Bezanozano dialect

Bezanozano is an Austronesian language part of the Plateau branch of Malagasy language.^[4]

Bezanozano dialect is spoken in the region of Alaotra Mangoro especially around the district of Moramanga.^[5][6]

The Bezanozano dialect shares many features with both the Merina and Sihanaka. It retains suffixes typical of Merina such as -ka, -tra, and -na.

Like Sihanaka, Bezanozano often uses the nasalized gn (pronounced /ŋ/) in place of n in some words. For example, tragno (house) is used instead of the Merina trano. This gn form has disappeared in Merina but remains in Bezanozano and Sihanaka.^[7]

Many Bezanozano words are similar to Merina, but with a provincial pronunciation.

Although the Bezanozano and Antefasy are spoken in geographically distant regions of Madagascar, they display notable lexical similarities. These shared items suggest the existence of an earlier plateau proto-language within the Central-Eastern group, alongside Southern Betsimisaraka, from which these varieties may have descended. For example, the word for needle is filo in Southern Betsimisaraka , instead of fanjaitra as in Standard Malagasy.