Sardinian

1. Sardinian By Anna Moon

2. The Sardinian language • Sardinia is an island off the western coast of Italy. • The official language of Sardinia is Italian. • The Sardinian language is • the largest minority • language in Italy. • The only place Sardinian is • spoken is on the island of • Sardinia though many of its • speakers migrate to Italy • and other parts of Europe.

3. Sardinian: A Romance language • Sardinian is a Romance language which is most closely related to Italian. • However, Sardinian developed separately from Italian and is similar to Italian because both languages are very similar to the original Latin. • Sardinian is considered by some to be the closest living relative of Latin.

4. Language tree(s)

5. Language tree(s)

6. Native speakers • Sardinia has a population of about 1.6 million people. • An estimated 1.3 million people speak Sardinian. • That is approximately 80% of the population of the island. • There are many dialects of this language even though it has very few native speakers. • The four primarily recognized dialects are Campidanese, Logudorese, Sassarese and Gallurese.

7. Native speakers (cont.) • One quarter of the population live in Cagliari, Nuoro, Oristano and Sassari.

8. Linguistic history • The island of Sardinia has been occupied by many different kingdoms, empires and countries. • The unique history of Sardinia is evident in its language. Sardinian has many similarities to and evidence of Phoenician, Etruscan, Nuragic, Catalan and Arabic language influence. • Prior to WWII, Sardinia enjoyed a stable state of diglossia (Italian and Sardinian).

9. Linguistic history (cont.) • After WWII, a literacy campaign in Italy led to Italian dominating the education system and communication median.

10. Sociopolitical history • Sardinian is protected by the Italian constitution. • The official language of Italy is Italian. • The official language of the state of Sardinia is Sardinian. • The literacy campaign following WWII contributed greatly to the decline of Sardinian and dominance of Italian in Sardinia.

11. Sociopolitical history (cont.) • Sardinian can be used in many official situations in Sardinia (schools, legal papers, court proceedings, road signs, etc.) however it is not used in many of these situations. • Although Sardinian is protected and allowed in many different situations in Sardinia, it has declined and Italian has become the primary language in most situations other than communication.

12. Status as a language • According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), all dialects of Sardinian are endangered because of decline of the language in most areas besides verbal communication. • Attempts have been made to revitalize and standardize the Sardinian language but none of these attempts have been succesful.

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14. Sardinian popular culture • Sardinia does not have newspapers or newscasts in Sardinian. The local media will include articles, stories, etc. in Sardinian from time to time but no media is primarily in the Sardinian language. • Sardinian literature is not common and few books are written in Sardinian. • Sardinian music is mostly folk music and is rarely seen outside of the state of Sardinia.

15. Schools in Sardinia • Schools in Sardinia offer education in Sardinian in primary and secondary schools by request from the parents, however, no textbooks are available in Sardinian so only instruction is given in Sardinian. • Lack of education in Sardinian contributes Greatly to the decline of the language.

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18. Websites • A website from a university in Berlin, this website is in the Sardinian, Italian and German languages and gives a little information about the culture of Sardinia and educational programs in Sardinia. http://www.lingrom.fu-berlin.de/sardu/ • This website has everything you need to know about Sardinia. From language to culture to history, this website has it all in nine languages. http://www.sardegnacultura.it/linguasarda/ • This website can be viewed in Italian or in Sardinian and describes tourism, popular attractions, transportation, accommodation, everything you need to know about vacationing in Sardinia. http://www.comune.laconi.or.it/home_sar.php?lang=sar&inc=home_sar • A Facebook page about the Sardinian language. http://www.facebook.com/Lingua.Sarda?v=info

19. Websites (cont.) • Wikipedia in Sardinian. This page discusses the language just as the English version of the page. http://sc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limba_sarda • A website of a detailed history of Sardinia, this website tells the story of Sardinia from the beginning. http://www.immaginidellasardegna.it/storia/nuragica.htm • This website features a variety of Sardinian writing (mostly poetry). http://digilander.iol.it/belzebuttu/ • A dictionary of Sardinian words with translations into five different languages. http://www.ditzionariu.org/home.asp

20. Websites (cont.) • This website lists numbers, days of the week, the months of the year and other words as well as gives the words in different dialects. http://digilander.libero.it/PROVERBISARDI/calendario/calendario.htm • A website about the language, culture and popular topics on Sardinia and in the Sardinian language. http://www.fontesarda.it/sr/sr0013.htm

21. Sources • http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sardinian.htm • http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#GSardinian • http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/euromosaic/doc4560_en.htm#21 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinian_language • http://www.nativlang.com/sardinian-language/sardinian-basic-phrases.php • http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/sardlang.html • http://www.activsardegna.com/lingua_en.htm • http://www.mondosardegna.net/eng/linguasarda/linguasarda.htm • http://www.immaginidellasardegna.it/storia/nuragica.htm • http://www.gotosardinia.com/storia_della_lingua_sarda.htm