from waves of immigrant speakers of diverse languages, primarily European languages. Some racial and regional variation in American English reflects these groups' geographic settlement, their de jure or de facto segregation, and patterns in their resettlement. This can be seen, for example, in
8880-742: The double quotation mark ("like this") over the single ('as here'). Vocabulary differences vary by region. For example, autumn is used more commonly in the United Kingdom, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (United Kingdom) vs. antenna, biscuit (United Kingdom) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (United Kingdom) vs. parking lot, caravan (United Kingdom) vs. trailer, city centre (United Kingdom) vs. downtown, flat (United Kingdom) vs. apartment, fringe (United Kingdom) vs. bangs, and holiday (United Kingdom) vs. vacation. AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where
9000-410: The early 19th century, Ponce continued to be one of dozens of hamlets that dotted the Island. Its inhabitants survived by subsistence agriculture , cattle raising , and maritime contraband with foreigners. Mayor José Benítez categorized the jurisdiction into cotos , hatos , criaderos , monterías , and terrenos realengos . Cotos were lands awarded to residents as reward for their services to
9120-638: The electric grid of the city of Ponce was inaugurated on the first day of the Ponce Fair. In this occasion the Plaza Las Delicias and various other buildings, including the Mercantile Union Building, the Ponce Casino , and some of Ponce's homes were illuminated with the incandescent light bulb for the first time". At the time of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898 during
9240-510: The following two centuries) when this ethnic group eventually made up one-seventh of the colonial population. Scotch-Irish settlers spread from Delaware and Pennsylvania throughout the larger Mid-Atlantic region, the inland regions of both the South and North, and throughout the West: American dialect areas that were all uninfluenced by upper-class non-rhoticity and that consequently have remained consistently rhotic. While non-rhoticity spread on
9360-624: The governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various Government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Judiciary of Puerto Rico . It is also the regional center for various U.S. Federal Government agencies. Ponce is a principal city of both the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area with, as of the 2020 US Census,
9480-432: The great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. In the early 18th century Don Antonio Abad Rodriguez Berrios built a small chapel under the name of San Antonio Abad. The area would later receive the name of San Antón , a historically important part of modern Ponce. In 1712 the village was chartered as El Poblado de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Ponce (The Village of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Ponce). In
9600-939: The hospital , BrE to hospital ; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor , BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor ). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other, and American English is not a standardized set of dialects. Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour , fiber for fibre , defense for defence , analyze for analyse , license for licence , catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling . Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology." Other differences are due to
9720-648: The importing of industrial machinery, iron foundries and other enterprises. At the time of the American invasion of the Island in 1898, Ponce was a thriving city, boasting the Island's main financial center, the Island's first communications link to another country, the best capitalized financial institutions, and even its own currency. It had consular offices for England, Germany, the Netherlands, and other nations. Following trends set in Europe and elsewhere, in 1877, Don Miguel Rosich conceived an exposition for Ponce. This
9840-656: The influence of 18th-century Protestant Ulster Scots immigrants (known in the U.S. as the Scotch-Irish ) in Appalachia developing Appalachian English and the 20th-century Great Migration bringing African-American Vernacular English to the Great Lakes urban centers. Any phonologically unmarked North American accent falls under an umbrella known as General American. This section mostly refers to such General American features. Studies on historical usage of English in both
9960-565: The island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archaeological significance: Canas , Tibes , Caracoles , and El Bronce . During the first years of the colonization , Spanish families started settling around the Jacaguas River , in the south of the island. For security reasons, these families moved to the banks of the Rio Portugués , then called Baramaya. Starting around 1646
10080-505: The island." Ponce also had underwater telegraph cable connections with Jamaica and the West Indies , putting the U.S. forces on the island in direct communication with Washington, D.C. , for the first time since the beginning of the campaign. Just prior to the United States occupation of the island, Ponce was a flourishing and dynamic city with a significant number of public facilities, a large number of industries and commercial firms, and
10200-544: The king. They were developed into estancias or lands apt to be cultivated for agricultural use. Hatos were lands not granted to anyone in particular, but available for communal use where cattle could roam at will. Monterías were hilly areas located next to hatos were cattle could be reigned in or gathered together with the help of trained dogs. Criaderos were lands were cows could be herded for milk production. Goats, sheep, pigs, asses, and mares were also herded in criaderos . Terrenos realengos were lands that belonged to
10320-438: The late 18th century onwards, but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century. Non-rhoticity makes a word like car sound like cah or source like sauce . New York City and Southern accents are the most prominent regional accents of the country, as well as the most stigmatized and socially disfavored. Southern speech, strongest in southern Appalachia and certain areas of Texas,
10440-427: The mid-nineteenth century onwards, so they "are now more different from each other than they were 50 or 100 years ago", while other accents, like of New York City and Boston, have remained stable in that same time-frame. However, a General American sound system also has some debated degree of influence nationwide, for example, gradually beginning to oust the regional accent in urban areas of the South and at least some in
10560-617: The most formal contexts, and regional accents with the most General American native features include North Midland, Western New England, and Western accents. Although no longer region-specific, African-American Vernacular English , which remains the native variety of most working- and middle-class African Americans , has a close relationship to Southern dialects and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans, including hip hop culture . Hispanic and Latino Americans have also developed native-speaker varieties of English. The best-studied Latino Englishes are Chicano English , spoken in
10680-427: The municipality consists of slopes 10 degrees or greater. The 14 rivers comprising the hydrographic system of Ponce are Matilde , Inabón , Bucaná , Jacaguas , Portugués , Cañas , Pastillo , Cerrillos , Chiquito , Bayagan , Blanco , Prieto , Anón and San Patricio The Jacaguas River runs for a brief stretch on the southeast area of the municipality. The Inabón River springs from Anón ward and runs through
10800-777: The municipality for some 18 mi (29.0 km); the tributaries of the Inabón are the Anón and Guayo rivers and the Emajagua Brook. The Bucaná River springs from Machuelo Arriba ward and runs for 18.5 mi (29.8 km) into the Caribbean Sea. The tributaries of the Bucaná are the San Patricio, Bayagán , and Prieto Rivers and Ausubo brook. The Portugués River springs from the ward of that name in Adjuntas, and runs for 17.3 mi (27.8 km) into
10920-401: The municipality's five coastal barrios. There are also five barrios within the city limits ( Canas Urbano , Machuelo Abajo , Magueyes Urbano , Portugués Urbano , and San Antón ) that in addition to the original six city core barrios — named Primero , Segundo , Tercero , Cuarto , Quinto , and Sexto — make up the 11 urban zone barrios of the municipality. The historic zone of the city
11040-469: The offices of Ponce's island-wide El Dia newspaper that he owned, as well as the headquarters of his Empresas Ferré , to San Juan. In 1976, CORCO —southern Puerto Rico's main source of economic vitality—shut down its industrial operations in Guayanilla leaving thousands of area residents without work; its impact on indirect sources of employment was even greater. Also, the sugar cane industry, also suffered
11160-492: The outskirts of the city but these are mostly flat. The remaining six other barrios are further away from the city and their topology is rugged mountain terrain. These are (clockwise): Guaraguao , San Patricio , Monte Llano , Maragüez , Anón , and Real . The ruggedness of these barrios is because through these areas of the municipality runs the Central Mountain Range of the Island. The remaining barrios are part of
11280-402: The past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned / learnt , burned / burnt , snuck/sneaked , dove/dived ) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school ); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to
11400-425: The pride of the institution, its solidity, and its capacity to hold its own against far more wealthy Stateside institutions competing for the dollars of the local moneyed classes." Paseo Arias was previously called Callejón Amor (Love Alley). In 1991, Callejón Amor was converted into a promenade and renamed Paseo Antonio S. Arias Ventura, after the long-time employee of Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño who started as
11520-508: The record low of 51 °F (11 °C) from 25 January 1993. The mean annual temperature in the municipality is 79 °F (26 °C). During the 19th century, the city was witness to a flourishing architectural development, including the birth of a new architectural style later dubbed Ponce Creole . Architects like Francisco Valls, Manuel Víctor Domenech , Eduardo Salich, Blas Silva Boucher , Agustín Camilo González, Alfredo Wiechers, Francisco Porrata Doria and Francisco Gardón Vega used
11640-501: The regional hub for various commonwealth entities. For example, it serves as the southern hub for the Judiciary of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various other commonwealth and federal government agencies. Ponce has improved its economy in the last years. In recent years, Ponce has solidified its position as the second most important city of Puerto Rico based on its economic progress and increasing population. Today,
11760-480: The rest. The 1970s brought significant commercial, industrial and banking changes to Ponce that dramatically altered its financial stability and outlook of the city, the municipality and, to an extent, the entire southern Puerto Rico region. After Luis A. Ferre concluded his term as governor of Puerto Rico on January 1, 1973, he closed the Puerto Rico Iron Works foundry on Avenida Hostos , and transferred
11880-469: The rest. At 82.0% vs. 76.2% for the island as a whole, Ponce has the highest concentration of white population of any municipality in Puerto Rico. However, the US Census Bureau changed the definitions of its racial makeup categories for the 2020 Census resulting in 19.0% of Ponceños being classified as white and 13.3% as Black/Afro Puerto Rican' , 0.3% as Asian , and people of mixed race making up
12000-559: The revolutions and disruption of societies as nations gained independence from Spain in the 1810s-1820s. Third, the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 attracted numerous European immigrants to Puerto Rico. It encouraged any citizen of a country politically friendly to Spain to settle in Puerto Rico as long as they converted to the Catholic faith and agreed to work in the agricultural business. With such mass migrations, not only
12120-503: The size of the town was changed, but the character of its population was changed as well. Europeans, including many Protestants , immigrated from a variety of nations. On July 29, 1848, and as a result of this explosive growth, the Ponce hamlet was declared a villa (village) by Queen Isabella II , and in 1877 the village obtained its city charter. Some of these immigrants made considerable fortunes in coffee , corn and sugarcane harvesting, rum production, banking and finance ,
12240-451: The southern side of the central mountain range and the Cayey mountain range. The central area of the municipality is part of the semi-arid southern hills. These two regions are classified as being the driest on the island. The northern part of the municipality is considered to be within the rainy western mountains. Barrio Anón is home to Cerro Maravilla , a peak that at 4,085 feet (1,245 m)
12360-458: The southern third divided between hills, coastal plains, and the coastal flat. Ponce's municipal territory reaches the central mountain range to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Geographically speaking, the southern area of the territory is part of the Ponce-Patillas alluvial plain subsector and the southern coastal plain, which were created by the consolidation of the valleys of
12480-784: The state (to the king). However, in the 1820s, three events dramatically changed the size of the town. The first of these events was the arrival of a significant number of white Francophones , fleeing the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804. The effect of this mass migration was not felt significantly until the 1820s. These French Creole entrepreneurs were attracted to the area because of its large flatlands, and they came with enough capital, slaves , and commercial connections to stimulate Ponce's sugarcane production and sales. Secondly, landlords and merchants migrated from various Latin American countries. They had migrated for better conditions, as they were leaving economic decline following
12600-570: The traditional standard accent of (southern) England, Received Pronunciation (RP), has evolved a trap–bath split . Moreover, American accents preserve /h/ at the start of syllables, while perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England participate in /h/ dropping , particularly in informal contexts. However, General American is also innovative in a number of its own ways: The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as English-speaking British-American colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from
12720-662: The twentieth century. Founded in 1895, Banco Crédito built its own first banking structure in 1924 at Calle Marina and Callejón Amor, in Ponce. This first branch office, located in what is today the Ponce Historic Zone , has since been declared historic and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The bank collapsed in 1978 and was acquired by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . Its accounts and assets were purchased by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Banco Santander . Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño
12840-401: The urban area of the city. It is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, and it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy , becoming the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce in 1992. The historic Ponce Pueblo district, located in the downtown area of the city, is composed by several of the downtown barrios , and is located approximately three miles (4.8 km) inland from
12960-507: The urban zone of the city. There are six barrios in the core urban zone of the municipality named Primero , Segundo , Tercero , Cuarto , Quinto , and Sexto . They are delimetered by streets, rivers, or major highways. For example, Barrio Tercero is bounded in the north by Isabel Street, in the east by the Rio Portugués, in the south by Comercio Street, and the west by Plaza Las Delicias . Barrio Tercero includes much of what
13080-417: The verb-and-preposition combination: stopover, lineup, tryout, spin-off, shootout , holdup, hideout, comeback, makeover , and many more. Some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin ( win out, hold up, back up/off/down/out, face up to and many others). Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive in
13200-632: The whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of Guayanilla was called Ponce. In 1670, a small chapel was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe . Among its earliest settlers were Juan Ponce de León y Loayza , and the Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, from nearby San Germán . On September 17, 1692, the King of Spain Carlos II issued
13320-772: The word corn , used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the maize plant, the most important crop in the U.S. Most Mexican Spanish contributions came after the War of 1812 , with the opening of the West, like ranch (now a common house style ). Due to Mexican culinary influence, many Spanish words are incorporated in general use when talking about certain popular dishes: cilantro (instead of coriander), queso, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, burritos, and guacamole. These words usually lack an English equivalent and are found in popular restaurants. New forms of dwelling created new terms ( lot , waterfront) and types of homes like log cabin , adobe in
13440-609: The world. Any American or Canadian accent perceived as lacking noticeably local, ethnic, or cultural markers is known in linguistics as General American ; it covers a fairly uniform accent continuum native to certain regions of the U.S. but especially associated with broadcast mass media and highly educated speech. However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being one single mainstream American accent . The sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents having emerged in
13560-776: Was "Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño: el banco del grande y del pequeño." ( "Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño: the bank of the big (guy) and the little (guy)" ). Today, Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño's former building in downtown Ponce continues to serve as a bank branch for Banco de Santander , the Spanish concern that bought the assets of Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño in 1978. 18°0′39.816″N 66°36′47.7354″W / 18.01106000°N 66.613259833°W / 18.01106000; -66.613259833 Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( US : / ˈ p ɔː n s eɪ , ˈ p oʊ n -/ PAWN -say, POHN - , UK : / ˈ p ɒ n -/ PON - , Spanish: [ˈponse] )
13680-605: Was approved in 1880, and the Ponce Fair was held in the city in 1882. It showed several industrial and agricultural advancements. "It is important to establish a relationship between the European exhibitions that I have mentioned and the Ponce Fair, as the Fair was meant as a showcase of the advancements of the day: Agriculture, Trade, Industry, and the Arts. Just as with the 1878 World's Fair in Paris,
13800-470: Was fought. Three men were killed and 13 wounded on the Spanish side, while the Americans suffered four wounded. The American flag was raised in the town center that same day and most of the Spanish troops retreated into the surrounding mountains. The U.S. Army then established its headquarters in Ponce. After the U.S. invasion , the Americans chose to centralize the administration of the island in San Juan ,
13920-465: Was founded on 1 January 1895, and it prospered significantly during the first half of the twentieth century. The bank built its first and main branch in downtown Ponce in 1924, the same that the younger Banco de Ponce had built an equally impressive main office next to Banco Crédito's property. Banco Crédito's prosperity translated into the opening of new branches in other towns in Puerto Rico, at one point having over fifty branches spread across most of
14040-516: Was located on Calle Marina and Paseo Arias (Arias Promenade), facing west towards Plaza Degetau and bounded in the east by Calle Mayor Cantera. The building of the impressive Banco Crédito structure in downtown Ponce was meant to send a message from the local financial institution to the US-based banks that Banco Crédito was ready to market aggressively for the wealth of Puerto Rico's booming sugar economy.: "Banco Crédito's monumental exuberance expresses
14160-475: Was succeeded by Francisco Zayas Seijo . In the 2008 general elections María "Mayita" Meléndez was elected mayor of the city of Ponce and served three terms. The current (2021) mayor is Luis Irizarry Pabón who became the first mayoral candidate in the modern history of Ponce to win with more than 60% of votes cast. The city is also the governmental seat of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, and
14280-425: Was the scene of a major tragedy, when at least 129 people lost their lives to a mudslide in a sector of Barrio Portugués Urbano called Mameyes . International help was needed to rescue people and recover corpses. The United States and many other countries, including Mexico, France, and Venezuela , sent economic, human, and machinery relief. The commonwealth government, subsequently, relocated hundreds of people to
14400-469: Was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings. Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: typically a lack of differentiation between adjectives and adverbs, employing the equivalent adjectives as adverbs he ran quick / he ran quickly ; different use of some auxiliary verbs ; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns ; different preferences for
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