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Malagasy & Madagascar's languages?

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Friday, October 8, 2004, 19:51
Rodlox wrote:

> > Trebor Jung wrote: > > > > > > Ph. D. írta: "Are there trigger languages in other parts > > > of the world besides the Philippines?" > > > > > > IIRC Malagasy, spoken in Madagascar. > > um...are there any other languages spoken in Madagascar? (aside from > Arabic & French and perhaps English). > ie, native languages, aside from Malagasy?
Very hard to say, but I'd suspect not, unless there are recent immigrant groups from the mainland. The Malegasy have been there since early in the C.E. and presumably absorbed whatever inhabitants (if any) might have been there first. Malegasy has borrowed from African languages; but IIRC the dictionary I have doesn't cite origins. I'll check. (There are lots of words that aren't readily identifiable as Austronesian, but that doesn't always mean much. :-(( )