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| Secluded coastline of the tropical paradise of Ile aux Nattes |
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Learning the Lingo of the Locals
Naturally getting around Madagascar just like any foreign country can be helped by learning a bit about the local language. Madagascar has two official languages; French and Malagasy. Malagasy is the most popular everyday language spoken across the country, whilst French is more often reserved for business and administrative purposes. As a visitor, French will help you when in the city and in larger hotels and tourist destinations however if you intend to visit more rural locations off the beaten track then you will need to grasp a little Malagasy as well.
Malagasy is spoken by approximately 18 million people in Madagascar. The language largely originates from Indonesia and most closely resembles Ma’anyan, a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the Barito Valley of Southern Borneo. Consistent with historical evidence detailing patterns of early settlers from South East Asia and Africa, 93% of its rudimentary vocabulary is suggested to be derived from Polynesian influence with the rest being of African descent. Language holds significance in the transmission of information between people and between stages within history. In Madagascar, Malagasy was only transcribed in to a written form relatively recently by Welsh missionaries at the beginning of the 19th century. Consequently, the Malagasy people have had to rely on oral transmission in order to facilitate the transfer of cultural and social practices between generations. This reliance upon oral history and communication is still of importance today as even with the development of a written form of the language, these different forms of the language do not bear a great resemblance to one another. For example, the last syllable of word and unstressed syllables in the middle of words are commonly dropped when spoken which can mean it can be a difficult language to follow (e.g. the capital city of Antananarivo is pronounced "Tananarive" but usually shortened to "Tana.").
The Malagasy alphabet has 21 letters that are also present in the alphabet we use here in the UK, but excludes the letters C, Q, U, W and X. Subsequently, ‘Madagascar’ is essentially not a Malagasy word – since C is omitted from the Malagasy alphabet. The actual Malagasy term for their country is ‘Madagasikara’ and confusion over the country’s name has been traced back to the European explorer Marco Polo who is reported to have named the island without actually visiting it. It is thought that he confused the island with the Somali town of Mogodishu and as a consequence successively corrupted the name to its present form.
Perhaps of the greatest interest regarding the language of Malagasy is the mystery that surrounds the widespread range of Malagasy and its consistent use across the island. Despite Madagascar’s unique location and its sheer variety of ecological landscapes, the reach of Malagasy has not been inhibited leading to its strong establishment as the prevailing of language across the country, much to the bafflement of linguists. Stark contrasts in ecosystems such as forests, mountains, deserts or rivers commonly act as physical barriers to the dissipation of language in other areas. Consequently, the prevalence of Malagasy is somewhat of a surprise to experts considering the size and ethnic diversity of Madagascar. Especially when considering comparable places such as Madagascar’s nearest neighbour Africa, which has over 1500 languages and Papua New Guinea which is only a third of the size of the island and has over 700 different languages.
Why not have ago at learning a few phrases from the info below? A few phrases are presented below complete with English and an International Phonetic language translation to help you along.
English
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Malagasy
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IPA
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English
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Anglisy
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ãŋɡliʂ
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Yes
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Eny
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ˈʲenj
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No
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Tsia, Tsy
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tsi, tsʲ
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Hello! How are You?
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Manao ahoana!
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manaˈʷonə̥, manaˈonə̥
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Hello! (rural areas)
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Salama!
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saˈlamə̥
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I'm fine, thank you.
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Tsara fa misaotra.
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ˈtsarə̥ fa mʲˈsoːtʂə̥
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Goodbye!
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Veloma!
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veˈlumə̥
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Please
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Azafady
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azaˈfadʲ
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Thank you
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Misaotra
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mʲˈsoːtʂa
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You're welcome
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Tsisy fisaorana.
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tsʲ ˈmisʲ fʲˈsoːranə̥
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You may also find this video useful with hearing some basic phrases in actions as well as picking up a few tips about Malagasy culture.
Enjoy!
Friday 10 May 2013
Photo of the week
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| Supporters of Andry Rajoelina gather in Antanarivo, Madagascar to hear whether he will replace the ousted President Marc Ravalomanana. (18/3/2009). |
Back to the Future: The History of Madagascar
After last week’s news reports detailing how Madagascar’s president Rajoelina will run in July’s controversial presidential elections in spite of a previous agreement specifying that he would not do so ,it seems timely to give an introduction into Madagascar’s history and explore how its past holds insight into its current poltical dynamic and has influence upon present environmental and social debates in Madagascar.
If you would like to catch up with the Rajoelina story please visit:
In the grand scheme of history, Madagascar is just a baby. Despite being more of the new kid on the block when compared with other countries, Madagascar has an eclectic and exciting history to explore and discover. Modern day Madagascar’s cultural diversity is derived from a variety of different pioneers and a sometimes tricky and turbulent past associated with diverse indigenous kingdoms, colonialism and socialism. Gaining an understanding of Madagascar’s history leads the voyager to adopt a deeper appreciation for the context in which many of the high profile social and environmental issues of current importance sit, whilst also holding strong meaning for developing future strategies aiming to overcome these challenges.
The first settlers to the island journeyed from Southeast Asia followed by other immigrants from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These early founders provided a melting pot of Indian Ocean cultures which grew into diverse and distinctive kingdoms across the island and lit the path for the impressive cultural diversity we recognise today. The most powerful of Madagascar’s early empires was the Merina ethnic group of the central highlands who established political dominance and unified the people of Madagascar during the 18th century. The extension of their authority was facilitated by two prominent figures; Andrianampoinimerina (r. 1797-1810) and Radama I (r. 1816-28). These clever and ambitious monarchs used shrewd tactics to play off British and French interests and their relationships with rival Malagasy ethnic groups, to enable their power to spread to all but the most impenetrable regions of the island.
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| Ethnic groups and population density of Madagascar |
After establishing dominance, Merina leaders principally pursued to modernise Madagascar’s social and political arrangements in accordance to a rising presence of western influence since their arrival in the 16th century . European organisations such as the Protestant London Missionary society were encouraged to establish schools and churches which held significant consequences in developing the future of the country. As a result a written form of the local language of Malagasy based upon the Latin alphabet was created and almost half a million people were converted to Christianity. Through the latter stages of the 19th century European interests in Madagascar grew, encapsulated by concessions being given to both Britain and France through the signing of commercial treaties in 1877 and 1868 respectively. Other important social developments to occur at this time included the abolition of the slave trade and polygamy, the dissemination of education among the Merina and the conversion of the Monarchy to Protestantism in 1869.
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| The Merina |
Nevertheless unity led by the Merina proved too weak to hold off European imperialism in the long run, resulting in France claiming Madagascar for themselves in 1896. The colonial era under French rule continued until 1960 despite challenges from resistance and independence movements which grew steadily from the 1930s onwards with only a brief abatement during the Second World War. The long shadow of colonialism was finally shaken off around a decade after the reinstatement of independence, and thereafter the governance of Madagascar was diverted in a whole other direction. Socialism descended upon Madagascar in 1975 under the rule of Didier Ratsiraka until its ill-fated end in 1993 brought about by two years of violent riots and widespread civil unrest. Since then, this stormy pattern has largely continued with authority bouncing between parties and leaders which have been periodically ousted surrounded by their own cloud of political and social controversy.
The most recent dispute occured in 2009 when Andry Rajoelina sought to overthrow President Marc Ravalomanana ensuing in the formation of the ‘High Transitional Authority of Madagascar’ established under Rajoelina’s leadership. Nevertheless, despite relatively strong domestic popularity, the international community deemed his rise as unconstitutional and proceeded to withdraw foreign support and investment which has plunged Madagascar into one of its worst financial crisis’ to date.
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| Andry Rajoelina |
Unsurprisingly these largescale poltical interruptions appear to be holding broad consequences effecting Madagascar's economic, social and environmental domains at many different levels. For example, the current national and international attention focusing on the poltical status of the country has permitted the rise of increased levels of illegal logging, hunting, mining and outlawed agricultural practices such as slash and burn farming due to a loosening of regulation and enforcement. Calls have been made for the tighting of regulation to prevent future generations of the Malagasy people being deprived of their cultural heritage and to curtail further depletion of important resources with potentially dramatic short-term and long-term effects.
To find out more about this story please visit:
Many people are asking what will the future bring for Madagascar and its people's hope for a peaceful, fair and free election to choose their next leader. At the moment the future of Madagascar appears to very much hang in the balance. Agreement is necessary between the four major factions of Malagasy politics, namely Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Zafy and Ratsiraka, in order to ensure the successful transition towards a fourth republic and the building of a positive future for the people and landscape of Madagascar. It will be interesting to see the outcomes of the coming elections in July.......
Further Information
If you interested in taking a closer look at important Malagasy poltical events, this timeline gives a useful overview.
Also, if you would like to know more about Malagasy history these two books really good:
'A History of Madagascar' by Mervin Brown and 'Madagascar: A Short History' by Solofo Randriandra and Stephen Ellis.
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