Sardo campidanese

Sardo Campidanese is a diasystem of the Sardinian language primarily spoken in the Province of Cagliari. Traditionally, the name Campidano refers to the fertile area located around the towns of Guspini and Villacidro. Campidanese and its variants of the dialect can be found across the entire Provincia di Cagliari and not just the Medio Campidano area. Campidanese also extends into parts of Provincia di Nuoro, notably the Ogliastra area. However, it is at this point that the language merges into Sardo logudorese which is a different diasystem in its own right.

There are approximately 1 million speakers of Campidanese in Sardinia. The language also exists in Northern Italy due to the migration that took place after the Second World War. Many Sardinians moved to Turin, Milan and Genova for economic reasons. Outside of Italy, large Sardinian populations can be found in Australia and Germany.

Campidanese is intelligible to those from the central to southern part of the island, and partly unintelligible to Northern Sardinia, particularly Tempio Pausania and Sassari (where Corsican-Sardinian dialects are spoken). Italians can not understand Campidanese and the language generally sounds foreign. Campidanese is not a dialect of Italian as is often noted.

Early origins

Campidanese does have some ancient Latin influences, however a proportion of the language is from Pre-Roman times. It is thought that the basis of the language was from the Nuragic period. Over the years influences from the various settlers have also crept into the language. Known influences have been attributed to the Carthaginians, Mycenaeans, Etruscans, Phoenicians, Romans and the Shardana people.

Dialects

There are six main sub dialects of Campidanese, Arborese, Casteddaiu, Meridionale, Ogliastrino, Guspinese and Villacidrese. All of these dialects are mutually intelligible. Casteddaiu is the dialect of Campidanese spoken in the capital Cagliari. However, Casteddaiu extends to most of the neighbouring towns and villages within a 15km radius of Cagliari.

Vocabulary

Campidanese has some borrowed words from Aragon and Catalonia. The last hundred years have also seen an increase in Italian borrowed words. This is particularly evident with technological words of which there is no Campidanese equivalent. However, many of the loan words from Italian have been changed phonetically so that they sound Sardinian. Italian loan words that end in an o, are often substituted with the letter u. The strong Campidanese accent also changes the sound of the word.

Writing system

Campidanese is written using the Latin alphabet. Like Italian, Campidanese does not use w and y (y is used in northern Sardinian dialects). However, in contrast with Italian, Campidanese uses j, k, and x. Campidanese also uses the special letter Ç (ci truncada), and the digraphs gh (gei-aca) and tz (ti-zeta).