Antambahoaka dialect

Antambahoaka (pronunciation: [an.tam.baˈhu.akə]^ⓘ) is a dialect of Malagasy spoken by the Antambahoaka people in the region of Vatovavy.

Antambahoaka
Fizakana Antembahôky
Native to	Madagascar
Ethnicity	Antambahoaka
Native speakers	118,000[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian Barito East Barito Central-Eastern Malagasic Plateau malagasy Antambahoaka
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet) Sorabe alphabet (historically)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	plt
Glottolog	anta1260
Linguasphere	31-LDA-ba

Classification

The Antambahoaka dialect is a member of the Austronesian languages family, within the Malayo-Polynesian languages branch. It is part of the Barito languages group, specifically the Eastern Barito subgroup.

Antambahoaka belongs to the Central-Eastern Malagasy dialect cluster and is associated with the Plateau Malagasy division. ^[2]

Location

Its geographical range corresponds mainly to the administrative districts of Mananjary and Nosy Varika in the Vatovavy Region in Southeastern Madagascar.^[3][4]

Characteristics

The Antambahoaka dialect shares notable linguistic features with the Northern Tanala and Southern Betsimisaraka.^[5]

Lexical Comparison between Antambahoaka, Northern Tanala, and Southern Betsimisaraka

Gloss	Antambahoaka	Northern Tanala	Southern Betsimisaraka
one	raika	raika	Iraika
I	iaho	iaho	izaho
we (inclusive)	antsena	antsena	antsena
We (exclusive)	Ahay	Ahay	Zahay
only	mi	avao	mi
all	maro be / aby	maro be / aby	jiaby
to tell	mizaka	mizaka	mizaka
above	agnambo	ambony	agnambo
now	niane	niany	niane

Vocabulary

English	Malagasy standard	Antambahoaka
We/Us	Isika	Antsena
Who	Iza	Zovy
All	Rehetra	Maro be
Also/Only	Ihany koa/Ihany	Mi
That	Izay	Zegny
Like	Ohatrany	Kara
Even	Na	Ndre
If	Raha	Raha/Laha
After	Aoriana	Afara
One	Isa/Iray	Isa/Raika
Fruit	Voa	Isiny
Jackfruit	Ampalibe	Ampalibe
To hide	Afenina	Avony
I love/like	Tiako	Teako
I don't like/love	Tsy tiako	Tsy teako

Writing System

Antambahoaka dialect is one of the Malagasy varieties that were historically written using the Arabic-derived Arabico-Malagasy script, alongside that of the Antemoro and Tanosy. This script was primarily used for magical and divinatory purposes.^[6]