Logudorese Sardinian

Sardo logudorese is one of the languages of Sardinia, and it is without any doubt the most conservative of all Romance languages.

Latin G- and K- before /i, e/ was not palatalized in this idiom, which makes it different from all other Neo-Latin languages. Compare sardo log. kentu with Italian cento /'tSento/, Spanish /'Tjento/ and French /sã/ (/T/ and /s/ from /ts/).

The name recalls the area of Logudoro (litterally Golden place) in which it's spoken; it is a central-eastern sub-region of the island of Sardinia and mainly refers to Ozieri (Othieri) and Nuoro (Nugoro) for culture and language, as well as for history. Roughly we could say it is an area of 150 x 100 km, with some 500/700,000 inhabitants.

Origins have been investigated by several authors (Eduardo Blasco Ferrer is one of the deepest ones) and tend to be related to Etruscan, Latin, Spanish (due to Aragon's domain in the island).

Some roots still cannot be deciphered, as they might come from the language of Nuragici people, which should have been influenced by phoenicians but originating from sanscrite. Also, the mysterious people of Shardana should have been an important passage in the island's evolution, but only mere hypothesis are available on this matter.

One of most secret roots is "nur", that is in "Nuraghe" (the main sardinian ancient monument, from which an era is called) and in many names of places (not only villages).

Sardo Logudorese has infinitive dialects, perhaps one per each village, with differences that may sometimes be relevant; nevertheless, it appears as no communication troubles happen among different Logudorese dialects.

Most of Sardinian poetry and litterature are composed in Sardo Logudorese. See list of authors.

Comparisons have been made with Sardo Campidanese, the other main variant of Sardinian language spoken on Southern side of the island, and it eminently seems that the two variants have common roots with very different evolution, even if Campidanese has better certified relationships with Southern Mediterranean languages.

The most interesting feature of Sardo Logudorese is perhaps that, due to the particolar history of the area, it has suffered very little contamination and has very slow variations, preserving quite static traces of every innovation.