Quartu, a conference on the future of the Sardinian language

On Saturday, January 11, Quartu hosts - at Sa Dom'e Farra - the conference 'The island that is not there: the first 1000 words to build the future of Sardinian'. The project was born thanks to the cultural association Acadèmia de su Sardu APS, which has been committed for years to the protection and promotion of the spoken and written Sardinian language. The conference is funded by the Ministry of Culture and the Fondazione di Sardegna, with the patronage of the Municipality of Quartu, and is organized in collaboration with the associations Laras - Suoni e parole di Sardegna APS, Salvator Angelo Spano APS and Alfa Editrice.

Two sessions are planned: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first, subtitled 'The island that is not there. Actions for the protection of Sardinian. Is primus milli fueddus in Sardu', includes an introduction to the proceedings by the moderator, Giovanni Spano, vice-president of Acadèmia de su Sardu. After the institutional greetings of the municipal administration and the speech by Alessandra Pinna and Massimo Madrigale of Acadèmia de su Sardu, there will be the presentation of the results of the project 'Castia, intendi, ligi in Cuartu - Is Primus Milli Fueddus in cuartesu' funded by Fondazione di Sardegna.

This is a didactic learning program of the basic vocabulary of the Sardinian language that uses new digital tools, capable of facilitating learning, with an active and conscious role of the new and old generations. Specifically, it is expressed in an audio-video made in various formats and usable on various digital media (cell phones, iPads, computers), inspired by the work 'Is primus milli fueddus', by Stefano Cherchi, which collects over a thousand words, of the Quartese sub-variety of the Sardinian language. The work allows the memorization of the words of everyday language through the drawings and the voice of a reader whose mother tongue is Quartese: an active tool that acquires and re-elaborates the graphic images, accompanied by the lemmas and the audio with the corresponding pronunciation.

New technologies are therefore at the heart of the project, which also benefits from the contribution of the elderly, associations, institutions and schools of Quartu, the third city of Sardinia. The presentation of the project results is instead entrusted to the author Stefano Cherchi, Coordinator of the Scientific College of Acadèmia de su Sardu APS. And the contribution of the extemporaneous poet Tonio Pani, a native Quartese reader and author of the recordings in Sardinian Campidanese of Quartu is expected.