Antakarana dialect

Antakarana
Native to	Madagascar
Ethnicity	Antakarana people
Native speakers	221,000
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian Barito East Barito Northern Malagasic Antakarana
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xmv
Glottolog	anta1255
Linguasphere	31-LDA-fa

Antakarana is a northern dialect of Malagasy ^[1] spoken by Antakarana people in the province of Antsiranana. ^{[2] [3]}

Classification

Antakarana is classified as a northern dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a member of the Austronesian language family. It shares close linguistic affinities with other northern Malagasy dialects, including Northern Sakalava, Bushi, Northern Betsimisaraka, and Tsimihety. ^[4]

Geographic distribution

The Antakarana dialect is predominantly spoken in the Diana Region of northern Madagascar. It is also used to a lesser extent in parts of the Sava Region, particularly in the Vohemar District, as well as in portions of the Sofia Region, notably in some areas of the Analalava District and the Bealanana District. ^[5]

Characteristics

The extended French colonial presence in the former Antsiranana Province has influenced the Antakarana dialect, leading to the incorporation of numerous French loanwords. As a result, the dialect exhibits a notable blend of indigenous Malagasy linguistic features and French lexical elements.

Few French Loanwords Daily Used in Antakarana

#	Gloss	French	Antakarana
1	Woman	Femme	Famo
2	So / Therefore	Donc	Dônko

Vocabulary

Antakarana Vocabulary Compared with Standard Malagasy

#	Gloss	Malagasy standard	Antakarana
Time
1	Day	Andro	Andra
2	Today	Androany	Niany
3	Month	Volana	Vôlana
4	Year	Taona	Tôna
5	Always	Foana	Fô
Quantifiers & Conjunctions
6	All	Avy	Jiaby
7	Only	Ihany / Fotsiny	Fô / Fôtiny
8	And	Sy	Ndreky
Pronouns & People
9	That	Izany	Zegny
10	Who	Iza	Azôvy
11	They	Zareo / Ireo	Irô
12	We / Us	Zahay	Zahe / Zehy
13	You	Anao	Anô
Location & Direction
14	Here	Ato / Aty	Atô / Aty
15	From	Avy	Baka
Verbs
16	To give	Manome	Magnamia
17	To let	Avela	Ambila
18	To put	Mametraka	Magnampetrika

References

1. Ferrand, Gabriel (1909). Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches: thèse pour le doctorat d'université, présentée à la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris (in French). Paris: Paul Geuthner. p. XXXVII.
2. "Discover The Beauty of Madagascar Language - The Nature Project Films". 2024-06-29. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
3. "Language page of Scripture Earth". scriptureearth.org. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
4. "Antakarana". Glottolog 4.8. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
5. 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. 8. The map is placed before the numbered pages.