The
Southern Sakalava dialect displays several
phonological and
lexical characteristics that distinguish it from the
Merina-based Standard Malagasy. These features are also shared with other
southern Malagasy dialects such as
Tandroy,
Tanosy,
Vezo,
Mahafaly, and
Bara. One notable feature is the dropping of the final
-na in
trisyllabic words. For example,
tana is used instead of
tànana (hand),
tanà for
tanàna (village),
sofy for
sofina (ear), and
antety for
antanety (field), the latter also common in
Southern Sakalava. There is also a tendency to substitute
l for
d, as in
valy for
vady (spouse),
lily for
didy (law, order), and
malio for
madio (clean). This phonological change is a hallmark of
Southern Sakalava and other southern dialects. However, in the
Northern Sakalava dialect, the consonant
d is retained, and this shift to
l does not occur, despite both varieties being spoken by groups identified as Sakalava. The
s following a
t is often omitted, producing forms like
raty instead of
ratsy (bad). The consonant
v may be replaced by
b, for example,
abo for
avo (high). The consonant
z is frequently dropped.
Aiza (where) becomes
aia. The pronoun
izy (he/she) becomes
ihy, a form typical of southern dialects such as
Mahafaly,
Vezo, and
Bara. Words ending in
-tra often become
-tsy, such as
hafatra becoming
hafatsy (message), and
mandefitra becoming
mandefitsy (to tolerate), a pattern consistent with
southern Malagasy varieties. The form
anakahy is used for "mine", a feature found in both
northern and
southern Malagasy dialects. The
Southern Sakalava spoken in
Besalampy is transitional between
Northern Sakalava and the more southern varieties of
Menabe and
Atsimo Andrefana. It shares some northern features like the use of
ndreky for "and", but is mostly aligned with southern vocabulary. ==Geographic distribution==