Betsileo dialect

Betsileo
Native to
EthnicityBetsileo
Language codes
ISO 639-1mg
ISO 639-3plt
Glottologbets1235
Linguasphere31-LDA-aj
Betsileo dialect sample 1
A woman speaking in the Betsileo dialect about helping malnourished children.

Betsileo dialect sample 2
Betsileo peasants praising support received from ADRA projects in the Betsileo

Betsileo dialect - Ambatofinandrahana
An elder man telling the story of a local princess curse upon the city of Ambatofinandrahana

Betsileo is a dialect of Malagasy spoken in the homeland of Betsileo people.

Classification

Betsileo is an Austronesian language part of the Plateaux branch of Malagasy language.

Geographic distribution

The Betsileo dialect is widely spoken in the regions of Amoron'i Mania and Matsiatra Ambony. It is the primary dialect spoken in the cities of Fianarantsoa, Ambositra, and Ambalavao.

Vocabulary

Betsileo gloss
# Gloss Standard Malagasy Betsileo
Pronouns & Numbers
1 One Iray Iraika
2 One (last night) Iray halina Iray haligna
3 I / Me Izaho / Aho Aho / A
4 He / She / Him / Her Izy Izy/Ihy
5 We Izahay / Isika Agnay / Atsika
6 You Anao / Anareo Agnao / Agnareo
Negation & Intensity
7 All Avy Aby
8 Not Tsy Tsa
9 Really / Very Tena Tegna
10 Too much Be loatra Be loatsa
Grammar & Concepts
11 That no ro
12 Question Fanontaniana Fanontanena
13 To say Miteny Mitarogna
Daily Life
14 Family Fianakaviana Fianakavena
15 Fear Tahotra Tahotsa

References

  1. ↑ Grimes, Barbara F. (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (14th ed.). Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 293. ISBN 9780883128152.
  2. ↑ Nielssen, Hilde (2012). Ritual Imagination: A Study of Tromba Possession among the Betsimisaraka in Eastern Madagascar. Studies of Religion in Africa, vol. 40. Leiden; Boston: Brill. p. 301. ISBN 9789004215245.
  3. ↑ McElroy, Colleen J. (1999). Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar. University of Michigan Press. p. xxii.
  4. ↑ "The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine". The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine (4): 124. 1878.
  5. ↑ "ethnicLists – Dictionnaire et Encyclopédie malgaches". motmalgache.org. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  6. ↑ "OLAC resources in and about the Plateau Malagasy language". olac.ldc.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
  7. ↑ "Translations - Islands Mission".
  8. ↑ Molet, Louis (1957). Little Guide to Malagasy Toponymy (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