Mahafaly dialect

Mahafaly is a dialect of the Malagasy language^[2][3] spoken by the Mahafaly people in the Atsimo-Andrefana region of southwestern Madagascar.^[4]

Mahafaly
Native to	Madagascar
Region	Atsimo-Andrefana region, southwest Madagascar
Ethnicity	Mahafaly people
Native speakers	472,000[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Barito languages Malagasy Southern Malagasic Mahafaly
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tdx
Glottolog	maha1309
Linguasphere	31-LDA-cb

Classification

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.^[5]

Geographic distribution

Mahafaly is spoken by approximately 472,000 people in the arid southwest of Madagascar, mainly in the Atsimo-Andrefana region.^[6]