Italian language

[Jacobus]

A language is defined as having a written literature and has a grammatical struicture even though it mahy be classified as a dialect in light of official language of the country. However to claim a dialect as a language requires the above and if a dialect becomes the official language of a country then it becomes a language.=Peter=

Sardinian language is recognized as an official language of Sardinia by italian laws:

"riconosciuta dallo Stato Italiano con Legge n.482/1999 e dalla Regione Sardegna con Legge Regionale n.26/1997"

"1. In attuazione dell'articolo 6 della Costituzione e in armonia con i princípi generali stabiliti dagli organismi europei e internazionali, la Repubblica tutela la lingua e la cultura delle popolazioni albanesi, catalane, germaniche, greche, slovene e croate e di quelle parlanti il francese, il franco-provenzale, il friulano, il ladino, l'occitano e il sardo."

http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/99482l.htm

[PeterTimber]

If a language is not adopted as the official language then it becomes a dialect by default. Since Sardinia is part of Italy and Italian is the the offic ial language (Toscana dialect to be exact).

As a consequence Sicilian and Sardinian who meet the criteria for being a language become dialects. =Peter=