Bara
Native to	Madagascar
Ethnicity	Bara people
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
Map showing the Southern Malagasic dialect group, including Bara
Bara dialect – Ivohibe A man from Ivohibe speaks in the Bara dialect, requesting help from authorities after an encounter with Dahalo (cattle thieves) . Bara dialect – Beroroha A man in Beroroha recounts, in the Bara dialect, his injuries and escape after a Dahalo attack.
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Bara is a dialect of Malagasy^[1][2] spoken by Bara people in Central and Southern Madagascar. It is a Southern Malagasy dialect.^[3][4]

Bara dialect belongs to the Austronesian language family and part of Southern malagasic subgroup alongside Southern Sakalava, Tandroy, Tanosy and Vezo.^[5]

The Bara dialect is predominantly spoken in the Ihorombe region, where it serves as the primary means of communication. It is particularly popular in the city of Ihosy. The dialect is also spoken in parts of the Menabe region, in the western areas of Atsimo-Atsinanana, in a very limited portion of southern Vakinankaratra, as well as in the Anosy region—especially in the Betroka District—and in the Atsimo-Andrefana region, notably in the Beroroha District.

The Bara dialect displays several phonological and lexical characteristics that distinguish it from the Merina-based Standard Malagasy. These features are also shared with other southern Malagasy dialects such as Tandroy, Tanosy, Vezo, Mahafaly, and Southern Sakalava.

One notable feature is the dropping of the final -na in trisyllabic words. For example, tana is used instead of tànana (hand), tanà for tanàna (village), sofy for sofina (ear), and antety for antanety (field), the latter also common in Southern Sakalava.

There is also a tendency to substitute l for d, as in valy for vady (spouse), dily for didy (law, order), and malio for madio (clean). However, in some cases where Standard Malagasy uses l, the Bara dialect reintroduces d, as in kedikedy (Bara), while southeastern dialects use kidikidy.

The s following a t is often omitted, producing forms like raty instead of ratsy (bad).

The consonant v may be replaced by b, for example, abo for avo (high).

The consonant z is frequently dropped. Aiza (where) becomes aia, and izahay (we) becomes ahay. The pronoun izy (he/she) becomes ihy, a form typical of southern dialects such as Mahafaly, Vezo, and Southern Sakalava. Likewise, izaho (I) becomes iaho, which the Bara dialect shares with some central-eastern Malagasy dialects such as Sahafatra and Antefasy.

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

The form anakahy is used for "mine", a feature found in both northern and southern Malagasy dialects.

The verb manelo, meaning "to ache" or "to throb", is used in Bara, while the form mañelo is found in southeastern Malagasy dialects.

For "to sit," Bara uses the verb midoboka, whereas southeastern dialects use midoboky.^[6]

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