Antaimoro dialect

Antaimoro or Antemoro is a dialect of Malagasy spoken by Antemoro people in the ex-region of Vatovavy-Fitovinany.

Classification

Antemoro is part of the Austronesian language family, within the Central-Eastern Malagasic branch. It is further classified under the Plateaux Malagasy alongside Merina,Sihanaka, Antambahoaka and Antefasy.

Geographical distribution

The Antemoro dialect is primarily spoken in the Fitovinany region of southeastern Madagascar, particularly in the districts of Manakara-Atsimo and Vohipeno. It is also spoken in the southern part of the neighboring Vatovavy region, including several communes such as Namorona, Sandrohy, and Vatohandrina.

Characteristics

The Antemoro dialect is closely related to the Antaifasy dialect, with only minor phonological and lexical differences. One distinctive feature is the use of suffixes such as -tra and -gna in Antemoro, compared to variations like -gny in Antefasy. For example, the verb "to talk" is rendered as mikoragna in Antemoro, while in Antefasy it appears as mikoragny. Additionally, certain vocabulary items differ; for instance, the word for "sword" is sabatry in Antefasy and sabatra in Antemoro. Despite these differences, the dialects remain mutually intelligible to a high degree.

Gloss	Antefasy	Antemoro
one	raiky	raika
I	iaho	iaho
me	anaha	anaha
we	atsika	atsika
we	ihay / ahay	ihay / ahay
they/them	indreo	indreo
only	avao	avao
also	koa	koza
all	aby/rehetra	aby/rehetra
to tell	mizaka / mitantara	mizaka / mitantara
above	ambony	ambony
now	amizao	amizao
dear	ingaha	ingahy
the / that	gne / e	gny
even	ndre	ndre
even if	ndre da	ndre da

Writing System

The Antemoro dialect is one of the Malagasy varieties that were historically written using the Arabic-derived Arabico-Malagasy script, alongside that of the Antambahoaka and Tanosy. This script, known as *Sorabe*, was primarily used for magical and divinatory purposes.
In the early 19th century, during the reign of King Andrianampoinimerina, two Taimoro sages from the southeast, Andriamahazonoro and Ratsilikaina, were summoned to the Merina capital to inaugurate a royal palace school. By 1817, they had introduced the Sorabe script to five or six royal children, including the future king Radama I.
Before ultimately deciding to adopt the Latin alphabet for the translation of the Bible, the first English Protestant missionaries in Madagascar considered using the Arabico-Malagasy orthography of the Taimoro people. They studied the script and discussed this possibility with King Radama I, before jointly opting for the Latin alphabet as the basis of the new standardized writing system.