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Malagasy, the language of Madagascar
Malagasy is spoken throughout the country -- something which comes as somewhat of a mystery given the size and ethnic diversity of the island. As Peter Tyson puts it in The Eighth Continent, "That an island as large as Madagascar, with diverse ecosystems cut off from one another by forests, deserts, mountains, or rivers, should have but one language baffles linguists. Madagascar's neighbor, Africa, has 1500 languages. The island of New Guinea, only a third large than Madagascar, has 700 languages. Why does Madagascar have only one?" Malagasy only recently become a written language. Until Welsh missionaries transcribed the language in the 1820s, the Malagasy had to rely on oral history to mark past events. However, even with the development of a written form, written Malagasy hardly resembles spoken Malagasy -- the last syllable is typically dropped while unstressed syllables in the middle of words often disappear (spelling versus pronunciation was evidently influenced by the Welsh transcribers). The capital city of Antananarivo is pronounced "Tananarive" but usually shortened to "Tana." The Malagasy alphabet has 21 letters found in the English alphabet. Malagasy lacks C, Q, U, W, and X. Thus "Madagascar" is not a Malagasy word -- as Peter Tyson points out -- since Malagasy lacks "c" and all words end in a vowel. The Malagasy word for their country is "Madagasikara," a name in itself that is somewhat unwarranted. Tyson explains that Marco Polo, the European explorer who never actually saw the island but named it, probably confused the island with the Somali town Mogadishu and corrupted the name as "Madagascar." Malagasy themselves called Madagascar Nosin-dambo, Izao tontolo, or Ny aninvon' ny riaka. Additional information on Malagasy from the U.S. Library of Congress: Language Selected words and phrases in Malagasy Mbola tsara Manahoana, Manakory, Akory: Typical greeting meaning Hello, Good morning/day/afternoon/evening Mbola tsara: Another form of greeting meaning Hello, Good morning/day/afternoon/evening Salama: Another form of greeting meaning Hello, Good morning/day/afternoon/evening Veloma: Good-bye Azafady: Please (literally means "may it not be taboo to me") Misaotra: Thank you Tsy misy fisaorana: You're welcome Vonjeo: Help! Tsy mahay miteny gasy aho: I do not speak Malagasy Eny: Yes Tsia: No Tsisy: Nothing Firy taona ianao: How old are you? Tratra ny anniversaire-nao: Happy birthday Avy any America aho: I am from America Manahoana: How are you? Tsara fa misaotra: Fine, thanks. Mampidi-doza ve ny mikasika an'io?: Is it dangerous to touch? Vazaha: White person
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RECENT NEWS Mining and biodiversity offsets in Madagascar 
(08/30/2009) Rio Tinto's ilmenite mine in southeastern Madagascar is among the largest on the planet. At peak capacity, its owners say, it could produce as much as 2 million tons of the stuff—worth roughly $100 a ton—each year, to be shipped off and smelted abroad. What's left of it after refining—some 60 percent of the ore that arrives from Madagascar—will be sold for $2000 a ton as titanium dioxide, a pigment used in everything from white paint and tennis court lines to sunscreen and toothpaste.
Destruction worsens in Madagascar (08/20/2009) Armed bands are decimating rainforest reserves in northeastern Madagascar, killing lemurs and intimidating conservation workers, despite widespread condemnation by international environmental groups. Appalling photos reveal lemur carnage in Madagascar (08/20/2009) New pictures released by Conservation International depict a troubling development in Madagascar: the emergence of a commercial bushmeat market for lemurs. In the aftermath of a March coup that saw Madagascar's president replaced at gunpoint by the capital city's mayor, Madagascar's reserves — especially in the northern part of the country — were ravaged by illegal loggers. Armed bands, financed by foreign timber traders, went into Marojejy and Masoala national parks, harvesting valuable hardwoods including rosewood and ebonies. Without support from the central government — or international agencies that pulled aid following the coup — there was no one to stop the carnage. But now it emerges that timber wasn't the only target. Saving the tsingy forests in Madagascar (08/17/2009) After the success of their Sahafina Forest project, Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar is now branching out to the tsingy forest of Beanka, a project set to launch in October this year. Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar (BCM) has been granted a 25-year lease on a 14,000-hectare area of dry hardwood forest, the Beanka tsingy, situated 75 km east of Maintirano in western Madagascar. 'Tsingy' are spectacular razor-sharp limestone pinnacles found on the west and north of the island, formed by acidic rain erosion. The deciduous forests that inhabit them are characterized by high plant and animal endemism. The Malagasy organization plans to apply the same principles here – protection of the forest, socio-economic development and forest restoration – that brought them success with their last project, the 2,500-hectare forest block of Sahafina on Madagascar’s east coast. Lessons from the crisis in Madagascar, an interview with Erik Patel (08/11/2009) On March 17th of this year the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned his post. This made way for Andry Rajoelina, mayor of Madagascar's capital, to install himself as president with help from the military. The unrest and confusion that usually accompanies such a coup brought disaster on many of Madagascar's biological treasures. Within days of Ravalomanana's resignation, armed gangs, allegedly funded by Chinese traders, entered two of Madagascar's world-renowned national parks, Marojejy and Masoala parks, and began to log rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. The pillaging lasted months but the situation began to calm down over the summer. Now that the crisis in Madagascar has abated—at least for the time being—it's time to take stock. In order to do so, Mongabay spoke to Erik Patel, an expert on the Critically Endangered Silky Sifaka and frequent visitor to Madagascar, to find out what the damage looks like firsthand and to see what lessons might be learned. Despite violent protests and coup, Daewoo continues to hold cropland in Madagascar (06/19/2009) Despite violent protests that have left more than 100 dead and led to the ouster of a democratically-elected president, Daewoo Logistics Corp. continues to hold 218,000 hectares of cropland in Madagascar, according to a new campaign by Rainforest Rescue. Conservation success in Madagascar proves illusory in crisis (06/12/2009) Despite the popularity he enjoyed abroad, domestic support for ousted president Marc Ravalomanana eroded rather quickly last February when he went head to head with Andry Rajoelina, the rookie mayor of Madagascar's capital. Rajoelina rallied disparate opposition groups to the cause and soon toppled the incumbent to become, at his own proclamation, President of the "High Authority of Transition." For the country as a whole, the results have not been encouraging. The tourism industry has shriveled to a shadow of itself, important donors have suspended non-humanitarian aid, and a power vacuum has set in in remote regions of the island, wreaking havoc on some of its most fragile and prized ecosystems. Forest Recovery Programs in Madagascar (06/01/2009) Despite being one of the last habitable land masses on earth to be settled by man, Madagascar has lost more of its forests than most countries; less than 10% of its original forest cover now remains, and much of that is degraded. Political turmoil that erupted earlier this year continues to rumble on and the ensuing lawlessness has created the opportunity for illegal logging syndicates to plunder national parks, most notably Marojejy and Masoala, for valuable hardwoods and wildlife. Approximately 200 new frogs discovered in Madagascar threatened by political instability (05/11/2009) Amid the amphibian extinction crisis—where amphibians worldwide are disappearing due to habitat loss, pollution, and a devastating fungal epidemic—the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) has announced some good news. In a survey of the island-nation of Madagascar they have identified between 129 and 221 new species of frogs. The discovery of so many new species nearly doubles the island's total number of frogs. More news
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