Caribbean Spanish

E11288

dialect group regional variety of Spanish

Caribbean Spanish is a major regional variety of the Spanish language spoken in Caribbean countries and coastal areas, characterized by distinctive pronunciation, rhythm, and vocabulary.

Observed surface forms (6)

Surface form	As subject	As object
Cuban Spanish	0	2
Dominican Spanish	0	2
Caribbean Spanish varieties	0	1
Coastal Venezuelan Spanish	0	1
Costeño Spanish	0	1
Spanish of the Caribbean	0	1

Statements (46)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	dialect group → regional variety of Spanish →
hasAlternativeName	Caribbean Spanish → surface form: Spanish of the Caribbean español caribeño →
hasCharacteristic	aspiration or deletion of syllable-final /s/ → distinctive intonation patterns → fast speech rhythm → frequent use of diminutives and augmentatives → frequent use of loanwords from English in some areas → reduction of unstressed vowels in rapid speech → strong influence from African languages in lexicon and prosody → use of specific Caribbean lexical items → use of subject pronoun omission similar to other Spanish varieties → use of ustedes instead of vosotros for second person plural → weakening of word-final consonants → yeísmo →
hasPhonologicalFeature	aspiration of /s/ to [h] in coda position → elision of /d/ in intervocalic position in some words → neutralization of /l/ and /r/ in syllable-final position in some areas → weakening or loss of final /r/ in infinitives →
hasSociolinguisticAspect	code-switching with English in some communities → variation by social class → variation by urban versus rural setting →
hasSubvariety	Caribbean Colombian Spanish → Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs → surface form: Coastal Venezuelan Spanish Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs → surface form: Cuban Spanish Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs → surface form: Dominican Spanish Puerto Rican Spanish →
influencedBy	Andalusian Spanish → Canarian Spanish → Indigenous Caribbean languages → West African languages →
languageFamily	Indo-European languages → Romance languages →
partOf	Spanish → surface form: Spanish language
region	Caribbean →
spokenIn	Caribbean coastal areas of Central America → Caribbean islands → Colombian Caribbean region → surface form: Colombia (Caribbean coast) Cuba → Dominican Republic → Panama → surface form: Panama (Caribbean regions) Puerto Rico → Venezuela → surface form: Venezuela (coastal regions)
usedBy	Spanish speakers in the Caribbean region →
writingSystem	Latin alphabet →

Referenced by (18)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Canarian Spanish → closelyRelatedTo → Caribbean Spanish →

this entity surface form: Caribbean Spanish varieties

Rioplatense Spanish → contrastsWith → Caribbean Spanish →

Caribbean Spanish → hasAlternativeName → Caribbean Spanish →

this entity surface form: Spanish of the Caribbean

Negrismo → hasLanguageContext → Caribbean Spanish →

Spanish → hasMajorDialect → Caribbean Spanish →

Colombian Caribbean region → hasRegionalDialect → Caribbean Spanish →

Colombian Spanish → hasRegionalVariety → Caribbean Spanish →

this entity surface form: Costeño Spanish

Latin American Spanish → hasRegionalVariety → Caribbean Spanish →

Caribbean Spanish → hasSubvariety → Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs →

this entity surface form: Cuban Spanish

Caribbean Spanish → hasSubvariety → Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs →

this entity surface form: Dominican Spanish

Caribbean Spanish → hasSubvariety → Caribbean Spanish self-linksurface differs →

this entity surface form: Coastal Venezuelan Spanish

Andalusian Spanish → influenced → Caribbean Spanish →

Canarian Spanish → influencedBy → Caribbean Spanish →

Colombian Spanish → influencedBy → Caribbean Spanish →

Veracruz Spanish → influencedBy → Caribbean Spanish →

this entity surface form: Cuban Spanish

Veracruz Spanish → influencedBy → Caribbean Spanish →

this entity surface form: Dominican Spanish

Canarian Spanish → sharesFeaturesWith → Caribbean Spanish →