Ma'anyan language
Ma'anyan or Ma'anjan or Maanyak Dayak is an Austronesian language belonging to the East Barito languages. It is spoken by about 150,000 Ma'anyan people living in the central Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is closely related to the Malagasy language spoken in Madagascar. The Malagasy language originated from Southeast Barito language, and Ma'anyan language is its closest relative, with numerous Malay and Javanese loanwords. It is known that Ma'anyan people were brought as labourer and slaves by Malay and Javanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar by ca. 50-500 AD. There is high lexical similarity with other East Barito languages like Paku or Dusun Witu.Vocabulary
Vocabulary comparison between Malay, Banjarese, Ma'anyan, and Malagasy.
| Malay | Banjarese | Ma'anyan | Malagasy | English |
| monyet | warik | warik | varika | monkey |
| bemban | bamban | waman | | |
| bulian | balian | wadian | | |
| patih | patih | patis | | regent |
| lama | lawas | lawah | lava | long |
| kawan | kawal | kawal/hengau | namana | friend |
| obat | tatamba | tatamba | tambavy | medicine |
| senang | aray | aray | faly | happy, easy |
| masih | magun | pagun | manangona | to keep...ing |
| arya | aria | uria | | |
| demang | damang | damhong | | |
