Sardinian language

Sardinian language

The linguistic identity of Sardinia is quite heterogeneous, being split into four main dialects: Logudorese, Nuorese-Barbaricino, Campidanese and Gallurese, with influences of Corsican people.

There are also the dialect of Sassari, resulting from the fusion of the Logudorese with Italian language influences; the dialect of Alghero, quite close to Catalan and the dialect of the island of San Pietro, where a Ligurian dialect is spoken.

Sardinian is a romance language, of latin derivation like Italian, French and Spanish, but unlike these latter it remains quite faithful to Latin, witnessing the conservative attitude of Sardinian culture.

The history of the island of Sardinia, relatively isolated from the European continent up into modern times, led to the development of a distinct Romance language, which even now preserves traces of the indigenous pre-Roman language of the island.

The following substratal influences are possible:

-Nuragic

-Basque

-Etruscan

Adstratal influences include:

-Catalan

-Spanish

-Italian

The early origins of the Sardinian language (sometimes called Paleo-Sardinian) are still obscure, due mostly to the lack of documents, as Sardinian appeared as a written form only in the Middle Ages. There are substantial differences between the many theories about the development of Sardinian.

Many studies have attempted to discover the origin of some obscure roots that today could legitimately be defined as indigenous, pre-Romance roots.

The older layer should be that of Logudorese in the central mountains, which reflects an isolation (probably from the 1st century bce) of the tribes living there. The northernmost varieties of Sardinian—Sassarese and Gallurese—exhibit a mixed Sardinian-Italian typology, with medieval Ligurian and Corsican influences. Later influences include Catalan (dialect of Alghero), Spanish, and Italian (from 1861).

Italian is the official language of Sardinia. In 2005 the local government, Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (RAS), introduced a standard version of Sardinian (Limba Sarda Comuna), but, as it was not based on clear-cut linguistic criteria, it has not been acknowledged by native speakers or local administrations. Scholars and language academies were working on a dual standardized norm that combines Logudorese and Campidanese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful phrases in Sardinian

English				sardu/saldu (Logodorese)	sardu/sadru (Campidanese)
Welcome				Eni Ennido	Bèni benìu
How are you?				Coment'istas?	Cumènti stàis?
	What's your name? My name is ...			Comment ti jamas?	Cumènti ti tzèrrias?
		Goodbye		A si bìri
		Let’s go		Aiò

www.insidesardinia.com