Malagasy language
Malagasy is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.
Classification
The Malagasy language is the westernmost member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Its distinctiveness from nearby African languages was already noted in 1708 by the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland.It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and specifically to the East Barito languages spoken in Borneo, with apparent influence from early Old Malay. There appears to be a Bantu influence or substratum in Malagasy phonotactics.
| Decimal numbers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| PAN, circa 4000 BC | *isa | *DuSa | *telu | *Sepat | *lima | *enem | *pitu | *walu | *Siwa | *puluq |
| Malagasy | iray/isa | roa | telo | efatra | dimy | enina | fito | valo | sivy | folo |
| Ma'anyan | isa | rueh | telo | epat | dime | enem | pitu | balu | su'ey | sapulu |
| Kadazan | iso | duvo | tohu | apat | himo | onom | tu'u | vahu | sizam | hopod |
| Tagalog | isá | dalawá | tatló | ápat | limá | ánim | pitó | waló | siyám | sampu |
| Ilocano | maysá | dua | talló | uppát | limá | inném | pitó | waló | siam | sangapúlo |
| Chamorro | maisa/håcha | hugua | tulu | fatfat | lima | gunum | fiti | guålu | sigua | månot/fulu |
| Malay | satu | dua | tiga | empat | lima | enam | tujuh | lapan | sembilan | sepuluh |
| Javanese | siji | loro | telu | papat | limo | nem | pitu | wolu | songo | sepuluh |
| 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 |
Etymology
Malagasy is the demonym of Madagascar from which it is taken to refer to the people of Madagascar in addition to their language.History
Madagascar was first settled by Austronesian peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia from the Sunda Islands. 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. 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. 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. Far later, c. 1000, the original Austronesian settlers mixed with Bantus and Arabs, amongst others. There is evidence that the predecessors of the Malagasy dialects first arrived in the southern stretch of the east coast of Madagascar.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.
Geographic distribution
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, Comoros and Mauritius. Expatriate Malagasy communities speaking the language also exist in Europe and North America, to a lesser extent, Belgium and Washington, DC in United States.Legal status
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
There are two principal dialects of Malagasy; Eastern and Western, with the isogloss running down the spine of the island, the south being western, and the central plateau and much of the north being eastern. Ethnologue encodes 12 variants of Malagasy as distinct languages. They have about a 70% similarity in lexicon with the Merina dialect.Eastern Malagasy
The Eastern dialects are:- Northern Betsimisaraka Malagasy – spoken by the Betsimisaraka on the northeastern coast of the island
- Southern Betsimisaraka Malagasy – spoken by the Betsimisaraka in the North of the region Vatovavy Fito Vinany.
- Plateau Malagasy – spoken in the centre of the island and includes southeastern dialects like Antemoro and Antefasy.
- Tanosy Malagasy – spoken by the Antanosy people in the south of the island
- Tesaka Malagasy – spoken by the Antaisaka people in the southeast of the island.
Western Malagasy
- Antankarana Malagasy – spoken by the Antankarana in the northern tip of the island
- Bara Malagasy – spoken by the Bara people in the south of the island
- Masikoro Malagasy – spoken by the Masikoro in the southwest of the island
- Sakalava Malagasy – spoken by the Sakalava people on the western coast of the island
- Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy – spoken by the Antandroy and the Mahafaly people on the southern tip of the island
- Tsimihety Malagasy – spoken by the Tsimihety people.
Region specific variations
The two main dialects of Malagasy are easily distinguished by several phonological features.Sakalava lost final nasal consonants, whereas Merina added a voiceless :
- *tañan 'hand' → Sakalava, Merina
- *kulit 'skin' → Sakalava, Merina
- *putiq 'white' → Sakalava, Merina
Writing system
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. This Arabic Ajami script 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 though the script must have been introduced into the southeast area of Madagascar in the 15th century.The first bilingual renderings of religious texts are those by Étienne de Flacourt, who also published the first dictionary of the language. Radama I, the first literate representative of the Merina monarchy, though extensively versed in the Arabico-Malagasy tradition, 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.
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 sound, while o is pronounced. The affricates and are written tr and dr, respectively, while and 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 all not used in native Malagasy words.
Mp and occasionally nt may begin a word, but they are pronounced.
@ is used informally as a short form for amin'ny, which is a preposition followed by the definite form, meaning for instance with the.
| ـَ | ب | د | ـِ | ف | غ | ه | ـِ | ج | ك | ل | م | ن | ـُ | ڡ | ر | س | ط | و | & | ع | & | & | ت | ڡّ | طّ | ـَيْ | ـَوْ | ـُوً | ـُيْ | & | ـِوْ | ـِيْ |
| a | b | d | e | f | g, ng | h | i, y | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | v | z | n̈ | dr | tr | ts | mp | nt | ai | ao | oa | oi | ia, ea | io, eo |
Diacritics
s are not obligatory in standard Malagasy, except in the case where its absence leads to an ambiguity: tanàna must have the diacritic to discriminate itself from tanana. They may however be used in the following ways:- ◌̀ shows the stressed syllable in a word. It is frequently used for disambiguation. For instance in tanàna and tanana, where the word that is an exception to the usual pronunciation rules gets an accent. Using accent on the word that follows the pronunciation rules is less common, mainly in dictionaries.
- ◌́ may be used in
- *very old dictionaries, along with grave accent
- *dialects such as Bara
- *French and French-spelled names. Malagasy versions are Toliara or Toliary and Antsirabe.
- ◌̂ is used as follows:
- *ô shows that the letter is pronounced and not, in Malagasified foreign words and dialects. In standard Malagasy, ao or oa is used instead.
- *sometimes the single-letter words a and e are written â and ê but it does not change the pronunciation
- ◌̈ is used with n̈ in dialects for a velar nasal. 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.
- ◌̃ is used in ñ sometimes, perhaps when the writer cannot produce an n̈. In Ellis' Bara dialect dictionary, it is used for velar nasal as well as palatal nasal.
Phonology
Vowels
After a stressed syllable, as at the end of most words and in the final two syllables of some, are reduced to. Final, and sometimes final syllables, are devoiced at the end of an utterance. and are never reduced or devoiced. The large amounts of reduction of vowels and their effect on neighbouring consonants give Malagasy a phonological quality not unlike that of Portuguese.is marginal in Merina dialect, found in interjections and loan words, though it is also found in place names from other dialectical areas. are diphthongs in careful speech, or in more casual speech., whichever way it is pronounced, affects following as does.
Consonants
The alveolars are slightly palatalized. vary between and, and are especially likely to be the latter when followed by unstressed : Thus French malgache 'Malagasy'. The velars are palatalized after . is frequently elided in casual speech.The reported postalveolar trilled affricates are sometimes simple stops, , but they often have a rhotic release,. It is not clear if they are actually trilled, or are simply non-sibilant affricates. 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. The Malagasy sounds are frequently transcribed, and that is the convention used in this article.
In reduplication, compounding, possessive and verbal constructions, and after nasals, fricatives and liquids become stops, as follows:
Stress
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. In many dialects, unstressed vowels are devoiced, and in some cases almost completely elided; thus fanorona is pronounced.Grammar
Word order
Malagasy has a verb–object–subject word order:Mamaky boky ny mpianatra
"The student reads the book"
Nividy ronono ho an'ny zaza ny vehivavy
"The woman bought milk for the child"
Within phrases, Malagasy order is typical of head-initial languages: Malagasy has prepositions rather than postpositions. Determiners precede the noun, while quantifiers, modifying adjective phrases, and relative clauses follow the noun ", ny boky mena "the red book", ny boky rehetra "all the books", ny boky novakin'ny mpianatra "the book read by the student.
Somewhat unusually, demonstrative determiners are repeated both before and after the noun ity boky ity "this book".
Verbs
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- Manasa ny tanako amin'ny savony aho.
- Sasako amin'ny savony ny tanako.
- Anasako ny tanako ny savony.
Verbs inflect for past, present, and future tense, where tense is marked by prefixes.
Nouns and pronouns
Malagasy has no grammatical gender, and nouns do not inflect for number. However, pronouns and demonstratives have distinct singular and plural forms.There is a complex series of personal and demonstrative pronouns, depending on the speaker's familiarity and closeness to the referent.
Deixis
Malagasy has a complex system of deixis, 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.Notes:
- Diacritics in deixis are not mandatory in Malagasy.
- Deixis marked by a * are rarely used.
Vocabulary
The following samples are of the Merina dialect or Standard Malagasy, which is spoken in the capital of Madagascar and in the central highlands or "plateau", home of the Merina people. It is generally understood throughout the island.
| English | Malagasy | IPA |
| English | Anglisy | |
| Yes | Eny | |
| No | Tsia, Tsy | , |
| Hello! / How are you? | Manao ahoana! | / |
| Hello! | Salama! | |
| I'm fine, thank you. | Tsara fa misaotra. | |
| Goodbye! | Veloma! | |
| Please | Azafady | |
| Thank you | Misaotra | |
| You're welcome | Tsisy fisaorana. | |
| Excuse me | Azafady | |
| Sorry | Miala tsiny | |
| Who? | Iza? | / |
| What? | Inona? | |
| When? | Rahoviana?, Oviana | / |
| Where? | Aiza?, Taiza | |
| Why? | Fa maninona? | |
| How? | Ahoana? | |
| How many? | Firy? | |
| How much? | Ohatrinona? | |
| What's your name? | Iza ny anaranao? | |
| For | Ho an'ny / Ho an'i | |
| Because | Satria | |
| I don't understand. | Tsy mazava, Tsy azoko. | |
| Yes, I understand. | Eny, mazava, Eny, azoko | |
| Help! | Vonjeo! | |
| Go away! | Mandehana! | |
| Can you help me please? | Afaka manampy ahy ve ianao azafady? | |
| Where are the toilets? | Aiza ny efitrano fivoahana?, Aiza ny V.C.?, Aiza ny toilet? | |
| Do you speak English? | Mahay teny anglisy ve ianao? | |
| I do not speak Malagasy. | Tsy mahay teny malagasy aho. | |
| I do not speak French. | Tsy mahay teny frantsay aho. | |
| I am thirsty. | Mangetaheta aho. | |
| I am hungry. | Noana aho. | |
| I am sick. | Marary aho. | |
| I am tired. | Vizaka aho, Reraka aho | , |
| I need to pee. | Poritra aho, Ny olombelona tsy akoho | |
| I would like to go to Antsirabe. | Te hankany Antsirabe aho. | |
| That's expensive! | Lafo be izany! | |
| I'm hungry for some rice. | Noana vary aho. | |
| What can I do for you? | Inona no azoko atao ho anao? | |
| I like... | Tiako... | |
| I love you. | Tiako ianao. | |
| Numbers | ||
| one | isa/iray | |
| two | roa | |
| three | telo | |
| four | efatra | |
| five | dimy | |
| six | enina | |
| seven | fito | |
| eight | valo | |
| nine | sivy | |
| ten | folo | |
| eleven | iraika ambin'ny folo | |
| twelve | roa ambin'ny folo | |
| twenty | roapolo | |
| thirty | telopolo | |
| forty | efapolo | |
| fifty | dimampolo | |
| sixty | enim-polo | |
| seventy | fitopolo | |
| eighty | valopolo | |
| ninety | sivifolo | |
| one hundred | zato | |
| two hundred | roan-jato | |
| one thousand | arivo | |
| ten thousand | iray alina | |
| one hundred thousand | iray hetsy | |
| one million | iray tapitrisa | |
| one billion | iray lavitrisa | |
| 3,568,942 | roa amby efapolo sy sivin-jato sy valo arivo sy enina alina sy dimy hetsy sy telo tapitrisa |
Lexicography
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.- 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. .
- 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.
- 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.