Sardinian (sardu)

Sardinian is a Romance language with about 1.2 million speakers in Sardinia. There are four dialects of Sardinian: Logudorese (Logudorian), Campidanese (Campidanian), Gallurese (Gallurian) and Sassarese (Sassarian).

Sardinian is a descendant of the ancient form of Latin brought to Sardinia by the Romans in 238 BC. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Catalan and Spanish were the languages of administration in Sardinia. In 1714 Italian became the official and literary language in Sardinia, and the Italian authorities looked down on the Sardinian language.

Sardinian first started to appear in writing in 1080 AD. There is no standard spelling system for the language.

Sardinian alphabet (Campidanese dilaect)
A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h
a	bi	ci	ci truncada	di	e	ef(f)a	gi/gei	àca/aca
I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	R r
i	ai long / jota	capa	ella	emma	enna	o	pi	erra
S s	T t	Tz tz	U u	V v	X x	Y y	Z z
essa	ti	tizeta	u	vu	scéscia / scesça	i arega	zeta

Sardinian pronunciation

Sample text in Sardinian

Totu sos èsseres umanos naschint lìberos e eguales in dinnidade e in deretos. Issos tenent sa resone e sa cussèntzia e depent operare s'unu cun s'àteru cun ispìritu de fraternidade.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Useful phrases in Sardinian