Mahafaly dialect

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Mahafaly
Native to
RegionAtsimo-Andrefana region, southwest Madagascar
EthnicityMahafaly people
Native speakers
472,000[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3tdx
Glottologmaha1309
Linguasphere31-LDA-cb
Mahafaly dialect sample
Two Mahafaly men from Betioky Atsimo complaining about bandit attacks and saying that they will retaliate and use mob justice if the state does not intervene.

Mahafaly is a dialect of the Malagasy language spoken by the Mahafaly people in the Atsimo-Andrefana region of southwestern Madagascar.[2]

Classification

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Mahafaly belongs to the Austronesian languages family under the Malayo-Polynesian languages branch, within the Barito languages group. It is classified as a Southern Malagasic dialect alongside Southern Sakalava,Tandroy, Vezo, Masikoro and Karimbola.[3]

Geographic distribution

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Mahafaly is spoken by approximately 472,000 people in the arid southwest of Madagascar, mainly in the Atsimo-Andrefana region.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Mahafaly in Madagascar". Joshua Project. Retrieved 29 June 2025. Population 472,000
  2. ^ Ferrand, Gabriel (1903). Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches : thèse pour le doctorat d'université (in French). Paris: Ernest Leroux, Libraire-Éditeur. p. XXXIX.
  3. ^ Bright, William (1992). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780195051964.
  4. ^ Molet, Louis (1957). Petit guide de toponymie malgache (PDF) (in French). Tananarive: Scientific Research Institute of Madagascar, Department of Human Sciences. pp. map (unnumbered) + p. 7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) The map is placed before the numbered pages.
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