Malagasy language

Malagasy is an Austronesian language that is spoken in Madagascar. It is related to languages such as Indonesian, Javanese and Maori. That means that Malagasy is related to languages spoken in Indonesia. This is probably because immigrants from Indonesia came to Madagascar until A.D. 1400. It is the only Austronesian language spoken in Africa.

 Writing 
Malagasy is written using the English alphabet, but without c, q, u, w and x. No accents or other diacritical marks are used. It was invented by David Jones as a replacement for Sorabe (a type of Arabic script). Most letters have their IPA values. However, y and i are both pronounced like /i/ and h is often silent. A few consonant digraphs (tr, dr, ts) are used.

 Examples of words 
Manoa ahoana - Hello

Veloma - Goodbye

Nenibe - Grandmother

Dadabe - Grandfather

 References 

 Desanker, Paul V., Peri M. Klemm, Kenneth J. Perkins, Kwesi Kwaa Prah, and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. "Africa." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web.  1 Apr. 2014. 
 Fetter, Bruce S. "Madagascar." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web.  1 Apr. 2014.
 "Madagascar." SIRS Discoverer: Culture Facts. Sept. 16 2002: n.p. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
 "Madagascar (Archive)." SIRS Discoverer: Country Facts. 2010: n.p. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
 "Consonant Digraphs." First School Years. Web. 2 June 2014. <http://www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/phonics/digraphs/digraphs.htm >.

Category:Austronesian languages