Bayau Malagasy

Bayau Malagasy is the variant of the Malagasy language spoken in the Bayau archipelago. It is mainly spoken by the Malagasy community arrived in the year 1880s. It is now daily used by more than 9 million people in Bayau, where it has an official status. The differences with Malagasy are minimal and both version are intelligible.

The divergences are still higher in the scientific vocabulary: while Madagascar Malagasy uses French or English loanwords, Bayau Malagasy uses a Malagasized version of Perso-arabic words and use them as native ones.

Differences between Bayau and Madagascar Malagasy
There are slight differences between Bayau and Madagascar Malagasy. The absence of cultural exchange between the two regions during the colonization of Madagascar has definitely marked the differences between the two variants.

For example, ‘absolution’ can be translated ‘famelan-keloka’ in Madagascar Malagasy while it is translated as ‘velaheloka’ in Bayau. Below are other examples of vocabulary divergence: