Romance language spoken on the Italian-ruled island of Sardinia; it is most similar to Vulgar Latin of all the modern Romance languages. Major dialects of Sardinian are Logudorian, spoken in central Sardinia; Campidanian, spoken in the south; Sassarian, spoken in the northwest; and Gallurian, spoken in the northeast. There is no standard form of Sardinian except the Sardo illustre, a literary language used mostly for folk verse, based on the Logudorian dialect. Italian is the official language of the island, and literature in Sardinian is virtually nonexistent. The earliest written materials are legal contracts dating from about 1080.