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Patois (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, patois can refer to , creole language, or , but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of 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.
The vernacular form of English language 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 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 Francophone Caribbean, the analogous term for local 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 origin. Its dialects often contain folk-etymological derivatives of French words. For example, ("river, stream"), a syncopated variant of the standard French phrase ("the river"), has been associated by folk etymology with ("to wash"). Therefore, 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 and Tsotsitaal.
In Uruguay, patois has been spoken by citizens in the south of Uruguay, many who hail from France and Piedmont region of Italy.
Macanese Patois is also known as Patuá and was originally spoken by the Macanese people of the former Portugal Portuguese Macau.
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