May 2006

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THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF SARDINIA ADOPTS A STANDARD FORM OF SARDINIAN LANGUAGE

May 2006 – The Region of Sardinia has officially approved the adoption of the “common Sardinian language” (sa limba sarda comuna) as a standard written form. Such variety will be used by the administration in official events, translations of legal documents and for addressing the citizens of the island . The common language, which will go through a period of experimentation, aims at revitalizing the distinctive traits of Sardinian and ensure understanding amongst speakers of different geographical varieties.

The Autonomous Region of Sardinia regulates the Sardinian language through a law that also deals with the culture of the island. It is the Regional Act nº 26 on promotion and valuing of the culture and language of Sardinia, which came as a result of a long dispute between the regional government and the Constitutional Courts of the Italian state and was previous to the Act 482/1999 -enacted by the central government- on Norms on the protection of historical linguistic minorities. Thus, the former only promotes cultural activities in favour of Sardinian on history and popular tradition-related issues, whereas the latter recognizes Sardinian as the language of an historic minority but does not elevate its status.

The first official record in limba comuna has been the document entitled “Experimental norms of reference of the regional administration for the written Sardinian language”. In addition, one of the first measures that has been taken to support the adoption of the standard is the creation of the Sardinian Language Office, which will watch over the fulfilment of the language laws and will monitor the observance of the norms adopted.