Colloquial Speech

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Marianopolita

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Many have mentioned the difficulty of understanding Dominican Spanish. I usually read at least one of the Dominican newspapers daily and today I found a good example of colloquial everyday speech. The recent rise of stray bullets in certain neighborhoods of Sto. Domingo has many of its residents preoccupied and over the past few weeks young children have been wounded by stray bullets. Below you will find an excerpt from a worried resident.

'Balaceras espantan a la gente de Capotillo'

Estas escenas han provocado que do?a Juana viva con miedo. "A mi me ha dao miedo de estar aqu?; se arman muchos tiros a veces. Eso es lo que me tiene a m? m? as?; que quiero sal? de aqu? a v? si toy mejor en otro sitio donde yo pueda vivir m? tranquila. Yo soy una se?ora mayor, ya yo tengo 70 a?os, y no quiera vivir as?".


Colloquial speech is a property of every language. A dialect by definition is: 1. a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary). 2. a variety of language whose identity is fixed by a factor other than geography (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary).

The excerpt above is a classic example of 'a dialect' in Spanish because the pronunciation of the speaker is outside of the norm of the Spanish language.


http://www.hoy.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=48518

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LDG.
 
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DRzIllest

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?Di que?

Speaking of colloquial spanish in the Dominican Republic, I have always wondered what the expressions "di que" and "o sea" meant since I hear them alot. If anyone can shed any light on this it would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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Dragonfly32837

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Dique is like saying supposedly. Example: "El dique es doctor" is saying "He is supposedly a doctor."
O sea is like saying meaning. Example: "Tu eres madrugador, o sea que te despiertas temprano" is saying "You are an early riser, meaning you wake up early.
 
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mkohn

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I was thinking that literally "dique" meand "dice que" which means "he says that..."
And "o sea" is pretty old Spanish. Literally "o" is "or" and "sea" (I think) is the third person conditional of "ser" "to be." So another version of a translation might be "or it could be..." I was thinking that it means "in other words..."
mkohn
 
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Mirador

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DRzIllest said:
Speaking of colloquial spanish in the Dominican Republic, I have always wondered what the expressions "di que" and "o sea" meant since I hear them alot. If anyone can shed any light on this it would be much appreciated.QUOTE]


"di que" is a colloquial variant of "dizque".

dizque. (from old spanish "diz que" which means "dice que".)
adv. dicen, parece pero es dudoso.

here's a passage from the diary of Christopher Columbus's first voyage:

"Dix?ronle los indios que por aquella v?a hallar?a la isla de Matinino, que diz que era poblada de mugeres sin hombres, lo cual el almirante mucho quisiera por llevar diz que a los Reyes cinco o seis d'ellas...

translation:
"The Indians said that along that route one would find the island of Matinino, which they said was populated by women without men, of whom the admiral wanted very much to bring five or six to speak to the king and queen?
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Marianopolita

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"O sea"

Remember with idiomatic expressions sometimes there is no equivalent or parrallel in English.

In my opinion "o sea" is an example of one of those expressions. It's a clarifying phrase used after a statement.

Here is the dictionary definition: o sea Expresi?n que indica equivalencia y se emplea para aclarar o explicar lo dicho: ya no te soporto, o sea hemos terminado.

http://www.elmundo.es/diccionarios/


LDG.
 
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Mirador

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o sea = that is (to say)

"o sea" is not an idiomatic expression, it's a phrase of universal usage in Spanish, and means "that is" (to say)


Lesley D said:
Remember with idiomatic expressions sometimes there is no equivalent or parrallel in English.

In my opinion "o sea" is an example of one of those expressions. It's a clarifying phrase used after a statement.

Here is the dictionary definition: o sea Expresi?n que indica equivalencia y se emplea para aclarar o explicar lo dicho: ya no te soporto, o sea hemos terminado.

http://www.elmundo.es/diccionarios/


LDG.
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Marianopolita

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Mirador....you are mixing two concepts

What I meant by an idiomatic expression is that it can not be translated literally. If one tries to translate "o sea" as in two words individually what does that mean?

Definition of "idiom": a group of words whose meaning is different from those of the individual words.

Therefore by definition "o sea " is an idiom or idiomatic expression.

LDG.


Mirador said:
"o sea" is not an idiomatic expression, it's a phrase of universal usage in Spanish, and means "that is" (to say)
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Mirador

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Not trying to be picky, but

my clarification was forthcoming since by expressing that "o sea" is an idiomatic expression in the context of this thread, you suggest that the phrase is part of informal, colloquial or even slang speech in the DR, which clearly it is not.


Lesley D said:
What I meant by an idiomatic expression is that it can not be translated literally. If one tries to translate "o sea" as in two words indivdually what does that mean?

Definition of idiom: a group of words whose meaning is different from those of the individual words.

Therefore by definition "o sea " is an idiom or idiomatic expression.

LDG.
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Marianopolita

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Mirador

I did not suggest that it was a colloquial expression. I merely answered a question asked in post #2. Since everyone is clear now can we get past this please?

LDG.


Mirador said:
my clarification was forthcoming since by expressing that "o sea" is an idiomatic expression in the context of this thread, you suggest that the phrase is part of informal, colloquial or even slang speech in the DR, which clearly it is not.
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