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Malagasy language

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Malagasy
malagasy / مَلَغَسِ
Native to
EthnicityMalagasy
Native speakers
25 million[1][2]
Standard forms
Dialects
Malagasy Sign Language
Official status
Official language in
 Madagascar
Language codes
ISO 639-1mg
ISO 639-2mlg
ISO 639-3mlg – inclusive code
Individual codes:
xmv – Antankarana
bhr – Bara
buc – Bushi
msh – Masikoro
bmm – Northern Betsimisaraka
plt – Plateau Malagasy
skg – Sakalava
bzc – Southern Betsimisaraka
tdx – Tandroy-Mafahaly
txy – Tanosy
tkg – Tesaka
xmw – Tsimihety
Glottologmala1537
Linguasphere31-LDA-a
 Extent of the Malagasy language
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A woman speaking Malagasy (1:32)

Malagasy (/ˌmæləˈɡæsi/ MAL-ə-GASS-ee;[3] Malagasy pronunciation: [malaˈɡasʲ]; Sorabe: مَلَغَسِ) is an Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is one of the official languages of Madagascar, alongside French.

Malagasy is the westernmost Austronesian language, brought to Madagascar with the settlement of Austronesian speakers from the Sunda Islands (about 7,300 kilometres or 4,500 miles away) around the 5th century AD or perhaps between the 7th and 13th centuries.[4][5] The Malagasy language is one of the Barito languages and is most closely related to the Maʼanyan language, still spoken on Borneo. Malagasy also includes numerous Malay loanwords[6] from the time of the early Austronesian settlement and trading between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands.[7] After c. 1000 AD, Malagasy incorporated numerous Bantu and Arabic loanwords brought over by traders and new settlers.

Malagasy is spoken by around 25 million people in Madagascar and the Comoros. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language, as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere. Malagasy is divided in dozen dialects between three main dialect groups: Northern Malagasic, Central-Eastern Malagasic and Southern Malagasic. The central plateau of the island, where the capital Antananarivo and the old heartland of the Merina Kingdom is located, speaks the Merina dialect. The Merina dialect is the basis of Standard Malagasy, which is used by the government and media in Madagascar. Standard Malagasy is one of two official languages of Madagascar alongside French, in the 2010 constitution of the Fourth Republic of Madagascar.

Malagasy is written in the Latin script, which was introduced by Western missionaries in the early 19th century. Previously, the Sorabe script was used, a local development of the Arabic script.

Classification

[edit]

The Malagasy language is the westernmost (Hesperonesian) member of the Austronesian language family,[8] a grouping that is closely related to the Western Indonesian languages.

The comparison between numbers in Eastern Sumatran (Malay) and Malagasy by De Vitré during his voyage to the colonial Maritime Southeast Asia (East Indies) in 1603

Similarities between Malagasy and Eastern Sumatran (Malay) had been observed since the 17th century[9] and Malagasy's relation with other Austronesian languages had already been noted by early scholars, such as the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland in 1708.[10][11]

Among all Austronesian languages, Dahl (1951) demonstrated that Malagasy and Maʼanyan Dayak – an East Barito language natively spoken in Central Kalimantan (Indonesia) on the island of Kalimantan – were particularly closely related.[12] Furthermore, there appears to be a Bantu influence or substratum in Malagasy phonotactics (Dahl 1988). There are some Sanskrit loanwords in Malagasy, which are said to have been borrowed via Javanese (mainly).[5]

Adelaar (1995) suggested that the vocabulary of Malagasy also contains many words that are of South Sulawesi-origin (especially Makassar) .[13] Further evidence for this suggestion was presented by Blench (2018).[14]

Decimal numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Proto-Austronesian (hypothetical reconstruction) *isa *duSa *telu *Sepat *lima *enem *pitu *walu *Siwa *puluq
Malagasy iray/isa roa telo efatra dimy enina fito valo sivy solo
Maʼanyan Dayak isa rueh / rue telo epat dime enem pitu balu su'ey sapulu
Deyah Dayak erai duo tolu opat dimo onom turu walu sié sepuluh
Kadazan iso duvo tohu apat himo onom tu'u vahu sizam hopod
Dusun iso duo tolu apat limo onom turu walu siam hopod
Waray-Waray usá duhá tuló upát limá unóm pitó waló siyám napúlo
Tagalog isá dalawá tatló ápat limá ánim pitó waló siyám sampu
Hiligaynon isa duha tatlu apat lima anum pito walu siyam pulo
Kinaray-a sara darwa tatlo apat lima anəm pito walo siyam pulû
Ilocano maysá dua talló uppát limá inném pitó waló siam sangapúlo
Chamorro maisa/håcha hugua tulu fatfat lima gunum fiti guålu sigua månot/fulu
Javanese siji/esa/satunggal loro telu papat lima enem pitu walu sanga sepuluh
Kangean hetong dua telo empa lema enem peto belu sanga hapoloh
Sundanese hiji dua tilu opat lima genep tujuh dalapan salapan sapuluh
Indonesian satu / esa dua tiga empat lima enam tujuh delapan sembilan sepuluh
Malay satu due tige empat lime enam tujoh lapan semilan sepuloh
Tetum ida rua tolu haat lima neen hitu ualu sia sanulu
Fijian dua rua tolu vā lima ono vitu walu ciwa tini, -sagavulu
Tongan taha ua tolu fā nima ono fitu valu hiva -fulu
Samoan tasi lua tolu fa lima ono fitu valu iva sefulu
Maori tahi rua toru whā rima ono whitu waru iwa tekau
Hawaiian kahi lua kolu hā lima ono hiku walu iwa ʻumi

However, the diversity of Malagasy dialects does not correspond to the genetic diversity of the populations. For example, the Merina, who often show a relatively high proportion of Austronesian ancestry (more than 50–60% according to several studies), nevertheless use certain words of African origin such as mamba 'crocodile' or osy 'goat'. Conversely, several coastal populations, whose proportion of Asian ancestry is generally lower (around 30–40%), do not always use these terms and instead retain Austronesian words absent from the Merina vocabulary, such as voay or bengy.[15]

Regional Vocabulary Not Found in Merina And Austronesian Parallels
Malagasy word Malagasy specific dialect Closest Austronesian form Austronesian language Gloss
mamo Antefasy Malagasy mamu Maʼanyan Dayak Mosquito
masakaly Antefasy Malagasy cacar Javanese smallpox / rash
atsikora Antefasy Malagasy kōuraura Maori shrimp
kiringy Antefasy Malagasy keriting Javanese curly
hohy Antefasy Malagasy huelo Hawaiian tail
laoko Northern Malagasy dialects lauk Sundanese fish
laokandrano Antefasy Malagasy / Antemoro Malagasy lauk Sundanese fish
tali Southern Malagasy dialects tali Javanese rope
mikaiky Northern Malagasy dialects Kaeha Hawaiian to call
fia Southern Malagasy dialect i'a Samoan / Hawaiian fish

Etymology

[edit]

Malagasy is the demonym of Madagascar, from which it is taken to refer to the people of Madagascar in addition to their language.

History

[edit]
Further information: Documentation of the Malagasy language
Malagasy Bible

Madagascar was first settled by Austronesian peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia from the Sunda Islands (Malay archipelago).[16] As for their route, one possibility is that the Indonesian Austronesian came directly across the Indian Ocean from Java to Madagascar. It is likely that they went through the Maldives, where evidence of old Indonesian boat design and fishing technology persists until the present.[17] The migrations continued along the first millennium, as confirmed by linguistic researchers who showed the close relationship between the Malagasy language and Old Malay and Old Javanese languages of this period.[18][19] The Malagasy language originates from the Southeast Barito languages, and the Ma'anyan language is its closest relative, with numerous Malay and Javanese loanwords.[7][20] It is known that Ma'anyan people were brought as labourers and slaves by Malay and Javanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar by c. 50–500 AD.[21][22] Later, c. 1000, the original Austronesian settlers mixed with Bantus and Arabs, amongst others.[23] There is evidence that the predecessors of the Malagasy dialects first arrived in the southern stretch of the east coast of Madagascar.[24] Adelaar (2017) proposes that a distinct Malagasy speech community had already been established in South Borneo before the early Malagasy speakers migrated to East Africa.[25]

Malagasy has a tradition of oratory arts and poetic histories and legends. The most well-known is the national epic, Ibonia, about a Malagasy folk hero of the same name.[26]

Geographic distribution

[edit]

Malagasy is the principal language spoken on the island of Madagascar. It is also spoken by Malagasy communities on neighboring Indian Ocean islands such as Réunion, Mayotte and Mauritius. Expatriate Malagasy communities speaking the language also exist in Europe and North America.

[edit]

The Merina dialect of Malagasy is considered the national language of Madagascar. It is one of two official languages alongside French in the 2010 constitution put in place the Fourth Republic. Previously, under the 2007 constitution, Malagasy was one of three official languages alongside French and English. Malagasy is the language of instruction in all public schools through grade five for all subjects, and remains the language of instruction through high school for the subjects of history and Malagasy language.

Dialects

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Ethno-linguistic map of Madagascar

In his 1658 work Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar, Étienne de Flacourt provided one of the earliest known attempts to classify the Malagasy language into dialectal regions. He divided Malagasy into two main dialect groups: northern and southern. He noted significant lexical differences between them — for instance, the word ampela was used in the south to mean "woman" or "girl", while vaiavy was used in the north. Similarly, baba was a northern term for "father", whereas ray was used in the south.[27]

Flacourt also observed phonological variations. He noted similarities between the Tanosy and Antemoro dialects, especially their shared use of the [ts] sound in words like fotsy 'white'. In contrast, in the Masikoro and Mahafaly dialects, the [ts] sound is often replaced by [t], producing foty for the same meaning.

Malagasy dialects can be divided between Northern dialects,[28][obsolete source] Central-Eastern malagasy, and Southern dialects. Northern malagasy dialects (Kibushi, Northern sakalava, Antakarana, Tsimihety, Northern betsimisaraka)[29] are heavily influenced by Swahili and French.[30] Northern Malagasy speakers pronounce the vowel o like the English vowel in "cold," orthographically written ô. Examples include Vôalôhagny ("first"), Nôsy ("island"), Talôha ("before"), Mitôndra ("to carry"), Vôlagna ("moon; month"), and Sôla ("bald").

Non-Northern Malagasy speakers pronounce the same vowel o like the English "oo" in "food", as in voalohany, Nosy, mitondra, volana, and sola. [31] [32]

Southern Malagasy dialects, including Tandroy, Southern Sakalava, Tanosy, and Bara, reflect conservative phonology and can phonetically resemble Polynesian languages. They also use a progressive or ascending numeral system, where the smaller unit is added after the base (e.g., folo raik’amby → literally "10 + 1"), in contrast with other Malagasy dialects that use a retrograde or descending system (e.g., iraika ambin’ny folo → literally "1 over 10"). [33]

For example, the word linta ("leech") corresponds to Malay lintah, taly ("rope") corresponds to Malay tali, and limy ("five") corresponds to Malay lima, whereas in other dialects it appears as dinta, tady, and dimy.

Central-Eastern subgroup which contains Antesaka, Sahafatra, Southern Betsimisaraka and Plateau dialects like Antefasy, Antambahoaka, Vakinankaratra, Sihanaka, Merina (basis of Standard Malagasy) constitutes an intermediate group, with a structure and vocabulary largely close to standard Malagasy, and with influence sometimes coming from either the northern or southern branches.[34]

Although considered a single ethnic group, the Sakalava speak at least two distinct dialects. The Southern Sakalava dialect is more closely related to Masikoro, while the Northern Sakalava dialect shares linguistic features with the Tsimihety dialect. The Betsimisaraka also demonstrate internal dialectal variation: the Northern Betsimisaraka dialect is closer to Tsimihety, whereas the Southern variant is more similar to Antambahoaka.[35]

Tree list of Malagasy dialects

[edit]
Comparative Vocabulary of Major Malagasy Dialects
# Gloss Northern Central eastern Southern
1 One araika/araiky iray/raika/raiky raiky
2 Two aroa/aroe roa/roy roa
3 You anô anao iha
4 He/She / Him/Her izy izy ihy
5 Only fô ihany/avao avao
6 Girl manangy/vaiavy vehivavy ampela
7 Fire môtro afo afo
8 Earth donia tany tany
9 Little hely kely kely
10 White malandy fotsy fotsy
11 Black jôby mainty mainty
12 Good tsara tsara/soa soa
13 Fish lôko trondro fia
14 Face sôra tarehy tarehy
15 Dog amboa/fandroaka amboa/alika amboa
16 Love fitia fitiavana fitiava
17 Suffering jaly fijaliana fijalia
18 And ndreky sy no
19 Message hafatra hafatra hafatsy
20 To go/come back mody mody moly
21 To sell mivarotro mivarotra mivarotsy
22 Gone lôso lasa lasa

Inspired by Gabriel Ferrand's book Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches, published in 1909, Glottolog divides Malagasy into two principal dialect zones: Eastern (including Merina) and Western (including Sakalava), with an isogloss running roughly down the central spine of the island. In this model, the southern region is classified as Western, while the central plateau and much of the north (excluding the far northern tip) are considered Eastern.[37]

This binary classification is now widely viewed as outdated. It overlooks crucial grammatical, phonological, and lexical distinctions among Malagasy dialects. For example, Northern Betsimisaraka shares features with Northern Sakalava, placing it closer to western varieties, while Southern Betsimisaraka remains a typically eastern dialect. Similarly, dialects such as Tanosy, although traditionally grouped in the east, show structural and etymological affinities with western dialects like Bara and Southern Sakalava.

Ethnologue identifies 12 major varieties of Malagasy and treats them as separate languages. It distinguishes between dialects such as Northern and Southern Betsimisaraka, and between Northern and Southern Sakalava, which is a step toward acknowledging internal diversity. However, it still fails to represent the full diversity of the dialect continuum in Madagascar. In reality, more than more than 20 dialects are spoken, many of which are entirely absent from Glottolog and Ethnologue. Dialects such as Sakalava Anjoaty, Karimbola, and Sahavoay are completely neglected.

The following is the classification of Malagasy dialects according to Ethnologue:

The Eastern dialects are:

  • Northern Betsimisaraka Malagasy (1,270,000 speakers) – spoken by the Betsimisaraka on the northeastern coast of the island
  • Southern Betsimisaraka Malagasy (2,000,000 speakers) – spoken by the Betsimisaraka in the North of the region Vatovavy Fito Vinany.
  • Plateau (Merina) Malagasy (10,893,000 speakers) – spoken in the centre of the island.
  • Tanosy Malagasy (639,000 speakers) – spoken by the Antanosy people in the south of the island.
  • Tesaka Malagasy (1,130,000 speakers) – spoken by the Antaisaka people in the southeast of the island.[38]

The Western dialects are:

  • Antankarana Malagasy (156,000 speakers) – spoken by the Antankarana in the northern tip of the island.
  • Bara Malagasy (724,000 speakers) – spoken by the Bara people in the south of the island
  • Masikoro Malagasy (550,000 speakers) – spoken by the Masikoro in the southwest of the island.
  • Sakalava Malagasy (1,210,000 speakers) – spoken by the Sakalava people on the western coast of the island.
  • Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy (1,300,000 speakers) – spoken by the Antandroy and the Mahafaly people on the southern tip of the island
  • Tsimihety Malagasy (1,615,000 speakers) – spoken by the Tsimihety people.[38]

Additionally, the Bushi dialect (41,700 speakers) is spoken on the French overseas territory of Mayotte,[39] which is part of the Comoro island chain situated northwest of Madagascar.

Writing system

[edit]
Sorabe Malagasy Arabic script
Malagasy version of the Book of Mormon, in Latin script with the letter ô

The language has a written literature going back presumably to the 15th century. When the French established Fort-Dauphin in the 17th century, they found an Arabico-Malagasy script in use, known as Sorabe ("large writings"). This Arabic-derived Sorabe alphabet was mainly used for astrological and magical texts. The oldest known manuscript in that script is a short Malagasy-Dutch vocabulary from the early 17th century, which was first published in 1908 by Gabriel Ferrand[40] though the script must have been introduced into the southeast area of Madagascar in the 15th century.[23]

The first bilingual renderings of religious texts are those by Étienne de Flacourt,[41] who also published the first dictionary of the language.[42] Radama I, the first literate representative of the Merina monarchy, though extensively versed in the Arabico-Malagasy tradition,[43] opted in 1823 for a Latin system derived by David Jones and invited the Protestant London Missionary Society to establish schools and churches. The first book to be printed in Malagasy using Latin characters was the Bible, which was translated into Malagasy in 1835 by British Protestant missionaries working in the highlands area of Madagascar.[44]

The current Malagasy alphabet consists of 21 letters: a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, v, y, z. The orthography maps rather straightforwardly to the phonemic inventory. The letters i and y both represent the /i/ sound (y is used word-finally, and i elsewhere), while o is pronounced /u/ (except in the northern dialects, where it corresponds to /o/). The affricates /ʈʂ/ and /ɖʐ/ are written tr and dr, respectively, while /ts/ and /dz/ are written ts and j. The letter h is often silent. All other letters have essentially their IPA values. The letters c, q, u, w and x are not part of the Malagasy alphabet, but are used in some foreign loanwords.[45]

Mp and occasionally nt may begin a word, but they are pronounced /p, t/.

@ is used informally as a short form for amin'ny, which is a preposition followed by the definite form, meaning for instance 'with the'.

Sorabe alphabet with corresponding Latin Letters[46]
Isolated Final Medial Initial IPA Modern
Latin
ا‎ ـا‎ ا‎ /ʔ/ -
ب‎ ـب‎ ـبـ‎ بـ‎ /b, ᵐb/ b/mb
ت‎ ـة‎ ـتـ‎ تـ‎ /ts, ⁿts/ ts/nts
ج‎ ـج‎ ـجـ‎ جـ‎ /dz, ⁿdz/ j/nj
ڊ‎ ـڊ‎ ڊ‎ /d/ d
ر‎ ـر‎ ر‎ /r/ r
رّ‎ ـرّ‎ رّ‎ /ɖʳ, ᶯɖʳ, ʈʳ, ᶯʈʳ/ dr/ndr/tr/ntr
س‎ ـس‎ ـسـ‎ سـ‎ /s/ s
ࢋ‎ ـࢋ‎ ـࢋـ‎ ࢋـ‎ /t, ⁿt/ t/nt
ع‎ ـع‎ ـعـ‎ عـ‎ /ŋ/ n̈
غ‎ ـغ‎ ـغـ‎ غـ‎ /g, ᵑɡ/ g/ng
ٯ‎ ـٯ‎ ـڧـ‎ ڧـ‎ /f/ f
ٯّ‎ ـٯّ‎ ـڧّـ‎ ڧّـ‎ /p, ᵐp/ p/mp
ك‎ ـك‎ ـكـ‎ كـ‎ /k, ᵑk/ k/nk
ل‎ ـل‎ ـلـ‎ لـ‎ /l/ l
م‎ ـم‎ ـمـ‎ مـ‎ /m/ m
ن‎ ـن‎ ـنـ‎ نـ‎ /n/ n
و‎ ـو‎ و‎ /v/ v
ه‎ ـه‎ ـهـ‎ هـ‎ /h/ h
ي‎ ـي‎ ـيـ‎ يـ‎ /z/ z

Diacritics

[edit]

Diacritics are not obligatory in standard Malagasy, except in the case where its absence leads to an ambiguity: tanàna 'city' must have the diacritic to discriminate itself from tanana 'hand'. They may however be used in the following ways:

  • ◌̀ (grave accent) shows the stressed syllable in a word. It is frequently used for disambiguation. For instance in tanàna 'city' and tanana 'hand', where the word that is an exception to the usual pronunciation rules (tanàna) gets an accent. Using the accent on the word that follows the pronunciation rules (tànana) is less common, mainly in dictionaries.[clarification needed] (This is very similar to the usage of the grave accent in Italian.)
  • ◌́ (acute accent) may be used in
    • very old dictionaries, along with grave accent
    • dialects such as Bara
    • French (Tuléar) and French-spelled (Antsirabé) names. Malagasy versions are Toliara or Toliary and Antsirabe.
  • ◌̂ (circumflex) is used as follows:
    • ô shows that the letter is pronounced /o/ and not /u/, in Malagasified foreign words (hôpitaly) and dialects (Tôlan̈aro). In standard Malagasy, ao or oa (as in mivoaka) is used instead.
    • sometimes the single-letter words a and e are written â and ê but it does not change the pronunciation
  • ◌̈ (diaeresis) is used with n̈ in dialects for a velar nasal /ŋ/. Examples are place names such as Tôlan̈aro, Antsiran̈ana, Iharan̈a, Anantson̈o. This can be seen in maps from FTM, the national institute of geodesy and cartography.
  • ◌̃ (tilde) is used in ñ sometimes, perhaps when the writer cannot produce an n̈ (although ng is also used in such cases). In Ellis' Bara dialect dictionary, it is used for velar nasal /ŋ/ as well as palatal nasal /ɲ/.

Phonology

[edit]

Vowels

[edit]
Front Central Back
Close i ⟨i, y⟩ u ⟨o⟩
Mid e ⟨e⟩ o ⟨ô, ao, oa⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩

After a stressed syllable, as at the end of most words and in the final two syllables of some, /a, u, i/ are reduced to [ə, ʷ, ʲ]. (/i/ is spelled ⟨y⟩ in such cases, though in monosyllabic words like ny and vy, ⟨y⟩ is pronounced as a full [i].) Final /a/, and sometimes final syllables, are devoiced at the end of an utterance. /e/ and /o/ are never reduced or devoiced. The large number of reduced vowels, and their effect on neighbouring consonants, give Malagasy a phonological quality not unlike that of Portuguese.

/o/ is marginal in Merina dialect, found in interjections and loan words, though it is also found in place names from other dialectical areas. /ai, au/ are diphthongs [ai̯, au̯] in careful speech, [e, o] or [ɛ, ɔ] in more casual speech. /ai/, whichever way it is pronounced, affects following /k, ɡ/ as /i/ does.

Consonants

[edit]
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Velar Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ŋ ⟨n̈⟩
Plosive
and
affricate 		voiceless plain p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ ts ⟨ts⟩ ʈʳ ⟨tr⟩ k ⟨k⟩
prenasal ᵐp ⟨mp⟩ ⁿt ⟨nt⟩ ⁿts ⟨nts⟩ ᶯʈʳ ⟨ntr⟩ ᵑk ⟨nk⟩
voiced plain b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ dz ⟨j⟩ ɖʳ ⟨dr⟩ ɡ ⟨g⟩
prenasal ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ⁿdz ⟨nj⟩ ᶯɖʳ ⟨ndr⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨ng⟩
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ h ⟨h⟩
voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩
Lateral l ⟨l⟩
Trill r ⟨r⟩

The alveolars /s ts z dz l/ are slightly palatalized. /ts, dz, s, z/ vary between [ts, dz, s, z] and [tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ], and are especially likely to be the latter when followed by unstressed /i/, thus French malgache [malɡaʃ] 'Malagasy'. The velars /k ɡ ᵑk ᵑɡ h/ are palatalized after /i/ (e.g. alika [alikʲa] 'dog'). /h/ is frequently elided in casual speech.

The reported postalveolar trilled affricates /ʈʳ ᶯʈʳ ɖʳ ᶯɖʳ/ are sometimes simple stops, [ʈ ᶯʈ ɖ ᶯɖ], but they often have a rhotic release, [ʈɽ̊˔ ᶯʈɽ̊˔ ɖɽ˔ ᶯɖɽ˔]. It is not clear if they are actually trilled, or are simply non-sibilant affricates [ʈɻ̊˔ ᶯʈɻ̊˔ ɖɻ˔ ᶯɖɻ˔]. However, in another Austronesian language with a claimed trilled affricate, Fijian, trilling occurs but is rare, and the primary distinguishing feature is that it is postalveolar.[47] The Malagasy sounds are frequently transcribed [ʈʂ ᶯʈʂ ɖʐ ᶯɖʐ], and that is the convention used in this article.

In reduplication, compounding, possessive and verbal constructions, as well as after nasals, fricatives and liquids, 'spirants' become stops, as follows:

Malagasy sandhi
voiced voiceless
spirant stop spirant stop
v b f p
l d
z dz s ts
r ɖʳ (ɖʐ)
h k

Stress

[edit]

Here, stressed syllables are indicated by grave diacritics ⟨à⟩, although these diacritics are normally not used.

Words are generally accented on the penultimate syllable, unless the word ends in ka, tra and often na, in which case they are stressed on the antepenultimate syllable. Secondary stresses exist in even-numbered syllables from the last stressed syllable, when the word has more than four syllables (fàmantàranàndro [ˌfamˌtarˈnandʐʷ] "watch, clock"). Neither prefixation nor suffixation affect the placement of stress.

In many dialects, unstressed vowels (except /e/) are devoiced, and in some cases almost completely elided; thus fanòrona is pronounced [fə̥ˈnurnə̥].

Tonogenesis

[edit]

According to Penelope Howe in 2019, Central Malagasy is undergoing tonogenesis, with syllables containing voiced consonants are "fully devoiced" and acquire a low tone (/ba/ → [b̥à]), while those containing unvoiced consonants acquire a high tone (/pa/ → [pá]). However, this development appears to not occur in posttonic syllables, and she called it "pitch accent" instead.[48]

Phonotactics

[edit]

Grammar

[edit]

Word order

[edit]

Malagasy has a verb–object–subject (VOS) word order:

Mamaky

reads

boky

book

ny

the

mpianatra

student

Mamaky boky ny mpianatra

reads book the student

"The student reads the book"

Nividy

bought

ronono

milk

ho

for

an'ny

the

zaza

child

ny

the

vehivavy

woman

Nividy ronono ho an'ny zaza ny vehivavy

bought milk for the child the woman

"The woman bought milk for the child"

Within phrases, Malagasy order is typical of head-initial languages: Malagasy has prepositions rather than postpositions (ho an'ny zaza 'for the child'). Determiners precede the noun, while quantifiers, modifying adjective phrases, and relative clauses follow the noun (ny boky 'the book(s)', ny boky mena 'the red book(s)', ny boky rehetra 'all the book(s)', ny boky novakin'ny mpianatra 'the book(s) read by the student(s)').

Somewhat unusually, demonstrative determiners are repeated both before and after the noun: ity boky ity 'this book' (lit. 'this book this').

Verbs

[edit]

Verbs have syntactically three productive "voice" forms according to the thematic role they play in the sentence: the basic "agent focus" forms of the majority of Malagasy verbs, the derived "patient focus" forms used in "passive" constructions, and the derived "goal focus" forms used in constructions with focus on instrumentality. Thus, all the following sentences mean "I wash my hands with soap".

  • (1) Manasa ny tanako amin'ny savony aho. (lit. 'I am washing my hands with soap.')
  • (2) Sasako amin'ny savony ny tanako. (lit. 'My hands are washed with soap by me.')
  • (3) Anasako ny tanako ny savony. (lit. 'It is with soap that my hands are washed by me.')

However, focus is determined in each case by the sentence initial verb form and the sentence final (noun) argument: manasa 'wash' and aho 'I' in (1), sasako 'wash' and ny tanako 'my hands' in (2), anasako 'wash' and ny savony 'soap' in (3). There is no equivalent to the English preposition with in (3).

Verbs inflect for past, present, and future tense, where tense is marked by prefixes (e.g. mividy 'buy', nividy 'bought', hividy 'will buy').

Nouns and pronouns

[edit]

Malagasy has no grammatical gender, and nouns do not inflect for number. However, pronouns and demonstratives have distinct singular and plural forms (cf. io boky io 'that book', ireto boky ireto 'these books').

There is a complex series of demonstrative pronouns, depending on the speaker's familiarity with the referent.[49]

The following set of pronouns are the pronouns found in Standard Malagasy. Note: the nominative first person singular pronoun is divided between a long and short form; the long form occurs before a verb (focalized or topicalized subjects) and the short form after a verb. The genitive first and second person pronouns are also divided between long and short forms; the long form occurs if the root ends with anything but [na], [ka*] or [tra]; if the stem ends with [na], the long form also occurs but [na] is deleted; and if the stem ends with [ka*] or [tra], the final vowel of the root is deleted and the short form occurs.[50]

Nominative Genitive Accusative
1st person singular izaho/aho -ko/-o ahy
plural exclusive izahay -nay/-ay anay
inclusive isika -ntsika/-tsika antsika
2nd person singular ianao -nao/-ao anao
plural ianareo -nareo/-areo anareo
3rd person singular izy -ny antsy
plural izy (ireo) -ny azy (ireo)

Deixis

[edit]

Malagasy has a complex system of deixis (these, those, here, there, etc.), with seven degrees of distance as well as evidentiality across all seven. The evidential dimension is prototypically visible vs. non-visible referents; however, the non-visible forms may be used for visible referents which are only vaguely identified or have unclear boundaries, whereas the visible forms are used for non-visible referents when these are topical to the conversation.[51]

Malagasy deixis
proximal medial distal
Adverbs
(here, there)		 NVIS atỳ àto ào àtsy àny aròa* arỳ
VIS etỳ èto èo ètsy èny eròa erỳ
Pronouns
(this, that)
(these, those)		 NVIS izatỳ* izàto* izào izàtsy* izàny izaròa* izarỳ*
VIS itỳ ìto ìo ìtsy ìny iròa* irỳ
VIS.PL irèto irèo irètsy irèny ireròa* irerỳ*

Notes:

  • Diacritics in deixis are not mandatory in Malagasy.
  • Deixis marked by a * are rarely used.

Vocabulary

[edit]

Malagasy shares much of its basic vocabulary with the Ma'anyan language, a language from the region of the Barito River in southern Borneo. The Malagasy language also includes some borrowings from Sanskrit, Arabic and Bantu languages (especially the Sabaki branch, from which most notably Swahili derives), and more recently from French and English.

Malagasy Words of Sanskrit Origin
# Gloss Sanskrit Standard Malagasy
1 Debt दोष (doṣa) trosa
2 Work आयास (āyāsa) asa
3 Palace / Castle मण्डप (maṇḍapa) lapa
4 Lover सखी (sakhī) sakaiza
5 Arm संधि (saṃdhi) sandry
6 History/Story तन्त्र (tantra) tantara
7 To check जागरण (jāgaraṇa) mizaha (To watch in Northern dialects)
8 Good आचार (ācāra) tsara
9 Month (April-May) वैशाख (Vaiśākha) sakave
10 To judge विचार (vicāra) mitsara
11 Ginger शृङ्गवेर (śṛṅgaver) sakaviro
12 Because साध्य (sādhya) satria
13 Food अन्न (anna) hanina
14 That/Which/Who यत् (yát) izay[52]
15 Fence वलय (Valaya) vala
16 One hundred thousand (100000) केति (keṭi) hetsy
17 Rest शेषः (śeṣaḥ) sisa
18 Song गिरा (girā) hira
19 Knife असि (Asi) antsy
20 To be scattered परित (Parita) miparitaka
21 Thunder/lightning वज्र (Vajra) varatra
22 Crow काक (Kāka) goaika (koaka in Bezanozano)
23 Necklace रवक (Ravaka) ravaka
24 Cloud राहु (Rahu) rahona
25 Hundred (100) शत (Śata) zato
26 Pig सूकर (Sūkara) kisoa
27 Today अद्य (adya) androany
28 Stove पात्र (pātra) fatana
29 Cold शीत (śīta) hatsiaka
30 Banana कदली (kadalī) kida (Southern dialects)
31 Door द्वार (dvāra) varavarana
32 Blood रक्त (rakta) ra
33 Slow मन्द (manda) miadana
34 Brave साहस (sāhasa) saha

[53][54]

Malagasy words of Bantu origin (excluding Swahili borrowings)
Malagasy word Equivalent Malagasy word Bantu language Gloss
fohy Fioti Kikongo Short
akondro Dikondo Kikongo Banana
koa Kwa Igbo Also
Malagasy Words of Swahili Origin
# Gloss Swahili Standard Malagasy
1 Ship Chombo sambo
2 Paper Karatasi taratasy
3 Speech Habary kabary
4 Eye Macho maso
5 Clothes Kanzu akanjo
6 Onion Kitunguu tongolo
7 Fable / Story Ngano angano
8 Bedbug Kunguni kongona
9 Backpack / Bag Kitapu kitapo
10 Crocodile Mamba mamba
11 Donkey Punda ampondra
12 Cat Paka saka
13 Cow Ng’ombe omby
14 Chicken Kuku akoho
15 White man / European Wazungu vazaha
16 Witch / Sorcerer Mchawi mpamosaby
17 Path / Way / Road Njia dia
18 Indian (South Asian) Karani karana
19 Guest/Foreigner Wageni vahiny
20 Wage/Salary Gharama karama
21 Shiny ng’ara mangirana
22 Mattress Godoro kidoro
23 Disability Kilema kilema
24 Shoe Kiatu kiraro
25 Floor Ghorofa gorodona
26 Centipede tandu trambo
27 Cough Kukohoa koaka
28 Short Mfupi fohy
29 Elbow Kiwiko kiho
30 Wasp Nyigu fanenitra (fanengitryin Antefasy)
31 Shrimp Kamba makamba
Malagasy Words of Semitic Origins
Malagasy Word Dialect Etymological Source Original Language Gloss
hariva All dialects Erev (עֶרֶב) Hebrew Evening
tafasiry Antaifasy Tafsīr (تفسير) Arabic Tale
ariary Standard Malagasy Rial (ريال) Arabic Money
miarahaba All dialects Marḥabā (مرحبا) Arabic To greet
malemy All dialects Layyin (لَيِّن) Arabic Soft
mitarika All dialects ṭarīq (طريق) Arabic To lead
marary All dialects maraḍ (مرض) Arabic To be ill/sick/To hurt
midoboky Southeastern dialects dubur (دبر) Arabic To sit
solika Standard Malagasy Saliid Somali Oil
sariaka Merina sarī‘(سريع) Arabic Lively
Vakinankaratra
makadiry Old Merina Kathīr (كثير) Arabic Big/huge/fat
Antefasy
Antemoro
Antesaka
milelaka Merina lachak (לָחַךְ) Hebrew To lick
milelatry Antefasy
amaray Vezo Maḥar (מחר) Hebrew Tomorrow
omaray Antefasy
omaly All dialects Etmol (אתמול) Hebrew Yesterday
pitsa Antefasy Tsar (צר) Hebrew Narrow
Antemoro
Antesaka
tsihy Standard Malagasy ḥaṣīr (حصير) Arabic Mat
olitra All dialects Tolaʿat (תולעת) Hebrew Worm
parasy All dialects Parʿosh (פרעוש) Hebrew Flea
rivotra All dialects rīḥ (رِيح) Arabic Wind
zavatra All dialects Davar (דבר) Hebrew Thing/object
mihaza All dialects Tsuwd (צוּד) Hebrew To hunt/To fish
sola All dialects aṣlaʿ (ﺃَﺻﻠَﻊ) Arabic Bald
havana Northern/Central-Eastern dialects Ḥaver (חבר) Hebrew Relatives/loved ones
fandrika All dialects Faḵḵ (فَخّ) Arabic Trap
aina All dialects Ḥayāh (حَيَاة) Arabic Life
Vata na All dialects Badan (بَدَن) Arabic Body
onjana All dialects Mawja (مَوْجَة) Arabic Wave
Malagasy Words of Indo-European Origins
Malagasy Word Dialect Etymological Source Original Language Gloss
amesa Antaifasy Mes Dutch Knife
meso Antakarana
mesa Tanosy
amely Antaifasy Morelle noire French Black nightshade
mely Bara
'mlajoly Bara La geôle French Jail
kazaha Antaifasy Cassava English Cassava
Antemoro
Betsileo
sarisoky Antaifasy Soursop English Soursop
Antemoro
kôpy Antaifasy Cup English Cup
tamatesy Vezo Tomatoes English Tomatoes
Antaifasy
zarikô Northern Betsimisaraka Haricot French Bean
Antakarana
lekôly Antakarana École French School
Northern Betsimisaraka
Northern Sakalava
Tsimihety
lakilasy Antemoro La classe
Antaifasy
Antesaka
sekoly Betsileo School English
Merina
Vakinankaratra
Kabeso Southern Sakalava Cabeça Portuguese Head
drala Vezo Dollar English Money
Masikoro
basy All dialects Busse[55] Dutch Gun
mpingaratse Tandroy Espingarda Portuguese
bazar Antefasy bāzār (بازار) Persian Market
Antemoro
Antesaka
batata Northern Sakalava Batata-doce Portuguese Sweet potato
tahotra/tahotry Northern/Central-Eastern dialects Tars (ترس) Persian Fear
tahotsa /tahotsy/tahotse Betsileo/Southern dialects

Malagasy contains many words that derive from Malay which have completely different original definitions unlike those of its close relative Ma'anyan:[56]

Meaning Ma'anyan Malagasy Malay etymon
Word direct correspondence
based on sound change 		actual meaning
back wading lamosina lembusir, lambung sisir back of a slaughtered animal i.e. sirloin (lit. 'flank side')
shoulder papale soroka suduk spade
finger kingking rantsana rancang pole, stake
foot pe'e tomboka tumbuk to pound (of earth, rice)
vulva tingy tinggi high

Lexicography

[edit]
Malagasy lexicon (1773) (Collection BULAC Paris)

The first dictionary of the language is Étienne de Flacourt's Dictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar published in 1658 though earlier glossaries written in Arabico-Malagasy script exist. A later Vocabulaire Anglais-Malagasy was published in 1729. An 892-page Malagasy–English dictionary was published by James Richardson of the London Missionary Society in 1885, available as a reprint; however, this dictionary includes archaic terminology and definitions. Whereas later works have been of lesser size, several have been updated to reflect the evolution and progress of the language, including a more modern, bilingual frequency dictionary based on a corpus of over 5 million Malagasy words.[57]

  • Winterton, M. et al.: Malagasy–English, English–Malagasy Dictionary / Diksionera Malagasy–Anglisy, Anglisy–Malagasy. Raleigh, North Carolina. USA: Lulu Press 2011, 548 p.
  • Richardson: A New Malagasy–English Dictionary. Farnborough, England: Gregg Press 1967, 892 p. ISBN 0-576-11607-6 (Original edition, Antananarivo: The London Missionary Society, 1885).
  • Diksionera Malagasy–Englisy. Antananarivo: Trano Printy Loterana 1973, 103 p.
  • An Elementary English–Malagasy Dictionary. Antananarivo: Trano Printy Loterana 1969, 118 p.
  • English–Malagasy Phrase Book. Antananarivo: Editions Madprint 1973, 199 p. (Les Guides de Poche de Madagasikara.)
  • Paginton, K: English–Malagasy Vocabulary. Antananarivo: Trano Printy Loterana 1970, 192 p.
  • Bergenholtz, H. et al.: Rakibolana Malagasy–Alemana. Antananarivo: Leximal/Moers: aragon. 1991.
  • Bergenholtz, H. et al.: Rakibolana Alemana–Malagasy. Antananarivo: Tsipika/Moers: aragon. 1994.
  • Rakibolana Malagasy. Fianarantsoa: Régis RAJEMISOA – RAOLISON 1995, 1061 p.

Sample text

[edit]

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Malagasy:

Teraka afaka sy mitovy zo sy fahamendrehana ny olombelona rehetra. Samy manan-tsaina sy fieritreretana ka tokony hifampitondra am- pirahalahiana.[58]

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Exploring the Rich History and Cultural Significance of the Malagasy Language - Global Diversity Hub". 2025-01-13. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  2. ^ "Malagasy – Duke Language Outreach Initiatives". Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  3. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  4. ^ Adelaar, K. Alexander (1995). "Asian Roots of the Malagasy: A Linguistic Perspective". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia. 151 (3): 325–356. doi:10.1163/22134379-90003036. ISSN 0006-2294. JSTOR 27864676. OCLC 5672481889.
  5. ^ a b Adelaar, K. Alexander (2006). "Borneo as a Cross-Roads for Comparative Austronesian Linguistics". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell T. (eds.). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Canberra: ANU E Press. pp. 81–102. doi:10.22459/A.09.2006.04. ISBN 1-920942-85-8. JSTOR j.ctt2jbjx1.7. OCLC 225298720.
  6. ^ Blench, Roger (2009), Remapping the Austronesian expansion (PDF), p. 8. In Evans, Bethwyn (2009). Discovering History Through Language: Papers in Honour of Malcolm Ross. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 9780858836051.
  7. ^ a b Otto Chr. Dahl, Malgache et Maanjan: une comparaison linguistique, Egede-Instituttet Avhandlinger, no. 3 (Oslo: Egede-Instituttet, 1951), p. 13.
  8. ^ Malagasy's family tree on Ethnologue
  9. ^ De Vitré, François Martin (1604). Description du premier voyage faict aux Indes Orientales par les François en l'an 1603... (in French). p. 69.
  10. ^ Blench, Roger (2007). "New Palaeozoogeographical Evidence for the Settlement of Madagascar" (PDF). Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 42 (1): 69–82. doi:10.1080/00672700709480451. S2CID 59022942. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21.
  11. ^ Relandus, Hadrianus (1708). Dissertationum Miscellanearum, Pars Tertia et Ultima (in Latin). Trajecti ad Rhenum: Gulielmi Broedelet. pp. 137–138. Haec omnia satis evincunt (quod in initio hujus dissertationis monuimus) longe lateque diffundi usum linguae Malaïcae, quae non tantum in Chersoneso Malaeorum & insulis Sumatra, Java, Bomeo, Moluccis sed & aliis magis ad orientem sitis usurpatur. Quibus cum si conferamus illud quod linguae Insulae Madagascar plurima vocabula Malaïca sint permixta, magis adhuc stupebimus linguam unam, qualis Malaïca est, vestigia sua reliquisse in tam dissitis terrarum spatiis qualia sunt insula Madagascar ad litus Africae & insula Cocos in mari inter Asiam & Americam interjecto. Lubet hic laterculum addere vocum Madagascaricarum, ut dicta nostra confirmemus.
  12. ^ Dahl, Otto Christian (1951), Malgache et Maanyan: Une comparaison linguistique, Avhandlinger utgitt av Instituttet 3 (in French), Oslo: Egede Instituttet
  13. ^ Adelaar, Alexander (1995). "Asian Roots of the Malagasy: A Linguistic Perspective". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 151 (3): 325–356. doi:10.1163/22134379-90003036. JSTOR 27864676.
  14. ^ Blench, Roger (2018), Interdisciplinary Approaches to Stratifying the Peopling of Madagascar (PDF) – via www.rogerblench.info
  15. ^ Deschamps, Hubert. Histoire de Madagascar... (4e éd. revue et complétée). Paris: Berger-Levrault, p. 20, 1972.
  16. ^ Ricaut, François-X; Razafindrazaka, Harilanto; Cox, Murray P; Dugoujon, Jean-M; Guitard, Evelyne; Sambo, Clement; Mormina, Maru; Mirazon-Lahr, Marta; Ludes, Bertrand; Crubézy, Eric (2009). "A new deep branch of eurasian mtDNA macrohaplogroup M reveals additional complexity regarding the settlement of Madagascar". BMC Genomics. 10 (1): 605. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-605. PMC 2808327. PMID 20003445.
  17. ^ P. Y. Manguin. Pre-modern Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: The Maldive Connection. ‘New Directions in Maritime History Conference’ Fremantle. December 1993.
  18. ^ Adelaar, K. Alexander; Himmelmann, Nikolaus, eds. (2005). The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-7007-1286-1.
  19. ^ Simon, Pierre R. (2006). Fitenin-drazana. L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-296-01108-3.
  20. ^ There are also some Sulawesi loanwords, which Adelaar attributes to contact prior to the migration to Madagascar: See K. Alexander Adelaar, “The Indonesian Migrations to Madagascar: Making Sense of the Multidisciplinary Evidence”, in Truman Simanjuntak, Ingrid Harriet Eileen Pojoh and Muhammad Hisyam (eds.), Austronesian Diaspora and the Ethnogeneses of People in Indonesian Archipelago, (Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences, 2006), pp. 8–9.
  21. ^ Dewar, Robert E.; Wright, Henry T. (1993). "The culture history of Madagascar". Journal of World Prehistory. 7 (4): 417–466. Bibcode:1993JWPre...7..417D. doi:10.1007/bf00997802. hdl:2027.42/45256. S2CID 21753825.
  22. ^ Burney DA, Burney LP, Godfrey LR, Jungers WL, Goodman SM, Wright HT, Jull AJ (August 2004). "A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar". Journal of Human Evolution. 47 (1–2): 25–63. Bibcode:2004JHumE..47...25B. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.05.005. PMID 15288523.
  23. ^ a b Ferrand, Gabriel (1905), "Les migrations musulmanes et juives à Madagascar", Revue de l'histoire des religions, Paris
  24. ^ Serva, Maurizio; Petroni, Filippo; Volchenkov, Dima; Wichmann, Søren (2011). "Malagasy Dialects and the Peopling of Madagascar". Journal of the Royal Society, Interface. 9 (66): 54–67. arXiv:1102.2180. doi:10.1098/rsif.2011.0228. PMC 3223632. PMID 21632612.
  25. ^ Adelaar, K. Alexander (2017). "Who Were the First Malagasy, and What Did They Speak?". In Acri, Andrea; Blench, Roger; Landmann, Alexandra (eds.). Spirits and Ships: Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia. Book collections on Project MUSE 28. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. pp. 441–469. doi:10.1355/9789814762779-012. ISBN 978-981-4762-75-5. OCLC 1012757769.
  26. ^ "La traduction de la Bible malgache encore révisée" [The translation of the Malagasy Bible is still being revised]. haisoratra.org (in French). 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  27. ^ Flacourt, Étienne de (1658). Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar (in French). Jean Henault. p. 194.
  28. ^ Jéhan, Louis François (1858). Troisième et dernière Encyclopédie théologique, ou Troisième et dernière Série de dictionnaires sur toutes les parties de la science religieuse. Dictionnaire de linguistique et de philologie comparée, histoire de toutes les langues mortes et vivantes, ou traité complet d'idiomographie. Encyclopédie théologique, publiée par M. l'abbé Migne (in French). Vol. 34. Chez l'Éditeur, aux ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge. p. 861.
  29. ^ Engel, Claude (2008). Les derniers zafintany et les nouveaux moasy : Changements socioculturels à Madagascar (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. p. 28.
  30. ^ Alexander Adelaar; Antoinette Schapper, eds. (2024). The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 681. ISBN 9780198807353.
  31. ^ Kikusawa, Rumsey (1972). "A Malagasy (Northern Betsimisaraka) Text with Grammatical Notes". Journal of Asian and African Studies (7): 8.
  32. ^ The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia. Oxford University Press. 2024. pp. 674–675.
  33. ^ Decary, Raymond. 1928. Lexique Français-Antandroy. Tananarive: Académie malgache, p. 71. Available at: https://fr.scribd.com/doc/73155374/Decary-Raymond-1928-Lexique-Francais-Antandroy
  34. ^ Sambo, Clément; Gueunier, Noël Jacques (2001). Langages non conventionnels à Madagascar : argot des jeunes et proverbes gaillards (in French). Karthala. p. 304.
  35. ^ Lefèvre, Gabriel (2013). Médecine traditionnelle à Madagascar : les mots-plantes (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. pp. 27–29.
  36. ^ Gueunier, Noël Jacques (2011). Contes comoriens en dialecte malgache de l'île de Mayotte : la quête de la sagesse (in French). L’Harmattan. p. 2.
  37. ^ Ferrand, Gabriel (1909). Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches : thèse pour le doctorat d'université, présentée à la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris (in French). Paris: Paul Geuthner. pp. XXXVII–XLII.
  38. ^ a b "Madagascar". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  39. ^ "Bushi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  40. ^ Ferrand, Gabriel (1908). "Un vocabulaire malgache-hollandais." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 61.673-677. The manuscript is now in the Arabico-Malagasy collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
  41. ^ Flacourt, Étienne de (1657). Le Petit Catéchisme madécasse-français.Paris;(1661). Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar.Paris, pp.197–202.
  42. ^ Flacourt, Étienne de (1658). Dictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar. Paris.
  43. ^ Berthier, H.J. (1934). De l'usage de l'arabico=malgache en Imérina au début du XIXe siècle: Le cahier d'écriture de Radama Ier. Tananarive.
  44. ^ The translation is due to David Griffith of the London Missionary Society, with corrections in 1865–1866."Haisoratra :: La traduction de la Bible malgache encore révisée". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  45. ^ Trost, Stefan. "Alphabet and Character Frequency: Malagasy". www.sttmedia.com. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  46. ^ FERRAND, Gabriel. (1906) Un Texte Arabico-Malgache Du XVIe siècle Transcrit, Traduit Et annoté D'apres Les MSS. 7 Et 8 De La bibliothèque Nationale Par M.G. Ferrand.. http://ia800309.us.archive.org/29/items/untextearabicoma00pariuoft/untextearabicoma00pariuoft.pdf
  47. ^ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 131. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
  48. ^ Howe, Penelope (2019). "Central Malagasy". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 51: 103–136. doi:10.1017/S0025100319000100.
  49. ^ "The Austronesian Languages: Malagasy" (PDF).
  50. ^ Zribi-Hertz, Anne; Mbolatianavalona, Liliane (1999). "Towards a Modular Theory of Linguistic Deficiency: Evidence from Malagasy Personal Pronouns". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 17: 171–172. doi:10.1023/A:1006072823421. S2CID 169890842. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  51. ^ Janie Rasoloson and Carl Rubino, 2005, "Malagasy", in Adelaar & Himmelmann, eds, The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar
  52. ^ Richardson, James (1885). A New Malagasy-English Dictionary. Antananarivo: London Missionary Society. p. 295.
  53. ^ Dahl, Otto Chr. Malgache et maanjan: une comparaison linguistique. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1951. pp. 96–105.
  54. ^ Razafintsalama, Jean-Baptiste (1939). Le bouddhisme malgache ou la civilisation malgache : essai d'analyse et de reconstruction historique (in French). Tananarive: Imprimerie de Tananarive. pp. 1–53.
  55. ^ "Arquebus | Definition of Arquebus by Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  56. ^ Adelaar, Alexander K. (2020). "On the history of Malagasy terms for human body parts". Malay-Indonesian Studies Issue XXI. Festschrift in Honor of Prof. Alexander K. Ogloblin on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Nusantara Society, IAAS Moscow Lomonosov University. pp. 52–89.
  57. ^ [1] Winterton, Matthew et al. (2011). Malagasy–English, English–Malagasy Dictionary / Diksionera Malagasy–Anglisy, Anglisy–Malagasy. Lulu Press.
  58. ^ United Nations Information Centre, Madagascar. "FANAMBARANA IRAISAM-PIRENENA MOMBA NY ZON'OLOMBELONA" (PDF). Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (in Malagasy). Retrieved 13 March 2026.

Sources

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Wikipedia logo
Malagasy edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malagasy language.
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Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Malagasy.
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