hearing for fellow Canarians from a distant part of the Canary archipelago. It is the accents of those regions that were as the basis of the accent of Spanish that is spoken in Puerto Rico. The indigenous population of Taínos left many words in the names of geographical areas of the Island (Jayuya, Mayagüez, etc.), and others are used to name everyday items such as hamaca ('hammock') or to describe natural phenomena such as huracán ('hurricane'). Africans in Puerto Rico were brought in as slave labor, mostly to work on coastal or lowland sugar plantations. They contributed a large number of words to colloquialisms and island cuisine, introduced words, and influenced the speech rhythms. That can be noticed by visiting the parts of the island where they have historically been present (almost exclusively along the coasts). Also, the Afro-Caribbean/West Indian patois/Creole linguistic presence is very strong and has influenced Puerto Rican culture, as is reflected in music (such as reggae) and culinary dishes. Chinese Puerto Ricans and other Asians who have established themselves in Puerto Rico also adopt the accent, but with a tinge of an East Asian. The Puerto Rican accent is somewhat similar to the accents of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean basin, including Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and those from the Caribbean/coastal regions of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, and Nicaragua (particularly to a non-Puerto Rican). However, any similarity will depend on the level of education of the Puerto Rican speaker and their immediate geographic location. It also continues to be extremely similar to the accent of the Canary Islanders and Andalusians in southern Spain. Overall, most Puerto Ricans make an emphatic distinction between their accent and other Caribbean Spanish accents. Features Seseo In parts of Spain, it is considered proper Spanish for the letter "z" and the combos "ci" and "ce" to be pronounced similarly to the English "th", with the exceptions of Galicia, Andalusia/Andalucía and the Canary Islands. In most of Spanish-speaking Spain, the pronunciation of surnames ending in the letter "z" sound similar to the English "th". Example: "López" and "Hernández" are pronounced as "Lópeth" and "Hernándeth", etc.. Seseo, or seceo, refers to the pronunciation of an sound for the written solo letter and the letter when followed by an or an . Examples of seceo: is , not ; and is not . The seseo-influenced Spanish is common throughout all Latin America and the Spanish-speaking