Elementi di purismo linguistico nel sardo scritto dei nuovi contesti d’uso: un confronto con il parlato (semi)spontaneo

Phenomena of linguistic purism may concern minority languages, as they gain public visibility and attract new speakers, even while their everyday use declines. These dynamics have been studied in relation to the Sardinian language, which has recently been increasing its presence on the Internet and social media. The written Sardinian used in such new contexts has been compared with the informal, semi-spontaneous Sardinian spoken by ‘traditional’ native speakers living both on the island and on the Italian mainland. Results show that a new variety of Sardinian, characteristic of formal and public contexts, is emerging with puristic and conservative features, as it tends to avoid linguistic solutions perceived as too close to the Italian model. The distance from informal Sardinian has been highlighted, with possible consequences on the perception of authenticity and naturalness of this new formal variety.