Malagasy dialects in Mayotte

Abstract

The Malagasy language is not strictly confined to Madagascar but it is also spoken in Mayotte, one of the four islands which constitute the Comoros archipelago. The inhabitants of Mayotte are, in fact, divided between two very distinct mother languages, one is Shimaore, a Bantu dialect similar to the dialects spoken in the other three islands, the other is Malagasy, an Austronesian language. In turn, Malagasy is represented by two distinct varieties, one is the Kibosy Kimaore, a name which simply means “Malagasy of Mayotte” (this name is sometimes used to indistinctly denote both varieties) and the other is the Kibosy Kiantalaotsy. It is usually stated that Kibosy Kimaore is close to the Northern Madagascar varieties, while Kibosy Kiantalaotsy is very close to Mahajanga Sakalava (Glottolog classifies Mahajanga Sakalava and Kibosy Kiantalaotsy as twin varieties). While we clearly confirm the cladistic position of Kibosy Kimaore, we find that Kibosy Kiantalaotsy is not particularly close to Mahajanga Sakalava, but it is closer to the Sakalava dialects of the South-West of Madagascar. Moreover, Kibosy Kiantalaotsy seems to be rather the result of multiple contributions from Madagascar than the offspring of a single dialect or a few dialects. Our outcome is based upon the comparison of the two Mayotte varieties with sixty different Madagascar varieties.