Macanese Patois

Macanese patois, known as patuá to its speakers, is a Portuguese-based creole language with a substrate from Cantonese, Malay and Sinhala, which was originally spoken by the Macanese community of the Portuguese colony of Macau. It is now spoken by a few families in Macau and in the Macanese diaspora.

For the local dialect of Standard Portuguese, see Macanese Portuguese.
Macanese Patois
Patuá
Native toMacau
EthnicityMacanese
Native speakers
50 in Macau (2007)
perhaps hundreds or more than a thousand among the Macanese diaspora; virtually all speakers at least bilingual; total speakers: 5,000 (2007; in Macau)
Portuguese–Cantonese Creole
  • Macanese Patois
Language codes
ISO 639-3mzs
Glottologmaca1262
ELPPatuá
Linguasphere51-AAC-ai
Location map of Macau
Patuá is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger classifies Patua as a "critically endangered" and places the number of speakers at 50 as of 2000.

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