Sarthe patois
Region	Maine
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Vulgar Latin Romance Gallo-Romance langues d'oïl Sarthe patois
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Geographical region of the dialect

Sarthe patois is a langue d'oïl, and is spoken in the region Haut-Maine. Sarthe patois is also called "Sapience", "Cénoman", or "Manceau" (for the variant from Mans).

The county of Maine was comprise of Haut-Maine to the east, which became the department of Sarthe and Bas-Maine to the west which became the department of Mayenne.

Sarthe patois, like all regional dialects, has local variations in pronounciation within itself. It is surrounded by very similar dialects: Percheron (Perche), Mayennais (Mayenne) et Angevin (southern Sarthe) which are differentiated by certain traits.

Sarthe patois is quite close Gallo in a number of ways. It often serves as an intermediary between Gallo and French.

The table below allows you to compare Gallo, Manceau and French

For the majority, the language of Haut-Maine is composed of expressions relating to the land, to the fruit of the work of rural men. For Le Mans vocabulary, we are dealing with a great diversity. The XIX century century brought its share of technical expressions related to galloping industrialization, or even to commerce, given that the city was the economic exchange center of the entire West. At the confluence of many other regions (Normandy and Brittany especially), the speakers were also able to draw inspiration or borrow from their neighbors.

The language has largely stayed in the countryside surround the town of Mans. Today, it can be noted that the vast majority of speakers are Mans seniors, especially in Ballon, Beaumont-sur-Sarthe, Bouloire, Ecommoy, Nogent-le-Bernard, Pezé-le-Robert, Roézé-sur-Sarthe and La Suze. Today, Sarthe patois, like all dialects or patois in France, is facing extinction. However, project "Save the Sarthe language" was launched in 2003 in Sillé-le-Guillaume by the local radio Fréquence Sillé. The objective of the project is to save the many ancient sound sources on digital platforms in order to preserve this ancestral culture. Furthermore, this could encourage their diffusion in the future.Other associations like Trésors des parlers cénomans, La Gouline sarthoise, or the language department of the Universite of Maine and even the lnstitut Technologique Européen des Métiers de la Musique are also tackling this issue.The collective was thus able to publish leTrésor du parler cénoman (The Treasure of Speaking Céloman) in 2006, continuing the work of Roger Verdier who wrote the Dictionnaire phonétique du parler manceau (Phonetic Dictionary of the Mans Dialect) in 1951. after having completed this, the authors added a CD which contained demonstrations of how to speak Sarthe. In total, no less than 8,000 words were referenced. A DVD report on Coudrecieux glassware has also been produced entirely in Sarthe patois. Three others were also released about the diverse traditions of the region. A large sound library has been assembled and it lists both spoken word and Sarthe cultural customs: tales and legends, nursery rhymes and songs, and even the antics of Roger Verdier. The association has over a thousand hours of audio, by recovering audio sources since 1950. Today, no daily newspaper is written in Sarthe patois anymore. However, Le bonhomme sarthois (The Sarthe Gentleman) newspaper writes exclusive in patois and its archives are available in the Louis-Aragon media library in Mans.