The Sihanaka dialect is considered an older form of Merina, retaining broader and more provincial features. While largely intelligible with Merina, it preserves vocabulary now obsolete in Imerina, such as mivony ("to hide") and manjary ("beautiful" or "proper").[6]
Demonstrative prefixes like tak- and ak- are still used in Sihanaka, as in other dialects of the Northern Malagasy group (e.g., Tsimihety, Northern Betsimisaraka), as well as in Southern Betsimisaraka. In contrast, Merina has lost these prefixes.
Sihanaka also shares the word agnambo for "up / above" with Tsimihety, Northern Betsimisaraka, and Southern Betsimisaraka, while Merina uses ambony.[7]
Demonstrative Forms Common to Sihanaka, Northern Malagasy dialects, and Southern Betsimisaraka
^Molet, Louis (1957). Petit guide de toponymie malgache(PDF) (in French). Tananarive: Scientific Research Institute of Madagascar, Department of Human Sciences. pp. map (unnumbered) + p. 8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) The map is placed before the numbered pages.
^Cust, Robert Needham (1878). A Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies (Reprint 2013 ed.). Routledge. p. 71. ISBN9780415245012. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^"The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine". The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine. 1 (1‑3). Press of the London Missionary Society (Antananarivo): 58. 1875.
^Jacques Dez, Cheminements linguistiques malgaches au-delà des grammaires usuelles, 1990, p. 111.
^Ferrand, Gabriel (1909). Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches: thèse pour le doctorat d'université, présentée à la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris (in French). Paris: Paul Geuthner. p. XL.
