THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE. 
497 
grammar, that the inflections of a Malagasy verb are far more 
numerous and subtle than those of the Malay, especially in 
its abundant use of the causative and reciprocal forms of verbs. 
A considerable number of Arabic words are also found in the 
Malagasy language. Some of these, it is probable, may have 
been introduced through the medium of the Malay, as such 
words appear common to the three languages, Arabic, Malay, 
and Malagasy, with slight modifications in the two latter, 
corresponding with the affinities of the two languages respect¬ 
ively. Other Arabic words, it is highly probable, have been 
imported from time immemorial by the Arabs, who have for 
centuries visited the island for purposes of trade and commerce. 
These words are chiefly found in the names of the days of the 
week, and of the months, and in the operations of the sikidy, 
i. e. divination. These are mere accidental circumstances, and 
do not affect the structure or genius of the language. 
The Malagasy seems to bear no relation to the Mosambique, 
nor to the Caffre languages of Africa. There are many natives 
of Mosambique in the island; but so perfectly dissimilar is their 
language from that of the Malagasy, that they can hold no mu¬ 
tual conversation with the natives of Madagascar till they have 
acquired the language of the latter. 
The whole island of Madagascar may be said to possess but 
“ one language.” Varieties of dialect exist, but these are 
neither so numerous nor so strongly marked, that natives resi¬ 
dent in different parts of the island find much difficulty in con¬ 
versing with one another. The great features of the language, 
its genius, its construction, and its roots, are everywhere the 
same. Occasional words exist in some parts of the country 
that do not exist in other parts; and in some, but comparatively 
few instances, the same word has different significations in some 
two or three different parts of the island. 
It is observable, that the dialects found along the whole coast 
of the island more nearly resemble one another than any one of 
them can be found to resemble that of the Hovas, that is to say, 
of the natives occupying the interior, or rather the central part 
of the island, called Imerina. And hence it may not be unsuit¬ 
able to regard the whole Malagasy language as embracing two 
divisions—the maritime, and the central; or, if the supposition 
be correct that the Hovas are a people of later introduction to 
the island than the rest of its inhabitants, the two divisions 
already mentioned may be considered as embracing the lan¬ 
guage of the aborigines, (on the coast,)—and that of the con¬ 
querors, (subsequently naturalized,) but which is now nearly 
amalgamated with the former. 
The principal varieties found in a comparison instituted 
i. 2 k 
