Dominican Spanish
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Dominican indian is Spanish as spoken in the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean country, and throughout the Dominican diaspora, which is found mostly in New York City, Boston, and Miami.
Dominican Spanish is similar to Puerto Rican Spanish, Cuban Spanish, Canarian Spanish (Canary Islands of Spain), and Venezuelan Spanish. One main similarity that all these share is the borrowing of words from the Arawakan language of the Taíno Indians and from the African languages of the imported slaves. Speakers of Dominican Spanish may also use several Spanish archaisms.
Despite all the particularities, speakers of the Dominican variant of Spanish usually have no trouble understanding speakers of other Spanish dialects, thanks to the use of such dialects in media and the fact that standard Spanish is promulgated through the Dominican education system. The opposite is sometimes more difficult, due to differences in syntax and vocabulary, but in particular the relatively high speed of Dominican speech.
Phonology
- Like many other Spanish dialects, Dominican Spanish features yeísmo: the sounds represented by ll (the palatal lateral /ʎ/) and y (historically the palatal approximant /j/) have fused into one. This merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a [j] or [dʒ] (these are the sounds in English York and John). That is, in the Dominican Republic, se cayó "he fell down" is homophonous with se calló "he became silent / he shut up".
- The fricative /s/ has a tendency to become an indistinct aspiration or disappear or to become a voiceless glottal fricative [h] at the end of syllables. This change may be realized only at the word level or it may also cross word boundaries. That is, las mesas son blancas "the tables are white" is pronounced [lahˈmesah sɔn ˈblaŋkah], but in las águilas azules "the blue eagles", syllable-final /s/ in las and águilas might be resyllabified into the initial syllable of the following vowel-initial words and remain [s] ([laˈsaɣilasaˈsulɛh]), or become [h] (it varies by speaker).
- In some areas, speakers tend to drop the final r sound in verb infinitives. This elision is considered a feature of uneducated speakers in some places, but it is widespread in others, at least in rapid speech.
- The weak r, final or not, tends to be changed in many words by an i sound in the Northerly Cibao region and by an l (L) in the Eastern and in the capital city (Santo Domingo); i.e., the verb correr (to run) is pronounced correi and correl respectively, and perdón (forgiveness) becomes peidón and peldón. This substitution of i is delicately (almost mutely) present in Andalusian Spanish, and also the l use is prototypical, and more marked, in Puerto Rican Spanish. It is believed to be of Andalusian and/or African origin.
- Strong contraction in everyday speech is common, as in "voy a" into "vuá" or "voá", or "¿para adónde vas?" into "¿p'ónde va'?". Another example: "Taco 'tá 'co'ta'o", from "Taco está acostado" ("Taco is lying down / Taco is sleeping").
- Almost exclusively Dominican in use is the placing of the second person singular pronoun tú before the verb in the question form: "¿Cómo tú estás?" instead of "¿Cómo estás tú?". Unless that person is from Santiago then they use the more formal usted, instead of tú, the conventional word order is used.[clarification needed]
Other differences with Standard Spanish include subtleties like hypercorrection, in particular, adding the s erroneously, thus over-compensating the habit of omitting it (i.e., correct: administraciones públicas [public administrations]; vernacular: aminitracione pública; hyper-corrected: asministracione púsblica).
Vocabulary
As in every dialect, Dominican Spanish has numerous vocabulary differences from other forms of the language. Here are some examples.
| Dominican Spanish | Spanish | English |
| aposento (a Spanish archaism also meaning "chamber") | habitación | room |
| Dominican slang: tató (shortened from "está todo (bien)") | bien | good, fine |
| guapo/-a | agresivo/-a | wild |
| chinola | maracuyá | passion fruit |
| lechoza | papaya | papaya / pawpaw |
| cuartos (this is an archaism seldom used in standard Spanish also) | dinero | money |
| un chin/chin chin (possibly of Arawak or African origin) | un poco | a bit |
| guagua (this term is also used in the Canary Islands (Spain), Cuba, Puerto Rico; it originated in the Canary Islands) | autobús | coach / bus |
| motoconcho | (does not exist in all Spanish-speaking countries) | motorbike taxi |
| pasola (a genericized term deriving from a trademark) | ciclomotor | scooter |
| yipeta (a genericized term deriving from a trademark) | (vehículo) todoterreno | jeep / SUV |
| conuco (Arawak origin), finca | granja | farm/agricultural field |
| colmado (this is an archaism seldom used in Spanish also), and pulpería | tienda de ultramarinos | convenience store |
| zafacón (used also in Puerto Rico; possibly a corrupted anglicism of safety can) | bote de basura | trash can |
| mata | árbol | tree |
| Pamper (Many Spanish-speaking countries use this term, including in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and in Central America. It is also believed to be a genericized term deriving from a trademark.) | pañal desechable | disposable diaper |
| chicle (most likely based on the gum brand Chiclets) | goma de mascar | gum |
A rather un-translatable slang expression also common around most of the Caribbean basin is vaina. The Castilian meanings are "sheath", "pod", "shell", "shell casing", and "hull" (of a plant). In the Dominican Republic "vaina" is mainly a thing, a matter or simply "stuff". For example, ¿Qué vaina es esa? means ¿Qué cosa es esa?, "What is that thing/stuff?".
Anglicisms, due to cultural and commercial influence from the United States and the American occupations of the Dominican Republic during 1916–1924 and 1965–1966, are extremely common in Dominican Spanish, more so than in any other Spanish variant, save for Puerto Rican and perhaps Northern Mexican Spanish. A prime example of this is "baguada", which is a corruption of the English "bad weather", though in Dominican Spanish the term has come to mean storm or torrential downpour, rather than a spot of unpleasant climate. Hence, a common Dominican expression: "Viene una baguada", "here comes a baguada", or "here comes a storm". Another excellent example of this is "boche", a corruption of the English "bull shit", though in Dominican Spanish the term has come to mean a reprimanding, fulmination, or harangue in general terms. Hence, a common Dominican expression: "Me echaron un boche", "they threw me a boche", or "they reprimanded me". The pronoun "they" in Dominican Spanish often refers to the third person singular, so that me dijeron, "they told me", is sometimes used instead of "a man told me", or "a woman told me", or "the young boy by the lemon tree told me". Furthermore is the Dominican Spanish word for SUV, "yipeta", or rarely "gipeta". This term is a corruption of the American "Jeep", which was the primary mode of transport for the GI's throughout the country during the occupation in the 1960s. Dominican license plates for SUVs are marked with a "G" for "gipeta", a variant of, and pronounced like, "yipeta", before their serial number. The word "tichel", from "T-shirt", also refers to a rugby shirt, association football jersey, or undershirt, and similarly, "corn flakes" and its variant "con fléi" can refer to any breakfast cereal, in Dominican Spanish, be it puffed corn, bran flakes, or puffed wheat. The borrowing "polo shirt" is frequently pronounced polo ché.
Another phenomenon related to Anglicisms is the usage of brand names as common names for certain objects. For example, "Gillette" and its derivative yilé refer to any razor, and while the machete is known as machete, this being originally a Spanish word, it is sometimes referred to as a "colín", derived from "Collins & Co.", name of a former Connecticut toolmaker.
Some words and names borrowed from Arawakan
| Arawak Word | Translation |
|---|---|
| ají | chili/hot pepper |
| Anacaona | Golden Flower |
| arepa | corn cake |
| bara | whip |
| barbacoa | barbecue (barbacoa and "barbecue" are cognates). It was a four-legged stand made of sticks, used by the Taínos for roasting meat. |
| batata | sweet potato |
| bohío | small square house (typical countryside homes) |
| cacata | tarantula |
| cana | any number of palmetto trees (a type of palmetto are the palms that line the Malecón of Santo Domingo) |
| ceiba | Silkcotton tree |
| canoa | small boat, canoe (a cognate of canoa) |
| Cibao | Stoned Mountains |
| cocuyo or cucuyo | small lightning bug with a blueish light |
| cohiba | tobacco/tobacco leaves |
| guagua | bus or car; a form of transit |
| guayo | grater |
| jaiba | river crab or freshwater crayfish |
| jicotea | turtle |
| maraca | gourd rattle, musical instrument made of higuera gourd |
| maco | toad; in sports it can also mean someone who doesn't throw a ball accurately[citation needed] |
| mime | little insect, typically a fruit fly |
| nana or nena | little girl |
| sabana or zabana | savanna (a cognate of sabana); a flat grassland of tropical or subtropical regions |
| tabacu or tabaco | tobacco |
| yagua | a small palm native to Hispaniola |
| yola | small boat |
Sources
- El español en la República Dominicana - Alvar Gómez, Manuel (Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Servicio de Publicaciones) ISBN 84-8138-418-6. ISBN 978-84-8138-418-5.
- El español de la República Dominicana
- "La influencia del inglés en la República Dominicana. Valoración de una encuesta oral", by Manuel Alvar
- "Zonas lingüísticas americanas", by Sergio Zamora
- Culture of Dominican Republic
Other links
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- Pérez Guerra, Irene: "El arcaismo del espańol dominicano"
- Jergas de habla hispana Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and coloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries, including the Dominican Republic.
- Forums