Betsileo dialect

Betsileo
Betsileo
Native to	Madagascar;
Ethnicity	Betsileo
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian Barito East Barito Central-Eastern Malagasic Plateaux Malagasy Betsileo; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet);
Language codes
ISO 639-1	mg
ISO 639-3	plt
Glottolog	bets1235
Linguasphere	31-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 dialect.

Betsileo is a dialect of Malagasy^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] spoken in the homeland of Betsileo people.^[5]

Classification

Betsileo is an Austronesian language part of the Plateaux branch of Malagasy language.^[6]

The Betsileo dialect is widely spoken in the regions of Amoron'i Mania and Matsiatra Ambony.^[7] It is the primary dialect spoken in the cities of Fianarantsoa, Ambositra, and Ambalavao.^[8]

**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
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

^ Grimes, Barbara F. (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (14th ed.). Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 293. ISBN 9780883128152.
^ 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.
^ McElroy, Colleen J. (1999). Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar. University of Michigan Press. p. xxii.
^ "The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine". The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine (4): 124. 1878.
^ "ethnicLists – Dictionnaire et Encyclopédie malgaches". motmalgache.org. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
^ http://olac.ldc.upenn.edu/language/plt
^ "Translations - Islands Mission".
^ 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

v t e Languages of Madagascar
Official languages	French Malagasy
Malagasy dialects	Sahavoay Sahafatra Antefasy Betsileo Vakinankaratra Masikoro Anjoaty Antemanambondro Tanosy Bezanozano Antambahoaka Zafisoro Vezo Sihanaka Tanala Antakarana Antesaka Tsimihety Northern Sakalava Antaimoro Bara Southern Betsimisaraka Northern Betsimisaraka Mikea
Foreign languages	English Swahili Comorian Gujarati Chinese Mandarin Cantonese
Sign languages	Malagasy Sign Language

Betsileo
Native to	Madagascar
Ethnicity	Betsileo
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian Barito East Barito Central-Eastern Malagasic Plateaux Malagasy Betsileo
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`mg`
ISO 639-3	`plt`
Glottolog	`bets1235`
Linguasphere	`31-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 dialect.