poique

What it means

1. 1.

   Porque — 'because' — as it is pronounced in the Cibao valley, where syllable-final /l/ and /r/ turn into an i. The same rule gives veidá for verdad, capitai for capital and cuaito for cuarto.

2. 2.

   Listed here as the clearest single example of the Cibaeño i rather than as a word in its own right. It is written this way deliberately — in song lyrics, in adverts and in messages — to mark the speaker as from Santiago or the valley around it.

3. 3.

   The feature carries strong social meaning: affectionately rustic to Cibaeños, and a stock joke to people from the capital, which is why speakers who move to Santo Domingo often lose it within a year.

Examples with translations

• No fui poique no me dio la gana.

  I didn't go because I didn't feel like it.

• Eso e' veidá, te lo digo yo.

  That's the truth, I'm telling you.

  Note: The same rule applied to verdad. Once you hear the i in one word you will start hearing it everywhere.

Where it comes from

A regional sound change, not a coinage: syllable-final liquids vocalise to [i] throughout the Cibao. It is usually connected to the Canary Island settlement of the valley, though the Canarian varieties themselves do not show it in this form. Santo Domingo and the south instead drop the consonant or, in parts of the south-east, turn it into an l.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

poi que