Northern Sakalava dialect

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Northern Sakalava
Native to
EthnicityBoina Sakalava
Language codes
ISO 639-3skg
Glottologmaju1234
Linguasphere
  • 31-LDA-dc (Majunga)
  • 31-LDA-ea (Analalava)
  • 31-LDA-ea (Nosy Be)
Northern Sakalava – Majunga
The wife of a castaway recalling her husband's survival at sea and rescue, then thanking the authorities in Majunga for their help to her husband and family.

Northern Sakalava – Analalava
A woman from the district of Analalava complains in the Northern Sakalava dialect about recurring abuse and negligence in the region.

Northern Sakalava is a northern dialect of Malagasy spoken by Sakalava people especially in the region of Boeny and Sofia. [1][2][3]

Classification

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Northern Sakalava dialect belongs to the Austronesian language family. It is part of Northern Malagasy subgroup along with Tsimihety, Bushi, Northern Betsimisaraka and Antakarana.[4][5][6]

Territorial Range

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Northern Sakalava is the primary dialect spoken in the former province of Mahajanga, and it is the primary dialect of the city of Mahajanga (Majunga). It is also spoken in parts of the Betsiboka Region.[7][8] In addition, it is spoken in the Sofia Region, particularly in the Analalava District, and in the Diana Region, especially in the Ambanja District and on the island of Nosy Be.[9][10]

Vocabulary

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Northern Sakalava Vocabulary with Gloss and Standard Malagasy
# Gloss Standard Malagasy Northern Sakalava
Numbers & Connectors
1 One Iray Araiky
2 And Sy Ndreky
3 All Rehetra / Avy Jiaby / Aby
4 So Ka Ke
Concepts & Abstracts
5 Thing Zavatra Raha
6 Mind Saina Jery
7 Difficulty Fahasarotana Sarotro
8 Wealth Harena Hariagna
Descriptions
9 Beautiful Tsara Meva
Nature
10 Sky / Heaven Lanitra Lagnitry
Verbs
11 To watch Mijery Mizaha
Possession & Qualities
12 His/Her goodness Hatsarany Hatsarananany
13 His/Her strength Heriny Angovonazy
14 His/Her student Mpianany Mpianatranany
Example Phrase
15 Henry arrived Tonga i Henry Navy i Henry

References

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  1. ^ "Map of Malagasy Bible Translations". Islands Mission. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  2. ^ Andriamise, L. "Le Vakinankaratra, parler hybride Merina-Betsileo" (PDF). Working Papers in Linguistics (in French). University of Western Ontario: 1. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  3. ^ Frawley, William (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (4-volume set ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 205.
  4. ^ "Majunga Malagasy". Glottolog 4.8. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  5. ^ Laroussi, Foued; Groupe de recherche sur le plurilinguisme à Mayotte. Langues, identités et insularité : regards sur Mayotte (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. p. 33.
  6. ^ Sambo, Clément; Gueunier, Noël Jacques (2001). Langages non conventionnels à Madagascar : argot des jeunes et proverbes gaillards (in French). Karthala. p. 304.
  7. ^ Dez, Jacques (1990). Cheminements linguistiques malgaches : au-delà des grammaires usuelles (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. p. 111.
  8. ^ "Malagasy dialects in Mayotte" (PDF). OSF (Open Science Framework). p. 2. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  9. ^ Thomas‑Fattier, Dominique (1982). Le dialecte sakalava du Nord‑Ouest de Madagascar : Phonologie, Grammaire, Lexique. Tome I (in French). Paris: Université de Paris. p. 4.
  10. ^ 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.