THE CARIBBEAN HISTORY

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: DOES THE NATION HAVE A NATIVE LANGUAGE?

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: DOES THE NATION HAVE A NATIVE LANGUAGE?
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Avellon Williams 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC- The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that does not have its own language. The country was colonized by the Spanish Empire for over three centuries, so the official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish. However, this does not mean that all Dominicans are fluent in Spanish.

The Dominican Republic has a population of 10 million people, and about 95% of them are native Spanish speakers. The other 5% are bilingual with both Spanish and English as their mother tongue.

There are also many Dominicans who speak Haitian Creole, which became the second most spoken language in the country after English.

The Dominican-Haitian border /Courtesy/

The Dominican Republic’s proximity to Haiti has led to a large Haitian population within its borders and Hispanophone Haitians constitute about one-third of the total population today.

Despite being located in the outskirts of the Caribbean, Dominican Republic citizens prefer to speak Spanish in their nation, even when having a general conversation.

The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus on December 5, 1492, marking its first discovered existence. The Dominican Republic was once part of the Spanish empire until the late 18th century.

It was controlled by France, Haiti, and Spain at various times during the 19th century. The United States occupied the island from 1916 to 1924.

The Dominican Republic is home to around 10 million people, with around 3 million living in Santo Domingo, the capital city. 

One can only admire the beauty of the Dominican Republic when viewing it from the island’s perspective. However, few are aware of the fact that Spanish is the official language and most spoken language of the Dominican Republic.

This language is regarded as Dominican Spanish, which is really a variation of Spanish, in other words, a type of Spanish dialect.

In addition to being spoken on the island, Dominican Spanish is also spoken by Dominicans who live abroad, mainly in New York City, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, and Miami.

This dialect that is currently used is a subset of Caribbean Spanish derived from southern Spain’s Canarian and Andalusia dialects. 

/Courtesy/

During pre-colonization, Arawaks were referred to as the locals on the island. As a result, Dominican Spanish borrows some words from the Arawak language and the African languages that were spoken by African immigrants to the Dominican Republic.

This beautiful language, which is similar in tone to the French dialect; Patois is used in everyday communication among the people.

Both the electronic and print media use it in their messaging to report news, both local and foreign.

Even the minority English and French-speaking citizens have to rely on these Spanish-speaking news outlets for information, thus necessitating the need for them to learn this version of Spanish.

Arawak indigenous Caribbeans /Courtesy/
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Avellon Williams

The flag of Dominican Republic pinned on the map. Horizontal orientation. Macro photography.