Malagasy (Fiteny Malagasy)

Malagasy is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language spoken by about 17 million in Madagascar, where it is the national and official language, Comoros, Réunion and Mayotte. It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and more closely to the South-east Barito group of languages spoken in Borneo, particularly to Maanyan.

Malagasy contains words borrowed from Bantu languages, and Arabic, and also from French, the former colonial language which still enjoys official status, and English, thanks mainly to the 18th century pirates who made the island their base.

From the 15th century to 1823, Malagasy was written with the Arabic Ajami script or Sorabe. Since then, it has been written with the Latin alphabet.

Malagasy alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

a and o are often silent in unstressed syllables, and a is also reduced to [ə]. For example, Malagasy = [malgaʃ], hence the French version of Malagasy is written Malgache.
y = [i] at the ends of words
The word stress falls on the last but one syllable, except in words ending in -ka, -na or -tra, when the syllable before the last but one is stressed.

Sample text in Malagasy

Teraka afaka sy mitovy zo sy fahamendrehana ny olombelona rehetra. Samy manan-tsaina sy fieritreretana ka tokony hifampitondra ampirahalahiana.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Tower of Babel in Malagasy