Sassarese
Encyclopedia
Sassarese is an Italo-Dalmatian language
Italo-Dalmatian languages
The Italo-Dalmatian languages are a group of Romance languages of Italy , Corsica, and, formerly, the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia...

 and transitional between Corsican
Corsican language
Corsican is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia . Corsican is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the vernacular language alongside the Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, which was...

 and Sardinian
Sardinian language
Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....

. It is regarded as a Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

n–Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

n language because of Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...

's historic ties (and neighborhood) with Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 and Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

. Despite the heavy Sardinian influences (especially in the vocabulary and phonetics), it still keeps its Tuscan roots
Tuscan dialect
The Tuscan language , or the Tuscan dialect is an Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in Tuscany, Italy.Standard Italian is based on Tuscan, specifically on its Florentine variety...

, which closely relate it to Gallurese
Gallurese
Gallurese is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken in the northeastern part of Sardinia. It is often considered as a variety of Corsican, or a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian....

. The latter is regarded as a Corsican dialect despite the geographic location, although this attribution is a matter of controversy. It can be considered a transitional language between Italo-Dalmatian languages
Italo-Dalmatian languages
The Italo-Dalmatian languages are a group of Romance languages of Italy , Corsica, and, formerly, the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia...

  and Sardinian
Sardinian language
Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....

. It has several similarities to Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 and in particular the old dialects of Italian from Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

.

It is spoken by approximately 120,000 people (in a total population of 175,000 inhabitants) in the northwest coastal areas of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

: large Sassarese-speaking communities are present in Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...

, Stintino
Stintino
Stintino is a coastal comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 200 km north of Cagliari and about 35 km northwest of Sassari....

, Sorso
Sorso
Sorso is a comune of c. 14,700 inhabitants in the province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 8 km north of Sassari.-Overview:...

 and Porto Torres
Porto Torres
Porto Torres is a comune and city in northern Sardinia, in the Province of Sassari.It is situated on the north coast about 25 km east of the Gorditanian promontory , and on the spacious bay of the Gulf of Asinara.-History:...

; its trasition varieties towards Gallurese
Gallurese
Gallurese is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken in the northeastern part of Sardinia. It is often considered as a variety of Corsican, or a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian....

, known as the Castellanesi dialects, can be heard in Castelsardo
Castelsardo
Castelsardo is a town and comune in Sardinia, Italy, located in the northwest of the island within the Province of Sassari.-History:Archaeological excavations have showed the human presence in the area of Castelsardo since pre-Nuragic and Nuragic times, as well as during the Roman domination in...

, Tergu
Tergu
Tergu is a comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 190 km north of Cagliari and about 20 km northeast of Sassari in the Anglona historical regiona....

 and Sedini
Sedini
Sedini is a comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 180 km north of Cagliari and about 25 km northeast of Sassari. It is part of the Anglona traditional subregion....

.

Sassarese emerged as an urban language of commerce in the age of Giudicati
Giudicati
The giudicati were the indigenous kingdoms of Sardinia from about 900 until 1410, when the last fell to the Aragonese. The rulers of the giudicati were giudici , from the Latin iudice , often translates as "judge". The Latin for giudicato was iudicatus The giudicati (singular giudicato) were the...

 (13th-14th century); it is based on a mixture of different languages, namely Corsican
Corsican language
Corsican is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia . Corsican is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the vernacular language alongside the Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, which was...

, Tuscan dialect
Tuscan dialect
The Tuscan language , or the Tuscan dialect is an Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in Tuscany, Italy.Standard Italian is based on Tuscan, specifically on its Florentine variety...

 and Ligurian
Ligurian language (Romance)
Ligurian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco and in the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta in Sardinia. Genoese , spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is its most important dialect...

; a strong Logudorese
Sardo logudorese
Logudorese Sardinian is a standardised variety of Sardinian, often considered the most conservative of all Romance languages. Its ISO 639-3 code is src....

 influence can be felt in its phonetics, syntax, and vocabulary, a minor influence in vocabulary was exercised by Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

 and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. There exist many modern and older works both on and in Sassarese, and a number of cultural, social and theatre events are regularly held in connection with it.

In 1943 the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 linguist Max Leopold Wagner wrote:

Official status

Sassarese is recognized as an official language by the regional government of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

:

See also

  • Sardinian
    Sardinian language
    Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....

    , Corsican
    Corsican language
    Corsican is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia . Corsican is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the vernacular language alongside the Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, which was...

     and Gallurese
    Gallurese
    Gallurese is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken in the northeastern part of Sardinia. It is often considered as a variety of Corsican, or a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian....

     languages
  • Sardinia
    Sardinia
    Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

    , Sassari
    Sassari
    Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...

     (Porto Torres
    Porto Torres
    Porto Torres is a comune and city in northern Sardinia, in the Province of Sassari.It is situated on the north coast about 25 km east of the Gorditanian promontory , and on the spacious bay of the Gulf of Asinara.-History:...

    , Sorso
    Sorso
    Sorso is a comune of c. 14,700 inhabitants in the province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 8 km north of Sassari.-Overview:...

    , Stintino
    Stintino
    Stintino is a coastal comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 200 km north of Cagliari and about 35 km northwest of Sassari....

    , Castelsardo
    Castelsardo
    Castelsardo is a town and comune in Sardinia, Italy, located in the northwest of the island within the Province of Sassari.-History:Archaeological excavations have showed the human presence in the area of Castelsardo since pre-Nuragic and Nuragic times, as well as during the Roman domination in...

    , Sedini
    Sedini
    Sedini is a comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 180 km north of Cagliari and about 25 km northeast of Sassari. It is part of the Anglona traditional subregion....

     and Tergu
    Tergu
    Tergu is a comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 190 km north of Cagliari and about 20 km northeast of Sassari in the Anglona historical regiona....

    )
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