Dominican Spanish
Encyclopedia
Dominican Spanish is Spanish
as spoken in the Dominican Republic
, a Caribbean
country, and throughout the Dominican diaspora, which is found mostly in the United States, chiefly in New York City
, Boston
, and Miami.
Dominican Spanish is similar to Puerto Rican Spanish
, Cuban Spanish
, Canarian Spanish
(Canary Islands of Spain
), Andalusian Spanish
(Andalucia, southern Spain
), Panamanian Spanish
and Venezuelan Spanish
. Speakers of Dominican Spanish may also use several Spanish archaisms.
Despite the particularities, speakers of the Dominican variant of Spanish usually have no trouble understanding speakers of other Spanish dialects, due to exposure to such dialects in mass media and the use of standard Spanish in the Dominican education system. The opposite is sometimes more difficult, because of differences in syntax and vocabulary, but in particular the relatively high speed of Dominican speech.
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).
A slightly pejorative 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). It is descended from the Latin
word "vagina". 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?".
Anglicism
s, 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.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
as spoken in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, a Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
country, and throughout the Dominican diaspora, which is found mostly in the United States, chiefly in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, and Miami.
Dominican Spanish is similar to Puerto Rican Spanish
Puerto Rican Spanish
Puerto Rican Spanish is the Spanish language as characteristically spoken in Puerto Rico and by millions of people of Puerto Rican descent living in the United States and elsewhere...
, Cuban Spanish
Cuban Spanish
Cuban Spanish is the dialect of the Spanish language as it is spoken in Cuba. As a Caribbean dialect, Cuban Spanish shares a number of features with nearby varieties, including coda deletion, seseo, and debuccalization.-Overview:...
, Canarian Spanish
Canarian Spanish
Canarian Spanish is a variant of standard Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canarian people, and in the southeastern section of Louisiana in Isleño communities that emigrated to the Americas as early as the 18th century...
(Canary Islands of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), Andalusian Spanish
Andalusian Spanish
The Andalusian varieties of Spanish are spoken in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar. They include perhaps the most distinct of the southern variants of peninsular Spanish, differing in many respects from northern varieties, and also from Standard Spanish...
(Andalucia, southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), Panamanian Spanish
Panamanian Spanish
Panamanian Spanish is geographically defined as the form of Spanish spoken in the country of Panama, which is located in Central America.The variations among different speaker groups of the same language can be lexical , phonological , morphological , or in the use of syntax .Historically, Panama...
and Venezuelan Spanish
Venezuelan Spanish
Venezuelan Spanish is a dialect of the Spanish language spoken in Venezuela.Spanish was introduced in Venezuela by the conquistadors. Most of them were from Andalusia, Galicia, Basque Country, and the Canary Islands...
. Speakers of Dominican Spanish may also use several Spanish archaisms.
Despite the particularities, speakers of the Dominican variant of Spanish usually have no trouble understanding speakers of other Spanish dialects, due to exposure to such dialects in mass media and the use of standard Spanish in the Dominican education system. The opposite is sometimes more difficult, because of differences in syntax and vocabulary, but in particular the relatively high speed of Dominican speech.
Phonology
- Like many other Spanish dialects, Dominican Spanish features yeísmoYeísmoYeísmo is a distinctive feature of many dialects of the Spanish language, which consists of the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme and its merger into the phoneme , usually realized as a palatal fricative or affricate. In other words, ‹ll› and ‹y› represent the same sound...
: 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 EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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 fricativeVoiceless glottal fricativeThe voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a "fricative", is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant phonologically, but often lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant...
[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 CibaoCibaoCibao, usually referred as "El Cibao", is a region of the Dominican Republic located at the northern part of the country.The Taíno word Cibao, meaning "place where rocks abound", was originally applied to the central mountain range, and used during the Spanish conquest to refer to the rich and...
region and by an l (L) in the Eastern and in the capital city (Santo DomingoSanto DomingoSanto Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
); 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 SpanishAndalusian SpanishThe Andalusian varieties of Spanish are spoken in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar. They include perhaps the most distinct of the southern variants of peninsular Spanish, differing in many respects from northern varieties, and also from Standard Spanish...
, and also the l use is prototypical, and more marked, in Puerto Rican SpanishPuerto Rican SpanishPuerto Rican Spanish is the Spanish language as characteristically spoken in Puerto Rico and by millions of people of Puerto Rican descent living in the United States and elsewhere...
. It is believed to be of AndalusiaAndalusiaAndalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
n 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").
- Dominican Spanish uses the common Caribbean inverted placement of the second person singular pronoun tú in front of the verb in questions: "¿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.
Other differences with Standard Spanish
Standard Spanish
Standard Spanish or neutral Spanish is a linguistic variety, or lect, that is considered a correct educated standard for the Spanish language. Standard Spanish is not merely Spanish adjusted to fit in prescriptive molds dictated by a linguistic overseeing authority, but also a form of language that...
include subtleties like hypercorrection
Hypercorrection
In linguistics or usage, hypercorrection is a non-standard usage that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of grammar or a usage prescription...
, 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 | Standard 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 | brave, combative |
| 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 Arawak language Arawak is the eponymous language of the Arawakan language family. The term is often used to cover the closely related Taino language of the Caribbean islands. The ethnonym Lokono may be used more specifically.... or African origin) |
un poco | a bit |
| guagua (this term is also used in the Canary Islands Canary Islands The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union... (Spain), Cuba, Puerto Rico; it originated in the Canary Islands) |
autobús | coach / bus |
| motoconcho | mototaxi | motorbike taxi |
| pasola (a generic term derived from a trademark) | ciclomotor | scooter |
| yipeta (a generic term derived from a trademark) | (vehículo) todoterreno | jeep / SUV |
| conuco (Arawak Arawak language Arawak is the eponymous language of the Arawakan language family. The term is often used to cover the closely related Taino language of the Caribbean islands. The ethnonym Lokono may be used more specifically.... 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 |
| conflé (possibly a corrupted anglicism of corn flakes) | cereal | cereal |
| Pamper (many Spanish-speaking countries use this term, including Puerto Rico, Cuba, and in Central America. It is also believed to be a genericized term deriving from a trademark.) | pañal desechable | disposable diaper |
| Vivaporu (a generic term derived from a trademark) | crema mentolada | Vick's VapoRub |
A slightly pejorative slang expression also common around most of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
basin is vaina. The Castilian meanings are "sheath", "pod", "shell", "shell casing", and "hull" (of a plant). It is descended from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word "vagina". 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?".
Anglicism
Anglicism
An Anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. "Anglicism" also describes English syntax, grammar, meaning, and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption.-Anglicisms in Chinese:...
s, due to cultural and commercial influence from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the American occupations of the Dominican Republic
History of the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles.Successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean. Around AD 600, the Taíno Indians, an Arawak culture,...
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
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish is a version of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico and in various places of Canada and the United States of America, where there are communities of Mexican origin....
. 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
Corn flakes
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
" and its variant "con fléi" can refer to any breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
, 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
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
toolmaker.
Some words and names borrowed from Arawakan
| Arawak | 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 Taíno Taíno people The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America... s for roasting meat. |
| batata | sweet potato |
| bohío | small square house (typical countryside homes) |
| cacata | tarantula Tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to... |
| cana | any number of palmetto Palmetto -Botany:Members of several genera of small palms:*the genus Sabal of the Arecaceae family**Dwarf Palmetto**Sabal palmetto*Saw Palmetto, Serenoa repens*Silver saw palmetto, Acoelorraphe wrightii-Place names:United States... trees (a type of palmetto are the palms that line the Malecón of Santo Domingo) |
| ceiba Ceiba Ceiba is the name of a genus of many species of large trees found in tropical areas, including Mexico, Central America, South America, The Bahamas, Belize and the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia... |
Silkcotton tree Bombax Bombax is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, as well as sub-tropical regions of East Asia and northern Australia. Common names for the genus include Silk Cotton Tree, Simal, Red Cotton Tree, Kapok and... |
| canoa | small boat, canoe (canoe is a cognate of canoa) |
| Cibao | Stoned Mountains |
| cocuyo or cucuyo | small lightning bug with a blueish light |
| cohiba | tobacco Tobacco Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines... /tobacco leaves |
| guayo | grater |
| jaiba | river crab or freshwater crayfish (*This is of Spanish origin. Possibly from Basque.) |
| 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 |
| 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 Hispaniola Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt... |
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