The Language Of The Malagans, An Egalitarian Society

The Malagans are quite unique considering that they have been isolated for several hundred years. They are an egalitarian society that receive ranks through an ascribed status, such as gender and age. They divide labor among men of all ages and adult and elder women. They’re language phonetically resembles that of some native languages in South West Africa, but it syntactically resembles the dialect of Spanish in Spain. There is no physical connection between the Spaniards and the Malagans, so this occurrence stuns many anthropologists. First, the language of the Malagans is certainly unlike any other language globally. It is called Malan, resembling the name of the people and their territory. In the country of Madagascar the people point

(Kottak 307) Another seemingly strange component of Malan is that they use honorifics, which are “terms used with people to honor them.” (Kottak 311) The Malagans use “fla” when addressing women, “fla” means princess in Malan. Men in the Malagan society tend to speak softer when surrounded by women similar to the way Japanese women that speak in a higher pitch when surrounded by men. (Kottak 311) They also speak more formally in public situations when respected women are around, to younger people and other men they speak more casually. Women tend to speak in a formal, robust and powerful manner in public settings. But in a family or private setting they speak casually. This occurrence is also known as diglossia. (Kottak 310) The focal vocabulary of the Malagans consists of numerous words for “water”, “sea”, “wave”, and “sky”. These words are prominent in their language because it is how they make a living. The wave, water and sky patterns predict if the weather is safe enough to set sail and each word describes a different weather pattern. The language of the

The Malagans are not a multi-ethnic society. They are purely Malagan due to isolation, which has prevented ethnic conflict. Gender is the ascribed status used in Malagan society. (Kottak 327) They glorify the female gender, so it is not uncommon to see transgendered males. Although these males are unable to undergo complete gender transformation due to lack of technology, they are considered women in their society to a certain extent. They categories of gender in Malagana are as follows: male, female, reborn male, reborn female and undecided. Reborn males are women that transform into males and are treated exactly as males. Reborn females are males that transform into females and are treated like females, but they have little to no authority in the public sphere, but take roles that regular females do such as tool-making, pottery sculpting and ceramics. Undecided individuals do not prefer one gender over the other and are treated as males. In order of authoritative rank, elder females are the most respected and powerful individuals in the village. Consequently, they have the most responsibility and the most privilege. Below the elders, young and adult women have the most authority in the village, predominantly in the household, but also in the economic sphere of the community. Finally, the men are ranked by their wife’s status which is indicated by her skills and