Lemba previously said:

Sorry i dindt phrase that right, i meant there is a Dominican Folk-lore book wtih hundreds of stories from different towns, and some of the Higuey/Hayo Mayor stories are written with many I's, it could be some cibaenyo immigration, but it'd have to be somewhat farback. The book is called "Folk-lore de la Republica Dominicana" by Manuel de Jesus Andrade. He wrote passed down oral stories in the accents and speech styles of the people telling it to make it as accurate as possible. And He has La Vega, Santiago, Higuey, Santo Domingo, San Juan, and some other places, but it did intrigue me that quite a few Cotuisenyos and Hato Mayorenyos had i's in their passed down stories, in many places there is a cross-road of accents, in the east case some looekd to be a blend of cibaenyo and eastern speech, like I's and in some places, and L's inother places, very interesting.

The Cibao itself represent many characteristics some of which have been lost with time, such as the use of subtituting the H for a J, Jombre, jijo, Jembra, etc. Also in all regions in D.R there is a MYRIAD of Taino words thrown about on a daily basis, as well as African words. My other grandmother (not the one who caught curios), displays alot of African words in her speech, along with many Taino ones, i have been writing down whatever i hear her say that sounds non spanish and verifying the African or indegenous meaning of the word. Words like

"AhBanBan" (Dumbass) " - Probably of African origin, like the Bambara
"Saperoko" (A mess of some kind) - African from the Zape/Sape ethnic group which was common in D.R
"Jaiba" (Taino for land turtle)
"Kin" (To do something and like doing itit, like saying "Con Gusto" Could be of African or Indegenous Origin
Cutuco (Could be of African or Indegenous origin, it means Children)

Baracutei previously said:



Saludos Lemba glad to meet you.
Just wanted to add that the word Jaiba is Taino for land crab. Hicotea is the taino word for fresh water turtle, Carey for sea turtle and catua is land turtle.
The curious speech in the cibao with the Long 'i' has historically been given many origens. I think however I may be a little biased when I say that it appears to me of Taino origen, Foir example in the Taino language as well as Garifuna which is also an arawakan language the "i" larga appears at least once in every five words. Many Taino words end with an "i" larga for example

Higuey (region in the DR)
Turey (sky)
Maguey (aloe)
Adamanei (saona island)
Camaguey (region in Cuba)
Ciboney (a people)
Yarei (Palm)
Surey (cotton)
Baracutei (baracuda or solitary animal)
The list goes on and on. We have 3200 words of Taino extraction throughout the Caribbean. In places where there is more Taino linguistic influence you find this "i" larga Tambien. For example it is found in Lares, PUerto Rico and the Camaguey region of Cuba.

L's on the other hand are very African indeed. You find this speech pattern and cadences mostly in the South. Thats not to say that we dont have other African lingustic influences of course.

BTW most Taino mtdna in the DR was found in the cibao, where certain populattions were as high as 90 percent. The Azua region was second highest and Maguana 3rd.
All the best
Baracutei