Bara
Native to	Madagascar
Ethnicity	Bara people
Native speakers	1,026,000[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian Barito East Barito Southern Malagasic Bara
Writing system	Latin script (Malagasy alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bhr
Glottolog	bara1369
Linguasphere	31-LDA-cg
Bara dialect – Ivohibe A man fromIvohibe speaks in the Bara dialect, requesting help from authorities after an encounter withDahalo (cattle thieves) . Bara dialect – Beroroha A man inBeroroha recounts, in the Bara dialect, his injuries and escape after a Dahalo attack.
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Bara is a dialect ofMalagasy^[2][3] spoken byBara people in Central and Southern Madagascar. It is a Southern Malagasy dialect.^[4][5]

Bara dialect belongs to theAustronesian language family and part of Southern malagasic subgroup alongsideSouthern Sakalava,Tandroy,Tanosy andVezo.^[6]

TheBara dialect is predominantly spoken in theIhorombe region, where it serves as the primary means of communication. It is particularly popular in the city ofIhosy. The dialect is also spoken in parts of theMenabe region, in the western areas ofAtsimo-Atsinanana, in a very limited portion of southernVakinankaratra, as well as in theAnosy region—especially in theBetroka District—and in theAtsimo-Andrefana region, notably in theBeroroha District.

TheBara dialect displays severalphonological andlexical characteristics that distinguish it from theMerina-based Standard Malagasy. These features are also shared with othersouthern Malagasy dialects such asTandroy,Tanosy,Vezo,Mahafaly, andSouthern Sakalava.

One notable feature is the dropping of the final-na intrisyllabic words. For example,tana is used instead oftànana (hand),tanà fortanàna (village),sofy forsofina (ear), andantety forantanety (field), the latter also common inSouthern Sakalava.

There is also a tendency to substitutel ford, as invaly forvady (spouse),dily fordidy (law, order), andmalio formadio (clean). However, in some cases whereStandard Malagasy usesl, theBara dialect reintroducesd, as inkedikedy (Bara), while southeastern dialects usekidikidy.

Thes following at is often omitted, producing forms likeraty instead ofratsy (bad).

The consonantv may be replaced byb, for example,abo foravo (high).

The consonantz is frequently dropped.Aiza (where) becomesaia, andizahay (we) becomesahay. The pronounizy (he/she) becomesihy, a form typical of southern dialects such asMahafaly,Vezo, andSouthern Sakalava. Likewise,izaho (I) becomesiaho, which theBara dialect shares with somecentral-eastern Malagasy dialects such asSahafatra andAntefasy.

Words ending in-tra often become-tsy, a pattern consistent withsouthern Malagasy varieties.

The formanakahy is used for "mine", a feature found in bothnorthern andsouthern Malagasy dialects.

The verbmanelo, meaning "to ache" or "to throb", is used inBara, while the formmañelo is found insoutheastern Malagasy dialects.

For "to sit,"Bara uses the verbmidoboka, whereas southeastern dialects usemidoboky.^[7]

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