Malagasy language

Malagasy (/mæləˈɡæsi/; Malagasy pronunciation: ) 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. Malagasy (/mæləˈɡæsi/; Malagasy pronunciation: ) 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 already noted in 1708 by the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland. It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and specifically to the East Barito languages spoken in Borneo (e.g. Ma'anyan), with apparent influence from early Old Malay. There appears to be a Bantu influence or substratum in Malagasy phonotactics (Dahl 1988). Malagasy is the demonym of Madagascar from which it is taken to refer to the people of Madagascar in addition to their language. Madagascar was first settled by Austronesian peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia from 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. Malagasy has a tradition of oratory arts and poetic histories and legends. The most well-known is the national epic, Ibonia, about a Malagasy folk hero of the same name. Malagasy is the principal language spoken on the island of Madagascar. It is also spoken by Malagasy communities on neighboring Indian Ocean islands such as Réunion and Comoros. Large expatriate Malagasy communities speaking the language also exist in France and Quebec and, to a lesser extent, Belgium and Washington, DC.