I'm an amateur, long interested in the African influenced languages of the (black) diaspora. I would like to point out two shared features commonly existing in AAV (African-American Vernacular) but also, suprisingly, existing in Dominican Spanish
and Haitian Krey?l.
The first example is the deletion of terminal consonants and the second is the deletion of medial consonants. Here is an American English example: ?His friend sells insurance.? in Standard English becomes in AAV ?His [fren] [sell_] [in-shoo-ance.]
The terminal ?d? in friend is deleted, the medial ?r? in the second syllable of insurance is deleted; however, [He sell_], minus the ?s? is also the correct AAV conjugation, so I'm not certain if both the conjugation and the consonant termination rules apply here.
Now let's look at and compare the same examples in Spanish of the Dominican Republic. The D.R. is contiguous to Haiti, and Haiti's African influences can be found diffused into various aspects of Dominican culture.
The interjection in Standard Spanish ??Es la verdad!? is spoken as ??E_ la verda_!? This is the same final consonant deletion as found in AAV. And here is an example of medial consonant deletion: Standard Spanish ?Estoy acostado.? is pronounced as ?Estoy [acos-TA-O]? the ?ta-o? as a one syllable dipthong deleting the ?d? just as [in-shoo-ance] deletes the ?r? in AAV.
For those living in the D.R., if you listen carefully, you will here many examples of these African influenced rules. In fact, you will be hearing phonemic deletion rules of West African languages X and Y that have become a permanent feature of Dominican spoken Spanish via Haiti. What the identity of these West African languages are, I would like to know. If anyone with scholarship can shed light . . . As an aside, when I was in Ghana, W/A, I did hear in the Twi (Ashante) language an example of the AAV rule where a final ?th? is pronounced as an ?f? (teeth becomes teef.), i.e., I hear this used in English examples of native Twi speakers.
Now let's move on to Haitian Krey?l. To my non-native ears I have heard two frequent examples of final consonant deletion. In fact I have heard only these two examples, whereas in Dominican Spanish there are many. However the two Haitian examples I've heard are very strong, i.e. no exceptions. ?Li koute dis goud.? is always pronounced as ?Li koute [Z_] goud.? where the ?s? in dis is deleted and there is also a modification of the initial ?d.? The second example is also with a number. ?Sir?t yo koute senk goud pou twa.? will always be spoken as ? Sir?t yo koute [ZAIN] goud.? where the ?k? in senk is deleted and there's
also a modification of the initial ?s.? Now, these Africanized pronunciations of these numbers occurs only when they are used as adjectives. When used as nouns, as in counting, dis is pronounced as dis and senk as senk.
And, finally, one always hears that Krey?l's vocabulary, besides being mostly derived from European Romantic languages, principally French, also includes African language vocabulary. But what are these words? I don't know, but I would speculate that these might be candidates: kalalou (okra), also known as gonbo and pwa kongo (pigeon peas.)
and Haitian Krey?l.
The first example is the deletion of terminal consonants and the second is the deletion of medial consonants. Here is an American English example: ?His friend sells insurance.? in Standard English becomes in AAV ?His [fren] [sell_] [in-shoo-ance.]
The terminal ?d? in friend is deleted, the medial ?r? in the second syllable of insurance is deleted; however, [He sell_], minus the ?s? is also the correct AAV conjugation, so I'm not certain if both the conjugation and the consonant termination rules apply here.
Now let's look at and compare the same examples in Spanish of the Dominican Republic. The D.R. is contiguous to Haiti, and Haiti's African influences can be found diffused into various aspects of Dominican culture.
The interjection in Standard Spanish ??Es la verdad!? is spoken as ??E_ la verda_!? This is the same final consonant deletion as found in AAV. And here is an example of medial consonant deletion: Standard Spanish ?Estoy acostado.? is pronounced as ?Estoy [acos-TA-O]? the ?ta-o? as a one syllable dipthong deleting the ?d? just as [in-shoo-ance] deletes the ?r? in AAV.
For those living in the D.R., if you listen carefully, you will here many examples of these African influenced rules. In fact, you will be hearing phonemic deletion rules of West African languages X and Y that have become a permanent feature of Dominican spoken Spanish via Haiti. What the identity of these West African languages are, I would like to know. If anyone with scholarship can shed light . . . As an aside, when I was in Ghana, W/A, I did hear in the Twi (Ashante) language an example of the AAV rule where a final ?th? is pronounced as an ?f? (teeth becomes teef.), i.e., I hear this used in English examples of native Twi speakers.
Now let's move on to Haitian Krey?l. To my non-native ears I have heard two frequent examples of final consonant deletion. In fact I have heard only these two examples, whereas in Dominican Spanish there are many. However the two Haitian examples I've heard are very strong, i.e. no exceptions. ?Li koute dis goud.? is always pronounced as ?Li koute [Z_] goud.? where the ?s? in dis is deleted and there is also a modification of the initial ?d.? The second example is also with a number. ?Sir?t yo koute senk goud pou twa.? will always be spoken as ? Sir?t yo koute [ZAIN] goud.? where the ?k? in senk is deleted and there's
also a modification of the initial ?s.? Now, these Africanized pronunciations of these numbers occurs only when they are used as adjectives. When used as nouns, as in counting, dis is pronounced as dis and senk as senk.
And, finally, one always hears that Krey?l's vocabulary, besides being mostly derived from European Romantic languages, principally French, also includes African language vocabulary. But what are these words? I don't know, but I would speculate that these might be candidates: kalalou (okra), also known as gonbo and pwa kongo (pigeon peas.)