GREETINGS:
Manahoana (Hello, Hi, good morning, good afternoon) [ manaˈonə̥ ]
also written manao ahoana [manaˈʷonə̥,] in the first place, which became a formula now
(manahoana for the morning, noon, afternoon, night greetings)
Salama [ saˈlamə̥ ] (Hi) ( in the coast of Madagascar and they say salama for all the greetings).
More and more now in Antananarivo, it is an answer meaning I am fine to the question manahoana. So when they say it at the place of manahoana, they shortcut the question by the answer. There is no bad intention in that, it is due to time., because Malagasy people take a lot of time to say hello and the news, so they make it short.
Veloma (bye, goodbye) [ veˈlumə̥ ]
(veloma for the morning, noon, afternoon, night farewell)
Times of the day:
Morning = maraina
Noon = atoandro
Afternoon= hariva
Night = alina
phonetics taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malagasy_language
