Sassarese (natively or ; ) is an Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in coastal areas of northeastern

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, Italy. Closely related to

Gallurese Gallurese () is a Romance languages, Romance dialect of the Italo-Dalmatian languages, Italo-Dalmatian family spoken in the region of Gallura, northeastern Sardinia. Gallurese is variously described as a distinct southern dialect of Corsican lang ...

and Corsican, it has its roots in medieval Tuscan because of

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

's historic ties with

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

and geographical proximity to

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

, despite the robust Sardinian influences (in terms of vocabulary and phonology, as well as syntax). Due to its origins, Sassarese has several similarities to the

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

. Sassarese is spoken by approximately 100,000 people, out of a total population of 175,000 in its area. Large Sassarese-speaking communities are present in

, Stintino,

Sorso Sorso () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 14,700 inhabitants in the province of Sassari in the Italy, Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Sassari. Overview Sorso is a tourist resort facing the Gulf of Asinara. Apart tourism, the e ...

, and

Porto Torres Porto Torres (; ) is a (municipality) and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as , it was the first Roman colony of the entire Sardinia, island. It is situated on the coast at abo ...

. The Sassarese varieties transitioning to

, known as the ''Castellanesi'' dialects, can be heard in Castelsardo, Tergu, and Sedini. Sassarese emerged as an urban ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

'' in the late part of the age of the Judicates (13th–14th century), based on a mixture of different languages – namely Sardinian, Corsican/Tuscan, and Ligurian. The neighbouring

Logudorese Logudorese Sardinian (, ) is one of the two written standards of the Sardinian language, which is often considered one of the most, if not the most conservative of all Romance languages. The orthography is based on the spoken dialects of centra ...

dialects of Sardinian exercised a significant influence on the modern linguistic development, along with some Catalan and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

vocabulary. There exist many modern and older works both on and in Sassarese, and a number of cultural, social, and theatre events are held regularly in connection with it. In 1943 the German

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Max Leopold Wagner Max Leopold Wagner (17 September 1880 – 9July 1962) was a German philologist and ethnologist, particularly known for his studies on the Sardinian language. He also carried out pioneering research on the Spanish language in Hispanic America. In a ...

wrote:

Official status

Sassarese is recognized as an official language by the regional government of Sardinia:Official Website of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia
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Text sample: Extract from the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...
, Mat. 10:15-22

240px, Sassarese compared to Sardinian dialects. Maps of Corsican Dialects

References

External links

A ischora di sassaresu - Sassari.tv

TOGO, Dizionario Italiano-Sassarese
{{Romance languages Sassari Languages of Sardinia Sardinian language Corsican language Languages of Italy

Official status

See also

References

External links