▁ph on ological ▁differences ▁among ▁its ▁own ▁vari eties ▁( E th n olog ue ▁assign s ▁it ▁four ▁separate ▁ISO ▁codes ). ▁Some ▁lingu ists , ▁like ▁Heinrich ▁La us berg , ▁proposed ▁that ▁S ardin ian ▁is ▁the ▁sole ▁living ▁representative ▁its ▁branch ▁of ▁the ▁Rom ance ▁languages , ▁which ▁used ▁to ▁compr ise ▁the ▁now ▁ext inct ▁Af ro - R om ance ▁dialect s ▁as ▁well ▁as ▁the ▁C ors ican ▁dialect s ▁before ▁they ▁under w ent ▁T us can ization . ▁UN ES CO , ▁while ▁calling ▁Gall ur ese ▁and ▁S ass ar ese ▁" S ardin ian ", ▁cons iders ▁them ▁to ▁be ▁originally ▁dialect s ▁of ▁C ors ican ▁rather ▁than ▁S ardin ian . ▁The ▁lingu istic ▁landscape ▁of ▁S ardin ia ▁is ▁in ▁principle ▁most ▁accur ately ▁described ▁as ▁being ▁a ▁dialect ▁continu um . ▁ ▁Rom ance ▁languages ▁( L op or car o ) ▁ ▁propos es ▁a ▁classification ▁of ▁Rom ance ▁languages ▁of ▁Italy ▁based ▁on ▁, ▁who ▁groups ▁different ▁Rom ance ▁languages ▁according ▁to ▁are al ▁and ▁some ▁typ ological ▁features . ▁The ▁following ▁five ▁lingu istic ▁areas ▁can ▁be ▁identified : ▁▁ ▁Northern ▁vari eties ▁( d iale tt i ▁sett entr ionali ): ▁ ▁Gal lo - Ital ic ▁( Em ilian , ▁P ied mont ese , ▁Lomb ard , ▁and ▁Lig ur ian ). ▁ ▁Ven et ian . ▁ ▁Fri ul ian ▁vari eties . ▁ ▁T us can ▁vari eties . ▁