Soil Proverbs in Sardinia (Italy)

“Sa Limba Sarda”, i.e. “The Sardinian Language” (SL), is considered a Romance or archaic neo-Latin language. The term SL is used to group together all vernacular linguistic varieties spoken in Sardinia. SL is considered the most characteristic of all Latin languages since it represents the best preserved traits and words from the mother tongue, including lexical and phonetic factors, as well as morphological aspects. SL is fragmented into numerous dialects and subvarieties, which vary considerably from zone to zone and often even from one town to the next. Additionally, every major variety of Sardinian parlance has its own grammatical and orthographical system in addition to significant phonological differences. The fragmentation of the SL is the consequence of various, complex events that have characterized Sardinia’s history. It is not only the result of the numerous invasions and waves of domination (Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Aragonese and Catalan Spanish, and finally mainland Italians), but also of the geographic and cultural isolation particularly applicable to the central areas of Sardinia. SL is considered an endangered language by UNESCO (Capra et al. 2015).