Saintongeais (;

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

: ''séntunjhaes'') is a dialect of Poitevin–Saintongeais spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of Saintonge,

Aunis Aunis () is a historical Provinces of France, province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Châtelaillon-Plage, Castrum Allionis (Châtelaillon) t ...

and Angoumois, all of which have been incorporated into the current departments of

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

and

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...

as well as in parts of the neighbouring department of

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

and a town in

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

. 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 variety, and Gascon, which is a langue d'oc variety, have significantly influenced the

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

and Cajun dialects of French spoken in Canada and the United States respectively.

Geographic distribution

Its area covers the entire department of

(except the very north), the west and centre of the department of

, and the northern department of

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 television shows, magazines and radio programs. 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. The Limousin dialect of Occitan used to be spoken in this area and left a substrate on Saintongeais.

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. Athanase Jean, a country doctor, 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