The Regional Board of Sardinia has approved the 2008-2010 triennial plan for the Sardinian language, which aims to “assure the 'linguistic rights' of the Sardinian people,” according to the website of Sardinia. The plan covers several activities that the island government will carry out over the next three years. The more notable actions are the experimental introduction of the Sardinian language in some schools, the creation of a digital television channel in the language and the training of teachers at the universities of Cagliari and Sassari.

As such, the triennial plan proposes, in “experimental” form, the implementation of “pilot projects” at schools interested in introducing “teaching of the Sardinian language during normal school hours.” The aim, according to the plan (which can be downloaded here), is to “encourage the teaching of the Sardinian language, and teaching in the Sardinian language.” The limited presence of Sardinian in schools now consists only of elective classes outside of the main curriculum.

To put weight behind this still timid plan for supporting Sardinian, the triennial plan includes grants three times a year of 500,000 euros each for the training of teachers at the universities of Cagliari and Sassari.

The language in the media

Another of the areas in which Sardinian has little presence and where the plan hopes to improve things is with the mass media. The government plans to create a digital television channel over the internet in the Sardinian language with “highly professional programs” that "bring together content of Sardinian linguistic heritage." The plan also calls for the dubbing of cartoons for young children.

Also in the area of mass communications, the government of Sardinia signed an accord with Italian radio station and television channel RAI last April that calls for the broadcasting of a current affairs program in the Sardinian language, lasting thirty minutes and running from Monday to Friday. The Sardinian government, despite the fact that the total broadcasting in their language is limited to an hour and a half each week, called the decision “historic.”

Need for a new law

The report by the Regional Board highlights the need in Sardinia for a new law calling for speech “in Sardinian” and not “about Sardinian.” That is, the island government admits that the current linguistic law, from 1997, fails to distinguish between defense of Sardinian culture and the defense of the Sardinian language. The Sardinian government makes clear that the aim of a future law should be to ensure that the island's language “is present in the public communicative domain” and that it “is socially useful” and has “prestige.”

The Sardinian law of 1997 on the promotion and valuing of the language recognizes that Sardinian has “equal dignity” as Italian, despite the fact that it does not establish its official status and restricts the area of the language's presence especially on matters of culture. The text also recognizes the other languages spoken on the island: Catalan, Ligurian, Sassarese and Gallurese.

Further information:

• Sardegna Oggi: Approvato il Piano triennale della Lingua Sarda
• Mercator Education:  Basic information on education in minority languages in Italy
• Mercator Legislation: Information on Sardinian and Italian language legislation