Koti language

For the secret language of South Asia, see Koti Farsi.
Koti
Ekoti
Pronunciation[ekot̪i]
Native toMozambique
RegionKoti Island and Angoche, Nampula Province
EthnicityMakua
Native speakers
100,000 (2006)[1]
Dialects
  • Nathembo (Sakati/Sangaji)
Language codes
ISO 639-3eko
Glottologkoti1238
P.311, P.312[2]
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The Koti language, or Ekoti (pronounced [ekot̪i]), is a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique by about 100,000 people. Koti is spoken in the area surrounding Koti Island and is the major language of Angoche, the capital of the district with the same name in the province of Nampula.

In terms of genetic classification, Koti is generally considered to belong to the Makhuwa group (P.30 in Guthrie's classification). A large portion of its vocabulary however derives from a past variety of Swahili, today the lingua franca of much of East Africa's coast. This Swahili influence is usually attributed to traders from Kilwa or elsewhere on the Zanzibar Coast, who in the fifteenth century settled at Angoche.[1] Arends et al. suggest it might turn out to be a Makhua–Swahili mixed language.[3]

  1. ^ Koti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Arends, Muysken, & Smith (1995), Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction