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SARDINIA
Language

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Language

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Many Sardinians speak Sardinian as well as Italian, their own Romance language which is very similar to Latin. Thus, many Latin words still occur in Sardinian that have actually disappeared a long time ago. An example is the Latin word for house, domus, which is used instead of the Italian casa.

Sardinian also has influences from the nuragic culture, Punic and Spanish. The indigenous language is still understood by most young people, but no longer spoken. Sardinian does not have an unambiguous grammar and there are also few written texts and it also has a number of dialects such as Nuorlean, Barbaric, Gallurian, Campidanian and Logudorian. In Alghero, the dialect contains many Catalan sounds. All these dialects resemble each other, but there are also big differences.

Some examples:

English Campidanese Logudorese Italian

One unu uno
Four kattru battexo quatrro
Seven setti sette sette
Ten dexi deghe dieci
Good beni bene


Sources

Ardito, F. / Sardinië
Van Reemst

Bülow, F. von / Sardinië
Deltas

Vries, W. de / Sardinië
Gottmer

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated November 2024
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