Micaela previously said:

I am from Santiago, my grandmother family is from San Jose de las Matas y algunas de las palabras que supuestamente usamos en RD nunca las he oído, ni tengo la menor idea de que significan, como Abanban, Kin, Lembota, Guimbo, Changa, kutuco.

JEM237 previously said:



That makes two of us! I've never heard any of these words in my life!

JEM237 previously said:



That makes two of us! I've never heard any of these words in my life!

JEM237 previously said:



That makes two of us! I've never heard any of these words in my life!

xwill7 previously said:


I think that micaela has sipping on some mamajuana when he heard those words Add me to the list of people that never heard these words.
I have heard of Changa from Mex people which means female monkey to them

Lemba previously said:



LOL, no mamajuana would have been great. However these i have collected very randomly, because my grandmother says them when she feels them appropiate. There are words in spanish that don't describe the exact state, so perhaps these African words, as most of them are clearly Bantu, would maybe have more specific descriptions. I agree that most of these words are not country wide, or even region or even city wide. I acknowledge that some parts of my family do have some linguistic peculiarities that are perhaps from maroon heritage. I have mentioned alot of these words and most Dominicans don't know about it, but some i have heard across regions. I met a friend from Villa Altagracia which is bordering San Cristobal province and Bonao, and she had heard of the word Lembota, and it means the same exact thing there. Also in the smaller towns of the duarte province i have heard people use some of these words, the older people. For example one of myr cousins grandmothers in pimentel is named Monga, and its not because she's a "mongolica" as dominican-americans use it, LOL. But because she has as slight limp to her walk.

I got a new word today my grandmother telling me to throw out somethigns said "Vete a bajai eso Korotoh'" Accent on the last O. For some time as a kid i thought some of my grandmas speech was just made up, i grew up thinking it was just stuff she'd make up. But then i did some research, turns out most of these words are clearly African as they show up as town names, some of them are also in context with some bantu languages.

Again i am not saying all Cibaenyos speak liek this, but perhaps in pred. black parts of the cibao, or in Maroon villages in the Cibao, or across the island there where Dominicans using these terms. Perhaps my grandmothers words are a renmant of one time when there was some sort of creole in the mountains.

Same happens with some Families that are very Taino genetically and culturally as in the case of Baracutey whose family uses some Taino words that are not in common use by the average Dominican.

But then u'd hav to ask yourself, wouldn't some of these isolted communities be good representatives of a much older contiuum of culture.

Interesting that one of the posters here mentioned that pred. black town because there was plantatoins there, these cases are very common in some parts and in some parts not. I happen to be from a part where not only was there slavery but heavy maroonage, the River Yuna which divides Cotui and Duarte province had Maroons, La Vega area had maroons and Samana/Nagua had Maroons.

Lemba previously said:

Yes Laurato i have one grandmother, who looks more indegenous. And which is where my indegenous traditoins come from. She is the one whose mother was taken under the water and taught how to make remedies and heal by the Indios in D.R, according to my grandma this was her mom. Her results are not in yet, but as soon as they are i will post them in ABF.