Southern Sakalava dialect
Southern Sakalava dialect
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Southern Sakalava dialect

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Southern Sakalava dialect

Southern Sakalava is a dialect of Malagasy spoken by the Sakalava from the region of Melaky to Atsimo Andrefana.

Southern Sakalava belongs to the Austronesian language family and part of the Southern Malagasic subgroup alongside Bara,Tanosy,Masikoro,Tandroy,Mahafaly and Karimbola.

The Southern Sakalava dialect displays several phonological and lexical characteristics that distinguish it from the Merina-based Standard Malagasy. These features are also shared with other southern Malagasy dialects such as Tandroy, Tanosy, Vezo, Mahafaly, and Bara.

One notable feature is the dropping of the final -na in trisyllabic words. For example, tana is used instead of tànana (hand), tanà for tanàna (village), sofy for sofina (ear), and antety for antanety (field), the latter also common in Southern Sakalava.

There is also a tendency to substitute l for d, as in valy for vady (spouse), lily for didy (law, order), and malio for madio (clean). This phonological change is a hallmark of Southern Sakalava and other southern dialects. However, in the Northern Sakalava dialect, the consonant d is retained, and this shift to l does not occur, despite both varieties being spoken by groups identified as Sakalava.

The s following a t is often omitted, producing forms like raty instead of ratsy (bad).

The consonant v may be replaced by b, for example, abo for avo (high).

The consonant z is frequently dropped. Aiza (where) becomes aia. The pronoun izy (he/she) becomes ihy, a form typical of southern dialects such as Mahafaly, Vezo, and Bara.

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