Saintongeais (''saintonjhais'') is a dialect of Poitevin-Santongeais spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former provinces of

Saintonge Saintonge may refer to: *County of Saintonge, a historical province of France on the Atlantic coast *Saintonge (region), a region of France corresponding to the historical province Places * Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, a commune in the Charente-Mar ...

, Aunis and

Angoumois Angoumois (), historically the County of Angoulême, was a county and province of France, originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine, similar to the Périgord to its east but lower and generally less forested, equally with occasional ...

, 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, ...

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, an ...

and Charente-Maritime as well as in parts of the neighbouring department of

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,6 ...

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 The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the desc ...

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

, 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 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 Athanase Jean (born 1861 in Saint-Césaire, died 1932 at Rouffiac, Charente-Maritime) was a French country doctor and writer. Life Athanase Jean, better known by the name of Doctor Jean, was born on 24 November 1861 at Saint-Cesaire, Charente-Ma ...

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