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Sardinian language

Sardinian
Sardu, Limba / Lingua Sarda
Native to Italy
Region Sardinia
Native speakers
~1 million (1993–2007)
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by Limba Sarda Comuna code
Language codes
ISO 639-1 sc
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3 inclusive code
Individual codes:
sro – Campidanese dialect
src – Logudorese dialect
Glottolog sard1257
Linguasphere

51-AAA-s +(Corso-Sardinian)

51-AAA-pd & -pe
Idioma sardo.png
Sardinia Language Map.png
Languages and dialects of Sardinia. Sardinian is yellow (Logudorese) and orange (Campidanese).
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

51-AAA-s +(Corso-Sardinian)

Sardinian (sardu, limba sarda, lingua sarda) or Sard is the primary indigenous Romance language spoken on most of the island of Sardinia (Italy). Of the Romance languages, it is considered one of the closest, if not the closest, to Latin. However, it also incorporates a Pre-Latin (Paleo-Sardinian, also known as Nuragic, and Punic) substratum, and a Catalan, Spanish and Italian superstratum due to the past political membership of the island, first gravitating towards the Hispanic sphere of influence and later towards the Italian one.

Sardinian consists of two mutually intelligible varieties, each with its own literature:Campidanese and Logudorese, spoken respectively in the southern half and in the north-central part of Sardinia. Some attempts have been made to introduce a standardized writing system for administrative purposes by combining the two Sardinian varieties, like the LSU (Limba Sarda Unificada, "Unified Sardinian Language") and LSC (Limba Sarda Comuna, "Common Sardinian Language"), but they have not been generally acknowledged by native speakers.

In 1997 Sardinian, along with all the other languages spoken by the Sardinians, was recognized by a regional law; since 1999, Sardinian is also one of the twelve "historical language minorities" of Italy and protected as such by the national Law 482. However, the language is in retreat and UNESCO classifies both main varieties as "definitely endangered"; although an estimated 68.4 percent of the islanders have a good oral command of Sardinian. Italian is displacing it nonetheless in many cases, and language ability among children has been estimated to have dropped in fact to around 13 percent.


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