Logudorese Sardinian

Characteristics

Latin and before , are not palatalized in Logudorese, in stark contrast with all other Romance languages. Compare Logudorese ** with Italian ** , Spanish ** and French ** . Like the other varieties of Sardinian, most subdialects of Logudorese also underwent lenition in the intervocalic plosives of --, --, and --/ (e.g. Lat. focum fogu "fire", ripam riba "shore, bank", rotam roda "wheel"). Finally, Logudorese shifts the Latin labiovelars and into medially and word-initially (Lat. lingua limba "tongue", qualem cale "what").

Logudorese is intelligible to those from the southern part of Sardinia, where Campidanese Sardinian is spoken, but it is not to those from the extreme north of the island, where Corsican–Sardinian dialects are spoken.

Sardinian is an autonomous linguistic group rather than an Italian dialect as it is often noted because of its morphological, syntactic, and lexical differences from Italian. Therefore, Italian speakers do not understand Logudorese or any other dialect of the Sardinian language.

Location and distribution

The area of Logudoro (the term originated as a blend of the kingdom's name of Logu de Torres), in which it is spoken, is a northern subregion of the island of Sardinia with close ties to Ozieri (Othieri) and Nuoro (Nùgoro) for culture and language, as well as history, with important particularities in the western area, where the most important town is Ittiri. It is an area of roughly 150 × 100 km with some 500,000–700,000 inhabitants.

Origins and features

The origins of Sardinian have been investigated by Eduardo Blasco Ferrer and others. The language derives from Latin and a pre-Latin, Paleo-Sardinian (Nuragic) substratum, but has been influenced by Catalan and Spanish due to the dominion of the Crown of Aragon and later the Spanish Empire over the island. Logudorese is the northern macro-dialect of the Sardinian language, the southern macro-dialect being Campidanese, spoken in the southern half of the island. The two dialects share a clear common origin and history, but have experienced somewhat different developments.

Though the language is typically Romance, some words are not of Latin origin, and are of uncertain etymology. One such is "nura", found in "nuraghe", the main form of pre-Roman building, hence the term for the pre-Roman era as the Nuragic Period. Various place names similarly have roots that defy analysis.

Logudorese Sardinian changed only very slowly from Vulgar Latin compared to other Romance lects, showing certain notably conservative phonological features relative to other Romance languages.

Linguist Mario Pei, in a 1949 paper, measured Logudorese Sardinian's accent vocalization as having diverged less from Classical Latin than had French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, or Old Provençal. The paper emphasized, however, that it represented only "a very elementary, incomplete and tentative demonstration" of how statistical methods could measure linguistic change, assigned "frankly arbitrary" point values to various types of stressed-vowel change, and did not compare languages in the sample with respect to any characteristics other than stressed vowels, among other caveats.

Due to its conservatism, as well as the preservation of many works of traditional literature from the 15th century onwards, Logudorese is often considered to be the most prestigious variety of Sardinian.

Samples of text

Matthew 6:9-13

Jonah 1:4-9

• ** Logudorese Sardinian**

4 Su Segnore però mandesit unu grande bentu in su mare: et facta est una tempestade manna in mare, et sa nae perigulaiat de si fracassare. 5 Et timesint sos marineris, et clamesint sos homines ad su Deus ipsoro: et bettesint sas mercanzias, qui fint in sa nae, in mare, ad tales qui si allezerigheret da ipsas: et Jonas si que fit faladu ad s' internu de sa nae, et dormiat a somnu grae. 6 Et s' accostesit ad ipsu su patronu, et li nesit: Et proite tue ti laxas opprimere dai su somnu? pesa, et invoca su Deus tou, si pro sorte si ammentet Deus de nois, et non morzamus. 7 Et nesit s' unu ad s' ateru cumpagnu: Benide, et tiremus a sorte, et iscamus, proite custa istroscia siat ad nois. Et tiresint a sorte: et ruesit sa sorte subra Jonas. 8 Et nesint ad ipsu: Inzitanos, pro quale motivu siat ruta ad nois custa istroscia: qual' est s' arte tua? de quale populu ses tue? 9 Et nesit ad ipsos: Eo so Hebreu, et eo timo su Segnore Deus de su chelu, qui factesit su mare, et i sa terra.

• Latin

4 Dominus autem misit ventum magnum in mare, et facta est tempestas magna in mari, et navis periclitabatur conteri. 5 Et timuerunt nautae et clamaverunt unusquisque ad deum suum et miserunt vasa, quae erant in navi, in mare, ut alleviaretur ab eis. Ionas autem descenderat ad interiora navis et, cum recubuisset, dormiebat sopore gravi. 6 Et accessit ad eum gubernator et dixit ei: "Quid? Tu sopore deprimeris? Surge, invoca Deum tuum, si forte recogitet Deus de nobis, et non pereamus." 7 Et dixit unusquisque ad collegam suum: "Venite, et mittamus sortes, ut sciamus quare hoc malum sit nobis." Et miserunt sortes, et cecidit sors super Ionam. 8 Et dixerunt ad eum: "Indica nobis cuius causa malum istud sit nobis. Quod est opus tuum, et unde venis? Quae terra tua, et ex quo populo es tu?" 9 Et dixit ad eos: "Hebraeus ego sum et Dominum, Deum caeli, ego timeo, qui fecit mare et aridam."

• Italian

4 Il scatenò un gran vento sul mare, e vi fu sul mare una tempesta così forte che la nave era sul punto di sfasciarsi. 5 I marinai ebbero paura e invocarono ciascuno il proprio dio e gettarono a mare il carico di bordo, per alleggerire la nave. Giona, invece, era sceso in fondo alla nave, si era coricato e dormiva profondamente. 6 Il capitano gli si avvicinò e gli disse: «Che fai qui? Dormi? Àlzati, invoca il tuo dio! Forse egli si darà pensiero di noi e non periremo». 7 Poi si dissero l’un l’altro: «Venite, tiriamo a sorte e sapremo per causa di chi ci capita questa disgrazia». Tirarono a sorte e la sorte cadde su Giona. 8 Allora gli dissero: «Spiegaci dunque per causa di chi ci capita questa disgrazia! Qual è il tuo mestiere? Da dove vieni? Qual è il tuo paese? A quale popolo appartieni?» 9 Egli rispose loro: «Sono Ebreo e temo il , Dio del cielo, che ha fatto il mare e la terraferma».

• English 4 However, the hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to his god, and they hurled the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep. 6 So the captain approached him and said, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish." 7 And each man said to his mate, "Come, let’s cast lots so that we may find out on whose account this catastrophe has struck us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this catastrophe struck us? What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?" 9 So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land."

Subdialects

Logudorese Sardinian has multiple subdialects, some confined to individual villages or valleys. Though such differences can be noticeable, the dialects are mutually intelligible, and share mutual intelligibility with the neighbouring Campidanese dialects as well.

Northern Logudorese

Spoken in the north of Sardinia, this subdialect contains the following features:

• , , changes to , , (Lat. plovere piòere "rain", florem fiore "flower", clavem kiae "key");
• in an intervocalic, pre-consonantal position (Northern Saldigna vs Southern Sardigna).

Central (Common) Logudorese

Spoken in Central Sardinia, this subdialect contains the following features:

• , , changes to , , (Lat. plovere pròere "rain", florem frore "flower", clavem crae "key");
• in an intervocalic, pre-consonantal position (Northern altu vs Southern artu "high").

Nuorese

The Nuorese dialect is spoken in three historical regions: Baronìa, Nuorese and Barbàgia of Ollolài. The three sub-varieties are quite different from one another, and each one of them includes some distinctive features not found anywhere else in Sardinia, many of which demonstrate the conservative nature of these dialects:

• No lenition of intervocalic plosives (e.g. Lat. focum focu "fire", ripa ripa "shore, bank", rota rota "wheel" – Barbagian : ròda);
• No palatal realisation of and , instead turning into and , respectively (e.g. Lat. Sardinia Sardinna and folium foza "leaf");
• Preservation of intervocalic , , and (Lat. augustus "August" Log. austu but Nuo. agustu, Lat. credere "to believe" Log. creere but Nuo. credere, Lat. novem "nine" Log. noe vs Nuo. nobe/nove
• Deletion of the initial f, except when preceded by other consonants – and in the local dialects spoken in the towns of Nuoro and Ottàna (e.g. ocu "fire", àchere "to do");
• Baronìa: presence of the conjugations that end in -ta and -tu (e.g. tancatu "closed"; achirratu "went down"; baitatu "watched"; mutitu "called");
• Barbàgia di Ollolài: conjugations end in -à (instead of -ada) and -u (e.g. nau/narau "said"; mutiu "called"); presence of glottal stops in place of the hard c (k) found in the other Nuorese dialects (e.g. inohe "here"; ohu "fire"; àhere "to do"; hitho "early"; vohe "voice");
• Persistence of the Latin pronouns: Lat. ego jeo, eo, ego, dego (the latter being once used in the city of Nuoro, and with the form ego most prominently used in the towns of Olièna, Gavòi and Ollolài, less frequent but still present in the village of Mamoiàda); Lat. ipse issu, isse (particularly in the villages of Bitti and Onanì);
• Betacism of in Nuoro but not in Baronia and Barbàgia;
• Latin before yod to in Nuorese (plateam "square, courtyard" pratha), albeit in some places the sound is in the process of becoming (pratza).

Sample of text

Medieval administrative documents

(Logudorese Privilege, 1080) :"In nomine Domini amen. Ego iudice Mariano de Lacon fazo ista carta ad onore de omnes homines de Pisas pro xu toloneu ci mi pecterunt: e ego donolislu pro ca lis so ego amicu caru e itsos a mimi; ci nullu imperatore ci lu aet potestare istu locu de non (n)apat comiatu de leuarelis toloneu in placitu: de non occidere pisanu ingratis: e ccausa ipsoro ci lis aem leuare ingratis, de facerlis iustitia inperatore ci nce aet exere intu locu [...]"

Poetry

Extract from Sa Vita et sa Morte, et Passione de sanctu Gavinu, Brothu et Ianuariu (Antoni Canu, 1557) :Tando su rey Barbaru, su cane renegadu :de custa resposta multu restayt iradu :et issu martiriu fetit apparigiare :Itu su quale fetit fortemente ligare :sos sanctos martires cum bonas catenas :qui li segaant sos ossos cum sas veinas :et totu sas carnes cum petenes de linu.

Pro Amsicora (Antioco Casula, also known as Montanaru, early 20th century) :Beni, ispiritu antigu, beni tue :eroe de sa sarda libertade, :chi pustis tantu currere d’edade :risplendes che sole senza nue.

:Tue, mannu rebellu, anima rue :de fronte a sa romana podestade :sa morte hasa prefertu a s’amistade :furistera. Nessunu ischit inue

:T’han seppellidu, eroe isfortunadu :de una causa santa e tantos Sardos :no ischini chi sias esistidu.

:Ma eo peso su cantu innamoradu :pro te, cun versos duros, galiardos, :comente duramente ses vividu.

:Su tempu senza pasu andat a fua :che marettas marinas a curtura :però sos veros Sardos in tristura :vivene sempre. Est sa tristura tua.

:Eroe nostru, senza sepoltura :in custa sarda terra dur’e crua :chi sos mezzus allattat cun sa lua :e dat a sos istranzos sa dulzura.

:Ma oe che Iosto, senza brigas, :dogni giovanu avanzat temperadu :a provas de trabagliu e d’amore.

:Non pius, o eroe, maleigas :s’offesa antiga. Olvida su passadu :e saluda su tempus benidore.

Writers

A large body of Sardinian poetry, songs and literature is composed in Logudorese.

References

References

1. "''Sardinian intonational phonology: Logudorese and Campidanese varieties'', Maria Del Mar Vanrell, Francesc Ballone, Carlo Schirru, Pilar Prieto".
2. De Mauro, Tullio. ''L'Italia delle Italie'', 1979, Nuova Guaraldi Editrice, Florence, 89
3. "''Sardinian Language'', Rebecca Posner, Marius Sala. Encyclopedia Britannica".
4. "Story of Language".
5. ''The Prophecy of Jonah'', vulgarised in Logudorese Sardinian by Giovanni Spano, Strangeways & Walden, London 1861.
6. ''Nuova Riveduta'', 2006.
7. New American Standard Bible, 2020.