Antaimoro dialect

Antaimoro or Antemoro is a dialect of Malagasy spoken by Antemoro people in the ex-region of Vatovavy-Fitovinany. ^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

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 Antemoro and sabatra in Antefasy. Despite these differences, the dialects remain mutually intelligible to a high degree.

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* ("large writings"), was primarily used for magical and divinatory purposes.^[4][5]

In the early 19th century, during the reign of King Andrianampoinimerina (c. 1800–1804), two Taimoro sages from the southeast, Andriamahazonoro (d. 1838) 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.^[6]

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.^[7]