Southern Sakalava dialect

Southern Sakalava belongs to the Austronesian language family and part of the Southern Malagasic subgroup alongside Bara, Tanosy, Masikoro, Tandroy, Mahafaly and Karimbola.^[3][4][5][6]

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.

Words ending in -tra often become -tsy, such as hafatra becoming hafatsy (message), and mandefitra becoming mandefitsy (to tolerate), a pattern consistent with southern Malagasy varieties.

The form anakahy is used for "mine", a feature found in both northern and southern Malagasy dialects.

The Southern Sakalava spoken in Besalampy is transitional between Northern Sakalava and the more southern varieties of Menabe and Atsimo Andrefana. It shares some northern features like the use of ndreky for "and", but is mostly aligned with southern vocabulary.

Southern Sakalava is primarily spoken in the regions of Melaky (also known as Ambongo), Menabe, and northern Atsimo Andrefana. It is the primary dialect of the cities of Morondava, Maintirano, and Besalampy, as well as in the area surrounding the Tsingy de Bemaraha and the Avenue of the Baobabs. ^[7][8]

• Northern Sakalava
• Sakalava people