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. Dominican Spanish has heavy influence from African languages, mainly in phonetics and syntax, but also some words.
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 often more difficult, because of differences in syntax and vocabulary, but in particular the relatively high speed of Dominican speech.
Read more about Dominican Spanish: Phonology, Vocabulary, Some Words and Names Borrowed From Arawakan
Famous quotes containing the word spanish:
“Wheeler: Aren’t you the fellow the Mexicans used to call “Brachine”?
Dude: That’s nearly right. Only it’s “Borracho.”
Wheeler: I don’t think I ever seen you like this before.
Dude: You mean sober. You’re probably right. You know what “Borracho” means?
Wheeler: My Spanish ain’t too good.
Dude: It means drunk. No, if the name bothers ya’ they used to call me Dude.”
—Jules Furthman (1888–1960)