Saintongeais (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃tɔ̃ʒɛ] ⓘ; endonym: séntunjhaes) is a dialect of Poitevin–Saintongeais[2][3] 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 of Charente and Charente-Maritime as well as in parts of the neighbouring department of Gironde and a town[which?]

Saintongeais, which is a langue d'oïl variety, 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.

The Limousin dialect of Occitan used to be spoken in this area and left a substrate on Saintongeais.

The great promoters of spoken Charentais at the beginning of the twentieth century were "le Barde Saintongeais" Goulebenéze [fr], succeeded by Odette Comandon [fr], 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.