Malagasy languages
| Malagasy | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte |
|
Native speakers
|
18 million (2007) |
|
Austronesian
|
|
|
Latin script (Malagasy alphabet) Malagasy Braille |
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Madagascar
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | mg |
| ISO 639-2 |
(B) (T)
|
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: xmv – Antankarana bhr – Bara buc – Bushi msh – Masikoro bmm – Northern Betsimisaraka plt – Plateau Malagasy skg – Sakalava bzc – Southern Betsimisaraka tdx – Tandroy-Mafahaly txy – Tanosy tkg – Tesaka xmw – Tsimihety |
| Glottolog | mala1537 |
| Linguasphere | 31-LDA-a |
Malagasy (/mæləˈɡæsi/;Malagasy: [ˌmalaˈɡasʲ]) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.
The Malagasy language is the westernmost member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Its distinctiveness from nearby African languages was noted in 1708 by the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland. It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and more closely to the East Barito languages spoken in Borneo except for its Polynesian morphophonemics. According to Roger Blench (2010), the earliest form of language spoken on Madagascar could have had some non-Austronesian substrata.
Madagascar was first settled by Austronesian peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia who had passed through Borneo. The migrations continued along the first millennium, as confirmed by linguistic researchers who showed the close relationship between the Malagasy language and Old Malay and Old Javanese languages of this period. Far later, c. 1000, the original Austronesian settlers mixed with Bantus and Arabs, amongst others. There is evidence that the predecessors of the Malagasy dialects first arrived in the southern stretch of the east coast of Madagascar.
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