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Mahafaly dialect

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

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.[5]

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.[6]

References

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  1. "Mahafaly in Madagascar". Joshua Project. Retrieved 29 June 2025. Population 472,000
  2. Grimes, Barbara F. (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (14th ed.). Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 293. ISBN 9780883128152.
  3. McElroy, Colleen J. (1999). Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar. University of Michigan Press. p. xxii.
  4. 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.
  5. Bright, William (1992). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780195051964.
  6. 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.