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Sardinian languageSardinian (Sardu) is the main language spoken in the island of Sardinia, Italy, and is one of the most conservative Romance languages.
History and OriginsThe particular history of the island, practically isolated from the Continent for thousands of years, and only in recent times allowed to easily communicate with the mainland, allows us to see quite vividly the distinct traces of the linguistic invasions or influences on the Sardinian language. These external influences presumably came in contact with language of the Nuragici people, the island's original inhabitants, and interacted with it to build the essential structure of Sardinian. These cultural contacts are roughly identified as follows:
Early OrginsThe basic origins of the Sardinian language (sometimes called Paleosardinian) are still obscure, due mostly to the lack of documents, as Sardinian appeared as a written form only in the Middle Ages. Thus, the research done cannot rely only on linguistic investigation, but must use other scientific resources to research contacts between Sardinia and other peoples: the result will be a common study in structural comparison. It must be underlined that substantial differences distinguish the many theories about the development of Sardinian, so opposite results are sometimes produced. Many studies have attempted to discover the origin of some obscure roots that today could legitimately be defined as endemic. First of all, the root of sard, present in many toponyms and distinctive of the ethnic group, is supposed to have come from a mysterious people known as the Shardana, "the people of the sea" (this name is shown in Egyptian inscriptions of the 9th-8th c.BC, and is perhaps of Middle-East or Eastern Mediterranean origins). Prof. Massimo Pittau identifies the Shardana's original home as being in Lydia, basing his theory on several notable archaeological and religious analogies with the central regions of Anatolia; others stress the strange similarity of development of archaic costumes and rites between inner Sardinia and some areas in the Balkan region. However, this connection is difficult to support ex post facto; that is, after the influence of Caucasican and Balkan emigration to the Iberian peninsula. The work of Pittau is also interesting because in a famous 1984 work he claims to have found in the Etruscan language the etymology of many other Latin words, after comparison with the Nuragic language. If true, one could conclude that, having evidence of a deep influence of Etruscan culture in Sardinia, the island could have directly received from Etruscan many elements that are instead usually considered to be of Latin origin. Pittau then indicates that both the Etruscan and Nuragic languages are descended from the Lydian language, therefore being both Indo-European languages, as a consequence of the alleged provenance of Etruscans/Tirrenii from that land (as in Herodotus), where effectively the capital town was Sardis. Pittau also suggests, as a historical point, that the Tirrenii landed in Sardinia, whereas the Etruscans landed in modern-day Tuscany; this idea requires much further investigation, although it has been initially well-received. As for Sardinian contact with other peoples (here referring mainly to the Iberian peninsula), it has been said that Paleosardinian should be expected to have notable similarities with the Iberian language and the Sicilian language: the suffix -'ara, for example, in proparoxitones (Bertoldi and Terracini proposed it indicated plural forms). The same would happen (according to Terracini) for suffixes in -/àna/, -/ànna/, -/énna/, -/ònna/ + /r/ + paragogic vowel (as in the surname Bonnànnaro). Rohlfs, Butler and Craddock add the suffix -/ini/ (as in the surname Barùmini) as a peculiar element of Paleosardinian. At the same time, suffixes in /a, e, o, u/ + -rr- seem to find a correspondence in northern Africa (Terracini), in Iberia (Blasco Ferrer), in southern Italy and in Gascony (Rohlfs), with some closer relation to Basque (Wagner, Hubschmid). Suffixes in -/ài/, -/éi/, -/òi/, and -/ùi/ are common to Paleosardinian and northern African languages (Terracini). Pittau underlined that this concerns terms originally ending in an accented vowel, with an attached paragogic vowel; the suffix resisted Latinization in some toponyms, which show a Latin body and a Nuragic desinence. On this point, some toponyms ending in -/ài/ and in -/asài/ were thought to show Anatolic influence (Bertoldi). The suffix -/aiko/, widely used in Iberia, and perhaps of Celtic origins, as well as the ethnical suffix in -/itani/ and -/etani/ (as in the Sardinian Sulcitani) have been noted as other Paleosardinian elements (viz Terracini, Ribezzo, Wagner, Hubschmid, Faust, et al). PhoeniciansIt is with the Phoenicians that the Nuragic/Sardinian language begins to split into two major families, eventually producing Logudorese and Campidanese, Phoenicians having avoided the areas of Barbagia (in the island's center) and Gallura. Logudoro and Gallura evolved quite differently, especially during the Era of the Giudicati (1000-1400) when their differences became especially marked, leading to what we now know as Sardo logudorese and Gallurese. Phoenicians probably arrived from Cyprus (Borsig-Lilliu-Fischer, Barreca, Wagner) and immediately organised for a long stay on the island, notably founding the town of Nora. Relations with the inner part of the island were extended mainly in the 9th century BC (retrievals of religious fetishes), and later when Sardinian grain became a vital resource for Carthage. RomansThe Roman domination, beginning in 238 BC, obviously brought Latin to Sardinia, but Latin was not able to completely supplant the Sardinan language. Some obscure roots remained unaltered, and in many cases it was Latin that was made to accept the local roots, such as nur (in Nuraghe, as well as Nugoro and many other toponyms). Latin culture, on the other hand, was undoubtedly dominant; even the Barbagia, the rebellious inner area of the island, derives its name from the beards that Sardinians wore: their land officially became Barbaria (this name was attributed to other areas of the Roman empire too, for exactly the same reasons: it should be remembered that shaving was a Roman habit, and not widespread). Cicero, who called Sardinians latrones matrucati (thieves with rough sheep-woolcloaks) to emphasise Roman superiority, helped to spread this conception. Other Barbarians were on the northern side of Sardinia, in current Gallura, and Romans had to organise several expeditions to defeat the Balari (clearly coming from the Balearic Islands), Ilienses , Galillenses and Giddilotani . The importance of these conquests for the language is closely connected with the important construction of the Roman roads on the island: having conquered Sardinia in its entirety (1st century BC), and having gifted it with "modern" connectivity, Romans were able found Roman towns which they filled with Roman inhabitants from the mainland. Traces of these migrations were found in interesting ethnological studies of the 1920s (University of Bologna?), which found some ethnic features of the original Roman race (red hair, blue eyes, rosé skin and strong necks) in some smaller villages in the area of Bitti . Other InfluencesDuring this time period, there was a reciprocal influence between Corsica and a limited area of northern Gallura. On the southern side, though, the evidence favors contacts with Semitic and (later) Byzantine languages. In the 1st century AC, some relevant groups of Hebrews were deported to Sardinia, bringing various influences; the Christianisation of the island would have (probably) brought Hebrews to convert to a sort of independent cult of Sant'Antioco (perhaps a way to preserve their ethnicity under a Christian form), still present in Gavoi. This contact with Hebrews, followed by another deportation of Christians, presumedly lasted for a couple of centuries, and makes it likely that by the 3rd century AC, vulgar Latin began to dominate the island. This eventual Latin cultural domination thus makes Sardinian a Romance language, or better yet an archaic neo-Latin language, whose main characteristics are the lack of borrowings from the Greek language (especially for abstracts), an archaic kind of phonetic and morphosyntactic phenomena, and an eminently rural character of lexicon. The domination of the Vandals (5th century) lasted for only 80 years, and the presumed few German influences in Sardinian are not a result of this presence, but have rather been passed down indirectly through direct Latin-German relationships. After this domination, Sardinia passed under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire, and more interesting influences are derived from this culture. The Greek language that was the main reference of Byzantines did not, however, enter into the structure of Sardinian (still a Neolatin language) except for in some ritual or formal formulaes that are expressed in Latin using Greek structure. Much evidence for this can be found in the Condaghes, the first written documents in Sardinian. Some toponyms show Greek influence as well, such as Jerzu , commonly presumed to derive from the Greek khérsos (untilled), together with the personal names Mikhaleis, Konstantine, and Basilis. More to be added: Tuscan, Ligurian, Catalan, Spanish, Piedmontese, Italian influences Sardinian DiasystemsThe Sardinian language is commonly divided into two groups, sometimes referred to as versions, other times recognised as diasystems:
Another generally recognised diasystem is Gallurese, spoken in the northeastern part of the island. (It must be noted that, despite the study done of Sardinian, there is no consensus about its internal classification: Sassarese, spoken in Sassari, is not unanimously considered a diasystem, and this debate reflects a key problem in linguistics, namely the definition of the elements necessary for scientific language classification.) Ouside of the diasystem, there are other languages spoken on Sardinia as well, among them Catalan (mainly in Alghero, where an Aragonese colony was created ex novo in 1353, after the battle of Porto Conte) and Tabarchino , of Ligurian origins, mainly spoken in the minor islands of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco. The native language of Sardinia is usually considered to be shared among the most archaic forms: Sardo logudorese and Campidanese. The Gallurese (with main reciprocal Corsican influence, due to proximity) and Sassarese (spoken in the area of Sassari) are commonly reputed to be former dialects of Corsican, though in reality it shows many influences from Logudorese, due to proximity. Tabarchino and Catalan are considered enthically specific. Sardinian and CorsicanMost of the modern linguists, specialists of Romance languages, consider that Gallurese and Sassarese are dialects of Corsican. The plural form in -i (and not in -s like in proper Sardinian) and many other syntaxic forms Not scientific arguments: only opinionsMany opinions have been advanced, even if only in conversation, that Sassarese and Gallurese are transictional dialects, little-influenced by the Corsican language, especially in grammar and pronunciation. It is very difficult, indeed, to find a confirmation of these theories from any major source, and this theory seems at first sight to buck the accepted scientific consensus. In a classical sense, (i.e., Blasco Ferrer 's studies, which are careful to provide objective divergent views), there is no evidence at all that the Corsican language was ever spoken in Sardinia, outside of a few obvious exceptions. Neither does the history of the two islands (never ruled by the same authority after the Romans) show any kind of communication between the respective languages. (The exception is the fact that many Gallurese people often escaped to Corsica, generally under a milder political system, or the fact that the Gallura were more prevanlant seafarers, also due to numerical reasons). The most intense contact between the two islands was certainly between the 17th and the 18th centuries, when France was temporarily considering buying, claiming, or directly invading Sardinia; French action began with an intensification of commerce which resulted in greater contact between the islands, but Corsicans had no reason, at that time, to move to Sardinia, while Sardinians had more potential reasons to move to Corsica. Eventually, England understood the potential danger of an eventual unification of the two islands, which could tilt the balance of power in the Mediterranean Sea, and since then has worked intensively to preserve the separation of the two islands: it has been said that even the attribution of the Kingdom of Sardinia to the Duchy of Savoy results from this interest. The interaction of linguistic claims with current political reality (mainly those claiming autonomy or direct independence of Sardinia and, on the other side, of Corsica), suggests perhaps that we should watch these "exploits" with a certain scientific caution. Sardinian PhonemesSardinian has the following consonant phonemes (according to Blasco Ferrer, today perhaps the most relevant expert in Sardinian language): Plosives
Fricatives
Affricates/ts/ /dz/ /tS/ (from Italian, now also a phoneme) /dZ/ (dito) It is has been said that /T/ like Castilian /T/ developed from /ts/ and is in some modern Sardinian idioms pronounced as /s/ as in South American and Andalusian Castilian. Typical of Sardinian (Logudorese) phonology is the fricativisation and weakening of /p t k/ to /B D G/ in sentences. Sardinian DialectsLike every language, Sardinian has its own dialects. According to the studies by Blasco Ferrer, we can assume that they are grouped by this scheme that includes the theories of other authors too:
Minor regroupments are proposed by some authors, but the one here reported should be the essential classification.
Cultural StatusThe Sardinian language is one of the principal elements of Sardinian cultural heritage, and there is great activity of late dedicated to studying the language and acknowledging its importance. The recognition of the Sardinian language as a characteristic ethnic element is supported not only by independentist movements, but is also supported by a wide percentage of local population as a whole, as well as the international support of the Sardinian diaspora. The Sardinian language has recently been recognised as an official regional language by the Sardinian Special Region; it can therefore be used for official purposes on the island. The debate as to its legality had became quite dramatic by the 1980s: at Alghero's Fertilia international airport, in a Sardinian Catalan-speaking region, an employee was heard over the loudspeakers (provocatorily) announcing the flights in Italian, English and Sardinian Catalan. The employee was fired and penally condemned, causing widespread Sardinian nationalist sentiment, sometimes including violent political disputes which finally led to the law officialising the language. (Note that it must be said that in Alghero the need of diversifying the cultural position was perhaps even more urgent, since in its origins and its history are the distinctive signs of an ethnic enclave surrounded by a Sardinian culture, which in turn has been oppressed by an external culture.) The Sardinian language in ItalyThe national anthem of the Kingdom of Sardinia (and Piedmont) was the Hymnu Sardu (aka Cunservet Deus su Re), obviously in the Sardinian language, which was partially substituted by the Savoy's March when Italy was unified. During the Fascist period, especially the Autarchy campaign, foreign languages were banned. The restrictions went so far that even personal names and surnames were made to sound more "Italian-sounding". During this period, the Sardinian Hymn was the sole chance to speak in a foreign language in Italy without risking prison, because, as a fundamental part of the Royal Family's tradition, it could not be forbidden. Sardinians took advantage of this possibility to express their opposition to Fascism by singing the Hymn, as did King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy on several official occasions, when the Crown needed to remind Mussolini of its superior position. To reduce this potentially dangerous bit of "propaganda" which was being "innocently" whistled and sung in Sardinian streets, Mussolini was forced to find urgent remedies: Achille Starace (national secretary of the Fascist party) "genially" imposed the use of Orbace (a poor Sardinian wool) as the national cloth for the uniforms of the Militia, while on a cultural level Mussolini himself officially recognised on repeated occasions the effective value of Sardinian poets and writers, still on the border of the limits of the law. These cautious attentions for the island also included the saning of wide areas of the region (bonifiche) and the implementation of commerce and industry. The Catholic priests too, friendly to Fascism after the Concordato of 1929, started explaining that Latin (which was allowed), although very similar to Sardinian, was not Sardinian (the Holy Mass was still in Latin) and practiced a strict obstructionism against on-the-fly poetry, a genre of popular art expressed in public shows in Sardinia, in which two or more poets are assigned a surprise theme and have to develop it on the spur of the moment in rhymed quatrains. In the Italian army, the infantry corps of Brigata Sassari (Sassari's Brigade) was the sole unit allowed to have a separate hymn in the Sardinian language (Dimmonios - ancient local pagan devils), being the brigade composed exclusively by Sardinian soldiers, the only such brigade in Italy. As a form of respect to Brigata Sassari, who performed well in WWI, any military important operation in Sardinia is named after the last words of Dimmonios: Fortza Paris (loosely, let's combine our strength). External links
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