Cotentinais (French pronunciation: [kɔtɑ̃tinɛ]) is the dialect of the Norman language spoken in the Cotentin Peninsula of France. It is one of the strongest dialects of the language on the French mainland.

Due to the relative lack of standardisation of Norman, there are five main subdialects of Cotentinais:

At the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, a new movement arose in the Channel Islands, led by writers such as George Métivier (Guernsey, 1790–1881—dubbed the Guernsey Burns) and writers from Jersey. The independent governments, lack of censorship and diverse social and political milieu of the Islands enabled a growth in the publication of vernacular literature—often satirical and political.

Most literature was published in the large number of competing newspapers, which also circulated in the neighbouring Cotentin, sparking a literary renaissance on the Norman mainland.

The Norman poet Côtis-Capel (1915–1986) was a native of the Cotentin and used the landscape as inspiration for his poetry.

The Norman language writer Alfred Rossel, native of Cherbourg, composed many songs which form part of the heritage of the region. Rossel's song Sus la mé ("on the sea") is often sung as a regional patriotic song.

Each sub-group has some characteristics which made it possible to define them:

The dialect of La Hague is very guttural, in particular by the hard pronunciation of Norman aspirated H ("Hague" is typically pronounced [hrague] in the region). It pronounces the verbs of the first group with final in [ - has ]: chauntaer (to sing) is read [chanhanta] /ʃaɔ̃tɑ/. It is the same for the conjugation with the last participle. Exception, in the two communes of Cap de La Hague (Auderville and Saint-Germain-des-Vaux) where one pronounces [chanhanto] /ʃaɔ̃to/.