Saintongeais (''saintonjhais'') is a dialect of Poitevin-Santongeais spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former provinces of Saintonge, Aunis and Angoumois, all of which have been incorporated into the current

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Charente and

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square ...

as well as in parts of the neighbouring department of Gironde and a town in

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named ...

. Although many of the same words are used in both Charente departments, they differ in what they mean or in how they are pronounced. Saintongeais which is a langue d'oïl, and Gascon which is a langue d'oc variety have significantly influenced the Acadian and Cajun dialects of French spoken in Canada and the United States respectively.
In the 20th century, almost half of the Acadian population has Poitevin and Saintongean roots. Acadian French has, despite everything, retained a great originality in relation to Quebecois precisely because of its Poitevine and Saintongean origins. At the phonetic level, the number of preserved dialect features is greater than that of Quebec, especially in the communities of Old Acadia, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and that in particular hSaintongeais is maintained there to the present day.

Geographic distribution

Its area covers the entire department of

(except the very north), the west and centre of the department of Charente, the northern department of Gironde with its ''Pays Gabaye'' and its enclaves around Saintonge, Monségur. Today, Saintongeais is no longer widely spoken except in the countryside. It is still used in shows, magazines, and radio. Some words from Saintongeais are still used in the region. Words like ''since'' (floorcloth) are so widespread that they are considered by some to be French.

Cultural distribution

Along with French, Saintongeais is used in the magazine ''Xaintonge'', which is published twice a year. The great promoters of spoken Charentais at the beginning of the twentieth century were "le Barde Saintongeais" , succeeded by , author of comedy and folk tales, patois actress and storyteller. Country doctor Athanase Jean also wrote several plays in the dialect and helped promote the Saintonge culture.

References

External links

Xaintonge

A glossary of Saintongeais
Languages of France Oïl languages {{Romance-lang-stub