Sardinian (
sardu,
limba sarda,
lingua sarda) is a
Romance language primarily spoken on three-quarters of the island of
Sardinia (
Italy). A number of scholars consider it the most
conservative Romance language, and its
substratum (
Paleo-Sardinian or Nuragic) has also been researched. A 1949 study by Italian-American linguist
Mario Pei, analyzing the degree of difference from a language's parent (
Latin, in the case of
Romance languages) by comparing
phonology,
inflection,
syntax,
vocabulary, and
intonation, indicated the following percentages (the higher the percentage, the greater the distance from Latin): Sardinian 8%,
Italian 12%,
Spanish 20%,
Romanian 23.5%,
Occitan 25%,
Portuguese 31%, and
French 44%.