[6][7][8] There is high lexical similarity with other East Barito languages like Paku (77%) and Dusun Witu (75%).
It is likely that the Malagasy had already acquired a separate ethnic and linguistic identity in South Borneo prior to their migration(s) to East Africa.
[3] Based on linguistic evidence, it has been suggested that the early Malagasy migrants moved away from Borneo in the 7th century AD, if not later.
[9][4] Compared to Malagasy, Ma’anyan is characterized by a "West Indonesian" (Malay-type) morphosyntactic structure, a consequence of the long-standing influence of Malay on the languages of western Indonesia.
While Malagasy is closer to the so-called “Philippine-type structure” (resembling many of the languages of the Philippines, Sabah, North Sulawesi, and Taiwan), it is also very innovative phonologically, perhaps as a result of its common phonological history with Comorian languages.