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{{Short description|Dialect or variety that is considered "sub-standard" and generally lacks a written form}}
{{Use American English |date=January 2019}}{{About|the general term|the Jamaican creole language|Jamaican Patois}}{{Wiktionary|patois}}
'''''Patois''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|æ|t|w|ɑː}}<small>, {{Plural abbr}} same or</small> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|æ|t|w|ɑː|z}})<ref name="oed">{{OED|patois}}</ref> is speech or language that is considered [[nonstandard dialect|nonstandard]], although the term is not formally defined in [[linguistics]]. As such, ''patois'' can refer to [[pidgin]]s, [[creole language|creoles]], [[dialect]]s or [[vernacular]]s, but not commonly to [[jargon]] or [[slang]], which are vocabulary-based forms of [[Cant (language)|cant]].

In colloquial usage of the term, especially in [[France]], class distinctions are implied by the very meaning of the term, since in French, ''patois'' refers to any [[sociolect]] associated with uneducated rural classes, in contrast with the dominant [[prestige language]] ([[Standard French]]) spoken by the middle and high classes of cities or as used in literature and formal settings (the "[[acrolect]]"). [[Sociolinguistics]] is the discipline that studies the relationship between these language varieties, how they relate to the dominant culture and, in the case of France, to [[national language policy]].

==Etymology==
The term ''patois'' comes from [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|patois}} {{gloss|local or regional dialect}}<ref name="oed"/> (originally meaning {{gloss|rough, clumsy or uncultivated speech}}), possibly from the verb {{lang|fro|patoier}} {{gloss|to treat roughly}}, from {{lang|fro|patte}} {{gloss|paw}},<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/patois |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225051448/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/patois |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 25, 2013 |title=patois |work=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=19 May 2013 }}</ref> from [[Old Dutch|Old Low Franconian]] {{lang|odt|*patta}} {{gloss|paw, sole of the foot}}, plus the suffix {{wikt-lang|fro|-ois}}.

==Examples==
In [[France]] and other [[Francophone]] countries, ''patois'' has been used to describe non-standard [[French language|French]] and [[regional language]]s such as [[Picard language|Picard]], [[Occitan language|Occitan]] and [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]] since 1643, and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] after 1700 when the king [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] banned its use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/Decret-interdiction-catalan1700.htm|title=Interdiction de la langue catalane, Louis XIV|website=www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca|language=fr-CA|access-date=2019-01-18}}</ref> The word assumes the view of such languages being backward, countrified and unlettered; thus the term ''patois'' is potentially considered offensive when used by outsiders. As [[Jean Jaurès]] once said, "One names ''patois'' the language of a defeated nation."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rleb07.free.fr/opinions/vecteur.html|title=Do you speak french? A new "Common Vector"|last=Billon|first=Robert L.E.|date=April 2000|website=rleb07.free.fr|access-date=2019-01-18}}</ref> In France and Switzerland, however, the term ''patois'' no longer holds any offensive connotation, and has become a celebrated and distinguished variant of the numerous local tongues.<ref>Walter, Henriette (1998). ''Le Français dans tous les sens'', introduction by André Martinet, Paris: Robert Laffont ({{ISBN|2253140015}}).</ref>

The [[vernacular]] form of [[English language|English]] spoken in [[Jamaica]] is also referred to as ''patois'' or ''patwa''. It is noted especially in reference to Jamaican Patois from 1934. [[Jamaican Patois]] language consists of words from the native languages spoken by many Caribbean ethnic and cultural groups including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Amerindian, English and several African languages. Additionally, some islands have Creole dialects influenced by French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, German, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese and others. Jamaican Patois is also spoken in [[Costa Rica]] and [[French-based creole languages|French Creole]] is spoken in Caribbean countries such as [[Trinidad and Tobago]] and [[Guyana]] in South America.

Often, these patois are popularly considered "[[broken English]]" or slang, but cases such as Jamaican Patois are classified more correctly as a [[Creole language]]. Notably, in the [[French West Indies|Francophone Caribbean]], the analogous term for local [[basilect]]al languages is ''créole'' (see also [[Jamaican English]] and [[Jamaican Creole]]). [[Antillean Creole]], in addition to French, is spoken in [[Lesser Antilles]] and includes vocabulary and grammar of African and [[Carib language|Carib]] origin. Its dialects often contain folk-etymological derivatives of French words. For example, ''{{Langx|fr|lavier|label=none}}'' ("river, stream"), a syncopated variant of the standard French phrase {{Langx|fr|la rivière|label=none}} ("the river"), has been associated by [[folk etymology]] with {{Langx|fr|laver|label=none}} ("to wash"). Therefore, ''{{Langx|fr|lavier|label=none}}'' is interpreted to mean "a place to wash" since such streams are often used for washing laundry.

Other examples of ''patois'' include [[Trasianka]], [[Sheng slang|Sheng]] and [[Tsotsitaal and Camtho|Tsotsitaal]]. 

In [[Uruguay]], ''patois'' has been spoken by citizens in the south of Uruguay, many who hail from France and [[Piedmont]] region of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dedicaciontotal.udelar.edu.uy/adjuntos/produccion/742_academicas__academicaarchivo.pdf|title=Etnicidad y Lenguaje: La aculturación sociolingüística de los inmigrantes italianos en Montevideo|last=Barrios|first=Graciela|date=2008|website=Portal de la Universidad de la República – UCUR|publisher=Universidad de la República (Uruguay)|language=es-UY|trans-title=Ethnicity and Language [variety]: The sociolinguistic acculturation of Italian immigrants in Montevideo|access-date=2019-01-17}}</ref>

==Synonyms==
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
Dominican, Grenadian, St. Lucian, Trinidadian and Venezuelan speakers of [[Antillean Creole]] call the language ''patois''. It is also named {{langx|es|Patuá|label=none}} in the [[Paria Peninsula]] of [[Venezuela]] and spoken since the eighteenth century by self-colonization of French people (from [[Corsica]]) and Caribbean people (from [[Martinique]], [[Trinidad]], [[Guadeloupe]], Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic) who moved for [[Theobroma cacao|cacao]] production.

[[Macanese Patois]] is also known as ''Patuá'' and was originally spoken by the [[Macanese people|Macanese community]] of the former [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[Portuguese Macau|colony of Macau]].

==References==
{{Portal|Languages}}
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]
[[Category:Language varieties and styles]]
[[Category:Linguistics terminology]]