Why Bad Bunny, the world’s biggest Spanish-language musician, has set off a linguistic debate

According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE, under its Spanish acronym), a “piquete” is either a sharp object, a small wound, or a group of striking workers blocking access to a workplace. It is a word, generally speaking, of conflict and harm.

But when Puerto Rican musician Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – more commonly known as Bad Bunny – intones on his song NUEVAYoL “Tú tiene’ piquete mami, yo también” (“You’ve got piquete mami, and so do I”), he is not talking about trade unions or pointy sticks. He is referring to something else altogether, a way of moving through the world with a certain self confidence, attitude and style.

In Puerto Rico’s boricua dialect, the meaning of piquete is totally divorced from the RAE’s official uses. But unapologetic use of his native dialect is what defines the music of the world’s biggest Spanish-language musician.

Bad Bunny has put Spanish on more global stages than any other artist in recent history, yet he is also widely criticised for his way of speaking. This is rife on social media, where users complain that he “doesn’t talk properly”, he is “deforming the language”, and “doesn’t enunciate clearly”.

But these...

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